Right?? I actually had one before that was getting pretty large but had to toss it because it became infested with thrips, so I thought I’d try again 🤞

I found a pic of a succulent or something that hadn’t been opened yet on the internet. The taller plants are longer packages to accomodate the vines and folliage but this is essentially it (looks like this is actually one of theirs):

I can try! So they were wrapped in brown packing paper, kind of coned around it. the inner paper was reinforced under the pot with tape, all soil and sphagnum moss arrives dry by the time it gets to my place (unsure if they water before packing it or not). Most succulents arrive with tissue (like kleenex) on the soil and tucked under the leaves and then taped down on the corners of the pot. The pinguiculas had tissue completely over top to prevent damage to their delicate leaves. the brown wrapping paper is folded down so it all sits kind of scooped (kinda like how bouquets are wrapped some times). Some of the more fragile hoyas and succulents also had that like plastic stuffing that you’d find in a pillow or stuffed animal over top of it for padding. All the larger hoyas came with the wire trellises which, aside from being for the plant, helps prevent squishing.

All the packages were tucked in basically feet to head with each other. and then the empty space had more brown wrapping paper loosely in it to prevent any movement.

Crystal Star Nursery, it’s my 4th time ordering from them. It’s hard to find hoyas where I’m at and even just in Canada in general and they’ve got a really great selection. I highly recommend them if you’re in Canada.

The plants are always healthy and mostly pest free aside from the occasional fungus gnat. The gnats aren’t a big issue for me anymore though since almost anything that isn’t a succulent or cactus gets potted into semi-hydro.

**I should mention that I bring up pests because the nursery that’s near me is notorious for all kinds of bugs so it’s nice when I find one with healthy plants haha.

Not too big honestly, maybe 9"x18"? I recently lost a bunch of plants to thrips so I had the space and some birthday cash :P

Whoops! How silly of me, here you go:

They’re so pretty! The Cuprea is a stunner 😍

I will!

Not hard at all! I got some of those seedling trays that come with the lid that allows for easy bottom watering and basically just watered once every week or two. Kept it under a grow light for 12 hours a day and had a heating pad under it set to 22° C (it was in the basement so I didn’t want it getting too cold). Now I just water it once a week and let it do its thing! It seems to really like the bonsai mix.

This will be my struggle in a year or two. I’m planning on moving a couple provinces over so I’ll need to come up with a way to move them. Probably end up taking a bunch of cuttings instead.

I ran the pic through Planta which says it could be a common fig, or ficus carica. I think it looks pretty similar, could be that.

Definitely spider mites, I’ve gotten rid of them by giving them a good spray down with my shower head, wiping all the leaves with damp paper towel, and then dousing the plant in miticide (i used safer’s end all, it comes in a yellow bottle). I did 3 separate treatments 3 days apart. and then kept them quarantined for a month to make sure i got em all. I managed to get rid of the mites on most of my infested plants except for my parlor palm which i ended up throwing out. There’s other, more environmentally friendly options you can google but that’s what worked for me.

Make sure you get all the nooks and crannies, including the underside of the leaves, stems, and the top of the soil. Those buggers are prolific and if you miss some then they come back quickly.

Thank you for the recommendation! I’ve definitely considered carnivorous plants. Actually I ended up throwing all my plants in water last month (except for some succulents which weren’t part of the problem) to convert all of my plants to a semi-hydro system instead. I haven’t seen a fungus gnat since! Once it warms up outside and I can rinse off the substrate with a hoze I’ll be potting them up in a soilless mix.

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I could try that, I think I’ll try the sand tip first to see if that helps before repotting everything (been trying to avoid that since it’s such a huge undertaking at this point). I only have the one fern, I have a bunch of epiphytes (a bunch of pothos, couple hoyas, a small monstera, etc.), no ficuses. I was considering switching my alocasias to leca but was intimidated by the change in care, I’ll have to do some reading up on it.

Would watering for clay basically be the same as soil? water when dry?

I’ll give it a shot! How thick of a layer? Like a cm or 2?

Unfortunately mosquito bits aren’t available in Canada. I’ve been letting them dry out between so I’m surprised they just come right back, I’m wondering if it’s to do with my plants all being watered at different intervals so there’s always at least one plant that has moist soil. Would the clay/rock work for all plant types? I’ve been using 1 part perlite, 1 part potting mix, and 1 part orchid bark for most of my plants since it tends to stay more humid where I am and takes forever to dry otherwise. The few succulents I have are mostly in 50/50 perlite and cactus mix.