No, you didn’t misunderstood my comment. It was sarcasm
To be honest, i found it funny how, from exotic houseplants, the discussion turned to an even more exotic plant 
I do apologize as well, my comment was meant to be funny and have a laugh about it 
Ah, I understand! This is actually a pretty common situation when the conversation turns to exotic plants. It’s often the first thing that comes to people’s minds. Even when I mention lights and grow tents in conversations with friends, the first question is always whether I grow weed. That’s precisely why I wanted to clarify upfront that I have nothing to do with it and am completely inexperienced in that area. Of course, I’m more than happy to continue the conversation about everything else related to growing, whether it’s houseplants or garden vegetables.
People often say that my knowledge on the subject is quite extensive, which surprises me a bit. A few years ago, there was a lot of arguing in our house whenever my wife brought home a potted plant. I saw them as dust collectors, unnecessary clutter in the house. That was until one day when my wife asked for my opinion on one of her dying plants. Since I’m extremely scientifically and analytically minded, with a strong touch of OCD, I approached that plant in the same way. And in doing so, I opened up a whole new world for myself, slightly informed by my gardening experience. I’ve been nurturing that garden passion for my entire life, with only a few breaks here and there.
Because we never stop learning, I picked up books, connected with other growers, and above all, experimented a lot—really, a lot. And I got completely hooked 
Through all of this, I’ve discovered that playing with soil and caring for these plants is incredibly beneficial for my mental health. It’s an amazing remedy for stress—not to mention the beauty they bring. Currently, all my orchids are in full bloom, and they’ve been flowering since mid-December. All these orchids were rescued from the trash, where other people had thrown them away or were about to. When I show them pictures, they can hardly believe it. It’s a shame I can’t share photos of my Monstera, which three years ago was just a seedling with a single, half-rotten leaf, ready to be thrown in the trash by my neighbor. Today, it’s a nearly 2.5-meter-tall monster, with leaves spanning just under a meter. And, of course, it’s the result of my other five Monstera plants and about twice as many gifted ones.
I don’t have any expertise in houseplants but i do like them a lot. I have only 2 plants that i’m looking after myself. All i know is that one is called “dieffenbachia”. The other one, i don’t even know the name but i can share a pic of it
You’re totally right, it is very useful for the mental health
Oh yes, Dieffenbachia! That one is also on my list. The only one I had, I returned to its owner after rehabilitating it. I do regret a bit not having propagated it…
It was, however, the only one (aside from a palm) that our cats admired a bit too much. Which isn’t the smartest idea, considering its toxicity.
Handsdown, that is a great story about how you got interested in plants!
Do you grow all those veggies to produce food for your family, in your own garden/farm?
I’ve been a lifelong nurseryman, working in all kinds of horticulture jobs. I live for 6 years in Hawaii as a young boy, and that sparked my interest in plants…absolutey amazing there!
When I hot older, and back to the lower 48, as they say, I discovered that what are “houseplants” here were growing in our yard there.
Now retired I too grow a ton of tomatoes, peppers unsual annuals and perennials, from seed, divisoins and cuttings, and tropicals from babies and cuttings…and like you some rescues too!
I have a HUGE plant sale at my house 2 weekends in May! been doing that for a lot of years! I love helping feed peoples love of plants…providing quality plants at affordable prices, and sharing my knowledge.
AND,as you said it is very therapeutic! I think its that 'nurturing another living thing"
As related to VHTV, I’m really happy to see a few participants growing plants, notably Bee, and now Shana…I hope it helps her with her issues!!
Here is a pic of one of my 2 greenhouses…I’m taking this opporutnity to thoroughly clean it up, before starting this yeasrs crop of babies.
Next time I’ll show you my Tropicals…that are moved into my basement, after having an11 hr power outage yesterday…in 25 f degree weather!
You can get them on Etsy for about $16 to $20 USD (15.49 to 19.36 euros).
While I was looking at the different Monsteras, this popped up out of the blue. I’ve never seen a plant with leaves like this before. It reminded me of a spinal column with nerves radiating outward.
Prayer Plant - Lemon Lime - Maranta Leuconeura - Tropical Plant
OMG, that’s over 8 ft tall! That is one monster plant! When you say, with leaves spanning just under 4 ft, are you referring to one leaf, and is that width or length?
The plant in the image is a Calathea lancifolia, commonly known as the Rattlesnake Plant. It is a tropical houseplant admired for its long, lance-shaped leaves with dark green patterns resembling brush strokes and purplish undersides. This plant thrives in indirect light, high humidity, and well-draining soil.
Dieffenbachia, also known as dumb cane or leopard lily, is a tropical houseplant with striking patterned leaves. Appearance: Large, glossy leaves with unique patterns and colors, often variegated with green, white, and yellow. The leaves grow from a central, cane-like stem. Toxicity: All parts of the plant contain needle-like raphides that can cause a burning sensation in the mouth and throat, swelling, and temporary speechlessness.
One leaf, length 90 cm, width 80.
This was extremely awkward to photograph—me on a ladder, while my son took the picture. The moss pole, which is slightly visible behind my arm, is just a few centimeters below the ceiling, making it quite inconvenient to water. Because of this, I can only wait for one more new leaf to grow, and then I will have to cut down the entire plant. This will be quite a significant project, as the stem is as thick as my wrist, and moving the entire plant has become increasingly difficult. I can’t lift it anymore, anyway:
This is truly awkward to photograph, solely for the purpose of comparing my hand to the fenestrations on the lower leaf:
All of this has grown over the course of three years. It came to me from a neighbor in a pitiful state—yellowed and half-rotten. Here, I first rooted it in pothos water:
I have the entire growth of this plant documented through photos because it became a subject of controversy on some forums where people doubted the authenticity of my claims. As a result, I had to provide visual evidence to support my statements. That’s why I always take pictures with my username and date visible. I won’t post the rest of the photos here due to the nature of this forum, but I hope you understand.
That’s crazy! As a serial plant killer, I’m excited to see a man whois that pro with domestic plants, honestly never met one
Is there a chance we get thai constellation photos?
Handsdown, thank you for the time and effort it took to do this, but I didn’t mean for you to go to all that trouble. I didn’t need photographic evidence. I would have taken your word for it.
That is one amazing plant! Thank you very much for the beautiful photos.
Of course, no problem at all:
Due to the lighting, it has a rather orange tint. However, this plant is still struggling, or rather, it’s still in a rather poor condition, and I’ll likely have to propagate it. The Thai Constellation from the first series, before tissue culture, has a lot of issues with the root rot gene and is incredibly difficult to grow. At one moment, it’s a beautiful plant, and then, within just a few weeks, it completely declines.
@letsdothis no problem at all!
Over the years of posting online, I’ve grown accustomed to the fact that you can never be 100% sure what’s true and what isn’t. I completely understand when someone puts in a lot of effort and still doesn’t succeed, and then doubts arise when they see something that contradicts their experience. I’m always happy to explain what I do differently, especially since I don’t follow the norms that dominate the plant community. I’m constantly experimenting, and believe me, sometimes the results are disastrous, even embarrassing.
For example, it’s well-known that monsteras love light, but wherever you look, you’ll be warned that direct sunlight will kill or burn them. From firsthand experience, I can tell you that’s not true. Of course, if you bring it up from a basement and place it directly in the sun, it won’t fare well. I moved mine from artificial lights to a huge west-facing window as early as February, where it gets direct sunlight from noon until sunset. It’s thriving like crazy. However, it needs acclimatization, strict watering (my weak point), and fertilizing. And, of course, a moss pole is a must—without support, it will never grow as large. But this also depends on individual preferences. Many people don’t want such a beast in their homes—it’s hard to manage, takes up a lot of space, and for those who prefer smaller plants, monsteras can still thrive beautifully in low-light conditions. I have quite a few of those as well.
@Tavares105244 You’ve got a proper indoor orchard going on! 
@420buddy now cmon!! Those greenhouse setups of yours are massive! Mine is like a doghouse compared to yours, lol!
My garden is also very small, consisting of eight raised beds measuring 1.2 meters by 2 meters each. So, less than 20 square meters of planting space, with an additional 10 square meters of border area. It’s not much, but it yields a lot, mainly due to mixed planting and no-till gardening based on my own compost. And, of course, choosing crops based on the principle of “grow what you actually eat/use.”
It’s an interesting story about why I even started creating my own garden. I’ve had my hands in the soil for most of my life—growing up as a foster child on a large farm and later through my mother-in-law’s fairly large garden. When we built our house, having my own garden was always in the back of my mind, but it took a while before I actually made it happen. It probably would have taken even longer if I hadn’t once made a bet with my neighbors about who could grow the prettier tomatoes.
Tomatoes and some other vegetables have a bit of a troublesome history for me. Every time I ate them in any form—salad, sauce, puree, anything—I would have severe stomach issues. It got so bad that for 25 years, I didn’t eat anything that contained tomatoes. You can imagine that I entered this competition just for fun, out of a competitive spirit. There was no garden at the time, so I grew them in containers. And they turned out divine. I kept looking at those beautiful red fruits, my family devoured them, and eventually, I couldn’t resist. I ate a whole bowl of them, straight from the plant. And the next day—get this—it dawned on me that I had absolutely no issues. None. Zero. Nada. Niente. That’s when it all became clear to me. I immediately scheduled an appointment with my doctor for testing—pesticide and fungicide allergies.
As an interesting side note, the same thing happened with onions, strawberries, and more. After that experience, I started looking more closely at the fruits and vegetables we buy. The findings were shocking. Strawberries are sprayed 11 to 16 times before they hit the shelves. The same goes for tomatoes, potatoes, peppers—you name it. Naturally, the decision was made: we immediately set up a garden, and I converted one of the rooms in the house into a tent setup where I grow tomatoes throughout the winter. January harvest:
Now I’m making up for those 25 lost years by indulging in tomatoes like there’s no tomorrow 
It’s no wonder that one falls into this with all their heart, right?
I also absolutely LOVE tomatoes. If you sat me in a tomato patch with a little bit of salt, there wouldn’t be any tomatoes left in about an hour. So, probably not a good idea to invite me for a meal.
And I’m sure you know that, at one time, people refused to eat tomatoes at all because they thought they were poisonous.
Oh, I totally understand you! It’s exactly the same with me. Last year I planted 20 plants, of which 18 were salad tomatoes and two were Sun Gold plants. Not a single tomato made it to the kitchen, we ate them all straight from the plant.
Yes, I know the story about the concerns regarding ‘toxicity’. There are many myths associated with tomatoes, but the leaves and stem are indeed poisonous. Some people even go so far as to say that you shouldn’t compost tomato plants because of the solanine in the leaves and stems, which is just nonsense. Solanine breaks down within the first few weeks of composting. The microorganisms in the compost break down the solanine into harmless substances. In addition, the high temperatures that develop during composting accelerate the breakdown of solanine.
I got interested in raphides when I read about them in dieffenbachia.
Raphides are needle-shaped crystals of calcium oxalate monohydrate or calcium carbonate as aragonite, found in more than 200 families of plants. Both ends are needle-like, but raphides tend to be blunt at one end and sharp at the other. They’re microscopic and used as a defense against herbivores, but can cause some rather unsavory symptoms in humans, as well.
Here are just a few of the plants that contain raphides. There are 797 different species, including some well-known plants, fruits and vegetables.
Spinach
Kiwi fruit
Pineapple
Taro
Yam
Dumb cane (dieffenbachia)
Peace lily
Calla lily
Swiss cheese plant
Angel wings (Caladium)
Elephant ears (Colocasia)
Dayflower
Wandering Jew
Rhubarb
Virginia creeper
Wow, that’s a lot of tomatoes!
Both tomatoes and Potatoes are members of the very toxic Nightshade family. The green parts of both are toxic to animals and humans…and why you are always cautioned to store potatoes in the dark. In the light potatoes turn green, and carry increased levels of a naturally occurring toxin called “solanine,” becoming toxic! Eating large amounts of this toxin can lead to food poisoning symptoms like nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and abdominal pain.
