Houseplants, Succulents, and Tropicals
When I was 9 or 10 years old, I bought a tiny jade plant from the local Kmart with money I earned from shoveling snow. I cared for that little plant for several years and watched with great happiness and pride as it grew from a two-leafer to a sizable 24″ tall plant. It was ultimately killed by a rabbit while spending a summer outdoors at my folks’ house, but I’ll never forget that little jade plant. Almost as a form of over-compensation, I’ve taken great care of my dragon tree (Dracaena marginata) for the last 24 years. Like the jade plant, it also came from a big box store. I bought it back in 1999. From the time I loved and tended my jade plant all those years ago, right up through the present, houseplants, succulents and tropical plants have held a special place in my heart. I’ll be adding more pics to the houseplants, succulents, and tropicals collection here in ongoing fashion, so please check back in to see what’s new. In the meantime, I hope you’ll like these shots. Cheers, and Happy Gardening!
John G. Stamos
Publisher
Espoma Organic Violet! Espoma Organic Violet! is, as you might suspect, what I feed my all members of my African violet colony. But if I’m ever fresh out of Espoma Organic Violet! African violet food, I feed them Espoma Organic Orchid! orchid food. Both products can be used interchangeably, since they’ve got exactly the same fast-uptake, organic, liquid formulation. They’ve both got an N-P-K of 1-3-1, with nutrients derived from exactly the same sources, and theyv’e got exactly the same populations of colonizing beneficial microbes. Espoma Organic Violet!, like its sister plant food product, Espoma Organic Orchid!, will provide your plants with the perfect combination of nutrients – and in exactly the right amounts – to ensure their continued excellent green, growing health, and ongoing prodigious blooming habits. Click the #advertisement link to learn more, or to order it right here, directly from Amazon.
Espoma Organic Orchid! Espoma Organic Orchid! is, as in the case of every Espoma product I’ve ever used, absolutely remarkable. It’s the perfect food for my orchids, bat flower, (and African violets), and other tropical plants that have big-time blooming capabilities and also like to spend huge chunks of the year, if not the whole year, indoors. This fast-uptake, liquid organic product delivers all the nutrition my plants need. Its N-P-K of 1-3-1 provides the perfect ratio of nutrients with just a smidge more phosphorous (but not too much) that ensures that plants that were born to flower, and flower big, reach their blooming potential. Plus, there are massive populations of colonizing, beneficial microbes in Espoma Organic Orchid! that help boost and maintain overall plant and soil health. Good stuff, right here, kiddos. It’s got the exactly the same formulation as Espoma Organic Violet! African violet food, and I’ve used the two products interchangeably with great success on both orchids and African violets. Click the #advertisement link to learn more about this excellent product, or to order it right here, directly from Amazon.
Espoma Organic African Violet Premium Potting Mix. Espoma Organic African Violet Premium Potting Mix is the potting medium I use for every single one of my African violets. Its composition perfectly matches the natural soil requirements of these little flowering dynamos. This premium product contains processed forest products, sphagnum, peat moss, perlite, humus, limestone (for pH adjustment), and yucca extract. It provides a stress-free medium for African violets that mitigates and/or entirely eliminates any signs of plant shock when re-potting, and allows these beautiful little plants to live the long, flower-filled lives to which they’re genetically predisposed. This is the perfect potting medium for African violets, and I wholeheartedly recommend it. To learn more about this excellent potting medium, or to order it right here, directly from Amazon, please click the #advertisement link.
Espoma Organic Orchid Mix. Espoma Organic Orchid Mix is the perfect potting medium for my orchids. It’s formulated from aged pine bark, horticultural charcoal, perlite, limestone (for the adjustment of pH), and yucca extract. Since orchids are epiphytic – they grow in the grooves and fissures in the bark of trunks of large trees with their roots substantially exposed to the air – the light and breathable formulation of Espoma Organic Orchid Mix perfectly approximates each orchid’s natural growing medium. My own Phalaenopsis orchids have thrived and bloomed for years while growing in this excellent potting medium. I just can’t say enough about this wonderful organic potting mix. Click the #advertisement link to learn more about this excellent product, or to order it right here, directly from Amazon.
Espoma Organic Palm-tone. Plants need to eat, including all of those featured here in the “Houseplants, Succulents, and Tropicals” image gallery. And, as far as almost every single one of my potted tropical plants is concerned, Espoma Organic Palm-tone is my hands-down choice. This fabulous organic 4-1-5 fertilizer is formulated especially for tropical plants like palms, cycads, tropical hibiscus, bougainvilleas, and more. The nutrient formulation of this food, coupled with the beneficial microbe colonies in its Bio-Tone component, ensures that my tropical plants are robust, bushy, and, in the case of my flowering tropicals, covered in huge, vivid blooms. This is the stuff right here. Click the #advertisement link to learn more, or to order right here, directly from Amazon.
True Organic Citrus & Avocado Food. This product is the only organic granular product I use that is not part of the Espoma family of organic granular products. How does it compare to Espoma Organic Citrus-tone? Very well indeed. I can’t say that one works better than the other, but what I can tell you is that I prefer to use one on a particular fruiting tree, and the other on a different fruiting tree, although I’m convinced that they would work well interchangeably. For my dwarf fig tree, True Organic Citrus & Avocado Food is what I typically use (although Citrus-tone would work well, too). True Organic Citrus & Avocado Food has got an N-P-K ratio of 4-5-4, with 7% calcium and 1% sulfur for maintaining plant tissue structure and acidifying soil, respectively. It’s got an incredibly fertile organic composition comprised of a number of natural ingredients. Since figs appreciate a fairly balanced ratio of N-P-K, True Organic Citrus & Avocado Food fits my fig’s bill perfectly. To learn more, or to order this excellent product right here, directly from Amazon, please click the #advertisement link.
Espoma Organic Citrus-tone. This excellent organic food is what my dwarf Myer lemon tree eats. This product is so neck-and-neck with True Organic Citrus & Avocado Food in so many ways, it’s impossible for me to recommend one over the other for general, overall use. I love them and use them both. I will say, however, that I believe that Espoma Organic Citrus-tone might be more appropriate for my little lemon tree. It’s got an N-P-K ratio of 5-2-6, which satisfies the lemon’s need for a slightly higher proportion of nitrogen with respect to phosphorous and potassium. It also contains calcium and sulfur, which are great for helping promote healthy tissue structure and acidifying soil, respectively. Since lemon trees prefer slightly acidic soil, and I love using Espoma Organic Soil Acidifier to knock down the pH levels in my dirt, I’m comfortable with the level of proprietary compatibility between the two Espoma products when applied to my lemon tree’s soil. Citrus-tone also features Bio-Tone in its formulation, which is Espoma’s amazing proprietary blend of beneficial microbe colonies. To learn more about this excellent product, or to order it right here, directly from Amazon, please click the #advertisement link.
Espoma Organic Cactus! An organic liquid fertilizer from Espoma that’s formulated with an N-P-K ratio of 1-2-2, Cactus! is what I use to feed my Thanksgiving cactus and all of my potted succulents. It can be administered year-round at two or four-week intervals, and its benefits are very quickly noticeable. My plants have benefitted enormously from the application of this excellent product. Please click the #advertisement link to learn more, or to order this excellent organic product right here, directly from Amazon.
Espoma Organic Flower-tone. This fabulous offering from Espoma’s family of organic plant foods is an absolutely perfect product for intensely flowering plants that like a slightly higher percentage of phosphorous and potassium in their food with respect to its nitrogen content, like my tropical mandevilla vines, and my extremely hardy flowering quince bush. Espoma Organic Flower-tone fits the bill perfectly with its N-P-K ratio of 3-4-5 and the sizeable colonies of beneficial microbes included in its Bio-Tone component. It does work wonders on my mandevillas and my flowering quince, but you can use this amazing stuff successfully on all sorts of flowering plants, bushes, and trees. To learn more about Espoma Organic Flower-tone, or to order it right here, directly from Amazon, please click the #advertisement link.
The Lxyoug Full Spectrum LED Grow Light. This is the perfect indoor grow light for all houseplants, succulents, and tropicals. It’s kept all of my indoor plants healthy, happy, and green. And, it’s proven to be THE miracle cure for all of my tropical plants that suffer from relocation shock when they first come indoors in the fall after spending the warm and sunny spring and summer months outdoors. Its flexibility, capability, convenience, and proven effectiveness make this grow light an absolute must-have. Please read my review of this unit in “Help Your Tropical Plants Recover from Relocation Shock.” I simply can’t say enough about this product, and I am pleased to wholeheartedly recommend it. I haven’t found a better lighting solution for my houseplants, succulents, and tropicals than the Lxyoug Full Spectrum LED Grow Light. Please click the #advertisement link to learn more, or to order it here, directly from Amazon.
Plants need to eat, including all of those featured here in the “Houseplants, Succulents, and Tropicals” image gallery. And, as far as almost every single one of my potted tropical plants is concerned, Espoma Organic Palm-tone is my hands-down choice. This fabulous organic 4-1-5 fertilizer is formulated especially for tropical plants like palms, cycads, tropical hibiscus, bougainvilleas, and more. The nutrient formulation of this food, coupled with the beneficial microbe colonies in its Bio-Tone component, ensures that my tropical plants are robust, bushy, and, in the case of my flowering tropicals, covered in huge, vivid blooms. This is the stuff right here. Click the #advertisement link to learn more, or to order right here, directly from Amazon.
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