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#Post#: 44585--------------------------------------------------
Caring for neighbors' plants
By: Isisnin Date: January 2, 2020, 11:38 am
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Just curious about others experience with and opinions on taking
care of other people's plant while they're away.
A neighbor went away for just over a week over the holidays and
asked me to care for her plants. She put them all in one place
and left instructions - just a good watering every few days.
They weren't sorted by those which need a lot of water and those
that need little.
Halfway thru the week, I noticed one small plant (maybe young
and a cutting from a larger one, only had about 5 leaves to
start) was dropping dried leaves, so I increased it's watering.
That seemed to help though by the end of my "care period" only a
couple of leaves were left and they seemed to be drying out.
There were about 3 other plants that have leaves turning yellow.
Figured they were getting too much water (I'm a home outdoor
gardener), so I cut back watering them. They were much better by
the end of my "care period".
So the neighbors are back. We haven't seen each other. I am
curious about the plant that dropped leaves (I don't know what
kind of plant it is), but when I see them, I'll only ask about
the trip. I don't feel responsible for the plant so don't feel
the need to offer to pay for it if it died. Plus neighbor take a
cutting from the larger one. So I don't want to open up a
possible awkward conversation by asking about it, thus will only
talk about the trip.
Anyways, this does have me curious about "plant sitter"
etiquette and "plant sitter" stories y'all may have.
(edited to remove the question marks which caused the "huh"
icon. Tome, "huh" and "just curious" are two different things)
#Post#: 44587--------------------------------------------------
Re: Caring for neighbors' plants
By: Debleo528 Date: January 2, 2020, 11:47 am
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We watched the plants for my DD's piano teacher when they went
overseas for a few weeks. I actually sent her pictures through
WhatsApp with fictional "letters" from her plants ("Mom! Best.
Camp. Ever.").
We actually paid special attention to where they were placed
because of light requirements, and we were very careful about
watering them. One plant dropped a branch, and we recovered it
as a cutting. I was very communicative about the whole thing
throughout their trip, so there were no surprises when they got
home.
They really appreciated the help, and the fake letters made her
laugh.
#Post#: 44591--------------------------------------------------
Re: Caring for neighbors' plants
By: Isisnin Date: January 2, 2020, 12:58 pm
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didn't think to email neighbor. rats
Fake emails from plants (or pets) is a great idea! I'll borrow
that, if ok,another time
#Post#: 44628--------------------------------------------------
Re: Caring for neighbors' plants
By: Violet Bandit Date: January 2, 2020, 10:11 pm
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It wasn’t exactly plant sitting because I was taking care of my
own husband’s plants while he attended a month long educational
program out of state. DH was, in my opinion, obsessive about
his plants. I didn’t have much to do with them under normal
circumstances. DH left me with lengthy written instruction on
their care, instructions I followed to the letter. There were
about fifty plants. Despite my best efforts a couple of them
didn’t survive the month. DH was very angry at me about this and
went so far as to accuse me of neglecting his plants
deliberately so he wouldn’t ask me to take care of them again(!)
This was more than thirty years ago and he has never asked me to
take “plant sit” again which is a good thing because I won’t do
it, for him or anyone else.
#Post#: 44689--------------------------------------------------
Re: Caring for neighbors' plants
By: Dazi Date: January 3, 2020, 9:47 am
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Sometimes it doesn't matter what you do, some plants drop leaves
during the winter. I was recently gifted some cuttings, and
thankfully, the lady warned me they would drop all their leaves
within a week or so. If she hadn't, I would have thought I
killed the poor things (it wasn't a plant I was familiar with).
That being said, if you didn't get any direction on what/how
much to water them, then that's on the owner.
#Post#: 44721--------------------------------------------------
Re: Caring for neighbors' plants
By: Chez Miriam Date: January 3, 2020, 11:29 am
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I had my neighbours plants come to visit me on their very own
vacation when Neighbours were away for a month.
Four small phaelanopsis orchids, so I just created room on my
orchid trays, and they fitted in beautifully! :D
#Post#: 44779--------------------------------------------------
Re: Caring for neighbors' plants
By: LifeOnPluto Date: January 3, 2020, 9:33 pm
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[quote author=Dazi link=topic=1466.msg44689#msg44689
date=1578066452]
Sometimes it doesn't matter what you do, some plants drop leaves
during the winter. I was recently gifted some cuttings, and
thankfully, the lady warned me they would drop all their leaves
within a week or so. If she hadn't, I would have thought I
killed the poor things (it wasn't a plant I was familiar with).
[/quote]
Or conversely, if it's summer where the OP lives, and the plants
are outdoors, AND there's a heatwave, sometimes there's nothing
you can do to keep a plant alive sadly.
#Post#: 44794--------------------------------------------------
Re: Caring for neighbors' plants
By: Aleko Date: January 4, 2020, 2:28 am
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I have to say that anyone who asks another to plant-sit, and
doesn't leave them instructions for each plant (or at least type
of plant), should expect to come back to a wasteland of dead
leaves. It's utterly unreasonable to assume that someone else
will know how much watering every possible kind of houseplant
needs even in general, let alone in the specific locations they
are kept in. If I find that the geranium in my front window
needs a good drench twice a week but the ones in the back room
only once a week, and my crassula shouldn't have more than a
dribble of water every month, it's 100% on me to put that in
writing!
#Post#: 44830--------------------------------------------------
Re: Caring for neighbors' plants
By: malfoyfan13 Date: January 4, 2020, 3:01 pm
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I'm with Aleko; I don't have good luck taking care of other
people's plants. I have one houseplant of my own and I expect
it to expire any time. I need really specific instructions from
the plant owner, and even then I've messed up.
#Post#: 44837--------------------------------------------------
Re: Caring for neighbors' plants
By: gmatoy Date: January 4, 2020, 4:17 pm
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We had neighbors that I truly loved. he was from South and she
was from Harlem, in NYC. She told me they were black Americans,
not Afro-Americans. This is important to the story.
One day all the neighbors were crowded into their kitchen and we
were talking about plants. I said that if they were outdoors, I
could keep them alive; however, if they were indoor plants, they
would be dead within weeks, if not days. Because, I said, while
some people have green thumbs, I have black thumbs. At that, my
neighbor let out a "Praise Jesus! I knew there was a reason we
felt like kin!"
I never did live that down, and now it is one of my favorite
memories of Mr. and Mrs. Jackson! They are both gone now but
this story and others live on in our neighborhood. :) They were
great neighbors, but they never had me plant sit!
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