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My second father's day: my baby is becoming a todd My second father's day: my baby is becoming a toddler - exploring everything but I'm so excited to be there with him - Definitely seeing myself in him! - #fathersday #fathersday2025 #houseplantjournal
Reliable Phalaenopsis blooming - always makes a ni Reliable Phalaenopsis blooming - always makes a nice time lapse! The video spans about a week (time lapse setting: photo taken every 3 minutes) - #houseplantjournal #hpjtimelapse #phalaenopsis #orchid #orchidbloom
The Soltech Aspect Gen2 dimmer fits nicely in your The Soltech Aspect Gen2 dimmer fits nicely in your hand and lets you easily control the brightness of the light. - If you're working in a limited space, it's great to be able to reduce the strength of the light so you won't burn your plants at short distances. - More new features: - Projected lifespan of 10+ years (12 hour cycle) - 18 ft cord (vs 15 ft) - Better PPF to Watt ratio (i.e. more light using less power) - Read the full review of the Soltech Aspect Gen2 grow light - link in profile @houseplantjournal
MYTH: "Removing a dying leaf as soon as it starts MYTH: "Removing a dying leaf as soon as it starts yellowing saves energy for the plant" - There's actually a process happening when the oldest leaf on the plant turns yellow - the plant is breaking down cells so it can salvage some nutrients.  These nutrients are classified as 'mobile' nutrients because they can be moved from older leaves to newer leaves - most notably, nitrogen. - So if you want to do what's best for the plant, you should wait until the salvaging process is complete - for Monstera (and many other Aroids), the leaf will come off easily when it's ready - But if you find that the yellowing leaf detracts from the overall aesthetic, then removing it right away isn't going to be a big deal to the plant - but just remember it's for YOUR benefit, not the plant's - #houseplantjournal #monsteradeliciosa #Monstera #plantwisdom #yellowingleaf
There's a saying: "you can't improve what you can' There's a saying: "you can't improve what you can't measure" - while I knew that I wanted to provide as much light as possible to get my Monstera Burle-Marx Flame to put up more leaves (and thus, getting those nice fenestrations quicker), I wasn't just going to put it under a grow light and call it a day. - I needed to accurately assess how much light the plant was receiving under a grow light.  Soltech generously provided me with their latest grow light: the Apsect Gen2, with 19% more PPF than their previous 40W light but only consuming 36W. - BTW, get 15% off from Soltech when you use the code: DARRYLASP2 - Total light received by a plant is called the Daily Light Integral (DLI) - and it's easy to calculate with a grow light because the strength is constant (once you've measured it) and you control the duration.  I've set up my Burle-Marx Flame to get roughly 1000 FC (measured at the top leaf), which, for white LED, works out to about 180 µmol/s/m². - Converting this to an hourly rate: 180 x 60 x 60 = 648,000 µmol/h - Converting µmol to mol: 648,000 / 1,000,000 = 0.648 mol/h - Multiplying by 12 hours a day: 0.648 x 12 = 7.776 mol/day - So my Monstera Burle-Marx Flame is getting about 7.8 mol/day under the Apsect Gen2 grow light in this setup.  Calculating the DLI is not always necessary – simply stating that the plant gets 1000 FC x 12 hours a day from a white LED light would suffice (strength, duration, context). - Compared to the first generation Apsect, I’m able to put the Gen2 light slightly farther away and still achieve 1000 FC but also at a lower power consumption.  Alternatively, I can use the Gen2 light’s dimmer function to setup the lamp closer to the plant but reducing the brightness down to 1000 FC.  Either way, the Aspect Gen2 has great improvements that are worth the upgrade! - For my full review of the Apsect Gen2 grow light, hit the link in my profile @houseplantjournal
Normal leaf loss: the oldest leaf on my Monstera h Normal leaf loss: the oldest leaf on my Monstera has decided to retire. It has been contributing to photosynthesis for 2 years and 7 months and helped to fuel the growth of 8 new leaves in its time. - #houseplantjournal #monsteradeliciosa #Monstera #monsteramonday #houseplants #plantcare #thanksforphotosynthesis
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