Request for assistance...please read.

Hello all. Thanks for taking the time to read my post. Recent events lead me to feel an urge to grow things even tho I have no natural light in my basement apartment. I usually have a beautiful garden on my 1 acre yard...but as the end of the season comes upon me, I don't feel like I can let it go yet. If anyone knows of any plants that has the potential to thrive in my apartment with only a few aquarium and plant lights around it I would really appreciate you input!

Spider or Airplane plants (Chlorophtum)
and Mother-in-Law Tongue have always done well for me indoors. They both will take practically no light and little care.
Vickie

Hi Shiva_Kalima,another one you might want to try is Aspidistra elatior,I have one growing in quite a dark corner,and it doesn't seem to mind at all.

This message was edited Nov 3, 2010 8:14 PM

Actually there are a wide variety of tender or tropical plants that you can grow successfully in your basement apartment using shop lights from your home improvement/hardware strore, ranging from African Violets through the easier Orchids depending upon your skill level and gardening experience. Get a good reference book, look through it to find something that interests you, get the plant (Dave's regulars can help with that), and follow the suggestions in your reference.You will probably make mistakes - we all do - but you'll learn and if you allow it, you'll enjoy the process.

You can also try dracena

How about ferns? This is one of my favorites:
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/54822/

I've never had any luck with ferns in the house in winter. But i would love to have some live. What do you do to keep them happy. I think my problem is the air is too dry. But i don't want to live in a tropical jungle atmosphere either.
Vickie

I mist mine once or twice a day and they do fine.

Thanks, Maybe i can remember to do it once a day.

If you can't remember to mist (like me) you might try just placing a glass of water next to the plant. I have been given this advice before.

Vickie,

I am a beginner gardener, so I have been doing a lot of reading on different things I can do to help my little indoor plants/flowers survive better lately. One thing I read, on several different websites actually, regarding misting/humidity is, misting has *some* beneficial purposes for most indoor plants, but, according to these sites, its actually very little. From what I've read, if your having humidity issues indoors (lack there of lol), you might do better with getting a shallow tray and filling it with pea gravel then putting some water in the tray with gravel and putting your pot with ferns (or other plants/flowers) on top of that. They say that as the water evaporates, it causes a temporary temperature change around the plant, providing more humidity for the plant than misting does. Here's one of the links where I have read this, but I have read it at others as well.

http://www.oldhouseweb.com/gardening/humidity-increasing.shtml

This is something I will be trying out myself as well, as soon as I can get my hands on some pea gravel LOL!

I can't do that with my hanging plants--it would be too heavy. I guess I'll just mist away, lol. I haven't had any complaints from them yet. ;)

Whatever works, right?! hehe!

Whatever works is right. When i was little we had a woodburning stove and my grandmother kept a large coffeecan of water on the back of the stove and had to refill it everyday.

Late to this thread, but one you could try is Pothos, the leaves are beautiful and it thrives in very little
light. I've had mine for approx. 23 years (yes, you read that right!), it sits in a corner of one of my kitchen
counters away from any windows/light and requires no care other than a little water whenever the leaves
start to look droopy. It's a wonderful, easy care indoor plant.