Help ID houseplants please?

Hi. I don't recognise my houseplants!

They were all left behind by the previous tenants, and over the last year I've let them get kind of shabby, and some are pretty much dead. Could some keen eyed people tell me what they are please? And then how to keep them alive?

On the internet I think I found these two are a rubber plant, and a swiss cheese plant. They seem to be surviving well enough. I water them very irregularly, but it doesn't seem to matter. The cheese plant is a bit awkward though. It just grows up and out very quickly and sparsely. Not sure where to put it, or if it needs a bigger pot, or how to control the shape?



A couple of prickly looking things. Very weird thing happened. These sat in the window of a room I don't use much. Forgot about them, and didn't water them for over a year! They looked shrivelled, brown, tiny. Then one day I thought sod it. Tipped a cup of water in each. A few days later - big green leaves! Left for over a week added more water - next day more big leaves. Are these plants magic? And should I put them in bigger pots now?



Three things that look similar. The one in the bathroom lives off mist from the shower. Just two sprouts by a big trunk. Looks very cool - growing very slowly (which is fine). The other two always seem run down. Lots of leaves drying up at the bottom. Leaves seem unhappy. Just about surviving, but I reckon there might be more leaves falling than growing.




This poor thing did look very nice with leaves hanging down. The leaves started browning and shrivelling. I put some water in, but it was sat on a bowl and I didn't notice for weeks that the water was just sitting there. I think it may have been drowning after that. Stuck it in the yard, and now all that's left is this sorry mess. It was very nice to start with. I feel bad for hurting it.




The thing to remember about most of these types of plants is that they are exotic plants and accustomed to living in a humid rainforest type environment. So whilst they don't like to have their roots in a waterlogged bed, they do like to be soaked from time to time, just like monsoon weather. And our centrally heated house are not the best environment for them either because they are far too hot and dry. So that is why your plant (which one was it?) like the bathroom but it would be a mistake to think it could thrive on just the steam from your showers as it is not a constant condition.

[ 26. October 2007, 04:22 PM: Message edited by: Daisees ]

 

This... well.. I think it was cacti. I doubt this can make a comeback.



And then there's this thing, which was in the house. The leaves fell off very quickly, and I gave up and stuck it in the yard. Been there since last winter now. Surprisingly still getting by, even though it's being eaten a bit. You can see the sort of height it is from the wheelie bin.




There are some other things outside. Pots where I can't tell what's a weed, and what's something else dying. If anyone wants me to post pics in a new thread I will. Or else they might just get chucked.

Can anyone help? I know nothing.

 

Parkwell, for now just the ID, you're right with the first two as you checked them out. The 'magic?' plant is a succulent by the awkward name of Kalanchoe or Bryophyllum Diagremontianium, the small plantlets on the side of the leaves will each drop off and root to form a new plant. Next are the Yuccas and then a rather sick looking Dracaena Marginata. The cactii might come back. The last one looks like a variegated Yucca.

 

That's fantastic Strongylodon. I had a read about the Kalanchoe. I love the nickname 'Mother of Thousands', and reckon I need that kind of propagation to keep it alive. Sounds like they'll need a little more room than those tiny pots to get the best out of them. Hope it flowers eventually.

The Dracaena is very small compared to pictures on the net. I'm worried now that it has root decay from being in water for so long, there's been no movement or new leaves for weeks. I'd like to save it, but it doesn't look good.

Seems to be a lot of different Yuccas in the world. I don't know where to start. Thanks for the help so far, much appreciated.

 

This one's a monstera deliciosa or Swiss Cheese plant. I had one once and loved it because of the unique way it grows its leaves - they make a big, elongated bud out of the base of an existing leaf which slowly unfurls to reveal a totally mature leaf!! Beautiful!

The reason your plant is so straggly and sparse is because it does not have enough water or food. They are big plants and need feeding and watering accordingly but not to be waterlogged. They also send out trailing roots and if you have a big enough pot, the plant will love you if you can train the roots into it. Wipe the leaves occasionally with a weak solution of milk and water so it doesn't get suffocated by house dust.

To control the shape, tie it up to a stake or the wall! They can get monstrous!



I think this one is popularly called a money plant because the little baby plants look like toy money. If you very carefully lift the larger sprogs and put them in their own pot you'll get a whole load more plants! Being succulents, their leaves are 90% water so they need to be watered well but not left soaked. Oh - and fed with some Babybio once a month during the spring and summer.




This one is a dragon plant and they can also get very tall. Also likes to be copiously watered but to be allowed to get to being just damp in between times.




This one is also a dragon plant and if you re-pot it into some nice rich compost with a few slow release fertiliser pellets mixed in, it will repay you no end.





The thing to remember is that most of these kinds of plants are exotics and accustomed to humid environment of a rain forest. In there there would be long gaps between plentiful water and then the deluge of a monsoon. Our centrally heated houses compare badly and many such plants struggle to survive. It would also be a mistake to suppose that your bathroom plant survives on the occasional and brief steaming from your showers. That hardly equates with its normal environment.

[ 26. October 2007, 04:26 PM: Message edited by: Daisees ]