Ben the Bonsai Look-alike

Click to enlarge.If you’re not an accomplished bonsai aficionado, this probably looks like a bonsai. It may not be a well-crafted bonsai but it definitely is in a bonsai pot. This is a close up of the mica bonsai pot that houses this Ficus benjamina.

The tree photo reality is not what you think you see. The tree is not growing in the mica bonsai pot. It’s growing in a clear plastic food container concealed inside the bonsai pot. It has no drainage holes. None, nada, zip, zero…no holes!

This very ordinary 6” pot size Ficus benjamina from Home Depot was planted in the Greenscaper Consumer Lab in September 1998. It was the 21st plant added to the lab. It has been living happily in this setup along with over 400 relatives for soon to be 8 years. It receives mostly fluorescent light along with some natural light. It gets tender loving care every two weeks. No, not daily care, not every few days…every two weeks.

There’s no daily nanny-nursing going on here because Ben doesn’t need it. Ben benefits from a simple subirrigation solution. In the retail trade, it’s erroneously referred to as self-watering. If you can prep the Thai noodle soup in your microwave, you can grow this Ficus and have it for a life-long friend.

According to the USDA Cooperative Extension program academics, this tree isn’t supposed to be alive no less thriving. According to most of the houseplant books written by outdoor gardeners, it should have died long ago. According to best bonsai practice, this tree is most likely an apparition, a ghost or a Photoshop creation.

According to most of the houseplant nannies on the GardenWeb houseplant forum, this tree is living in sin without a drain hole.

Give me a break! And, give yourself a break along with your indoor plants. Be a terminator and terminate the tyranny of the drain hole. It’s simply the right thing to do for your plants and your interior living environment.

Desk Lamp Update

Click to enlarge.There is a new model of the Lights of America 27-watt compact fluorescent desk lamp now available. I previously reported on it in October 2005.

The new model is called a Sunlight Executive Desklamp. New features are a touch switch and convenience outlet. The one I bought from Costco is brushed metal with a cherry wood finish on the column. It cost about $29 including tax.

Were I the manager of a business, I'd authorize one of these lamps for every employee's desk. It would be a good human resouces decision, a good business decision. Studies have demonstrated the benefits of plants in a working environment. Many employee plants, however, are light starved and consequently over-watered leading to the propagation of fungus gnats and mold. Subirrigation coupled with one of these lamps would solve the problem at relatively low cost.

Get one of these lamps for your office at home. I now have three of them. They are without doubt the best desklamps I’ve seen for both plants and humans. The light is as close to natural light to my eyes as any I’ve experienced.

Home Depot is now carrying these lights and replacement bulbs. The one I saw in my local store was brushed nickel and black. The lamp didn’t have a price tag. There is also a floor model at about $60. The 27-watt bulb is the same on the desk and floor models. They also had the first version for about $20, which is what I paid at Costco.

The new executive desklamp is also available online at ESPLighting.com for about $35 plus shipping.

If you search online, you will find many of this style of compact fluorescent lamps with 13-watt bulbs. That may be fine for reading but I would highly recommend the 27-watt version (equivalent to a 150-watt incandescent bulb) for the best health of a desktop plant.

Following are approximate foot-candle readings at various distances from the bulb. You could keep a high light requirement plant such as a Ficus benjamina healthy with this lamp. It would probably provide enough light to maintain an orchid but not rebloom it. A long list of low light requirement plants would live happily under these lamps.

Approximate foot-candle readings
6” – 675 f-c
12” – 160 f-c
18” – 80 f-c

Recognize that the light level drops away as you move away from the center of the light zone.

Replacement bulbs
Home Depot – local store - $11.97 each
ESPLighting.com, Orange, CA – 2-pack $13.80 ($6.90 each) plus shipping
EFI – Energy Federation Incorporated, Westborough, MA - $6 each plus shipping

Ficus benjamina - 7.5 Years Old

Click to enlarge.This was a 6" pot size plant from a big box store 7 1/2 years ago. Some may want to call it bonsai but I do not. Bonsai standards bring up a host of pruning and grooming issues that most don't have the time to deal with. It is simply a tabletop tree. Yes, it has been pruned to maintain its size and general shape. However, I simply don't have the time and motivation to fuss over it constantly.

It grew in potting soil (Supersoil) based media up until December, 2005 when I converted it to clay pebble media (hydroculture). Ficus pumila (Creeping Fig) is the groundcover of choice for these trees.

Rather than a green thumb or gardening experience, all you need to keep this tree healthy are the simplest of kitchen skills. The key is to measure both light and water the, key essentials for plant survival in buildings.

Spathiphylllum Newcomer

Click to enlarge.This Spathiphyllum is a newcomer to the lab (April 3, 2006). You can easily tell by the many flowers. That’s not easy to do without a greenhouse, high humidity, and gibberellin. It will bloom again in a home or office environment but it’s unlikely to have this many flowers (spathes).

The plant was immediately repotted (with Supersoil) from its 4” grow pot into a 16 oz clear plastic party cup and dropped into the mini Garbino can (pencil holder) from Umbra bought at The Container Store. There is a small polyester AquaPad under the plastic cup.

Try this setup if you doubt that subirrigation works. It won’t cost much. All you need is a 4” plant, a plastic party cup (drill or hot poker some holes in the bottom), a small piece of polyester fabric to enhance capillary action and a cachepot to fit.

The only caveat is that it must have adequate light. It will die in the dark.

It won’t be much more work than toasting the muffin and making your morning coffee, tea or whatever. You do not have to be a gardener or have a so-called green thumb.

Seeing Clearly

Click to enlarge. This is the back-story about the plants in the Greenscaper Lab. Behind the scenes, most of them live in some kind of clear plastic container. In my experience, the best planters for subirrigation (and hydroculture) of indoor plants are food service plastics. Just add an AquaPad (polyester batting, aka backing material) underneath to trigger capillary action.

You’ll find containers like these in your kitchen, or perhaps from the snacks or kitchen departments of stores like Costco, Trader Joe’s, Target, Bed, Bath & Beyond, The Container Store, and many other retail stores. Curiously, the last place I find good planters, either utility or decorative, is in a nursery or houseplant department.

I remove the plant from its opaque grow pot and repot into clear plastic so that I can easily inspect the most important part of the plant, the soil and root system. Opaque plastic grow pots prevent this. Does it make any sense that the most important area of the plant is hidden from your view?

It doesn’t make any sense for other than the greenhouse growers. They use opaque pots to prevent algae from growing in the greenhouse under relatively high light (2-3000 foot-candles) and high humidity. Typical interior light in a building, however, is more in the range of 25 to 200 foot-candles coupled with low humidity.

Algae is not a problem with clear containers if you install them inside a decorative cachepot. It makes plant care much easier and it looks immeasurably better than a plastic grow pot sitting in a saucer. I see photos of these rather homely plants all the time on my travels around the web.

New and recycled food containers work really well. Save and recycle all kinds of clear plastic food containers. All you have to do is drill some small holes at the bottom for capillary action to take place.

You will soon find which ones work best for you. Recycled clear plastics are good for the caretaker, good for the plants and, when recycled, good for the environment. They’re a winner all around!

There are a number of examples in the photo above. Future posts will show photos of the finished products.

1. Microwave food covers – These cost about $2 at Wal-Mart and Target. They make excellent containers for tabletop plants in shallow bowls. Use them in melamine bowls ($6-9) from stores such as Target, The Party Store and Bed, Bath & Beyond.
2. Party cups – 9oz squat, 9oz tall, 16oz, etc. These work well inside tumblers, tall narrow vases, etc. These are available everywhere at retail. Recycle them from your party.
3. Basket liners – These are available in the houseplant or garden department of nurseries and big box stores in 6”, 8”, and 10” diameters. Use them inside various food service and decorative bowls.
4. Food storage containers (Rubbermaid, Glad, etc.) – These are widely available at retail. Cut the upper rim off as you see in the photo.
5. Clear plastic cookie containers – Laguna Bakery Oat Bran with Raisins 98% fat free cookies from Costco are a favorite snack. They’re even more favored because of their 10” diameter x 3 ½” tall clear plastic food container packaging. There are many dozens of them now housing indoor plants in the lab. Trader Joe’s also has many sizes of clear food containers housing cookies and other products.

Most of these containers are made of PET (Poly Ethylene Terephthalate) plastic and although thin walled are as tough as nails. Having accidentally dropped one of these planters from a height of 5 feet with no damage to the plant or container I can attest to their toughness.

6. Plastic Colanders – Although not clear these make excellent planters in certain size bowls. Eight and 1/2" colanders are available at Target for about $2.

Ficus Not Bonsai

Click to enlarge. Nope, it's not bonsai; it's simply a little tabletop Ficus benjamina tree. It started out in my lab as a 4" pot size plant from a big box store in October 2004. It lived blissfully in unaltered (nothing added) Supersoil based subirrigation (often mistakenly called "self-watering") for the first six months of its life. Its now living just as blissfully in clay pebble subirrigation called hydroculture, a simplified method of hydroponics.

It was a typical multi-trunk tissue culture propagated plant. I tied the stems together with soft string to create a thicker trunk. They will continue to bond and look better over time. In my opinion, this is more natural looking than the widely available braided trunk plants.

That's Ficus pumila (Creeping fig) growing in amongst the polished black stones.

How does this work you ask? The tree is installed in a kitchen colander inside the black ceramic bowl, both from Target. The bowl was on clearance for $2.50, the colander $2.00, the 4" plant $2.00 for a total investment of $6.50.

I give it a pat on the head and more water every two weeks on a fixed schedule spring, summer, fall and winter. It lives on a stainless steel rack shelf in a west-facing window and uses about 2 ounces of water per day. So, every two weeks it gets about 2 cups (16oz) of water. Your "mileage" may vary depending on the light level.

No, it does not go outside for a so-called summer vacation. This is an indoor plant and it's happy to be one.

Thanks to measured subirrigation, you could be looking at this little guy a long time from now in your old age...along with your grandkids and great grandkids.

Anyone who can prep the 2-minute spicy kung pao noodle bowl can maintain this tree. Just give it ample light and a little water. A kid can do it...no green thumb required.