Thursday, May 13, 2010

Got my plant!

It arrived! Hooray! A little later than I expected but still in good shape. The plant definitely had less leaves than my first one, but about twice as thick a stem. There were a few dead leaves but nothing too bad... Something interesting I noticed is that the leaves had a much different texture than my first plant... Maybe from being in high humidity?

I also saw that some roots were trying to leave the bottom of the pot! It IS a pretty small container, but I'm not sure if I should transplant it just yet. I didn't find any flower buds and I'm not sure why. My first plant definitely had some when I got it and it was about half as old.

I got four stakes and stuck them in the soil and put a plant humidity bag over the whole thing, being careful that the leaves didn't touch the sides. I have a little tray with pebbles and water in the bag next to the plant to try and up the humidity a little more. It's by an east window with a T8 4ft cool light fluorescent about eight inches above it, and I also have a fluorescent compact rig I can put next to it if It's not enough.

Plant in its packaging


Unpacked!


In its new home, hopefully for more than a few months!


As comparison, this is my previous plant.


I was wondering if anyone could help me with this... A few leaves had these round circles, and it kind of looks like a disease. Does anyone know what they are?

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

update

The larger miracle fruit plant has lost all but two (two!) of its leaves. It's in 100% humidity right now. I'm trying to revive it, but I don't give it very good odds. I have one seedling left and it has about eight leaves and a pretty thick stem. It's currently in a bottle terrarium.

I want to start over growing a larger plant, this time not shipped halfway across the world. I just ordered one from Mark of black river nursery. Looking back, I really didn't follow the common growing instructions. It often got cold, I couldn't provide high humidity, didn't get enough light, and the PH was too high. I'm better equipped now. I have plant humidity bags, a grow light setup, ph tester and sulfur granules, and a small plant heating pad.

I'm determined to do better this time.