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MonstroFarm

@monstrofarm

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30+ Years in Horticulture 🪴
Helping you fix plant problems — not guess.

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Almost too late…

This Money Tree got a fresh start five weeks ago.

Here are a few things I looked for:

✂️ I checked around the base for tape or ties used to hold the braid together before repotting.

🪴 Then I matched the pot to the roots, not the height of the plant. A tall money tree doesn’t automatically need a huge pot, and extra soil can take longer to dry.

💧 To water I look deeper than the surface. The top can look dry while the root zone is still wet. When the plant is ready, water thoroughly and empty the outer pot.

☀️ Then I gave her bright, indirect light. Somewhere she can see the sky but the sun won’t burn her up. Changing the watering alone won’t solve every problem if she’s sitting in a dark corner.

Save this for your next money tree checkup. 🪴

#MoneyTree #Houseplants #PlantRescue #Plants by @monstrofarm

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a day ago

Never thought she would end up like this…

I’ve had this rock sitting around for almost six months because I couldn’t stop thinking about one idea, what would happen if I tried growing an orchid directly on it?

I loved the way the rock looked, but the real question was whether I could keep the roots moist enough without putting the orchid back into a pot.

Here’s exactly what I did:

🪴 First, I removed the orchid from its original container and carefully pulled away as much of the existing potting mix as possible.

✂️ Then I inspected the root system and trimmed away the roots that were dried out or damaged.

💧 Next, I soaked some sphagnum moss and placed a layer over the top of the rock to help hold moisture around the roots.

🌱 From there, I positioned the orchid on top and gently spread the roots across the moss.

🤲 Then I added more sphagnum around the exposed roots, making sure they were covered without packing it too tightly.

🧵 Once everything was in place, I tied it all down with fishing line.

✂️ Finally, I trimmed away the extra moss, cleaned up the leaves and gave it all a final shape.

Now comes the real test, whether this setup can hold enough moisture to keep the orchid happy, or if she eventually ends up right back in a pot.

Let’s see.

#houseplants #plants #orchid by @monstrofarm

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4 days ago

Today it happens….

After six months of growing this anthurium, I decided to try something a little different. As she’s grown, she’s started needing water more often, so I wanted to try growing her in water. I went with a glass bowl and stones so I could watch the roots grow and make them part of the display.

Here’s exactly what I did:

💦 First, I removed the pot and soaked the root ball in water for 24 hours to help soften the soil.

🌱 The next day I carefully worked out the soil that was caught between the roots. I even found remnants of the original medium and net it was started with.

🪨 Once the roots were clean, I added stones to a glass bowl and settled her inside.

💧Finally, I added a little water to the bottom, keeping most of the roots above the waterline.

Now I’m going to let her adjust and watch how the roots respond. I’ll also be keeping an eye on how quickly that little bit of water disappears.

Stick around, I’ll share an update once she’s had some time in the bowl.

#houseplants #plants #houseplant #anthurium by @monstrofarm

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7 days ago

This project started as a Christmas gift for my mom. I wanted to grow her a Christmas cactus from cuttings, so I decided to root them in water. Four months later, only cause I didn’t have time sooner, I started wondering if I could make the gift a little more interesting than a plant in a plain pot. 🎄

Here’s how I put it together:

🌱 I took small cuttings from the plant, cut a piece of foam into a ring, and tucked each cutting into a slit.

💧 Then I rested the foam ring over water and waited for the roots to grow.

🪴 Once they were ready, I found a couple of small pots that fit inside each other and inside a glass bowl. That way, I could still lift the plant out to water it.

🌱 I mixed up some well-draining soil, gently removed the rooted cuttings from the foam, and planted them close together so the pot would look full.

🔴 Then I filled the space around the pot with red and clear glass beads. They hide the pot, but I can still take it out whenever the plant needs water.

🪴 Finally, I put the whole thing under my grow lights and added a glass dome to keep the humidity up while the cuttings adjust to soil.

Over the next few weeks, I’ll keep the soil moist while the roots settle in. I’m curious to see what it looks like by Christmas. 😅🎄

Follow along so you can see how it turns out.

#houseplants #plants #propagation #christmas by @monstrofarm

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11 days ago

Comment ‘ROOT’ for the link to Monstro RX, my tool for diagnosing plant problems, dealing with root rot, and finding the soil mixes I use.

I split this rescued Monstera Thai into two, one went into soil and the other went into water. I wanted to see how each one would root, and today I finally got to check on them.

🪴 First, I took them out of the pot, loosened the old mix, and carefully separated the two plants so I could see what I was working with.

🪨 For the one in soil, I mixed up a good chunky mix that would give it enough drainage, but still hold enough water to get the roots going.

🚿 And for the one going in water, I rinsed the roots before placing them in the water. Since the roots were healthy, I didn’t have to trim anything off.

🌱 For the one in soil, I cared for it by making sure the soil was moist for the first two weeks and then started to add a low dose of liquid fertilizer.

💦 And for the one in water, Monstera’s can usually transition pretty well from soil to water, so I just placed her in the water, kept an eye for any rot, and changed the water out once a week. Slowly, I’ve started to add fertilizer to her as well.

Six weeks later, the one in soil has roots showing through the pot and new growth coming in. And the one in water? I had no idea she’d grow this many roots.

Still not sure what I want to do with the one in water.

Got any creative ideas?

#houseplants #plants #plant #monstera #MonstroFarm by @monstrofarm

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14 days ago

I decided to try something a little different with this peace lily. I kept having to water it every few days, and I didn’t want it to suffer whenever I waited a little too long, so I decided to try a setup that could hold moisture more consistently, LECA on the bottom to hold the water and sphagnum moss around the roots.

Here’s exactly what I did:

🪴 First, I removed it from the pot and removed as much soil as I could.

🚿 Then I rinsed the roots to remove the rest of the soil, being careful not to damage them.

💧 Next, I rinsed the LECA really well to get rid of all the dust.

🟤 After that, I added a layer of LECA to the bottom of a glass container. This will hold a small reservoir of water.

🤲 Once everything was ready, I placed the peace lily inside and gently worked the moss around the roots.

🥛 Finally, I added a little water to the bottom, keeping the water level inside the LECA and below the moss.

Now I’m going to let it adjust and see how the roots respond. I’ll share an update once I know how she responds to this setup.

#houseplants #plants #houseplant by @monstrofarm

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16 days ago

Comment “ROOT” and I’ll send you a link to a tool I created to help prevent and fix, you guessed it, root rot.

Root rot can make you second guess everything once you pull a plant out of the pot. But before you start cutting roots just because they look dark, take a closer look, they might be perfectly healthy.

#houseplants #plants #rootrot by @monstrofarm

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20 days ago

Last time I looked at this Pink Princess, I wasn’t sure if I was going to leave the 2 babies with the mother plant or separate them.

I finally made my decision.

The smaller one is staying right where it is, but the larger one grew enough that I wanted to give it its own pot and see what it could do.

Here’s how I did it:

😊 I removed enough soil to see exactly where the baby was connected to the mother plant.

✂️ Then I carefully separated it while trying to keep as many roots attached as possible.

🍯 From here I grabbed a pot with drainage that fit the root system without giving it too much extra space.

🪴Then I backfilled the pot with a well-draining soil mix and gently settled everything into place.

Now the mother plant keeps one baby, and the larger one gets to grow on its own.

What I’m really interested in is how much color they’ll put out.

What do you think? Did I make the right choice?

#houseplants #plants #houseplant #plantcare #monstrofarm by @monstrofarm

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22 days ago

Sometimes the hardest part of propagation is knowing when to stop messing with it.

Give it the right conditions, a little patience, and let the plant do the rest.

#houseplants #plants #propgation by @monstrofarm

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25 days ago

This watering experiment started with one question, but now I feel like it’s showing me a whole lot more.

Here are a few things to pay attention to:

💧 If a plant keeps getting pushed too dry, it may spend more time recovering instead of putting that energy into growth.

🌱 Watering is only one part of the solution. Light, nutrition, roots, temperature, all play a part in how well a plant handles stress.

🔎 I’m also not just looking at growth. I’m checking under the leaves, watching the new growth, looking at the roots, spotting, discoloration, and of course, pests.

🪲 And just to be clear, stress doesn’t create thrips. The fact that I’m seeing more thrips on the driest plant doesn’t mean the watering caused them.

📉 But I do think patterns like this are worth paying attention to. Right now, the plant I’ve been letting dry out the most is also the one showing the most problems.

Look, three plants definitely aren’t enough to make a scientific conclusion. But it does give me something interesting to keep watching.

Sometimes keeping a plant healthy isn’t just about getting it to grow faster. It might also be about keeping it in a better position to handle whatever comes next.

I’m definitely not done with these three Monsteras yet.

#houseplants #plants #plantcare #monstera #monstrofarm by @monstrofarm

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a month ago

Yes, how often you water matters. But so does the soil, the pot, the light, and how quickly that plant is actually using the water.

Sometimes the problem isn’t that you’re watering too often. It’s that the plant is staying wet too long between waterings.

That difference can change everything.

Follow for more growing tips and plant stories.

#houseplants #monstera #plants #monstrofarm by @monstrofarm

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a month ago

Watch as this ZZ Plant rescue that started over a year ago turns into a chance to grow an entirely new plant.

Here’s how I did it:

🪴 First, I removed the ZZ Plant from its pot to see exactly what was going on in the soil.

🌱 Then I removed most of the old soil and washed the roots and rhizomes clean so I could inspect everything more closely.

✂️ I cut away the unhealthy roots.

🪴 I then repotted my ZZ Plant into fresh soil so it could recover and continue growing.

🌱 A few months later I decided to propagate my ZZ from cuttings and see if I could create an entirely new plant.

⏳ After preparing the cuttings I let them dry for 48 hours so the cut ends could callous over.

🌱 Finally, I planted the cuttings and gave them time to start developing their own roots and rhizomes.

Now we get to see how a rescue can create a whole new plant.

#houseplants #propagation #plants #plantcare by @monstrofarm

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a month ago