Beginner Gardening: Peace lily with brown tips, 0 by tapla

tapla wrote:
FWIW, and especially to the newbies. If you're happy being able to keep a plant alive for a few months or a year, and then replacing it when it dies or 'gets sick', then relying on the 'experience' you get from trial & error growing might be fine; but trial and error is actually a very poor approach to becoming more proficient at growing. If you're serious about improving your growing skills to the point where you aren't operating on a revolving door plant policy, and you ARE able to keep your plants happy and thriving indefinitely, then reliable information that is rooted in science is key. I know that I enjoy my growing experience much more because I know with a high degree of certainty how plants will respond to the cultural conditions they are experiencing and to my ministrations. I've been studying soils and plant physiology for more than 20 years and teaching others how to improve their growing kills for almost as long.

Those that acquire knowledge that is reliable and then use that knowledge to actually validate their experience and observations will leave the trial and error growers standing in their slipstream every time. I've seen it happen thousands of times. I am also familiar with hundreds of growers that, through the acquisition of a little basic knowledge and understanding, are consistently producing better looking and healthier plants than those still relying on trial & error and pooh poohing anything technical. Growing is really not all that difficult unless you are self-limiting (often unknowingly) by choices that are inherently limiting. It's a very fundamental truth, but worth saying that knowledgeable growers are able to recognize limiting practices and advise against them, while less knowledgeable growers habitually perpetuate limiting practices. This is true no matter what the endeavor.

As far as enjoying the gardening experience - enjoyment is closely linked to the effort:reward quotient. If you're putting forth the effort and being rewarded with failure, it quickly takes much of the fun and satisfaction out of gardening. Is the potential for reward better when you can say "I have a _______ (fill blank) that is 20 years old & growing strong", or "gee - I killed 4 of those last year".

I've been there. I was so taken with bonsai that I knew I HAD to learn how to grow those little trees in tiny pots. I failed (20+ years ago) but didn't give up. I started to study, and I studied for about 4 years before I tried again. It made a HUGE difference in my ability to keep plants healthy. These days, I lecture widely (by invitation - and get paid for it) about bonsai and all types of container gardening, including how to maintain houseplants in good health over the long term. When I say something or make an observation, it's always based on sound horticultural principles or one of the supporting sciences, and I'm always willing to discuss my comments in detail. I've helped (literally) thousands of growers on this and other forums, and thousands more in the real world become more proficient at growing. I didn't mention the lecturing as a boast, I mentioned it to illustrate that the basic principles that I teach are widely accepted as valuable to growers at every level, and the thousands of growers that have found them pivotal offer easily accessible support for any who doubt that assertion. I'll be happy to supply links to discussions if any are interested.

Al