File :-(, x, )
Goodnight, sweet prince... Anonymous
I killed a potted plant, some tentacled viny thing. Supposedly one of the easiest to keep alive. Having never done this before, I can hope to learn from this failure.

Keeping the water moist, evidently, is not enough. When it says "shade plant" it does not mean it's okay to keep it immediately behind a fluorescent light. 'Twill burn leaves dead. Sunsets in Florida will too. And so, I must retire this dried bag of leaves to compost.

I ask you, /an/, will I have more success starting from seeds instead?
>> Anonymous
Hopefully so...we all learn from experience though. If you start from seeds, maybe you can get help with info or something before planting. GOOD LUCK.
>> Anonymous
     File :-(, x)
>>270766
I had a potted sweet pea plant growing for a few weeks and every few days, I'd find them all eaten up and my terrible terrible cat with green bits in her stupid cat teeth ; o; It's summer now, so I think I'll plant them outside now, but it was so heartbreaking to see me FINALLY grow my first sprouts in my whole life and she just EATS them like om nom nom I'm a cat. Cat related.
>> Anonymous
People don't realize this, but plants need drainage. If you're going to have any potted plant do this, this is what I do and I keep stuff alive that isn't even supposed to survive where I live. Get a ceramic pot with a hole in the bottom, not one of those glazed ones, just a plain $1.99 ceramic pot from your local gardening centre. I don't recommend Home Depot or Lowes, find out if there is a mom & pops nursery where you live, things will be cheaper and the people will be friendly and they wont say "I dunno" when you ask them questions about the plant you are going to buy. The pot should be 1.5 to 2X the size of the root ball. Put a layer of lava rocks in the bottom of the pot, just enough to cover the bottom. Then put a layer of Mason's sand over that, just enough to cover the rocks, Mason's sand is very coarse and has little pebbles in it. Then put whatever kind of soil your plant likes in the pot. Different plants like different soil, some like it acidic some like it alkaline, things like orchids actually like tree bark mixed with charcoal instead of soil. So do a little bit of research on the plant you want to grow, google is your friend. As a GENERAL rule for most plants water when the first 1.5" of soil is dry. Obviously desert plants want to stay a little drier than a jungle plants and things like the Venus Flytrap want to stay much wetter than just about everything else you can think of.
>> Anonymous
If it's a vine, give the vine something to grow on like a trellis, they grow much better that way and you can get a cheap trellis for like 5 bucks. Also don't put the pot in those little saucer things they always sell with the pots, they only attract bugs and aren't good for most plants. Oh, and I guess back to the original question, seeds are alright for some plants, but it can be hard to germinate many of them without knowing exactly what type of condition you need to grow them. For example most nuts, like acorns and walnuts actually need to be kept in the crisper drawer of the fridge in a ziplock baggie with a moist paper towel until spring, then they can be planted and most will grow. Or something like mango seeds need to actually be shucked and kept moist, dark and warm in order to sprout. Things like orchids are almost impossible for an amateur to start from seed because you actually need sterile test tubes and it is just a tremendous pain in the ass and totally not worth it. You basically have to trick the seed into thinking that it is in its natural environment, and conditions are perfect to sprout, they only get 1 shot at sprouting, and if they fail they die. I would just buy a young small plant from the nursery that piques your interest, and ask the nursery staff questions about what soil and light and stuff that the plant needs if I were you.
>> Anonymous
>>270853

The likelyhood of them being eaten only increases outside. It's all part of the process of gardening, don't give up. :)
>> Anonymous
>>270766

If it was an ivy, they're apparently quite easy to kill. I have lots of house plants, but for whatever reason I can't keep ivy alive more than a year.

In general, overwatering is one of the easiest ways to kill plants.

What comes to seeds... Well, some plants are easy to raise from seeds and some can be quite difficult. Btw, it's normal that only part of the seeds sprout.
>> Anonymous
>>270766
Moist water? MADNESS!