Drowning houseplant - Thank you!

Hello everyone!

Thanks for you answers, I will repot my plant today.

As for The One Formally Know As the Asshole, I blocked him, and cannot see any of his posts anymore. As per my search on Google, all he does is insult everyone. Obviously, his perceptions as pretty askew as I actually gratuated from law school cum laude (with honors), while he thinks I'm as dumb as a rock. Oh well. If he judges me solely by my gardening habilities and English grammar, then he's a selfish bigot as I am only a begginner in gardening, and English is not my first language. Besides, I don't spend all my free time stroking my plants with one hand while stroking myself with the other like he does.

Have a great weekend everybody!

Reply to
Helene
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By the way, remember that every flower pot must have drainage holes, and generally, the ones whose saucers are attached are a pain in the neck, especially for indoor plants.

Reply to
Doug Kanter

Alright, first thing here........Helene, I took your post of drowning houseplant as a valid and real question. There are some situations regarding plants that, until we get some experience under our belts, we don't know. That is what this newsgroup is for. To ask questions. Granted, I am soooo weary of the cat shit and dog shit and absolute obvious answers to some of the questions that are posted here, but then again, that's what this newsgroup is for. Because not everyone knows how to do a Google search to check for answers to their repeated questions.

When I first came to this newsgroup, I was more computer illiterate, didn't know the computer "netiquette" and most everyone was kind enough to walk me thru. But after a few years, unless it was something that I hadn't done or asked yet, I was thrown into the pool feet first to swim and figure things out.

Sometimes when I asked obvious questions, or was about to post something, I'd cover my butt and just tell those more experienced that I really didn't know the "obvious" answer to what I was about to ask, and to bear with me. Most times it would work. Sometimes I'd get flamed. Which means I'd be made fun of or insulted.

I don't have a thin skin (or quick to get hurt by words), but there was one poster who turned out to be a troll that was TRYING to get me to respond about things I was posting about, and I lit in to "her" and then it was pointed out to me that this person was a known troll, or someone who deliberately starts crap between other posters. I learned.

Now saying all that, Cereus-Validus can be harsh sometimes. He is also one of our more knowledgable people here for really good plant identification if given all the clues and what not. He does get testy if given vague questions, but he also recognizes trolls and people who are posting just to start trouble.

By responding like you did to his barbs (he does have a dry wit, by the way, and yes, he can be a shit, but you have to overlook those traits and cut thru to the actual good responses regarding plant questions and problems) you played right into his hands. Now never knowing this, first one was a given. But by tell him f*ck you, calling him asshole, and continuing to respond like you were standing there getting his cuts, you pushed his button and got more barbs and insults from him. Yes, this is an unmonitored newsgroup. You'd not gotten as far as f*ck you on GardenWeb with Spike. He'd have banned you to the Disney website forever and that would have been that. I visit there to chat with other Tennessee gardeners and to check out select forums that are about all the many things I'm interested in, but I am careful how I post, so I can continue to visit there. Because there are really neat people over there too that don't visit here.

I am not offended by words. They're words. Even with ill intent, they're still just words. We're still sitting safely at our computers, no one has threated our children, poisoned our pets or pissed on our plants or administered RoundUp in the dark hours of the night. We have a few regular posters here who are free with their language,(me being one sometimes) and those that are offended by such display respond like I expect them to. They are "outraged" and cover their eyes and tell you to kill file someone. And I mean no disrespect in that response, either. The person who told you to do that was well founded to tell you how to deal with it with finality.

Well it's a free country, and you can -not- listen to anyone you choose. (or read, which is my point). If Cereus' posts are offensive, just don't read them. You might actually miss a good response or piece of advice by killfiling him. You can always tell when he's flaming someone, there are alternate posts of his and other people's. And unless you want to see the dry humor in his retorts, you can choose not to read them and move on.

Now I've jumped into this little shit slinging, and I hope I've not offended you myself. And just so you'll know, Cereus did recognize a couple of trolls there in the responses. Bob caught it. As did I.

Thru the years you will gain more experiences with your plants. Might I suggest a really excellent book on houseplants that you can find at a bookstore or possibly at a Lowes on their bookstand by the service desk. It's called House Plant expert by Dr. D. G. Hessayon and has quite a few houseplants listed, how to care for them, good watercolor drawings with great drawings of diseases and such under the problems section of most of the plants and how to deal with them. It's about $20 but worthy of purchase. And it's paperback. I have two of them. One for the house and one for me to drag around at Lowes at work in the greenhouse and outside lawn and garden department where I work, because despite everything I know, I still get questions I can't answer yet and this book is a gem.

By the way, having a law degree does mean you are smart, but my genius best friend whose IQ is out of the ballpark has no common sense. She has discovered this, and we laugh about it sometimes when we talk to each other. I help her with what to me is simple things, and she helps me with things that are beyond my comprehension. And I don't resent it. I am smart enough, and what I lack there are books, t.v. programs and other people to educate me thru my walk in life. I don't nearly know everything I want to about horticulture yet. And probably won't by the time my stay here is over.

What are some of the other plants you are growing and nurturing? I myself have not only perennials, some reseeding annuals, but in houseplants, I have tropicals like schefflera (the tall, umbrella plant, not the bush variety) and the Houseplant expert says to repot every two years, mist the leaves frequently, water liberally, and bright light away from direct sunlight. I have the giant leaf spathphillum, Sanseveria's of several varieties (mother in law tongue or snake plant), quite a few tender bulbs that thrive in the heat of my summers from Africa that wow me with their exotic blossoms at all times of the winter and sometimes summer if they're really happy. I also have lots of cacti and succulents because I adore them. I bring them inside every year as the maturity of these plants and bulbs and rhizomes and such bless me with more flowers. Zhanataya sent me the most awesome Korean Crinum a few years ago that, so far is the neatest flowering exotic plant I have. My Clivia's haven't bloomed for me. But I have a second bloom from my Eucharis, or Amazon lily that usually blooms for me on Thanksgiving. This year she's blooming a second time right now and it's awesome. (pictures on alt.binaries.pictures.gardens)

I don't try to do ferns inside anymore as they're difficult in my dry house in the winter, instead I've transferred my love for the textures to the hardy perennial ferns. And since my windows aren't all excellent in winter for some things, I've resigned myself to plants that don't mind my house environment when I drag them all inside for winter. No sunroom yet. And I suppliment with fluorescent lights.

I look forward to chatting with you up the road about plants. Have a good weekend. Enjoy summer. Buy a hawortia and learn to grow those, they're cool.

madgardener up on the ridge, back in Fairy Holler where there are waaaaay too many plants, and that's alright, where it overlooks English Mountain in Eastern Tennessee zone 7, Sunset zone 36

Reply to
madgardener

Great move Hellhole.

The People's Court finds you guilty of buffoonery!

Now I can say whatever I want about what a worthless piece of fecal refuse you really are and how your self righteous rants are laughable after you admit how completely incompetent you are in your original posting. Your incompetence with plants is just a bit of insight of how incompetent you are in life and that you always expect somebody else to bail out your sorry ass.

You must be the world's worst lawyer that has never won a case even in a divorce court. Wouldn't be surprised if you got your degree over the computer with a home study course.

Get a clue. Get a life. You phony.

Reply to
Cereus-validus

Gee Mad, sorry to hear about your skin condition. Maybe it was from years of smoking, hard drinking and wandering around nude on the beach. Be sure to put on moisturizer and sun block when you go out this holiday weekend. Take care, babe.

My first reply to Helene was short and to the point. She was the one who got bitchy and starting the name calling because I suggested she give the plant to someone that knew how to grow them. It is ridiculous that she would go on and on in her original posting saying how inept she was growing plants only for her to be offended when somebody agreed with her. It is amazing how she could be such an egomaniac and a complete dunderhead at the same time. Such a twit doesn't deserve to be coddled.

An alleged lawyer that is too inept to know how to do a simple Google search can't be a very good lawyer.

Maybe she is related to our current president?

Reply to
Cereus-validus

it must suck being you, i have also blocked you..........i feel sorry for you

identification

Reply to
chaz

It doesn't suck at all, little one.

It give me free reign to say whatever I want!!!!

Of course now that you posted a reply, that dumb turd now knows some of the things I said about her she cannot see first hand and she can only fume over how blocking me was only yet another stupid mistake on her part!

ROTFLMAO!

Reply to
Cereus-validus

It must really be terrible being him, I agree with you and without further ado:

*PLONK

John

Reply to
John Watson

You are truly a retarded troll, Crapper John.

Being me is still far better than being what you are.

Reply to
Cereus-validus

Hi madgardener,

Thank you for your kind post. As a matter of fact, I've been online since 1995, but it's been a while since I checked any newsgroups. I forgot about trolls and flamers. Even if Cereus-Validus was the greatest expert on this earth, I killfiled him. Because it doesn't matter how knowledgeable you are if you don't have a minimum of social skills. Dry humour doesn't translate well on the net, especially when talking to someone for the first time. That said, I probably shouldn't have answered him, but like I said, it's been a while since I've been to any newsgroups, and I forgot how useless answering to people like that can be. I can only hope that he too will learn from this and just shut up when he doesn't have anything nice to say.

Thanks for the book suggestion, I will check it out. I have a pretty good book, but I left it at work, because it's where most of my plants are. Therefore, I don't have the name of my big plant, I looked around the net for an hour to find its name before posting, but I was unsucessful. Maybe it's a scheflerra after all. I will check in my book on Monday.

The only other plant I have at home is a pothos, and it's quite beautiful. Oh, and I forgot to mention the cherry tomatoes I got a few weeks ago. No red one as of yet, I live in Canada, and we didn't get warm weather yet.

At work, I have several african violets, as well as an aphelandra, and a staghorn fern. The fern is quite spectacular, although it's still pretty young. I love looking at the new leaves growing, it's quite amazing how this plant has two different types of leaves. La nature fait bien les choses (nature does things well)

I wish I had a garden, but city living often doesn't allow it. So my tomatoes are my only outdoor life at the moment.

I like hawortias too. :)

Have a good weekend too...

Helene in cold Canada

Reply to
Helene

Lack of social skills?

Hellion pretending to be a helpless damsel in distress when she is really an inept evil bitch would hardly be my idea of someone who has good social skills.

If she is expecting to find people to kiss her evil ass, she should look somewhere else.

If I met her in person, I surely would tell her to take a hike. I don't waste my time with those kind of manipulative phonies.

Yeah, why don't you try something radical like look in a book, you lazy good for nothing.

Hellion is obviously far too lazy and stupid to be anything as difficult as a lawyer. An office clerk maybe.

Reply to
Cereus-validus

As time goes by, the thickening will just continue. I consider it a perk.......we won't talk about the Vitelegio I have........makes for interesting conversation.....

yeah, but I only partook of the noble herb, not the cancerous ritual weed given by my ancestors to the unsuspecting settlers. The hard drinking has always been just a love of the vino, and now it's an interesting drink on occaison,perhaps my falling down fools people into thinking I'm drunken and not just clumsy And because of my lack of a good set of nibs when I was younger, the inclination to be nude at the beach was overshadowed by an occaisonal skinny dip with Squire when I first met him. I was a bit more modest then than now. And I've grown into me maturity and don't mind scaring the fish! lol

Be sure to put on moisturizer and sun block when you go out

Will do, Cereoid. I hafta. Those large patches of white on me hands will suck up the nasty rays and give me skin cancer, and it's not a nice thing to get......thanks for your care and consideration sugar

Agreed. That is why I insinuated that she had a thin skin. (well duh.....) It is ridiculous that she would go on

went over her head totally, didn't it? It is amazing how she

I'm always amazed by qualities exibited such. Which was my case in point with my friend. A genius who had no common sense. I was trying to be kinder I suppose.........

Such

nahhh, I don't coddle 'em anymore, Fashizzle, after werking at Lowes Outside Lawn and Garden now for the last 18 months, the coddling is out and headed down the road. I guess I explain what is unnecessary. Bad habit of mine.

agreed. you read my mind. Get outa there, it's a dark place with strange rooms of complex and disturbing proportions...

no doubt.... maddie

Reply to
madgardener

I tend to not sweat the petty things and not pet the sweaty things. Cherry tomato's do nicely in containers on a balcony. No harm sugar. I tend to be more empathetic and explainatory. I also tend to like almost everyone. That's my nature. Just a caring Capricorn. I've been here since 1998 I think is when I ventured onto the newsgroup. I like the people pretty much. And there's always something to make me smile, cry or go hmmmmm.. have a good weekend. madgardener

Reply to
madgardener

Hi madgardener,

Well, lucky you for your thick skin, I'm not always able to ignore someone who insults me. Yes, I admit it, I have a thin skin.

What I do not admit however, is to being a "genious with no common-sense". I'm sorry, but your definition of common sense must be different from mine. Case in point :

1) rocks we're covering the top soil of my plant simply because my cat thought it was a nifty litter box. She never tried it again after the rocks were in place. They are now removed and she apparently forgot the plant's previous usage.

2) my plant was put outside as per my annual schedule. This plant has been outside every summer since I have it, which is about 7 years. Its spot has direct sunlight only in the morning for a few hours. I bring the plant back inside at fall when the nights get below 15C. Every year, it grows more beautiful during the summer and its growth slows down the rest of the year. Maybe the plant has the 7 year itch... :)

3) it is a well known fat that something wet will dry when put in the sun. So for a begginner, putting the plant outside as I usually do was only logical...

So let's just agree for the record that there is no such thing as lack of common sense in someone who just isn't knowledgeable...

And last, but not least :

4) how can someone not react when asking a question, is told that she's a dimwit and should just give up?

I think from now on, when I have nothing nice to say, I will just shut up. Here's to hoping that a certain someone will do the same and get over it already. Happy 4th of July!

Cheers!

Helene in cold Quebec

And by the way, I have a law degree, but I'm not a lawyer. I have a high level job at the government. So let's not judge anyone here and make assomptions just for the fun of being mean.

Reply to
Helene

"Well, lucky you for your thick skin, I'm not always able to ignore someone who insults me. Yes, I admit it, I have a thin skin."

A lawyer with a "thin skin"???

It must be a laugh riot when she throws hissy fits during cross examinations!!!

Oh sorry, now she says she's not a lawyer after all and she just lied when she said she was. Seems she is far worse than just being flaky.

Now the twinkie admits to years of abusing her plant.

If she had done the same to her pat cat where do you think she would be now because of her habitual inept careless abuse?

She actually believes the loony things she does are logical? Maybe they are in Bizarro world?

I once knew the sister of an exgirlfriend that worked for the government in child support. She had a law degree too but the loopy biatch had absolutely no sense at all. It is an unwritten government policy to hire the incompetent. Seems we've got ourselves another winner! The only reason the work themselves up the ladder is because the more competent ones leave for much better paying jobs in the private sector.

Reply to
Cereus-validus

nothing wrong with that. I used to have a thin skin myself. At my young age of 51, and former position of doormat, I learned just by bad experiences to be gentler and less affected by insulting words directed towards me. With everything that has happened to me on the shocked and horrible scale (and there are some serious things that have happened to me in my life that I'm not afraid of talking about or am ashamed of) I should be a most bitter, cynical person. Instead, I find that somehow I am pessimistically optimistic. I am a realist.

First thing, you were not whom I was calling a genius with no common sense. That was my friend, Alice who I've known since I was three. And EVERY person I've encountered in my life who has been gifted in higher intelligence has suffered in someway, either in common sense or by emotional maturity.

Where Alice lacked a basic common sense, my ex-husband whose IQ was so high it was frightening was artistic, musical with no effort, seeming to be born to be able to just pick up a guitar and play every chord, could write, was very deep, but suffered horribly from Schizophenia. I know another gentleman of aquaintances that has a rather high IQ, who has not only intelligence but a photographic memory and natural understanding of Latin despite that he never took it but "couldn't pour piss outa a boot without the instructions were written on the heel" and then he'd still question the instructions in some way.

You were being a bit persumptious there when you thought I was implying that you were either a genius or lacked common sense. I have no idea as to the level of your intelligence. I just was saying that just because you were a law student, which takes intelligence of it's own kind to understand all the things legal and such, didn't mean it was bad that you didn't know what was wrong with your plant or how to fix it. I must not have made myself clear, which is a mistake I make when writing sometimes. Granted, I write TOO MUCH in detail most times, but often there is that little voice in the back of my head dictating and I don't always get every thought thru clearly.

I've done the same thing with the lava rocks that come in bags sold at Lowes. And since it's lava rock, it's porous, and light weight, I never had to remove it and water just went thru to the soil underneath. Great minds think alike! although I did this 15 years ago when one of my cats discovered the rather large pot of Schifflera (concidence!) was a perfect place to urinate and leave lumps of love for me. Almost killed the plant with the urine....The lumps of love weren't as bad as the pee was due to the high salt content and such. I had to repot the thing and it took a 40 pound bag of soil to fix the problem and that's when I got my idea of putting lava rock on top of the soil to deter his visits to his own personal potty. Fixed his cat's ass rather quickly.

well this is better than your first post. More informative, I will say. And think about this.....you live in Canada. Different lattitude. Different climate. And you just said that it was still cold up there. Schiff's are tropical, and when your spring and summer warm up, it's happy. Morning sunlight is perfect for these plants, as I think they are understory plants in the jungle. (someone can correct me if I'm mistaken, I've never seen them growing in the wild, so how would I know?) And that's exactly what it's supposed to do. Grow during the "growing period" of it's plant life, and then slow down and go more dormant during it's "winter" when probably rains aren't as plentiful and even though it's still warm by our standards, it's cooler for it by comparrison.

Mine go banana's during the summer as it's extremely humid and hot during our mid springs and summer into the fall. I even have a 200 pound Cereus cactus that despite it's being a cactus, thrives during the rainy summer and sometimes gifts me with a healthy huge extension. If not, it always blooms, with many many buds that ripen at their own pace and bloom once a night and then are finished. I've counted as many as 39 buds on this cactus but they don't all bloom at the same time. I just hate there are no nocturnal pollinators to do their thing with it and it could set seeds. I have to take cuttings if I want another one, and this is so large now that I don't even bother.

and that was a good thing honey. You don't have to justify your actions. You did well. But when it started showing something was wrong, you turned to the newsgroup for assistance.

As someone much older and wiser than me said today "Cereus-Validus feeds on attacking newbies because most of the regular posters have learned to ignore his foul-mouthed, vitriolic attacks. If one ignores him, he has nothing to bolster his ego and leaves one alone. Sure some of the newbies ask stupid questions that can be found elsewhere, but I don't think most of them realize this when they post a question. They think someone in the ng will help them. His attacks often serve little purpose beyond driving newbies away with the vow that they'll never ask another."

I agree..........

by feeding the fire, it gets larger. Remember the lession about bullies. If you don't respond to their toutings and teasings they get bored and leave you alone. You said yourself that "As per my search on Google, all he does is insult everyone. " Sad to think you had to find that out after getting into a shit slinging contest....I don't even try to best him. I'm not good at barbs or slings. I think of them far too late to have effects. I am more of a comedian at times............

thank you. I hope there was no harm or foul here with my interjecting my thoughts. maddie

Reply to
madgardener

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