ooops... now what did i do wrong?

[Arielle35]

also learned im in zone 4... that freakin sucks!!!! super short grow period for plants! thats it, now i want to move south.... I would like to live in zone 7 or up.....or maybe in hawaii and grow my favorive 2 flowers in the whole world

Birds of Paradise and Butterfly Orchids...

 

[so lucky]

The white specks could be chemicals in the water that leach out, and tend to crystalize on top of the soil, or on the rim of the flower pot. One way to avoid this in a larger pot is to water it so thoroughly when you water it, that quite a bit of water runs out of the bottom, thus flushing the "salts" out of the pot. Over time, the white stuff will grow in size, and parts will take on a brownish tinge, looking almost like rust. This leachate will not kill your plants, no longer than you have them in growing pots, but if you had a treasured house plant that had white deposits on the soil, it would be advised to repot it with fresh soil ever so often, maybe once a year.Even for little bitty pots, if they have adequate drainage, the best advice is to water them thoroughly when you water, and let the pots dry out slightly between waterings. You dont want to wait till the plants have wilted, but even then, unless they are really dried out, they will revive with watering.
If you can't afford the 4 or 5 dollars a timer would cost, my advice is to just leave the light on.

 

[897tgigvib]

Arielle, you're somewhere between Idaho Falls and Spencer, maybe up in the hills, or not far from all those moon rocks. Those huge Budweiser silos still up there just east of the highway north of Idaho Falls?

I used to live, for 21 years, up highway 15 In Dillon Montana, barely zone 4. Plant out date for tender things like Tomatoes was between June 3rd and June 21st, and still watch for a killer frost. Season ended between September 1st, and as late as a lucky October 10th or so one time. Course then, there was 1992 when it snowed lightly August 10th, and then again on the 23rd of August.

I'm thinking the white is along your watering lines on the pots. Up in that part of the world you get dinosaur calcium and opalized petrified wood calcium. At least that's what folks sometimes call it. Calcium. Not a bad thing, just not sure if it's a usable form for the plants. Monty might know. I suppose it might be some fungus. Don't think so though. Does it seem like a water line deposit?

Dish soap in a spray bottle is something else. Don't do it yet. They're still babies.

Yep, what so lucky said!

 

[Arielle35]

im up in ashton ya we usually get snow thru the middle of may always....and usually at least once the first week of june.....so I think if i wait till about june 6th I should be safe to plant them outside if I do the whole thing
about puttin them out for a couple hours every day then increasing over time....

yes it does kinda look like a calcium or mineral specks on the tops of the soil...

ok also.. on my catnip baby... the 2 bottom leaves have got like 5 black marks on them...like the whole leaf is going to end up turning black...my bigger catnip plant seems to be doing ok...just 1 leaf has a little curling to it....
i dont know what happened! everything was going great till the last couple days...i havnt really changed in my care of them...they just dont like me my thumb sure isnt green...and it isnt even changing to brown yet...i think its black...
maybe i should just grow rocks

 

[897tgigvib]

Arielle, you have to have a brown thumb before you have a green thumb.
Brown. From getting it in the dirt

 

[MontyJ]

If it is calcium, it's not available to the plants. If you have very hard water, it could be calcium carbonate, nothing to worry about. I have also seen some types of white mold growing in peat pots, again nothing to worry about, it's just natural fungus trying to break down the peat. The pots are biodegradable so something has to do it