Bought ten plants from Lowe's: Beginner with questions

Hey all, some weeks ago I brought home several plants including Maidenhair, Pothos and Lavender. I live in Northern California, and I am aware that most domesticated "indoor" plants are from tropical regions. I feel that I've been watering my plants a bit too much though, because recently fruit flies, or fungus gnats (not sure which one) have proliferated in abundance around the house. This is becoming an issue, as I don't want my plants becoming egg factories.

Some of the plants have just died, eg. the Peony and even the Lavender. I was very neglectful when I first brought them home, because I thought plants were much more autonomous than I had presumed.

So, in essence, any advice regarding gnats/sunlight factors/watering schedules?

Sounds like fungus gnats, and they generally don't show up unless you're watering too much so I would guess that's what is happening. Lavender especially will die very quickly if you keep it too wet, but if you're watering enough that you've got gnat problems the others quite likely are too wet as well.

To figure out watering...first of all make sure your pots all have drainage holes. If they don't, either drill some holes in the pots or transplant them into pots with drainage holes. And if they have a saucer underneath them to catch excess water make sure you empty that after watering, otherwise your plants are sitting there for a long time with wet feet which won't be good for anything except bog/pond plants. Once you've addressed that, to check if you need to water it's best to stick your finger down a few inches in the pot to see how wet the soil feels. If you just look at the surface of the soil and water when it looks dry you will end up overwatering. The very top layer of soil dries out fairly quickly, but down an inch or two it can still be quite wet. You need to let things dry out a little farther down before you water.

Of the plants you mentioned, the maidenhair will want the most water, pothos second, and lavenders don't need much water at all (they can actually be a bit tricky to keep in containers because of that--I've had better luck with them outdoors in the ground so I would suggest planting it outside rather than trying to keep it as a houseplant. Or if you want one as a houseplant, I'd perfect your techniques with some easier houseplants first, then try the lavender again)

As a beginner, I'm really in no position to give advice, but I wanted to say I had success with my lavender plants outside in containers even though it was my first time. I wintered them in my garage (of course we barely had "winter") but they did die down completely, etc. Put them in my greenhouse when it got so warm and they sat silently for a week or two and are now about 6" high. My containers are 10" plastic with drilled drainage holes. The only perennial I tried to bring indoors for the season were my catmint plants. I found my cat asleep in one of the pots so stuck forks in it to keep him at least from totally crushing them. They were messy because any dried leaves fell off all over. I cut them way back when I took them to the greenhouse and they are perking up quite nicely. I personally think that maidenhair is not as tough as some other plants but a pothos can get pretty nasty when overwatered. Good luck!

Stick traps for the adult gnats and "Mosquito Dunks" for the larvae in the soil. one quarter of a dunk in your watering can. DO NOT over water, it's the single biggest killer of houseplants. There is also a product called "Gnatrol" that is supposed to be really good. Google it.

'Lavender thrives on neglect'. I read this once and have been using this trick ever since. Leave it alone and it will do well. I brought mine inside for winter 2 years ago and 'killed' it from lack of watering. So I chopped it down to the base just to get rid of the ugly woody sticks that remained. Well, much to my surprise it grew back fuller and happier than ever. I would recommend that you just plant it outside. Put it in full sun, water it once at transplant, and leave it alone. Besides cutting my lavender back in the spring to keep it bushy I give them no care whatsoever. If you haven't thrown out the lavender I would transplant it outside and see what it does. It wouldn't surprise me at all if it came back.

I don't know what zone your in so it's difficult to help with out doors or inside. All the plants you mention are outdoor plants all more or less requiring different growing conditions as regards soil, watering etc but all like sunlight.
The peony likes to be planted in a rich soil with added manure or compost at planting time, the tuber has to be JUST under the soil and no more as the tuber likes to be baked by the sun to encourage flowers, it likes to be left in the same spot all the time and requires plenty water in summer to keep the tubers fat plump, buried too deep and they don't flower for you.
The lavender likes very poor soil so here in UK, I have to add fine grit / sand and a large pot as I really don't want to keep disturbing it to re-pot it yearly, they also like a warm situation and need watered ONLY when you test the soil for dryness. they don't suit being inside where there is constant cooling systems blowing cold air onto it.

Maidenhair likes cooler shade, most type of soils suit so long as there is some humidity as they are ferns that in natural habitat grow close to moisture and shade, again would be best outside.

Pathos, don't know by that name but, would take a guess and say IF the plants were all displayed together in store, they are all outdoor plants.
As you are new to gardening and sound like you want to get really involved and enjoy, if I were you I would try go to Library and find a book with pictures of all plants, even the book stores will allow you to browse there books, make sure IF you buy any books they are the right ones for you as they can be expensive, test and try before you buy, by looking at pictures and reading where the plants grow or come from, you will quickly learn the type of soil they like, wet land or dry arid or rich with compost / manure etc, I hope this all helps you out a bit and you go for it as gardening is great for your sole, your health and you get loads of pleasure from it. Please don't give up because you made a few mistakes, we all made to start somewhere and made plenty mistakes ourselves. good luck. WeeNel.

It sounds as though peonies might be much more difficult or demanding plants in some areas than in others? Are you referring to the various "tree" peony species, or to herbaceous ones, or both? To give a different perspective, here and across the cold northern prairies, the many Paeonia lactiflora cultivars and herbaceous Paeonia spp. are known as plants that are extremely hardy, low maintenance, and very long-lived. They perform well with minimal care in clay soils and in dry conditions, without special fertilizer requirements or extra watering. Shallow planting and sun (otherwise blooming can be sparse or nonexistent) tend to be the only demands. It's really amazing to hear that they should require so much water in what must be a region that has much, much higher annual precipitation than this area (particularly given that much of the snow melt in these cold areas runs off while the ground is still frozen and so doesn't add much to soil moisture). Anyway, it just goes to show that perceptions of "must have" conditions for different plants may differ from area to area!

I think tree peonies will work here in California but the other ones don't do well (I've never tried them, so I'm not sure if they die or if they just don't bloom, all I know is they need colder winters than what we have)

Pothos will be a houseplant--could take it outside in the warmer months but it'll need to come in for the winter, and it's one that is more commonly grown as a houseplant.

** totally hijacking the thread

To say Howdy ecrane!!!!! .. I don't know if you remember helping me out with a lot of questions when we moved from Portland, OR to Livermore a few years back. I just joined up again with davesgarden.

Thank-you so much, I've been busy filling a very empty backyard and slope - made enough mistakes to fill a book, but it's looking good. How in the heck are you ?

Tracy

I'm doing well thanks! I do remember helping you out and I'm glad to hear your yard's looking good--you'll have to start a new thread and post some pictures so we can all see it!

I have been meaning to, I wish I had taken more pictures a long the way - glad to hear you are doing well neighbor ! Tracy