I use good quality coconut oil to clean and shine my plants! They seem to love it! Also, the other night I almost pulled the plug on ordering a watermelon pepperomia online for $42!!! But I stopped myself and realized how ridiculous that was. The next day, I went to my local nursery and they had gotten in huge 6” pots for $17!! I screamed. So glad I waited!!

ok but can we appreciate the hair bun situation going on here? slay plant queen 💚

“Rare” is very subjective as well.. there may be plants that are very difficult to find in one place, but could be extremely common in another part of the world

"Moisture meter of finger?" Chopstick: Am I a joke to you?

I agree with the rare plants thing. My “common” ones bring me so much joy.

"If you feel the need to helicopter care for your plants..." 😳 triggered

It's so good to hear a voice of reason! Plant-queens can have so much drama.

I usually use terracotta for everything, even with my calatheas where I hear you’re not supposed to. But I just feel so much better and would rather water more often than risk yucky sogginess

I agree with the elitist thing: these elitists need to remember and realize that those "hot" plants are seriously overpriced just to cater to elitists and all those with the "gotta have it NOW" type personalities out there. Most normal plant people paying attention would scoff at anyone paying those ridiculous prices for a plant that prior to being "hot" was at a big box store for $15 not so long ago. Wait for the hype to pass, and it will be that price again.

I'm so here for calling them "hard to find plants" save the term "rare plants" for actual botanically rare plants.

This is such a good idea. I’d love to see other planttubers pick this up. Maybe do it as a tag?

About tissue-culture: The truth is that there are rarely plants sold that are not tissue-cultured. Almost every houseplant sold at a nursery/garden center/big box store is tissue-cultured, and there is nothing wrong with that, I think😅

Love the video!! I hate this “Rare” making plant lovers who really want to grow it impossible....Lots of people take advantage of this and sell it for crazy price...

Hi Becca! I moved across town this summer and most of my plants were already in semi-hydro at that point. I had my mom sit in the front seat with a couple plants at her feet and one on her lap and drove to the new place EXTREMELY carefully like a hundred times lol that was fun and I think if I had moved further away it would‘ve been a nightmare

LOVE THIS VIDEO IDEA!!!! Omg, I hope a bunch of plantubers make videos with this video tag! genius

PREACHHHHHHH!!! i have a tissue culture tetrasperma that i adore and i fully agree with you about the "elitist" culture surrounding that debate. let people be happy with the plants they like!!!

what I also noticed about aeration is that it can help the plant dry out again quicker if you have overwatered it

I do everything with my plants all year long. Repot, propogate, water, fertilize, etc. They are all in a controlled environment that doesn't change, regardless of what's going on outside. 🤷‍♀️

Love this q+a! Re: aerating the soil.... it does happen in nature, insect aerate the soil!

I’ve been waiting to buy a raven zz plant even though they’re not that expensive but I’m hoping they’ll roll out next year everywhere 🤣 and get even cheaper!

I loved this video (still watching) and I agree with the natural vs chemicals. It’s soooo hard for growers in larger scenarios

Natural Light: crying in the Pacific Northwest where 9 days out of 10 is just a blanket of fog, rain and darkness for 90% of the year.

I really like this video... Maybe in the future you can do a video of lecca I don't know anything about it. I really like how you explain everything. I really want Rhaphidophora Tetrasperma but I founded to expensive. I'm waiting to the price drop more.

Awwww I love Jenna Marbles honestly! 😄 And these were all really interesting questions!

I loooooove bottom watering and idk if I'll ever go back haha.

You are really putting out some great content Becca 🙌🏻 Loving these videos 🤗

I really enjoyed how honest you were on this video! Well done😘

Love this video, you are concise and straight to the point. I agree with every point that you’ve brought up, especially about the tetrasperma 🙌

Great video! Love that you’re a top-waterer. Me too - my tap water is alkaline...but I can grow some crazy rare (and hard to find) - haha - plants! What you said about natural light vs. artificial light...your difference in dry-out rate might be because your grow lights aren’t high enough output? I run about 50-120w lights (full spectrum grow lights ~$150-400CDN - not cheap, I recognize...but not the amazon junker lights). I have found that plants under high-quality grow LEDs often dry faster than natural light. The higher the intensity of the light, the more the plant photosynthesis, pulls nutrients and transpires water (and the faster the substrate dries). Really love your perspectives on plant care. Looking forward to more of your vids 💚

I recycle a large portion of the packaging materials when I order from amazon. I haven't been able to lately, because of covid, but previously I was taking back all the bubble/air pack stuff to the UPS store, and they reuse them. I recycle the boxes and paper materials. And the bubble wrap amazon marked packaging can be taken to large grocery stores like Safeway or Kings Soopers. (Again, this was pre-covid, but I think it's important for people to realize that they don't have to throw everything away, and that there are many recycling options for most of the packaging materials.)

I have a few hard to find plants, but one of my absolute favorite plants is a purple waffle. It was one of the first plants I bought and it has gotten huge!

Yes, common plants are just as beautiful. I try not be a plant snob myself, and appreciate every plant. I guess it's just really a matter of preference. As long as you can take care of a plant, make it thrive, regardless if it's common or not, you do you. ❤😊

Hey Becca, I love the topics you tackled in this video. I tend to agree with pretty much all of your opinions. I would say that pest control though I have had to go for the big guns and get some systemic pest control because these mealy bugs are heartless. My dog stays out of my plants and no babies here so u less my husband& teenage so decide to start chomping on my plants, we should be good. I learned not to title "rare" plants anymore because what is rare to me could be super common. Elsewhere. Typically it's just a hard to find plant. Have a blessed and plant filled new year🎊🎉😘❤.

You are the true plant icon. Gonna watch all your channel since today 👾

"Hard to Find" plants more like "Hard to Pay For" plants hahaha

i loved hearing your thoughts on this! if you could do more videos like this (like plant debates/opinions) that would be awesome!

All of my Hoyas are in terra cotta. I don’t do this but I’ve seen some YT in the plant community cut roots when repotting. They say it’s never been a problem, they do it because they like the plant size it’s at. So what’s a little root damage you may get with the whole Hoya vs terra cotta debacle? You can collect the boxes from you plant orders and reuse them for wrapping Xmas presents, then recycle after. I’ve heard that in nature worms aerate soil. I think it’s so important to aerate your plants potting soil, recreate that natural environment they thrive in! I liked this video Becca!

I'm glad to hear you say that you like common plants more. I keep feeling somewhat bad when watching videos of other people getting all these rare plants and feeling like ...I dunno I'm not a real plant lover if I'm not searching for that super rare xyz plant. I mean there are a few "hard to find" plants that I am interested in, but not that many.

I love to hear about people's takes on these topics.. too often I think we fall prey to "this way is the best way" mentality and forget that each plant is different, a person's environment, skill level, intuition - took many factors to count.

Good morning Becca😊This is such a great video, such great helpful content! I love your honesty 💝

That was interesting and I do agree with you on a lot of your answers especially on purchasing expensive plants-particularly your opinion on the tissue culture. I have two and they look just fine.

I loved this video.💙 Your honesty is awesome && I appreciate how you explained yourself about everything you could. More videos like this would be great if you enjoyed doing it!

Was playing this video on my couch and when you were first talking about that you got a lot of kickback on aerating, my boyfriend (who was across the room) yells “they don’t know you, do what you want”. 😂

I've heard that leaf shine and even coconut oil clog the pores of the plant and inhibit photosynthesis??

I got a cutting of RT given to me & then this summer found a full pot tissue culture RT (which I didn't know was TC) from a local nursery.. being a plant hoarder was like 'hmm.. I don't have a mini-monstera' It does look different from my cutting..let's me still get it! Haha 😉 But after having it for awhile.. they honestly look the same. They are both beautiful & I'm glad to have both regardless where it came from. I just love plants.. common ones, flower ones, trailing ones, tree-like ones, hoyas, succulents & cacti.. if it easy & low-maintenance.. then I'm getting it! 👍🤪👍

i really liked this video and how candid you were! i totally agree on the elitism of the tissue culture/“true” tetrasperma thing - i bought a non-tissue culture tetrasperma and it was way too expensive!! the fact that these plants are becoming more accessible to the people who want them is great, not a bad thing. like i’m pretty sure all thai constellations are tissue culture, it doesn’t make them any less of a “real” plant in your collection

Professional and hobby grower of 20 years here- do NOT do LECA if you have hard water, low humidity, or sometimes procrastinate on watering. Without getting into the specifics of the chemistry that is unique to clay, I will just try to describe this in a way that is easier to understand. Clay grabs and holds salts like nothing else. There are three reasons for this. On a molecular level, it literally acts like a magnet to salts, and then the actual porous structuree gives a place for all those salts to hide as well, and salts "climb" up. The result is something like salt caves with stalactites of salt which are attached with super strong computer magnets. Furthermore, Leca sometimes also comes PRE-LADEN with toxic salts which you have to treat with less toxic salts and or use gallons of water washing and re washing many times with the help of a tds meter. You also have to water correctly and make sure you always water on time and keep your humidity up. Now..I do like it for a few things in a greenhouse, but I've learned that its really difficult to keep plants healthy for a long time using it indoors without major alterations to the environment like having a grow tent and a floor you can dump water on. If you want to try it, do a small batch on plants that are picky about repotting but not salt intolerant. Grow them for at least 2 years this way. Whatever you do, do not pot your whole collection into a new media. I've seen orchid growers do this over and over and it takes them a long time to learn from their mistakes, even when warned about it.

A video from Becca just adds more sunshine to my day 🤗 awesome tips gurl 🤙🏽

Idea 💡 for all that packing material If you have a garden,bury the cardboard and paper stuff, tearing it into little pieces makes it break down faster and it’s really good for the soil. And earthworms are crazy about the stuff!! The more worms,the better your soil 😉👍🏻 And for all the plastic stuff,take it to your local recycling place, mine takes all kinds of stuff for me 😁 I save up all my cans and other plastic stuff and drop it off once a month or so.

I have personally had better luck with top watering my plants! The only one I’ve just started bottom AND top watering is my prayer plant with distilled water, and that’s just because the water goes through the soil so quickly that I keep adding water to the saucer after it drains until it stops sucking up water 🤷🏼‍♀️ it’s all an experiment! Haha

I know this is not related to anything you're saying (im actually not a house-plant owner but i do love learning new things) but I love how care-free you are with how your hair look like🤣

Hope you don't mind me adding to this but I always say "unusual " plants. I also think plant prices are crazy. 👍😊

I bought a seedling of Monstera D. instead of buying an expensive fully grown specimen. I saved so much money and I guess the journey from its juvenile form to the first fenestration would be an awesome one. :D

I loved it got a lot of information

Oh goodness I have a ton of those old cow creamers and I’ve always thought they would make cute planters!

I Absolutely Love this video! I saw your thrifty video with Harli G and subscribed.

I agree. Only endangered species should be called rare. Because they are truly rare. However, being an endangered plant collector i must insist, DO NOT BUY AN ENDANGERED SPECIES UNLESS YOU KNOW IT WAS CLONED OR CULTIVATED! lets keep the wild ones where they belong. In nature!

What a great video! I agree with you on all the points you made. I think that some of the "elitists" appear to be more in it for the hunt and the score, rather than the appreciation of the plant itself, which hopefully comes in later. In regards to the water, I too have terrible tap water, and I was sick of hauling all those bottles all the time, I got me a Zero Water filter carafe. One filter lasts me about 3months or so. I use this water with a very weak amount of fish emulsion on all of my plants. I use the weakly weekly method. It was the best thing i did for them and myself. No crispy tips, no mineral build-up either, and best of all, no bottles to lug anymore. My orchids have responded like nobody's business. So have my regular house plants. Merry Christmas ❤

Loving your videos! You have probably mentioned before somewhere, but what was your first plant when you started collecting all of your beautiful plants?🌿💚

Yassss!! 🙌🙌🙌💚💚🙌🙌🙌 I am also no longer going to call plants rare. The word rare is thrown around loosely these days. Just because a plant is expensive does not make it rare. Rare plants for me is a plant that is not easily accessible in the hobby.

Loved this video!! Great concept! I always look forward to your videos 💕

Thank you for this!! I was thinking about the same questions for ages!

I’ve recently become a morning waterer- but it really only matters for my outdoor plants that are susceptible to fungus (once I switched to morning to avoid early blight in my tomatoes and haven’t had any issues since doing that).

I love common plants because I don't think they get the respect they're due. 😊 I also am tired of seeing "rare" in a title. When I watch the video I think "That isn't so rare" It's really more expensive than anything. I also use tap water (I'm in Chandler) and for my house plants I try to let the watering can sit out a few hours before using to let some of the chemicals evaporate.

I’ve ordered the majority of my plants online with very positive experiences. Planterina is my go to for online ordering. It’s more expensive but the plants I’ve purchased from them are high quality and I’ve never had pests or damaged leaves so my theory is you get what you pay for. Pests and overwatering is to rampant in big box stores so no thanks.

Thank you for a voice of reason. I loved this video.

I feel you on the online plants thing. The Only time I have ever purchased a plant/plants online is when my local plant shops/nurseries have confirmed it's a plant that they just wont carry or get in since I live in Northern Minnesota and we have such a short time frame for good plant weather. Stromanthe triostar was one of the ones I was lucky enough to find at my local plant shop but White Fusion Calathea was one I wanted that they said they wouldn't carry so I turned to an online plant seller.

I had the same issue with my plants under grow lights, until I added a gentle fan to blow on them. They seem to be happy to have the air movement and my plants dried out twice as fast. Might be something you could try

Hi Becca! Such a great video! I will say I got a heat pad recently and changed a propagation from water to leka. It went from hardly have roots to having a crazy amount it two weeks. Like crazy! It is a silver sword so I was super excited!

Terra cotta all the way, just saves my plants from over watering

Hi becca I love your channel so much,I'm enjoying your videos they help me out alot as I'm still new to growing. Thanks for sharing becca,until the next video 🌵👍💚 merry Christmas

Use Mayonnaise as leaf shine its the best and natural too, recommend using it on Ficus.

I really think that some people just overdo it with their plant care. Now, I do moisten my plants everyday to keep spidermites and other pests away and I run a shower for them once a month to clean their leaves of dust etc (it's an old lady trick in my country, don't know if that's a thing in other places. Never heard about it online.). I remove dead leaves. And that's about it. But I think that we all shouldn't forget that plants will grow. That's how nature goes. As long as there is water and light, they will grow. How often have I found some uninvited plant growing in one of my pots, without ever having cared for it once. Actually, two of my plants are survivors of those uninvited guests. a honeysuckle and a sycamore that I want to grow into a proper Bonsai!

hey! new subscriber here, just tuning in with this comment to express my appreciation for your casual look in this vid! It is not so common with youtubers to film and upload videos where they don't have makeup or nice clothes on, this video really gave me the feeling of just chilling with you on an evening both with messy buns and casual tshirts and focusing on our mutual interest for plants and nothing else!!!! u know the kind of conversation where you focus on the meaning of words and thoughts and forget about the superficial and (really) irrelevant stuff about looks?? like that! however, you are very beautiful nonetheless!:) love from Turkey

I'd love to do this type of video, this was fun!!

I enjoyed this vs. that style video. I learned some things too! Thank u!

This was a fun video. I love to hear what other people think about all these topics.

I love how practical you are on your channel. The elitist comment gets me. I really feel any plant that fits someone's lifestyle and brings them joy is all that matters. My philodendron, is not variegated, she is not fancy, but a three dollar house plant has gotten sooo huge and is now three. Sometimes that no fuss is the best. I have mainly basic house plants. But they bring me joy and that is all that matters. I would def rather support a local nursery, (and do) but do not think, I will not be cruising Home Depot!!! Also, so many of these questions (top water vs. bottom water....pot types....propagation) much of it is straight up lifestyle. Some of us are overwaters some under. Ya gotta figure out what fits your life style.

Instead of buying distilled water you can use a water conditioner that gets rid of all the harmful chemicals. It is usually used for fishtank water, I use it on all my prayer plants and it works great. Saves lots of money and all that plastic from bottles of distilled water :)

I moved from Colorado to Oregon with 30 plants. I’m making a video on it rn but a lot of my plants are in leca. I watered them all a few days before moving and made sure the ones in leca didn’t have water in the pots when I packed up. Didn’t lose a single plant

I have some semi hydros and they’ve done just fine when I’ve moved. The last time I was lazy and had my monsteras in just a big ole soup pot with some water until I moved everything in lmao for like 2 days

I wonder if the grow light vs natural light moisture issue has much to do with location....if Arizona is anything like S. Florida, u pry live in air conditioning 10 mos out of the year. Here in MI we have super dry winters and I find my plants absorb as much water now as the did during the humid growing season all spring and summer. They get less light now but the air is dryer. In the summer they get a lot more light but the air is humid. I do find my plants are appreciating the grow light this winter and pushing z lot of new growth, unexpectedly. :)

I really wish people would stop using the term tissue culture Tetrasperma. Unless you collected your plant from the wild you have a 80% chance of having a tissue cultured plant regardless of what the "form" looks like. So you can have an "original" tetra that's actually a tissue culture because it's a genetic copy of the parent plant used.

Ok, I really don't understand this not watering as much or repotting in the winter. I live in Canada and right now we have 7 hours of day light and I don't have a single dormant plant, even the ones not under grow lights are still growing, so that whole what not to do during the winter confused me. Also tissue culture is actually no different than taking a cutting, they are both clones of the original plant, how many people can say that they have an "original" plant, so this debate is also really confusing to me. I guess I am just a poor, incredibly confused plant mom 😢

Not sure how true this is, but it makes sense... I heard someone say tissue culture plants help wild plant populations. If that’s true, I literally rather have tissue cultures than the original plants.

I had no idea what a tissue culture was until now🤣 I wouldn't care either 🤭💚

I 100% agree with you on the tetrasperma debate! Plants are so expensive and the rich elites are only into plants right now because it’s trendy and they are constantly bragging in my Facebook groups about huge variegated monsteras and expensive rare plants. It makes me feel bad about myself because I can’t keep up with them! It’s such a bummer. Plants are meant to be inclusive and community based in sharing and spreading kindness.

Thank you for making this! 😭

watching this in 2021 and couldn't help but giggle at the trying to order stuff online less... but otherwise, very cool video thanks for sharing your opinions, I agree with you a bunch so far (except bottom watering-- it's so easy, just walk away and do something else in the meantime lol)

!!!!A cup of dish soap and a water place it next to your plant and the fungus nats go straight in to the soap water and breaking the cycle. !!!!🎉

late to this video but also I have noticed that a lot of uncommon plants will come into the normal stores quite quickly. I remember when I found an alocasia zebrina (huge) in a big box store for 30Euros. I immediately bought it, because it was a plant I saw and realy wanted for a long time. That was around half a year ago. And now they keep popping up and are much more common. Unless you get a realy special plant the price you pay for a hyped plant will drop so quickly and you are at a loss because you won't even be able to sell cuttings at a similar price point.

Another home remedy for leaf shine is aloe vera.

I have 4 plants in non-draining pots and I feel so guilty about it haha. But they're doing fine! It just stresses me out but the pots are so prettyyyyyy. (btw is there something in your teeth? :p)

In my research I’ve heard it said that instead or aerating your plants, bottom watering help loosen the soil when it becomes hard and the water doesn’t flow through to the roots. I’ve only tried it twice but it seemed to work to a degree! I understand aerating is probably a quicker method but it’s another route to try!

Not buying plants online is sadly not an option for me. I can’t drive and there is no plant nurseries that sell house plants 😞 I actually fill a jug with tap water and but charcoal cubes in it

Great 👍 video thank you!! Very helpful. I do have one question. I bought quite a few plants and am wondering if I should repot all of them or wait till next spring. What is healthier for the plant. Let me know your thoughts 💭🤔

I had some Hoya in ceramic and holy cow the roots got so stuck to the sides in the ceramic pot and it was way harder to remove versus soaking terracotta. I’m also team terracotta!

Haha terracotta or plastic...... which ever is closest and clean at the time 😂 none of my plants have Ever seemed to care what they are planted in. Including the three dramatic calathea’s I appear to have accumulated.

I live in the desert southwest. Humidity is low outdoors around 8 to 10 percent and indoors is usually around 10 to 15 percent depending on HVAC use. Tap water is extremely hard. I have tried using a humidifier to bring humidity up but then I end up with a house covered in white dust from the minerals in the tap water. Tried distilled water but using 3 to 5 gallons a day of distilled water is not reasonable financially speaking. Went back to misting. My plants seem happy. Bonus is spider mites don't like my mister bottle.

Agree so much about the "rare" thing!!