The return of the Black-Thumb

I’m notoriously bad with plants. It’s so bad there is a standing joke in my family about it… My plants even have an Instagram account about it.

It. Is. That. Bad.

I really forgot just how crappy I am at keeping plants alive. If you don’t believe me…I once thought I kept a little cactus alive. Turns out, the bloody thing died but for some reason stayed green. My sister just never bothered to tell me (apparently to save my fragile feelings). So I just kept on giving it a teaspoon of water once a week. She only told me the truth over a Sunday lunch, with my parents, as I was defending my (supposedly) green thumb with the little cactus as evidence. Yeah….that.

Anyway, I have kept Fergus my philodendron alive for almost a year, and he is frankly thriving, thank you. And I have a Hoya carnosa (porcelain flower) that survived my black thumb when I lived in Johannesburg AND appears to have survived a move from said city to my humble abode here just north of cool. And even my little haresfoot fern (Davallia canariensis) called Basil is actually growing! I really thought I’ve outgrown the curse of the black thumb. Apparently not.

Tuesdays are watering days. I have an alarm to remind me because I forget. It would be great if plants asked for water as pets ask for food. But no. So I watered my plants. One is looking a bit ill, and I had a feeling it isn’t getting enough light on the fridge next to the porcelain flower (known as Sylvia). Cynthia, a creeping charley (Pilea nummulariifolia) was a housewarming gift from very dear friends. Since then she kept on getting brown crispy leaves, mainly on the wall’s side. After some online research, the diagnosis was over-watering (a common mistake by me) and not enough light (at least I got that part right).

But then the horror!!! Little white thingies on the leaves!! Little fuzzy stuff with grey bodies…some expletives were uttered. More frenzied research told me I have mealybugs on my plant. A couple more obscenities followed. I suppose if you know anything more than nothing about pests on plants, you’re probably rolling your eyes and thinking I can just dump some pesticide on them and hope for the best. Yeah, I’m not a fan of those.

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I only use cruelty-free and eco-friendly products, a choice I made about three years ago. Some more frantic research to find a solution that will satisfy my cruelty-free, eco-friendly life choice. Yes, I know that killing some bugs technically nullifies the cruelty-free part. Unfortunately the South African websites mainly advise using pesticides – no-go there. Sigh….more research gave no concrete results. However, a few websites suggested variations of dishwashing liquid and cooking oil diluted in water and sprayed on the plants every 4-5 days. So this is what I did.

I have been using each of these products in my home for quite a while. Both products are cruelty-free, eco-friendly, and made in South Africa. But more importantly, from my research mealybugs don’t like oil (it suffocates the buggers) and diluted soap, and citrus is overall a very good bug repellant. The Triple Orange Wonder Spray has coconut oil, so veg oil has been covered, both products are very soapy and have loads of citrus. I suspect that one cup of water may not be enough dilution, but I will keep a keen eye on my plants over the next few days.

So today I gave Cynthia a really good pruning, I got rid of pretty much all the dead leaves, and cut out the large green leaves that are showing some crunchy bits too. Then I used an earbud dipped in rubbing alcohol and wiped all the leaves and stems I found with mealybugs on them. Finally I sprayed her from top to bottom, and then from bottom to top with the bug spray I made. I pretty much drenched her to make sure I covered the whole plant.

Oh yeah, turns out Sylvia the porcelain plant who lives next to Cynthia, also has some of these little shits on her. After my freak out, I wiped all her leaves with rubbing alcohol too and then gave her a good spray down. Cynthia will live in the bathroom where there is loads of natural light until she looks a bit better, and Sylvia will reside alone on the fridge for the time being.

May the plantgods bless my plants.

** An unpaid post.