WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.280 --> 00:00:03.520 Do you enjoy Plant Debty podcast. Do you find yourself listening to us going 2 00:00:03.600 --> 00:00:07.879 on and on about plants after more than one hundred episodes, then consider supporting 3 00:00:07.919 --> 00:00:11.560 us on Patreon, where official patrons get access to our show ad free with 4 00:00:11.599 --> 00:00:14.640 a little bonus after show that we started recently as well, or you could 5 00:00:14.679 --> 00:00:17.719 just fund us a cup of coffee to keep the plantytalk coming, or tell 6 00:00:17.760 --> 00:00:20.719 a friend or leave a positive review, and as always, thank you for 7 00:00:20.760 --> 00:00:26.440 listening and supporting us in any way that works for you. And we're a 8 00:00:26.440 --> 00:00:43.840 live This is Plant Debty podcast. I'm Matthew and I'm Stephen. Are you 9 00:00:43.920 --> 00:00:47.560 bored of spider plants but don't need anything too too different? Do you like 10 00:00:47.640 --> 00:00:50.840 the color of cantalo? Yeah? Have you ever wanted to grow a plant 11 00:00:50.840 --> 00:00:55.920 that looks like an orange dream circle? Hasta indoors. We're serious, it's 12 00:00:56.079 --> 00:01:00.240 pretty darn unique. If the answers yes, maybe or what, then we 13 00:01:00.280 --> 00:01:03.280 have a plant for you. Yeah. So this is one that we've both 14 00:01:03.320 --> 00:01:07.799 been interested in trying since episode one twelve when we discussed spider plants and we 15 00:01:07.840 --> 00:01:11.519 mentioned this one as a relative worth looking into. I then found it for 16 00:01:11.560 --> 00:01:15.480 sale at Miles's shops shortly thereafter and bought us four inch starter plants, which 17 00:01:15.480 --> 00:01:19.799 were then part of our holiday plants swap in episode one twenty Yes, and 18 00:01:19.920 --> 00:01:25.920 we were both excited about these emphasized on both and were did the plant live 19 00:01:26.000 --> 00:01:30.079 up to the hype or well our hype? Anyway, the day is finally 20 00:01:30.120 --> 00:01:36.519 here when all these questions will be answered answered echo. So Stephen and I 21 00:01:36.560 --> 00:01:38.959 are both dedicated plant daddies who don't mind the look of grow lights indoors. 22 00:01:40.319 --> 00:01:42.719 That's right, It's for the plants. They need that light. But you 23 00:01:42.840 --> 00:01:47.879 know, not everyone feels that way. I know other plant parents who are 24 00:01:48.000 --> 00:01:52.040 very reluctant about the look of artificial light. And I even heard your own 25 00:01:52.120 --> 00:01:56.040 husband complain about how the grow lights in your last apartment gave him a headache. 26 00:01:56.439 --> 00:01:59.400 Okay, I'm so glad you remember that and brought him up. Brian, 27 00:02:00.040 --> 00:02:01.920 come toll, Stephen, what you're telling our friends about my new Soultech 28 00:02:01.959 --> 00:02:07.120 pendant light? Oh hi, Stephen, Hey, Okay, be honest. 29 00:02:07.400 --> 00:02:10.120 What do you think about the Soultech plant light. I can't believe how unobtrusive 30 00:02:10.120 --> 00:02:13.520 it is. Matthew hung it right next to a chair. I'd like to 31 00:02:13.560 --> 00:02:15.960 read in and I thought for sure that i'd hate it, But it's just 32 00:02:15.080 --> 00:02:19.840 pleasant indoor lighting, like the light from a normal light fixture that a normal 33 00:02:19.879 --> 00:02:23.080 person would have in a normal home. It's so much better than the girl 34 00:02:23.159 --> 00:02:27.800 lights in his office. That room still gives me a headache. Well, 35 00:02:27.960 --> 00:02:30.520 there you go. He wasn't paid or course to say this, I promise. 36 00:02:31.159 --> 00:02:37.479 Yeah, that is an unvarnished reaction from a long suffering spouse of well, 37 00:02:37.520 --> 00:02:42.240 you all know a very enthusiastic plant parent. Let's call it. So. 38 00:02:42.319 --> 00:02:45.240 Let's add this to the list of reasons we're excited to offer our listeners 39 00:02:45.240 --> 00:02:49.680 fifteen percent off Soultech products with Code Plant Debty podcast and as always, you 40 00:02:49.719 --> 00:02:52.919 can count on a high quality lights, great customer service, free shipping, 41 00:02:53.039 --> 00:02:57.039 a five year warranty and more. Checkout soultech Solutions dot com and don't forget 42 00:02:57.039 --> 00:03:04.400 Code Plant Debty Podcast at checkout to get fifteen percent off your order. Okay, 43 00:03:04.439 --> 00:03:07.360 what is it and why is it interesting? Well, today we're talking 44 00:03:07.400 --> 00:03:10.759 about a plant whose Latin name is bizarrely unclear, but it goes by common 45 00:03:10.840 --> 00:03:15.680 names that include mandarin plant, fireflash plant, or spider plant, Sierra leone, 46 00:03:15.719 --> 00:03:21.479 lily, and chlorophyed Um mandroide rickey. So whether it's properly identified as 47 00:03:21.560 --> 00:03:28.039 clorified Um amaniensis or chlorified um orchandastrum or chlorophyedum orchidanthroid is this plant and the 48 00:03:28.080 --> 00:03:30.479 spider plant are the only members of their genus that are grown as houseplants, 49 00:03:30.520 --> 00:03:35.000 at least of which I am aware that is a lot of names. Some 50 00:03:35.080 --> 00:03:38.240 of those are cool. I will admit that part of the appeal to me 51 00:03:38.520 --> 00:03:42.800 was the spider plant relationship. The color this one is pretty interesting, and 52 00:03:42.960 --> 00:03:46.400 if it's even distantly related, it has to be easy to cultivate, right, 53 00:03:46.479 --> 00:03:50.240 you know, So if it's a spider plant cousin, how similar is 54 00:03:50.240 --> 00:03:53.639 it to spider plant? Well, before we get into the similarities of care, 55 00:03:53.960 --> 00:03:55.759 if you look at the Sierra Leone lily as a botanist, I guess 56 00:03:55.960 --> 00:04:00.360 you'll notice that it's a monocote, so grassy parallel veins like the spider plant, 57 00:04:00.680 --> 00:04:05.199 and it has a similarly fleshy, kind of crisply tender texture to its 58 00:04:05.240 --> 00:04:10.560 foliage that grows in world rosettes. And it also has really thick, fleshy 59 00:04:10.680 --> 00:04:15.439 white roots with kind of tuberous appendages. But while The spider plant has long, 60 00:04:15.520 --> 00:04:18.240 thin, narrow leaves, typically striped with white or different shades of green. 61 00:04:18.560 --> 00:04:24.079 The manarin plant has broader foliage. It's more evenly medium green, but 62 00:04:24.199 --> 00:04:30.720 with strikingly contrasting petioles. They're like a vivid creamsicle cantalope orange. They extend 63 00:04:30.800 --> 00:04:32.439 with the mid vein into the leaf blade from the crown of the plant. 64 00:04:32.959 --> 00:04:36.639 It's truly an amazing color that I don't think I can think of a single 65 00:04:36.720 --> 00:04:42.160 other plant that really has this. So they grow indoors, and it's truly 66 00:04:42.160 --> 00:04:46.319 what sets it apart from all other plants that have this kind of like general 67 00:04:46.480 --> 00:04:50.240 shape and form to them. It just in very generic shades of green and 68 00:04:50.319 --> 00:04:56.079 as a fairly wide distribution throughout the tropical regions of Central Africa. Okay, 69 00:04:56.120 --> 00:04:59.600 And that took a little while for us to find out what we feel relatively 70 00:04:59.639 --> 00:05:02.319 confident now, I think, right, yeah, I've seen Tanzania and Sarah 71 00:05:02.360 --> 00:05:08.319 leone specifically mentioned, but you saw somewhere in Southeast Asia, which I do 72 00:05:08.360 --> 00:05:11.360 not think is true at all. But one of the fun things that I 73 00:05:11.480 --> 00:05:15.519 learned about this is that it's apparently only been in the United States plant trade 74 00:05:15.639 --> 00:05:18.560 since the nineteen nineties, So you could grow this with your zz plant for 75 00:05:18.600 --> 00:05:23.279 a little nod to newly introduce plants of the same era if you wanted, 76 00:05:24.079 --> 00:05:27.600 Yeah, that would be a crickets moment. I would love to see that 77 00:05:28.199 --> 00:05:30.439 though. If any wants to try that hard, yeah, you could do 78 00:05:30.480 --> 00:05:33.560 it next year. Radiator that has a little humidity tray with pepperumia on it 79 00:05:33.600 --> 00:05:39.279 if you remember a string Trails episode. Right, Okay, so what are 80 00:05:39.279 --> 00:05:44.560 the ideal recommended growing conditions for the mandarin plants coming back down to Earth? 81 00:05:45.680 --> 00:05:49.639 So let's start this off by saying that compared to spider plants, it's more 82 00:05:49.639 --> 00:05:55.040 picky, which isn't tough, But I wouldn't classify this as difficult really either. 83 00:05:55.639 --> 00:05:59.079 Maybe I can't quite decide yet. Actually yeah, And you know, 84 00:05:59.199 --> 00:06:01.079 honestly, I think you might be tough on it because to me, the 85 00:06:01.120 --> 00:06:06.399 mandarin plant has basically just needed occasional water on a suitable window sill. And 86 00:06:06.600 --> 00:06:11.199 you're making me suspect that maybe you just don't really know what it's like to 87 00:06:11.199 --> 00:06:14.680 grow a spider plant, and you assume it's just a set it and forget 88 00:06:14.680 --> 00:06:17.959 it plant, which they're hardy, but not really that hardy, But I 89 00:06:18.000 --> 00:06:21.360 do think that you're slightly onto something here. What did you read about them 90 00:06:21.560 --> 00:06:26.560 when you were getting started? So looking online, I saw a filtered light 91 00:06:26.600 --> 00:06:30.240 recommended, with consistent suggestions that lower light is okay for this plant, or 92 00:06:30.279 --> 00:06:33.040 maybe even better for it. Yeah, it's often cautioned not to put this 93 00:06:33.079 --> 00:06:35.839 plant in direct sun at all, and I bet that you could get away 94 00:06:35.879 --> 00:06:40.040 with some morning sun. But a lot of people see that their plants get 95 00:06:40.079 --> 00:06:43.720 gnarly looking if they're actually grown with very much some right, Okay. I 96 00:06:43.759 --> 00:06:46.600 saw a well draining soil too, to the surprise of probably no one yep. 97 00:06:46.680 --> 00:06:50.959 But typical indoor potting mix is probably perfectly fine if you're not a soil 98 00:06:51.000 --> 00:06:54.920 amender, so easy there as well. Even if you are, it might 99 00:06:54.920 --> 00:06:57.639 not be worth it. Yeah, I didn't with mine. I'll kind of 100 00:06:57.639 --> 00:07:00.399 get into that later. As far as watering, these don't sound super picky 101 00:07:00.600 --> 00:07:04.040 from the online care infoe, I saw it said that they weren't sensitive to 102 00:07:04.120 --> 00:07:10.160 drag out, which is nice, and probably distilled water or rain water should 103 00:07:10.160 --> 00:07:14.040 be used as these are more sensitive to fluoride. I may complain more about 104 00:07:14.040 --> 00:07:17.240 that in detail later as well. Overall, all of this makes it sound 105 00:07:17.240 --> 00:07:21.240 like this is a solid indoor foliage plant choice. But did our experiences match? 106 00:07:21.519 --> 00:07:25.720 Yeah, so let's talk about what our approaches work for this plant and 107 00:07:25.920 --> 00:07:30.199 how successful we found them. So I had mixed results. It's gone better 108 00:07:30.240 --> 00:07:31.720 for you, I think, though, right, Matthew, Yeah, you 109 00:07:31.800 --> 00:07:36.759 know, no shade, but I think that my mandarin plant looks significantly nicer 110 00:07:36.759 --> 00:07:42.240 than yours. Thank god. Though. Yeah, I don't really think that 111 00:07:42.279 --> 00:07:46.519 you've been neglectful or mistreated yours in anyway. So maybe we can compare notes 112 00:07:46.519 --> 00:07:48.720 and come up with some theories about what's going on for our individual plants, 113 00:07:48.759 --> 00:07:53.639 because it might just be luck. Okay, yeah, we'll see. Yeah, 114 00:07:53.720 --> 00:07:56.360 so just give the rundown of what I've done for mine. I brought 115 00:07:56.399 --> 00:07:59.319 both of our plants and for Miles's shop at the end of twenty twenty one. 116 00:07:59.480 --> 00:08:01.519 I put them on a medium light shelf of microax for a few weeks, 117 00:08:01.680 --> 00:08:05.560 just kind of acclimate to my home. I wanted to monitor them a 118 00:08:05.560 --> 00:08:09.120 bit, just to see if I know just anything particular about their water or 119 00:08:09.199 --> 00:08:11.920 their light needs. But they didn't really seem to have any adjustment issues, 120 00:08:13.160 --> 00:08:16.240 and they were both the same size and four inch pots. They both looked 121 00:08:16.319 --> 00:08:18.360 pretty much equivalent, so when it came down for a plant swap, I 122 00:08:18.439 --> 00:08:22.759 just randomly picked one out for you and then put mine in a destination that 123 00:08:22.839 --> 00:08:26.279 I figured would kind of be more or less permanent. That ended up being 124 00:08:26.279 --> 00:08:31.680 on an east facing window sill of my downstairs bathroom, and the windows are 125 00:08:31.720 --> 00:08:35.519 actually frosted glass, so it diffuses the light and it probably makes it more 126 00:08:35.519 --> 00:08:37.919 equivalent to a north window. Okay, that's kind of how I treat it 127 00:08:37.960 --> 00:08:41.840 anyway, And I just stuck the nursery pot in a cash pot for aesthetics 128 00:08:43.000 --> 00:08:46.039 until I got around to repotting it. But since then I have just watered 129 00:08:46.039 --> 00:08:50.399 it as I remember, or if it starts to look a little droopy, 130 00:08:50.679 --> 00:08:54.600 it doesn't do that thing where the leaves kind of get pale like a spider 131 00:08:54.600 --> 00:08:56.799 plant does. Okay, so sometimes it does dry out actually quite a bit, 132 00:08:56.840 --> 00:09:01.600 and sometimes fully, but it really doesn't seem to have been too bothered 133 00:09:01.679 --> 00:09:05.360 by this, and I think that it does have fairly consistent temperatures that dip 134 00:09:05.360 --> 00:09:09.240 at night. The humidity is pretty moderate, between like forty to sixty percent. 135 00:09:09.360 --> 00:09:13.279 There's no hot or cool drafts, so it's a great location for ferns 136 00:09:13.279 --> 00:09:18.320 for context, okay, And is the color scheme in there already orange or 137 00:09:20.120 --> 00:09:24.879 actually it's like a kind of mint green, like a vintage jade color. 138 00:09:24.000 --> 00:09:28.600 So the orange, it's kind of a nice contrast. I can see that 139 00:09:28.679 --> 00:09:31.159 kind of working. Okay, Yeah, I actually like it. That was 140 00:09:31.200 --> 00:09:33.639 a joke, but I was thinking that I might need to get a shower 141 00:09:33.679 --> 00:09:39.399 curtain that kind of like brings more warm orange, pink coral hues and to 142 00:09:39.399 --> 00:09:43.639 make that plant make more sense les design around the plants. Okay, I 143 00:09:43.679 --> 00:09:45.919 don't know if this plant's going to live long enough for me to make that 144 00:09:45.960 --> 00:09:50.000 commitment, but stop spoiling. Yep, here we go. Okay, So, 145 00:09:50.159 --> 00:09:52.960 like I said, I left it in the nursery pot because I intended 146 00:09:54.039 --> 00:09:56.519 to repot it eventually. But then it began to grow a flower stock and 147 00:09:56.639 --> 00:10:03.159 it stopped growing leaves entirely. And and even though the individual flowers are benign, 148 00:10:03.399 --> 00:10:09.200 if not cute, the flower stock itself is like weirdly unattractive. Yeah. 149 00:10:09.279 --> 00:10:13.600 Yeah. The pale yellowish orange blossoms are star shaped. They're similar to 150 00:10:13.639 --> 00:10:18.279 a spider plant, but they're held on a stout spike that's kind of the 151 00:10:18.320 --> 00:10:22.720 same sherbet orange color as the petioles, and each flower only lasts like a 152 00:10:22.799 --> 00:10:26.600 day or so, but then numerous ones open in sequence, starting at the 153 00:10:26.639 --> 00:10:30.879 base tucked really tight between the worlds of foliage, and then as the blooms 154 00:10:30.960 --> 00:10:35.759 fade, three angled seed capsules begin to develop for most of the flowers, 155 00:10:35.879 --> 00:10:39.080 which also begin in that kind of creamy orange color. But as they mature, 156 00:10:39.360 --> 00:10:43.600 the bracts and the flowers that didn't end up turning into seed pods turn 157 00:10:43.720 --> 00:10:48.480 black, and the pods themselves grow in size. They take on a kind 158 00:10:48.480 --> 00:10:52.279 of greenish hue. They're slightly translucent actually, so you can actually see the 159 00:10:52.320 --> 00:10:58.039 seeds developing inside, which is kind of cool, but ultimately the spike is 160 00:10:58.120 --> 00:11:01.840 kind of like this wretched accessor on the plant. Yeah, so I'll cover 161 00:11:01.919 --> 00:11:05.720 what I read about growing them from seed in the botanical corner at the end 162 00:11:05.759 --> 00:11:09.200 of the episode. But what I read did inspire me to let the seed 163 00:11:09.200 --> 00:11:13.759 capsules mature on the plant, and this takes a surprising amount of time. 164 00:11:15.159 --> 00:11:18.240 So mine started flowering at either the end of December or the first days of 165 00:11:18.320 --> 00:11:22.919 January, and then just last week it's mid May. By now, the 166 00:11:22.960 --> 00:11:28.039 first capsules dried out and began to open with ripe seeds. Okay, I'm 167 00:11:28.120 --> 00:11:31.879 still waiting for that, actually, but I'll check. I don't look at 168 00:11:31.919 --> 00:11:37.600 this one a ton lately. Yeah, it's taking a very long time. 169 00:11:37.919 --> 00:11:41.320 Yeah, but you know, by now it's also started to grow new foliage 170 00:11:41.320 --> 00:11:45.320 again from the original whirl that paused while flowering, And this is sort of 171 00:11:45.360 --> 00:11:48.440 like shoving up against the ugly, drying out flower spike. But then I 172 00:11:48.480 --> 00:11:52.840 also noticed that the second role is starting from the base of the flower stock 173 00:11:52.879 --> 00:11:56.399 as well. So the original flower spike also put out a few more blooms 174 00:11:56.519 --> 00:12:01.399 recently, like well after the last ones were done a few months ago, 175 00:12:01.799 --> 00:12:05.600 and there seemed to be more seed capsules beginning to develop. So anyway, 176 00:12:05.759 --> 00:12:09.320 it's producing a ton of seeds, and I'm going to harvest them, plant 177 00:12:09.320 --> 00:12:11.919 them to germinate soon, and then remove the flower stock to let them other 178 00:12:11.960 --> 00:12:16.080 plant just work on her foliage. At that point, I'm going to be 179 00:12:16.080 --> 00:12:18.200 repotting it, and I think I'm gonna use a glazed claypot so it doesn't 180 00:12:18.279 --> 00:12:24.720 dry too fast, and just use an unaugmented like light well draining mix that 181 00:12:24.759 --> 00:12:28.480 retains moisture. I'm not going to overthink this at all, and then I'm 182 00:12:28.480 --> 00:12:31.159 hoping that it just fills in the pot nicely after this, because they kind 183 00:12:31.159 --> 00:12:35.480 of look a bit sad with just a single growth point, and the best 184 00:12:35.519 --> 00:12:39.799 looking plants that I've seen in photos online are much more developed with several growths 185 00:12:39.840 --> 00:12:43.360 that really give them a lush, brightly colored light. Hey, yeah, 186 00:12:43.399 --> 00:12:46.159 I agree with a lot of that. Does it sound like I've been that 187 00:12:46.279 --> 00:12:50.919 much more successful than you? Not terribly? Maybe you had like different feelings 188 00:12:52.159 --> 00:12:56.279 as a result. Maybe that's what this is anyway, curiosity. I'll say 189 00:12:56.360 --> 00:13:01.720 that I went into this assuming I would get spider plant levels of hardiness. 190 00:13:01.960 --> 00:13:05.600 That probably didn't help. Like Matthew said, I haven't grown a spider plant 191 00:13:05.639 --> 00:13:09.200 recently. I grew in childhood. I just have like an idea of spider 192 00:13:09.240 --> 00:13:13.480 plants, and you know how easy they are, so I should own that 193 00:13:13.519 --> 00:13:16.639 too. And I'll admit right away that's kind of a lot for any plant 194 00:13:16.639 --> 00:13:20.159 to live up too. So I got the plant. I potted it up 195 00:13:20.200 --> 00:13:22.519 in an off the shelf mix from a favorite local plant store, the Indoor 196 00:13:22.559 --> 00:13:26.080 Sun Shop. So I'm already like putting it, you know, in soil 197 00:13:26.120 --> 00:13:31.679 that I think is better I'm not like treating this poorly. YEA included slow 198 00:13:31.759 --> 00:13:37.200 released fertilizer two in the soil at nearly the advised levels. That's a big 199 00:13:37.240 --> 00:13:41.159 step for me. You added that yourself. Yes, I'm a good fertilizer 200 00:13:41.240 --> 00:13:45.679 fearing still kind of carnivorous plant person me. I think that part went fine. 201 00:13:46.000 --> 00:13:46.840 You know. I didn't overdo it, for sure. I think I 202 00:13:46.840 --> 00:13:50.679 still kind of low balled it. Then I put it in a big east 203 00:13:50.720 --> 00:13:54.240 facing window, but near a grow light too, so it was always getting 204 00:13:54.240 --> 00:13:56.879 a bit of light, then sometimes a lot of light in the morning. 205 00:13:56.320 --> 00:14:01.879 It probably got some temperature swings near that window as I started this in winter 206 00:14:01.000 --> 00:14:05.080 like you did, and it's now warming up. But again we're in Seattle, 207 00:14:05.159 --> 00:14:09.480 so I think it's all relatively temperate. I planned to drench it weakly, 208 00:14:09.600 --> 00:14:11.240 which is kind of a standard treatment in my house for what it's worth. 209 00:14:11.360 --> 00:14:13.559 Like, I was just trying to fit it into the routines so it 210 00:14:13.679 --> 00:14:18.879 got consistent attention, and I was pretty good about keeping up with that root 211 00:14:18.919 --> 00:14:22.440 screw out of the bottom of the pot. Pretty quickly, everything seemed okay, 212 00:14:22.559 --> 00:14:26.519 all right. Like Matthews, it flowered and grew seed pods, around 213 00:14:26.600 --> 00:14:31.120 the same time as his, and I kept them thinking a seed growing experience 214 00:14:31.120 --> 00:14:35.320 could be fun. There's a flush of new growth coming out now, kind 215 00:14:35.320 --> 00:14:39.919 of off the side of that after quite arrest while the flowers and seed pods 216 00:14:39.960 --> 00:14:43.759 were happening, and the new growth looks pretty nice actually no good. So 217 00:14:43.840 --> 00:14:48.840 yeah, there's like the bare facts of this situation. But my plant just 218 00:14:48.919 --> 00:14:54.240 does not look good. I have major browning tips issues, like inches of 219 00:14:54.279 --> 00:15:00.240 browning leaf tips where it's basically leaving that definition and getting into half dead leaf 220 00:15:00.440 --> 00:15:03.639 territory. Okay, like you saw my plant. Yeah, the flower and 221 00:15:03.720 --> 00:15:09.480 seed experience, it really matches what Matthew said for me too. Sometimes I 222 00:15:09.559 --> 00:15:15.000 find like interesting pieces or like a strange cuteness from things that Matthew doesn't right, 223 00:15:15.080 --> 00:15:18.559 But that just was not the case for me here, Like I might 224 00:15:18.600 --> 00:15:22.840 have actually found it cuter than you did. Maybe I really thought of cutting 225 00:15:22.840 --> 00:15:26.039 these off often so the plant could just like focus on full age instead and 226 00:15:26.080 --> 00:15:30.799 I kind of wouldn't have to look at it. The new growth does look 227 00:15:30.879 --> 00:15:33.360 nice now, it's kind of going off to the side that you know, 228 00:15:33.600 --> 00:15:41.360 juicy yet crisped up looking tower of seeds or whatever. It's like this homunculous 229 00:15:41.399 --> 00:15:43.799 portion of the plant that you can't really hide. So, I mean the 230 00:15:43.799 --> 00:15:46.600 new growth is great, Like does it make it all better? Not really. 231 00:15:48.559 --> 00:15:50.600 You know, if you've heard this show before, you know me and 232 00:15:50.759 --> 00:15:54.360 my relationship with leafy tropicals. I thought this plant would be like, you 233 00:15:54.399 --> 00:15:58.879 know, a three day, all inclusive crews sort of experience, like you 234 00:15:58.879 --> 00:16:02.000 know, just a little top of something. Yeah, and it's easy, 235 00:16:02.039 --> 00:16:04.879 it doesn't take a lot of time, but it's just not very good looking. 236 00:16:06.039 --> 00:16:11.159 I feel like I'm left with three or four potential issues driving that bad 237 00:16:11.240 --> 00:16:14.639 look. I'm not terribly motivated to figure it out. I guess, so 238 00:16:15.240 --> 00:16:18.879 where you know and rant, But there, you know, there's the truth. 239 00:16:18.919 --> 00:16:22.080 We're going to have to have an update after like it has maybe recovered 240 00:16:22.120 --> 00:16:26.879 from its seed growing experience. Maybe maybe not. Maybe they'll impress us. 241 00:16:27.399 --> 00:16:30.720 So, um, let's get to the challenges, because I don't know, 242 00:16:30.799 --> 00:16:34.600 it's maybe a mixed bag here. Yeah, so to the surprise him, 243 00:16:34.639 --> 00:16:38.720 no one, I probably have more of these than you this time. Challenges. 244 00:16:38.879 --> 00:16:41.919 Yeah, but honestly, I don't really know why. I don't think 245 00:16:41.919 --> 00:16:47.320 that I'm doing anything that's uniquely different or in any way better. So I'm 246 00:16:47.360 --> 00:16:51.519 taking this as an indicator that results might be pretty mixed for this plant. 247 00:16:51.639 --> 00:16:56.080 I saw it kind of rated as easy to moderate on a few different websites. 248 00:16:56.200 --> 00:16:59.679 Okay, so it just doesn't seem like you're doing anything clearly wrong. 249 00:17:00.039 --> 00:17:03.200 And I think our plants came from the exact same greenhouse, grown side by 250 00:17:03.240 --> 00:17:07.640 side, imagine, So I don't know. Yeah, So okay again, 251 00:17:07.799 --> 00:17:11.039 browning leaf tips. That was a huge part of this experience for me. 252 00:17:11.400 --> 00:17:15.559 Like we said in the spider Plant episode, perhaps this was caused by fluoride 253 00:17:15.559 --> 00:17:18.359 in the tap water I was using. And fine, I sort of knew 254 00:17:18.400 --> 00:17:22.400 that could affect this, but like, really, I need to buy distilled 255 00:17:22.440 --> 00:17:26.359 water for this plant. I just don't think this plant is worth it because 256 00:17:26.359 --> 00:17:29.799 I don't either. Yeah, if you want my opinion, it's seldom worth 257 00:17:29.839 --> 00:17:33.039 it to have a fairly generic foliage plant that just can't live with the water 258 00:17:33.079 --> 00:17:37.079 that comes out of your tap, at least when you're lucky enough to have 259 00:17:37.279 --> 00:17:41.319 the high quality water that we have in the Pacific Northwest, even though we 260 00:17:41.319 --> 00:17:45.720 were suspecting that living blocks apart, I had first water quality than you did 261 00:17:45.759 --> 00:17:48.359 for carnivorous plants. But it's never been an issue for you. Exactly. 262 00:17:48.440 --> 00:17:52.640 We have pretty pure water here in Seattle, at least for a major American 263 00:17:52.680 --> 00:17:56.759 city, and I don't even have to get distilled water from my carnivorous plants 264 00:17:56.759 --> 00:18:00.960 here. Usually they're a lot more sensitive exactly. So yeah, it feels 265 00:18:00.960 --> 00:18:03.440 a little rude to me that I would have to do that for this one. 266 00:18:03.680 --> 00:18:07.640 And I feel okay like calling this a challenge for this plant. I 267 00:18:07.680 --> 00:18:11.200 mean, maybe it's more of a challenge for me than people generally. You 268 00:18:11.240 --> 00:18:14.039 know, I know a lot of people who use rainwater more than I do. 269 00:18:14.839 --> 00:18:18.039 I'll own that. I guess I'm wondering how much of the leaf damage 270 00:18:18.079 --> 00:18:22.880 was just from general like light and temperature and humidity chaos on my window cells 271 00:18:22.880 --> 00:18:26.279 too. It's an east facing window, like I said, so it's not 272 00:18:26.319 --> 00:18:32.160 the most brutal window experience here or something, but it's an old building with 273 00:18:32.359 --> 00:18:36.680 vintage windows that aren't very insulated. I had just moved in, so, 274 00:18:37.039 --> 00:18:38.759 you know, I guess it was kind of a canary maybe in a coal 275 00:18:38.759 --> 00:18:41.759 mine. I don't know. Yeah, but again, you're literally just giving 276 00:18:41.799 --> 00:18:45.319 it solid conditions that aren't terribly different from what a lot of plant parents. 277 00:18:45.359 --> 00:18:48.559 I like you to offer this plant. I have other plants in the window 278 00:18:48.599 --> 00:18:52.000 cell. They're fine. So yeah, it's a space that many other plants 279 00:18:52.039 --> 00:18:56.440 would be perfectly happy. And I think like in terms of its cohort of 280 00:18:56.559 --> 00:19:00.960 general foliage plants, it shouldn't be that much different. Yes, I mean, 281 00:19:00.039 --> 00:19:03.759 you know there's that radiant heat source nearby. I wonder if this got 282 00:19:03.799 --> 00:19:10.680 beat up by direct morning lights, maybe like leaves touching the cold window and 283 00:19:11.079 --> 00:19:15.000 humidity swings from them. You've not even had this plant when we've been hotter 284 00:19:15.039 --> 00:19:18.880 than seventy five degrees. I mean, yeah, I don't know, Like 285 00:19:18.400 --> 00:19:21.599 I'm searching. Like I said, I was like, well, it could 286 00:19:21.599 --> 00:19:25.279 be three or four things that you know, would be kind of difficult to 287 00:19:25.559 --> 00:19:27.920 correct. Correct. Yeah. Yeah, And you know, all of this 288 00:19:29.000 --> 00:19:33.160 is coming just as I was starting to trust windows for plant growing. Okay, 289 00:19:33.359 --> 00:19:36.279 let this one ruin. I'm right back to thinking a grow light would 290 00:19:36.279 --> 00:19:40.200 have been better. I feel myself making that mikhaila Moroni face right now. 291 00:19:41.319 --> 00:19:45.240 Yeah. Well, black patches and leaf edges are a pretty common complaint about 292 00:19:45.279 --> 00:19:48.640 this plant online. To feel a little better, I was reading some you 293 00:19:48.640 --> 00:19:53.039 know, just kind of internet forums, and specifically this was mentioned a lot 294 00:19:53.079 --> 00:19:59.079 on Dave's gardens, and people just regularly site poor water quality and fluoride as 295 00:19:59.119 --> 00:20:03.079 the reason. Or in particular makes sense because that's also a common culporate with 296 00:20:03.119 --> 00:20:07.240 other plants, including the spider plant for your blackening leaf margins. But also, 297 00:20:07.599 --> 00:20:14.039 this doesn't seem like a plant that only tolerates low light while it significantly 298 00:20:14.079 --> 00:20:18.319 prefers brighter conditions. Based on pictures of these plants that are grown in pretty 299 00:20:18.359 --> 00:20:22.519 low light for a long period of time, they don't seem negatively impacted by 300 00:20:22.559 --> 00:20:26.680 that. They maintain great color and fullness, they're not lanky and stretched, 301 00:20:26.039 --> 00:20:30.880 and it's also pretty commonly noted that too much light will stunt their growth and 302 00:20:30.000 --> 00:20:36.039 burn the leaves and diminish the color. So this might be a really good 303 00:20:36.079 --> 00:20:40.200 companion for something like a piece lily or an asparagus fern. Yeah, so 304 00:20:40.240 --> 00:20:45.039 maybe this plant's second life for me is just somewhere away from that grow light 305 00:20:45.240 --> 00:20:48.599 or something. Yeah, Okay, the next one for me, it was 306 00:20:48.640 --> 00:20:55.599 the hideous flowers and seed pods that linger for months. The flowers themselves are 307 00:20:55.920 --> 00:20:59.440 benign, the flowers aren't hideous, but the whole structure that they come out 308 00:20:59.480 --> 00:21:03.440 of is just it's so ugly. It's a mix of like alive and debt, 309 00:21:03.519 --> 00:21:07.720 and I just tried to like knock off the dead. That's not going 310 00:21:07.799 --> 00:21:11.720 to happen. I did post a photo. I think that is the nicest 311 00:21:11.240 --> 00:21:15.519 that the flowers can possibly look on our Instagram back in like early January. 312 00:21:15.680 --> 00:21:18.599 So if you want to see them at their peak of aesthetic, like, 313 00:21:18.720 --> 00:21:22.279 okay, I'll there to look at that. But I read a lot of 314 00:21:22.319 --> 00:21:26.599 comments again on David's garden where people are like, my plant has never bloomed, 315 00:21:26.640 --> 00:21:29.799 but there are these ugly black cigar shaped things between the leaves. What 316 00:21:29.880 --> 00:21:33.240 are they? Oh? Wow, Well, actually your your plant did bloom, 317 00:21:33.319 --> 00:21:34.400 just not in a way that was at all attractive, and now you're 318 00:21:34.440 --> 00:21:38.000 left with developing seed pods. Sorry. Yeah, So if you aren't going 319 00:21:38.039 --> 00:21:41.319 to grow these from seed, I really urge you to cut them off. 320 00:21:41.640 --> 00:21:45.759 I don't know if that's a strange notion in the tropicals world, but for 321 00:21:45.839 --> 00:21:48.640 gre nervous plants and to a lesser extent, succulents, this is pretty common 322 00:21:48.680 --> 00:21:52.680 practice. So maybe you'll want to keep them the first time to make sure 323 00:21:52.720 --> 00:21:56.480 you don't like them. I did that, But if you can stand it, 324 00:21:56.720 --> 00:22:00.680 I would remove them, yeah, yeah, And speaking for the general 325 00:22:00.680 --> 00:22:07.400 tropicals world, some people feel very strongly about doing this, but I generally 326 00:22:07.839 --> 00:22:11.680 don't really often remove flower stocks until I have seen that it actually harms a 327 00:22:11.759 --> 00:22:15.680 plant's growth or puts it back to flower in my mind, and I don't 328 00:22:15.680 --> 00:22:18.799 know how truth this is, but if a plant has gone to the efforts 329 00:22:18.799 --> 00:22:23.200 to even produce a flower shoot that's large enough that I can remove it, 330 00:22:23.279 --> 00:22:27.960 isn't that energy at least partially expended by that point anyway? And how much 331 00:22:27.960 --> 00:22:32.440 am I really helping the plant to reinvest its energy into foliage if the flower 332 00:22:32.480 --> 00:22:36.720 stock has already even started, So, I mean, you know, obviously 333 00:22:36.720 --> 00:22:40.519 allowing something to come to full bloom and then produce seeds is much more taxing 334 00:22:40.519 --> 00:22:44.559 than just starting the flower stock in the first place. But the mandarin plant 335 00:22:45.079 --> 00:22:48.400 is a very rare case in my experience, where I will never allow it 336 00:22:48.480 --> 00:22:52.319 to come to flower again. I'm not even just going to ignore them when 337 00:22:52.359 --> 00:22:55.480 they show up. The flowers are mildly curious, and then the whole spike 338 00:22:55.559 --> 00:22:59.759 becomes hideous, and it really does seem to tax the plant a surprising amount. 339 00:23:00.119 --> 00:23:03.640 And I would much rather this plant only focus its energies on foliage, 340 00:23:03.880 --> 00:23:07.720 because that's the only remarkable thing about the mandarin plant, and it's a really 341 00:23:07.759 --> 00:23:12.680 good bonus. Yeah, that's just it's much better trait. I don't know 342 00:23:12.759 --> 00:23:18.400 if I've ever experienced a plant where its look is so wrecked by the presence 343 00:23:18.400 --> 00:23:22.880 of its own flowers like this, Like that thought just occurred to me. 344 00:23:22.880 --> 00:23:26.880 Actually, Matthew, do you know one that's worse. I was thinking maybe 345 00:23:26.920 --> 00:23:29.559 fly traps, but in that case, like you can at least see the 346 00:23:29.599 --> 00:23:33.000 trap separately. I mean, the flowers just kind of boring. They're not 347 00:23:33.079 --> 00:23:37.640 like dead, they're looking. That's interesting and kind of a stark reality check. 348 00:23:37.720 --> 00:23:41.200 Like the only plants that I can think of are like, when this 349 00:23:41.240 --> 00:23:45.960 plant goes to seed, it dies. Yeah, exactly. Herbs some of 350 00:23:45.000 --> 00:23:49.400 them, so to compare them back to their more popular cousin, spider plants, 351 00:23:49.640 --> 00:23:53.799 freely bloom. They grow tons of basal shoots, they're covered in baby 352 00:23:53.839 --> 00:23:59.960 plantlets after the flowers fade from the scapes, and they just seem very committed 353 00:24:00.200 --> 00:24:03.960 to consistently being better versions of themselves if they're well cared for, while the 354 00:24:04.039 --> 00:24:08.839 mandarin plant is just way less inclined to freely produce sideshoots around the base to 355 00:24:08.880 --> 00:24:12.880 fill in even without flowering, and it seems like it takes a lot more 356 00:24:12.880 --> 00:24:17.880 time and care to grow one up into a really beautiful, lush specimen. 357 00:24:18.319 --> 00:24:22.279 And it does do this eventually, but to me, at least starting with 358 00:24:22.319 --> 00:24:26.240 the ones that we have, it's giving me very strong vibes of like cheap 359 00:24:26.319 --> 00:24:30.400 six pack of bare root hostas from a box store, because those can take 360 00:24:30.480 --> 00:24:34.880 years to develop into substantial plants in a flowerbed. Like that's not what the 361 00:24:34.920 --> 00:24:38.680 spider plant is about. Okay. Now, on that note, while it 362 00:24:38.720 --> 00:24:44.000 doesn't really vegetatively propagate itself and then form thick lumps with the figure of a 363 00:24:44.039 --> 00:24:48.640 spider plant, they do propagate themselves pretty aggressively by those seeds, and people 364 00:24:48.680 --> 00:24:52.759 online comment about how ceilings appear in their pots around the mother plant. And 365 00:24:52.920 --> 00:24:57.079 again, I'll get more into this in the botanical section. Because there's some 366 00:24:57.160 --> 00:25:02.359 seeds, Okay, they you're going to find them in all of your plants. 367 00:25:02.559 --> 00:25:04.880 Good, don't worry. They don't expel the seeds from the seed buds 368 00:25:06.519 --> 00:25:11.119 instead of just vegetatively propagating themselves with runners to form colonies like the spider plant, 369 00:25:11.119 --> 00:25:15.960 does they just produce tons of seeds to do the same thing. So, 370 00:25:15.839 --> 00:25:18.519 going back to another reason why I won't let my mandarom plant grow to 371 00:25:18.559 --> 00:25:23.480 flower again, one successful flower to seed experience seems to have left me with 372 00:25:23.680 --> 00:25:27.119 enough seeds to grow far more of these than I could ever want in the 373 00:25:27.160 --> 00:25:32.559 rest of my life. Truly. Okay, that's like kind of an upside. 374 00:25:33.079 --> 00:25:36.359 Do it once, then you're good. Yeah, I have a brighter 375 00:25:36.400 --> 00:25:41.920 spot to Pests were not bad for me. I did have a little scale 376 00:25:41.920 --> 00:25:45.000 outbreak near this plant and it was unaffected, so it seems resilient even Yeah, 377 00:25:45.039 --> 00:25:48.640 I actually haven't seen a single pest on mine, and I've been pretty 378 00:25:48.680 --> 00:25:52.039 neglectful of it, so that is indeed a plus. Okay, And hey, 379 00:25:52.119 --> 00:25:55.400 I just want to say it's tough to be a spider plant relative. 380 00:25:56.039 --> 00:25:59.480 That was really in my mind here, so I capped comparing mandarin plant to 381 00:25:59.759 --> 00:26:03.400 that one. It's probably not fair, but like I'm putting that here because 382 00:26:03.440 --> 00:26:07.079 it might happen to YouTube, So maybe this will help anyone listening, Like, 383 00:26:07.200 --> 00:26:11.079 just try to leave that bias out of the experience if you can. 384 00:26:11.240 --> 00:26:15.440 I'm getting the thought that you're viewing this is like the younger emo sibling to 385 00:26:15.559 --> 00:26:22.519 like a high school athletes star student who like has that expectation that they're trying 386 00:26:22.519 --> 00:26:26.559 to live up to. All Right, According to Matthew, Spider plant is 387 00:26:26.680 --> 00:26:33.480 the star student and Mandarin plant is the emo nonconformist, you know, but 388 00:26:33.599 --> 00:26:37.599 like kind of the pretty one. Yeah, what a world was this going? 389 00:26:37.640 --> 00:26:40.519 Okay? I don't know. Okay, well, here's here's my last 390 00:26:40.680 --> 00:26:44.960 challenge, and this could really just be a very personal problem and listening. 391 00:26:45.200 --> 00:26:48.759 But weirdly, I'm already kind of anxious about my pot selection for this plant 392 00:26:48.759 --> 00:26:52.440 when I come to report it, just from an esthetics and styling standpoint, 393 00:26:52.720 --> 00:27:00.119 because the mandarin plant serves such vividly and unusually colored foliage that I'm going to 394 00:26:59.880 --> 00:27:06.559 have to pick something extremely deliberately to avoid a clashing with the pot or like 395 00:27:06.599 --> 00:27:10.000 my whole decourse scheme in my house. Yeah, so I'm kind of thinking 396 00:27:10.000 --> 00:27:12.440 that I might do like the lbed, like the little black dress approach, 397 00:27:12.480 --> 00:27:18.279 and just stick with a very simple, elegant black pot. That's exactly what 398 00:27:18.319 --> 00:27:22.960 I did. Like it's the best option. And I wasn't even really like 399 00:27:23.039 --> 00:27:26.160 thinking like, oh gosh, this is so hard. It was just like 400 00:27:26.319 --> 00:27:29.599 looking and I'm like, oh, this looks good, and I mean, 401 00:27:29.839 --> 00:27:32.960 yeah, that's where I was probably going to end up. So it's cash 402 00:27:33.000 --> 00:27:36.920 pot right now is just plain white with some like kind of texture on the 403 00:27:37.000 --> 00:27:41.079 clay. But it's okay. I think it needs to be black a one. 404 00:27:41.279 --> 00:27:42.319 Yeah, I mean I might also go with something a little bit more 405 00:27:42.359 --> 00:27:45.759 decorative and rustic, as long as it compliments the foliage, it doesn't make 406 00:27:45.759 --> 00:27:49.079 it all look too garish for my taste, because that could definitely happen very 407 00:27:49.079 --> 00:27:53.920 easily. I just want to kind of like unify what this plant looks like 408 00:27:53.960 --> 00:27:57.799 with wherever I end up putting it in my home. Yeah, but again, 409 00:27:57.920 --> 00:28:02.480 that's a very personal choice, and I don't worry nearly this much about 410 00:28:02.519 --> 00:28:04.640 that with like any other plant that I have to be honest, Okay, 411 00:28:04.880 --> 00:28:10.440 have we enjoyed growing this plant all this said, would we replace it if 412 00:28:10.440 --> 00:28:15.799 it died? It's fine, Okay, If it doesn't look remarkably nicer after 413 00:28:15.839 --> 00:28:18.839 a few months of being in its new pot with fresh soil and good nutrients, 414 00:28:21.960 --> 00:28:26.160 it better like neglect because I might just gonna stop caring for it too 415 00:28:26.279 --> 00:28:30.720 terribly much. But in theory, like it could be really really beautiful. 416 00:28:30.880 --> 00:28:33.720 It has traces of that potential right now. Yeah, but we're just gonna 417 00:28:33.720 --> 00:28:37.279 have to see what the future holds, because the photos of this plant looks 418 00:28:37.319 --> 00:28:41.000 so much nicer than the ones that we have. Yeah, I will be 419 00:28:41.079 --> 00:28:45.480 honest, I really wanted to try this. I'm glad and I tried it. 420 00:28:45.799 --> 00:28:49.519 But also honest, this may be the first time on the show when 421 00:28:49.559 --> 00:28:55.200 I say that I am excited to regift this plant. Okay, but this 422 00:28:55.279 --> 00:28:57.000 is absolutely not the first time that you've felt that way about a plant that 423 00:28:57.039 --> 00:29:00.880 we have discussed. So just didn't say it because it may be the most 424 00:29:00.880 --> 00:29:04.400 excited that you felt about getting rid of something that we've covered. Yeah, 425 00:29:04.480 --> 00:29:08.240 I mean, if I'm honest, I'm like actively excited right now to give 426 00:29:08.279 --> 00:29:12.960 it away. I hope your mom's ready. I don't know if she is. 427 00:29:14.640 --> 00:29:18.279 I want that pot back, I want the space back where it's sitting. 428 00:29:18.720 --> 00:29:22.200 I wouldn't get one again soon, honestly. But that said, like, 429 00:29:22.319 --> 00:29:26.680 I'm not urging others to stay away necessarily, Like I wouldn't be afraid 430 00:29:27.200 --> 00:29:30.079 to say that if I really felt that this one just wasn't for me, 431 00:29:30.240 --> 00:29:33.400 you know. Yeah, And to be fair, I did see some six 432 00:29:33.440 --> 00:29:37.000 in spots of them at Miles of Shop the other day. They looked really 433 00:29:37.079 --> 00:29:41.359 nice. They were larger planets that were more developed, Like there is a 434 00:29:41.400 --> 00:29:44.599 lot of potential here. Yeah, I don't doubt that. Yeah, yeah. 435 00:29:45.240 --> 00:29:48.400 Kind of As a side note, I was wondering if this is at 436 00:29:48.400 --> 00:29:53.240 all like the kalathia experience the tropical people among us talk about. I've never 437 00:29:53.279 --> 00:29:57.960 owned one myself, but I hear that it's like all about loving this foliage 438 00:29:59.000 --> 00:30:03.519 than getting at home dealing with browning leaves and like trying really hard and watching 439 00:30:03.519 --> 00:30:07.200 those leaves you loved slip away from you. Does that compare Matthew to this? 440 00:30:07.359 --> 00:30:12.599 Like, that's okay, that's interesting. I would have compared this plant 441 00:30:14.079 --> 00:30:18.839 to like the really colorful aglionema, just because kind of the appearances maybe a 442 00:30:18.880 --> 00:30:22.160 little bit closer to that. Style is a little closer there to me. 443 00:30:22.599 --> 00:30:27.319 And the mandarin plant is honestly not that fussy, and it's respectfully tolerant of 444 00:30:27.480 --> 00:30:33.720 mediocre indoor conditions like aglionemas and pests are not almost guaranteed to do them in 445 00:30:33.799 --> 00:30:38.720 while you watch them slowly decline, as many people find with kalathia and I 446 00:30:38.720 --> 00:30:44.640 also personally think that claythia are just universally much more beautiful and much more elegant 447 00:30:44.759 --> 00:30:48.599 and ill faded than the mandarin plan. Yeah, it's okay, I can 448 00:30:48.640 --> 00:30:52.480 accept that. I mean, I've had, you know, significantly better experiences 449 00:30:52.519 --> 00:30:56.000 with aglionema though, so maybe this is like in the middle for me. 450 00:30:56.160 --> 00:31:00.200 But okay, when I get that, I mean, it does look super 451 00:31:00.240 --> 00:31:04.079 duper like a hasta, just with no trace of beautiful, showy flowers that 452 00:31:04.160 --> 00:31:10.599 show up occasionally opposite. Yeah, so I can see why you're comparing them 453 00:31:10.640 --> 00:31:15.079 to kalathia, and also why other people would probably be inclined to feel that 454 00:31:15.119 --> 00:31:18.759 way. And please don't add us or send a one star review for me 455 00:31:18.799 --> 00:31:23.079 bringing this up again. But at their worst with beat up, tattered brown 456 00:31:23.200 --> 00:31:29.359 foliage, the mandarin plant reminds me of like the worst examples of an overgrown 457 00:31:29.400 --> 00:31:33.880 Tratiscantia plant. And that's the one that's kind of like tainted my impression of 458 00:31:33.960 --> 00:31:37.720 what that plant looks like more often in real life than it does in the 459 00:31:37.759 --> 00:31:42.920 prettiest staged photos, or at least those plants that are really enjoying solid care, 460 00:31:44.119 --> 00:31:48.160 like it's no shade. But there are just some plants that really look 461 00:31:48.240 --> 00:31:52.799 like hell pretty easily. And we've only had these for a few months. 462 00:31:52.799 --> 00:31:56.480 But I'm wondering if this is just one of those. Okay, And I 463 00:31:56.480 --> 00:32:00.640 feel you're kind of telling me that I can't grow a tray to scantia right 464 00:32:00.680 --> 00:32:06.279 now. That's hurtful. Everyone who likes tryscantia should have a trascantia, just 465 00:32:06.359 --> 00:32:08.759 not in my home. Okay, we better move this right along, Matthew. 466 00:32:09.119 --> 00:32:13.359 Yeah, so what are our final thoughts for plant parents who are interested 467 00:32:13.400 --> 00:32:15.079 in giving this a try. Okay, I'll say it for the tenth time, 468 00:32:15.119 --> 00:32:19.079 I think you should just forget that it's a spider plant at all, 469 00:32:19.599 --> 00:32:22.240 just for a while while you establish a care routine. Skip the flowers unless 470 00:32:22.279 --> 00:32:25.839 you really want seeds. And hey, it is a very unique look, 471 00:32:25.960 --> 00:32:30.720 so I'm not mad at it at all. For the cool orange petiles, 472 00:32:30.839 --> 00:32:34.799 like no other plant has that color. Yeah, it's at least worth seeing 473 00:32:34.799 --> 00:32:37.720 it in person, just to see if it speaks to you. And yeah, 474 00:32:37.880 --> 00:32:39.640 just bear in mind that it isn't fool proof if you do end up 475 00:32:39.640 --> 00:32:43.119 get anyone. It's not that fussy, though, I honestly think I had 476 00:32:43.240 --> 00:32:45.599 kind of a strange experience. Yeah, all right, historical, botanical or 477 00:32:45.680 --> 00:32:50.640 cultural information that you'd like to share, Matthew. Well, yes, there's 478 00:32:50.720 --> 00:32:54.720 kind of a weird amount of vague mystery about the mandarin plant, and maybe 479 00:32:54.759 --> 00:32:59.480 I've just not found the right resources. That kind of happened when we were 480 00:32:59.480 --> 00:33:02.319 looking at the lipstick plants, because I found more things later and hopefully I 481 00:33:02.359 --> 00:33:07.640 won't find that again this time. But according to ukhuseplants dot com, which 482 00:33:07.680 --> 00:33:12.640 gave the most kind of detailed explanation about this plant in some ways, the 483 00:33:12.720 --> 00:33:16.079 species is native to the tropical regions of Central Africa, from Sierra Leone in 484 00:33:16.079 --> 00:33:19.880 the west all the way to Tanzania and the east, and as far south 485 00:33:19.880 --> 00:33:22.920 as Zambia, and it was first described in eighteen twenty four by John Linley, 486 00:33:22.960 --> 00:33:27.920 whose name we continue to mention because apparently he described a lot of plants 487 00:33:28.400 --> 00:33:32.440 and the Latin name clorified him. Orchidastrum apparently refers to the ball shaped seed 488 00:33:32.519 --> 00:33:37.839 pods that develop from the star shaped flowers. So bear with me, Stephen, 489 00:33:37.920 --> 00:33:42.920 because here's a tangent of inquiry that I really tried to validate but I 490 00:33:42.920 --> 00:33:47.359 couldn't quite find anywhere. While we were preparing that kind of confirms this, 491 00:33:49.079 --> 00:33:53.640 So bear with these ideological musings. But the word orchid itself comes from the 492 00:33:53.720 --> 00:33:59.880 Latin orchis and the ancient Greek word for testicle, presumably from the testicle like 493 00:34:00.079 --> 00:34:05.200 tubers of some terrestrial species that were among the first described in the family now 494 00:34:05.240 --> 00:34:07.960 called orchid. Okay, I mean I did not get any testicle vibes from 495 00:34:07.960 --> 00:34:12.639 any part of this plant, but nice, No, But seriously look up 496 00:34:12.639 --> 00:34:16.760 photos of the root systems of the genus Orcus if you're curious. So, 497 00:34:17.199 --> 00:34:23.400 I guess it's possible that maybe clarified um orchidastrum it's potentially named because the seed 498 00:34:23.400 --> 00:34:29.920 pods look a bit like testicles. I should have studied botanical Latin, because 499 00:34:30.000 --> 00:34:32.719 I'm really not sure how oft I am. But I was just trying to 500 00:34:32.760 --> 00:34:36.679 figure out, like, do they think this plant looks like an orchid? 501 00:34:36.840 --> 00:34:40.039 Like what? And so yeah, that's that's where I went. Okay, 502 00:34:42.199 --> 00:34:45.440 Now, whether or not I'm right about that, I'm also unsure if I'm 503 00:34:45.480 --> 00:34:50.760 technically correct by calling this plant by that name. I first kind of learned 504 00:34:50.760 --> 00:34:54.280 a bit as clorified m orchidastrum. Yeah, but you first heard about it 505 00:34:54.360 --> 00:35:00.480 as clarified Amammanians, and it's also sometimes called clorified m or can anthroides. 506 00:35:01.000 --> 00:35:07.440 Sometimes it's also labeled with the cultivar name fire Flash. And I just could 507 00:35:07.519 --> 00:35:14.719 not find any details about which of these Latin names is currently recognized or what 508 00:35:14.800 --> 00:35:17.800 this plant looks like in the wild, So, like, what are the 509 00:35:17.840 --> 00:35:22.679 plants that aren't the fire Flash cultivar? Like what do they look like? 510 00:35:22.000 --> 00:35:25.239 I was getting frustrated. Yeah. I saw some videos that were like, 511 00:35:25.400 --> 00:35:29.239 Okay, here's my Fireflash, and I was like, oh cool, what 512 00:35:29.320 --> 00:35:32.840 does this one look like? Looks exactly the same? Yeah, who knows. 513 00:35:32.920 --> 00:35:36.679 Yeah, I've also seen them called like mandarin, tangerine, mango, 514 00:35:36.719 --> 00:35:40.000 tango, Like are these all just train names? Yeah? Yeah. But 515 00:35:40.320 --> 00:35:45.840 like I said before, it's also fairly new to the United States, so 516 00:35:45.880 --> 00:35:50.960 it's only really been grown from about the nineteen nineties. But the last botanical 517 00:35:50.960 --> 00:35:54.800 thing that I want to mention is that, partially because it's so fairly new, 518 00:35:55.119 --> 00:35:59.840 there's not a lot of information really about how to grow this plant. 519 00:36:00.039 --> 00:36:04.480 And a few people have talked about growing these from seed, either deliberately or 520 00:36:04.599 --> 00:36:07.360 because seedlings showed up in the pots of the mother plant. And something that 521 00:36:07.440 --> 00:36:13.159 I feel like I saw quite a few times where comments about how these plants 522 00:36:13.239 --> 00:36:17.599 don't come quote true to type, and that seed grown babies from colorful parent 523 00:36:17.679 --> 00:36:24.599 plants are just all green and rather dull. So apparently it actually takes them 524 00:36:24.639 --> 00:36:31.039 about six months to gain enough size and maturity to show the orange coloring that 525 00:36:31.079 --> 00:36:35.039 you want them to have, and they need to be at least three inches 526 00:36:35.079 --> 00:36:37.960 across. Well, you have several hundred chances to find out, right, 527 00:36:38.159 --> 00:36:42.679 Yeah, and it sounds like who knows what I'll be doing when these plants 528 00:36:42.719 --> 00:36:45.280 finally look like you know what they're supposed to be. It takes time and 529 00:36:45.360 --> 00:36:50.920 patience. And so if you start this yourself, if you're going to grow 530 00:36:50.960 --> 00:36:54.960 these from seeds, don't do what a lot of people in comments sections of 531 00:36:55.000 --> 00:37:00.079 a few of these sites have done and throw away just flats of boring little 532 00:37:00.119 --> 00:37:05.800 seeds, thinking that they reverted to their wild form after just growing a couple 533 00:37:05.800 --> 00:37:08.719 of leaves because it takes time important. I don't know how rewarding that experience 534 00:37:08.800 --> 00:37:13.159 is. But if you want more of these seeds, yeah, okay? 535 00:37:13.199 --> 00:37:15.280 Is that it? Yeah? I don't have anything else. There wasn't much 536 00:37:15.320 --> 00:37:19.360 more detail though to talk about. Okay, In this week's after show, 537 00:37:19.440 --> 00:37:22.519 we muse about the seemingly cursed pots that never seem to work for us. 538 00:37:22.960 --> 00:37:27.800 If extra benter like that sounds appealing, head over Patreon dot com slash plant 539 00:37:27.840 --> 00:37:31.440 Ditty Podcast and check out our official Patreon level. Okay, this has been 540 00:37:31.440 --> 00:37:35.800 plant Debty Podcast. Thanks for listening, don't forget to like and subscribe, 541 00:37:35.840 --> 00:37:37.440 Tell your friends about us, and if you enjoy what we've heard, please 542 00:37:37.480 --> 00:37:40.320 give us a five star rating that i'll us find us To see images of 543 00:37:40.360 --> 00:37:44.960 things we discussed in our episodes, check out our interest in Instagram or visit 544 00:37:45.000 --> 00:37:47.239 our TikTok. If you want to get in touch, emails at Plantatti podcast 545 00:37:47.280 --> 00:37:52.119 dot gmail or check out the website plant Ditty podcast dot com. Until next 546 00:37:52.159 --> 00:38:00.559 week, Thanks for listening and happy growing u