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August 29, 2009

I is a Genius!!! … okay not really…

So I have 3 plants on my desk, one is a miniature Phalaenopsis Orchid and two are Palmeria’s.  Don’t mind the bad photo :c the the sun was setting so the room was dimming.

I’ve had one of my Plumeria’s for about a year now and I’ve recently gotten the second one.  After getting the second one I transferred both into larger pots so they’re both a little wrinkly from the move but the little one is more wrinkly then the older.  It's been a while since I repotted and I’ve been worrying that the water was somehow being soaked back up the pot and giving my plants too much water.

I was a little worried that the little plantie was getting her roots soaked and was thinking of buying little feet for her pot so the bottom wasn’t just sitting in the saucer (plate?  what’s that thing called?).  But since I was out of plant spending cash I needed something else for her little feet.  At first I was trying to snap some extra CD’s I had laying around the room (bad CD’s) but the little buggers wouldn't break.

 

Then I saw a little stack of Coca-Cola bottle caps I had been saving for some obscure craft project.  I thought maybe I could make some type of jewelry or something with some resin, but I saw them and thought “Hey!  I do believe those would make splendid little planter feet.” okay so I didn’t really think that, but you get the picture.

And behold!!!  It works :3 brings up the planter about a centimeter, which is just enough to allow my pots full drainage.  If you have the same problem with your houseplants that I do be sure to place the bottle caps on the outer perimeter of the pots, just enough to stabilize the pot (no shakey-shakey) and not block any drainage hole.

I think they might eventually rust a bit at the edges, but I’m thinking I don’t mind all that much.  I’ll either buy/find something else to replace them or I’m hoping that they’ll be aesthetically pleasing when they rust a bit.

If you’re curious about the Plumeria’s, they’re not technically a houseplant.  They need to be super happy in order to flower, which means good drainage, humidity, and a hot climate.  If you’ve seen Hawaiian Lei’s you’ve seen Plumeria flowers (my big ones white and my little one’s dark pink), and the tree’s get big enough to offer sun shade, sometimes getting up to 30/40 feet in ideal setting.  We have the heat in abundance here, unfortunately its arid heat so very little humidity and our soil drainage isn’t that great.  They might be able to cope outside but  I kind of like them sitting on my desk for now and I don’t really mind the fact that they won’t flower (it’s super rare for them to flower indoors).

So that’s my brief and no-so moment of genius…

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