My Little Dorm Plant

My Little Dorm Plant#226734

By Cleo_13 -  Mon Mar 30, 2015 3:34 pm
Posts:  295
Joined:  Tue Jun 14, 2011 9:35 pm

- Mon Mar 30, 2015 3:34 pm #226734

I've tried keeping several types of plants in my dorm room over last fall and this spring. The VFTs hated my windowsill, the sundew plant took many weeks to recover after I brought it back home, and even the spider plant was looking a bit droopy. I hope this goes better. This is an offshoot of a plant I have back home. It's a succulent of the Haworthia genus, and this variety is commonly referred to as a zebra plant. It's in a pot formerly occupied by it's parent plant. I had named that plant Natalia, and part of the name tag is still there. It reads Na, so I commonly refer to my plant as sodium. I intend to get it a friend and put K on it's name tag. Anyone here remember chemistry class?

The picture was taken from my phone, which takes very bad photos.

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I'm the grower of VFTs Maria, Lukas, Emil, Mathias, Isabel, Alice, Beatrix, Arthur, Berwald, and a cup of seedlings named Lili.
I also have Francis, my cape sundew.
RIP Gilbert
Yes, I'm the silly person who names her plants.

Re: My Little Dorm Plant#226735

By Cleo_13 -  Mon Mar 30, 2015 3:45 pm
Posts:  295
Joined:  Tue Jun 14, 2011 9:35 pm

- Mon Mar 30, 2015 3:45 pm #226735

I'm a bit worried about how much light it's getting. My window just doesn't feel adequate. Any suggestions? Do they make affordable grow lights that will fit in desk lamps? I have a desk lamp I'm not using. Then I wouldn't have to worry as much about the draft under the window either.

I'm the grower of VFTs Maria, Lukas, Emil, Mathias, Isabel, Alice, Beatrix, Arthur, Berwald, and a cup of seedlings named Lili.
I also have Francis, my cape sundew.
RIP Gilbert
Yes, I'm the silly person who names her plants.

Re: My Little Dorm Plant#226738

By evenwind -  Mon Mar 30, 2015 4:04 pm
Location:  Long Island, NY
Posts:  2178
Joined:  Sun Jul 07, 2013 4:16 pm

- Mon Mar 30, 2015 4:04 pm #226738

As far as a cheap grow bulb, try doing a search for "grow lights for indoor plants" on Amazon. I don't know what you consider "affordable" but Amazon seems to have a lot of choices. Even if you don't buy from them, you'll have good idea what's out there.

And as you probably know, Haworthias are fairly low-light plants. Mine are growing happily at 1000-1200 foot-candles, which is around 1/3 of what my CPs get. If you don't have access to a light meter, maybe somebody in your dorm has a camera with a built-in meter. There are conversion tables to foot-candles available online.

Good luck with Sodium.

evenwind liked this

As Robin Hood examined the small bag of plunder, he learned a Life Lesson: Never steal from the rich when they’re out walking the dog.

Re: My Little Dorm Plant#226742

By Cleo_13 -  Mon Mar 30, 2015 5:04 pm
Posts:  295
Joined:  Tue Jun 14, 2011 9:35 pm

- Mon Mar 30, 2015 5:04 pm #226742

I think my window is east facing. Is that good enough in terms of light then? The sun shines in directly for a short time in the morning, but it can get pretty dim later on. The windowsill is pretty cold and drafty, so maybe that is a bigger worry. It's been here for about a month with no visible problems.

I'm the grower of VFTs Maria, Lukas, Emil, Mathias, Isabel, Alice, Beatrix, Arthur, Berwald, and a cup of seedlings named Lili.
I also have Francis, my cape sundew.
RIP Gilbert
Yes, I'm the silly person who names her plants.

Re: My Little Dorm Plant#226754

By evenwind -  Mon Mar 30, 2015 7:30 pm
Location:  Long Island, NY
Posts:  2178
Joined:  Sun Jul 07, 2013 4:16 pm

- Mon Mar 30, 2015 7:30 pm #226754

I'd guess it's enough light but it's hard to say from here.

Let the plant tell you, over time. Take a pic (so you have something to compare it to) and see how the plant changes. I've found that my Haworthias get reddish under too much light. I don't have a Haworthia attenuata like yours at the moment but it probably does,too.

As far as too little light, it might start showing etiolation (stretching toward the light). You'll be able to see the less obvious signs of etiolation if the new bands between the rows of dots widen. Another sign of too little light is darkening (the plant makes more chloroplasts to take advantage of what light's available and the denser chloroplasts show up as darker leaves).

Remember that it's a winter-growing succulent and even in it's most active fall-winter growth season, it'll take far less water than a CP.

Generally, though, Haworthias are hard to kill and I suspect most die from overwatering and not light problems.

Oh, yeah, try to eliminate the draft if you can.

Hope that helps.

evenwind liked this

As Robin Hood examined the small bag of plunder, he learned a Life Lesson: Never steal from the rich when they’re out walking the dog.

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