Identification: "SCREWED UP ME!".... (plant id)....

Discussion in 'Indoor and Greenhouse Plants' started by pwk, Apr 20, 2008.

  1. pwk

    pwk Active Member

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    ^ quoting my boyfriend, responding to my asking him for a witty name for my new thread while he played Brain Age on his nintendo ds. I feel like I really peaked at the last one. sorry, guys.

    ANYWAYS it's me, again, (possibly) with my last set of plants that need names and or help or both.

    #1) After going through like a billion aloe species, I believe both these plants are aloe aristata, can anyone confirm this?

    #2) This is a sad little coffee plant, not sure of its latin name. It was doing so well, sprouting its first set of new leaves for the spring and everything, and then magically one day just dried up. It was strange, because while I will be the first to admit he went a while without water, I don't think it was anything too drastic... maybe a few days of overly dry soil at most.. all my other plants, including a lychee tree and mimosa pudica (which I assume to be fragile, but could be very wrong) were totally unaffected. Later learning that I'd jeopardized some of my other plants with over watering, I now guess that maybe I actually OVER watered him, his roots rotted and he died? The only thing that makes me question that theory is that his pot had drainage and that his roots still hold firm to the ground. WOW, lots of history lol. BASICALLY my question is this... Can anything be done? He appears to be completely dried up, but his leaves are still green, (he's been this way about a week or so). His roots still hold tight to the ground, and he smells "green". I gave him some schultz all purpose plant food and I'm hoping he picks up... am I beating a horse... er... plant?

    #3) Finally, any ideas on what this cactus might be? Cacti are SO hard to identify for me!

    #4) I've noticed myself referring to my plants in the third person. Is this okay?

    THANKS A BILLION FOR THE BILLIONTH TIME!
     

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  2. constantgardener

    constantgardener Active Member 10 Years

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    #1 the plant on the right side of the pot looks like a haworthia...don't tell me...was trying to find one of mine today and looked at bizillions...Haworthia fasciata (H. attenuata); it's highly variable so both are probably the same species.
     
  3. lorax

    lorax Rising Contributor 10 Years

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    Your coffee plant looks like maybe she drowned....

    I don't think it's weird at all to be referring to your plants as anthropomorphic entities. I have named all of mine and talk to them on a regular basis.
     
  4. pwk

    pwk Active Member

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    It's strange, right? Because why would a leaf that's dried up still be so green? But the leaf is so so so brittle, like rice paper... but still smells alive. If it is a case of drowning, is there any solution you could suggest? I've heard of people watering their plants with coffee to raise the acidity of the soil and kind of shock the plant into recovery... but that kind of scares me...
     
  5. lorax

    lorax Rising Contributor 10 Years

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    I wouldn't do it, not even to a coffee plant. I'd repot it immediately in a new pot with different soil, then water it very sparsely.

    It also looks like maybe something has been chewing on it?
     
  6. pwk

    pwk Active Member

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    yeah, that would be of the big fat hairy cat variety :p. The situation has been mediated. Those leaves are actually its eldest, it had quite a few ones higher up but most of them fell off, and I clipped off its dried up new growth, hoping to facilitate MORE non dried up new growth, not sure if that was the right thing to do. I'm just worried that the leaf is dead, but the plant is not, and that without leaves he will essentially starve to death. (My plant has become a vegetable).
     
  7. pwk

    pwk Active Member

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    also constantgardener, Haworthia fasciata seems spot on. I totally thought it was an aloe, thanks for correcting me. Also is this the way all you gurus do your thing? With the googling and the reference books and all this glam? I'm a 19 year old female who only recently started this plant thing, and I'm so ridiculously impressed by all of you.
     
  8. lorax

    lorax Rising Contributor 10 Years

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    We absolutely do this with the googling and the reference books and the hoyven-mayven. And occasionally with the Jazz Hands. We all started out basically ignorant of plants - after a while you'll start to recognize the more common ones. We also tend to be inventive googlerers when in comes to search terms.
     
  9. pwk

    pwk Active Member

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    haha yeah I'm already yelling POTHOS! SANSEVIERIA! CROTON! at the local home depot. plants rule.
     
  10. constantgardener

    constantgardener Active Member 10 Years

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    good luck with yelling ANYTHING at Home Depot...they just look at you like you're speaking a dead language! But do have some neat things, sometimes.
     
  11. constantgardener

    constantgardener Active Member 10 Years

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    Oh, and hawthoria is an aloe relative, so some do look very aloe-ish.

    You might try re-posting just the pic of the lonely cactus in the cactus/succulent forum. By this time in the thread, it's probably not going to much attention. What's his/her name?
     

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