So....
A number of years ago I bought a bunch of tropical plants to decorate around a back yard tiki bar. In the fall they had to be brought home to our full-time house and kept in the living until spring/summer.
I've lost a few over the years (spider mites, etc). Suffice to say, they've grown quite a bit since purchasing them as little $3 and $5 annual container plants at Walmart.
In early summer I cart them out to our deck at home now. In mid Oct once it's first going to go down to below 50 at night, I bring them all back inside. Normally the temps drop unexpectedly fast without warning and it leaves me scrambling to hurry up and get them inside quickly- usually before I've had a chance to properly give them a good washing with the house and some insecticidal soap and dry.
In this case... I've been stuck working days in training for my new job which has left me no time to prepare and looking at the weather and seeing that it's going down to 44 tonight and 39 tomorrow, I had no choice but to bring them in. I didn't want to take any chances. Unfortunately I still have a few outside that are not ready, still have annuals planted in the pot that need to be removed and stuff.
The problem is that my significant other and I disagree immensely on my plants. He hates these plants and constantly laments my having them.
For two summers he said he's going to build me a greenhouse which I'm still not sure they would safely be able to overwinter in in this climate without a heat source.
Over the weekend he told me the house plants are fine and if you're going to have house plants they should live in the house instead of having to bring them in and out or have plants outside that you don't have to bring in but don't keep plants that won't survive in this climate.
I treat my plants with a systemic insecticide throughout the summer typically I wash them real good but in this case I didn't have time which he predicted was going to happen over the weekend. But I did spray them and clean them when I got them into the house with insecticide spray which honestly stinks really damn bad. It makes the whole room smell like stinky dog for a couple days (but it does work).
They live clumped in a corner by the window all winter currently on a remnant piece of rubber gym floor. It's pretty damn ugly. Right now I'm down to three very tall birds of paradise and a draecana(?). The corn plant is the one still outside by the window with the other plants growing in it and random things the squirrel has planted in it that I need to take out first.. I have a couple other little potted plants that usually live on a plant stand but that's not ready either because it doesn't have a table top.
I wish this stuff with the weather didn't always happen so fast so that I could prepare better in advance.
Anyway I'm prepared that when he walks in later and sees them in the living room he's going to be very grumpy.
We disagree entirely about the idea of having my indoor plants that you take out in the summer and bring it in the winter. Pretty much everyone I know who keeps plants does this and he thinks it's just me and a few random people on the internet I've come across but that most sane people don't do this.
I'm not really sure what else to do with them other than his suggestion to throw them over the ravine. They really do stink awful bad right now because of this Captain Jack's crap I keep buying and that's not going to help his mood about it.
.
The other thing is I know once we renovate our living room he's absolutely going to say no more plants, especially once there's a hardwood floor. If the greenhouse ever happens it would be nice if I could convince him to run an electric heater in it so that they won't die once it gets really cold here. I just don't think a greenhouse alone would keep these guys warm enough when it's in the 20s and 30s.
A number of years ago I bought a bunch of tropical plants to decorate around a back yard tiki bar. In the fall they had to be brought home to our full-time house and kept in the living until spring/summer.
I've lost a few over the years (spider mites, etc). Suffice to say, they've grown quite a bit since purchasing them as little $3 and $5 annual container plants at Walmart.
In early summer I cart them out to our deck at home now. In mid Oct once it's first going to go down to below 50 at night, I bring them all back inside. Normally the temps drop unexpectedly fast without warning and it leaves me scrambling to hurry up and get them inside quickly- usually before I've had a chance to properly give them a good washing with the house and some insecticidal soap and dry.
In this case... I've been stuck working days in training for my new job which has left me no time to prepare and looking at the weather and seeing that it's going down to 44 tonight and 39 tomorrow, I had no choice but to bring them in. I didn't want to take any chances. Unfortunately I still have a few outside that are not ready, still have annuals planted in the pot that need to be removed and stuff.
The problem is that my significant other and I disagree immensely on my plants. He hates these plants and constantly laments my having them.
For two summers he said he's going to build me a greenhouse which I'm still not sure they would safely be able to overwinter in in this climate without a heat source.
Over the weekend he told me the house plants are fine and if you're going to have house plants they should live in the house instead of having to bring them in and out or have plants outside that you don't have to bring in but don't keep plants that won't survive in this climate.
I treat my plants with a systemic insecticide throughout the summer typically I wash them real good but in this case I didn't have time which he predicted was going to happen over the weekend. But I did spray them and clean them when I got them into the house with insecticide spray which honestly stinks really damn bad. It makes the whole room smell like stinky dog for a couple days (but it does work).
They live clumped in a corner by the window all winter currently on a remnant piece of rubber gym floor. It's pretty damn ugly. Right now I'm down to three very tall birds of paradise and a draecana(?). The corn plant is the one still outside by the window with the other plants growing in it and random things the squirrel has planted in it that I need to take out first.. I have a couple other little potted plants that usually live on a plant stand but that's not ready either because it doesn't have a table top.
I wish this stuff with the weather didn't always happen so fast so that I could prepare better in advance.
Anyway I'm prepared that when he walks in later and sees them in the living room he's going to be very grumpy.
We disagree entirely about the idea of having my indoor plants that you take out in the summer and bring it in the winter. Pretty much everyone I know who keeps plants does this and he thinks it's just me and a few random people on the internet I've come across but that most sane people don't do this.
I'm not really sure what else to do with them other than his suggestion to throw them over the ravine. They really do stink awful bad right now because of this Captain Jack's crap I keep buying and that's not going to help his mood about it.
. The other thing is I know once we renovate our living room he's absolutely going to say no more plants, especially once there's a hardwood floor. If the greenhouse ever happens it would be nice if I could convince him to run an electric heater in it so that they won't die once it gets really cold here. I just don't think a greenhouse alone would keep these guys warm enough when it's in the 20s and 30s.
