All the things you need to know about Plants FAQ

Here is a list of all of the most important things you need to know about plants. If you are thinking of starting a garden, or growing ANYTHING, these are all things that will shed some light on those mysterious plants. Everything you need to know about plants is contained on this page.

Some of the frequently asked questions (FAQ) by new gardeners, or anyone attempting to plant anything-
Why do my plants just randomly die?
Why do my plants look funny?
Why are the leaves yellow?
Why do the leaves fall off?
What is that white stuff on my plant?
What are those little bug thingies on my plant?
Why does my plant look wilted?

Don't feel bad, we've all been there.
The truth is, none of these questions have simple answers. I will attempt to cover some of the basic areas first to ensure that everyone has a general understanding of how things work, and then i will answer the questions at the end. If you want to just skip to the end for the answers, you can, but you probably won't understand the answers properly.

Here is a summary of all the factors that affect plant growth, in order of importance. As long as Level 1 factors are met, your plant will survive just fine. You may or may not have to control the level 2 stuff, but if you do, your plant will do significantly better if any of these factors are causing problems for your plants. One thing to be aware of though - even if you have everything right, your plant can still die if any one of these factors is wrong, or for absolutely no reason. Get used to it, it happens.

1. Level 1 Requirements - If these are met, your plant will grow just fine
1. Game of Numbers
1. Nature is not perfect. Nature fails. A lot. Nature works by creating statistical advantages for itself. If you look at any plant, you will see that is has MULTIPLE ways of procreating. Any given plant may be able to procreate through seeds, shoots, cut pieces, outgrowths from roots, division of young shoots from the main plant, etc. If you look at a plant when it creates seeds, it generally makes a LOT of seeds. This is because any previous versions of this plant that created less seeds have DIED, and were not successful at procreation. Only the strong survive. The plants that create the most seeds, have the best chances of survival. 
2. The purpose of all of this is to understand that seeds fail. Not every seed will grow. Do not expect every seed to grow. Even if they do grow, not every seed is perfect. Seeds can be imperfect, mutated, damaged, or just weak due to disease or poor nutrition from the mother plant.
3. Plant LOTS of seeds. If you are gardening, do not plant a single seed, and then be upset that it did not grow, or that it sprouted then died. Plant 5, and hope that at least one of them will come out strong. My general rule of thumb is to multiply everything by 5. If you want 5 plants, plant 25 seeds. If you end up with too many, great! just kill off the ones you don't want, or give them to your friends, or plant them around the garden to see if there's a specific spot they like.
2. Sun
1. All plants need Sun - The number one single most important factor in attempting to grow anything. The sun requirements for every plant is different, but generally all plants like sunlight. The more, the better. Understanding how much sun each area of your garden gets makes all the difference between living and dead plants. You also need to understand how much sun each plant actually needs. Then it's just a matter of putting plants that require high sun in high-sun areas, and plants that like shade in Partial-Shade areas etc. Obviously, if you put a shade plant in full-sun, it will dry up and die. If you put a full-sun plant in the shade, it will grow in a funny shape, or also just whither and die.
1. Cardinal Directions - The first thing you need to understand is the directions, North, South, East, and West. The sun rises in the East, and sets in the West. The sun moves. At different times of the year, the sun will be in different positions. Throughout the days, and at different times of the year, sunlight will move, shadows will move. A spot that gets sunlight today..might not get sunlight in 6 months. If you have a large wall, tree or structure nearby, watch it carefully at different times of the day/month and see where the shadow is falling. 
2. Determine Sun Zones - Observe your garden. Observe the sunlight. Observe the natural growth in those areas. Moss, mildew, ferns, black-soot fungus on leaves, lack of grass indicate low sun. Green grass, weeds, strong, fast, vibrant growth indicates high sun. Always observe. Learn the sun patterns. Learn which parts of your garden gets lots of sun, and which parts get a little. Classify zones of your garden into High-Sun, Medium-Sun and Low-Sun (Shade). 
3. Plant Sun Requirements - If you have a specific plant you want to grow, find out how much sun it needs (High, Medium, Low). Once you know how much sun it needs, it's just a matter of matching the plant to the appropriate zone. 
4. Control your Sun Zones - Once you understand the concept of sun zones, you can control your sun zones in your garden. 
1. Create High-Sun zones by cutting down unnecessary trees or bushes.
2. Create Medium-Sun zones by planting light shrubs, or using sun shade fabrics or trellises
3. Create Low-Sun Shade zones by planting large trees or using shade fabrics, or garden structures (arbours, statues, structures, points of interest). 
2. I don't know how much sun this plant needs...How do i know if my plant is getting enough sun? - If you really don't know how much sun your plant needs, your only solution is brute force. Plant them in ALL of your sun zones, and observe them.
1. If you see Brown patches that look like a part of the leaf just dried up, that usually means that the plant was burned by too much sun. Whatever zone this is, is too much sun for your plant.
2. If you see brown spots on the leaves, and the plant is already in the shade, chances are it's due to fungus, or some kind of pest on the plant. Fungus will only grow on a plant if it's too wet. This generally means the plant needs more sun, or less water/dampness on the leaves.
3. Sometimes you might see perfectly circular or oval brown spots on the leaves of your plant. These are generally caused by two things, and have nothing to do with the sun zone. They will also have little to no effect on your plant, so you can just ignore them.
1. Water droplets on the leaf concentrate sunlight, and act like tiny magnifying glasses, causing a perfectly drop-shaped burn on the leaf. Avoid getting water on the leaves of your plant during periods of high sun. If it rains during this time, there's not much you can do, but generally the sun isn't very hot while it's raining.
2. A sap-sucking insect (such as a stink bug) was above the leaf, and "peed" or sprayed it's chemical stuff, that landed on the leaf, causing tiny brown spots where it lands.
3. Water
1. All Plants need Water - We can use the same technique for water as we used for sun. Look at your garden, and make a mental map of the water zones. High water (Wet), medium water(Damp), Low Water (Dry). Figure out how much water your plant likes, and place it in that zone. Water is a little trickier than sun though, even though you have a lot more control over it. When planting, keep this in mind. Generally, a Plant is made up of a Stalk or Trunk (that does not like to stay wet) connected to roots (which like to stay damp/wet). The trick is to keep the roots damp/wet, and the trunk dry. If the roots dry out, the plant will die. If the trunk stays too wet, it will get fungus and rot and die. Once you master this balance, you will find your plants surviving a lot more. The last part of this section (Create Dry Zones) talks about the basic technique that allows you to do this. 
1. Drainage and Relief - The soil type, and gradient of your land will directly affect how much water is held in the soil. Water will drain through sandy or rocky soil and become dry very quickly. Do not confuse loose soil with Sandy soil. Loose soil will also drain quickly, but can remain damp for a long time. A steep slope will cause water to run off before it is absorbed into the soil. Steep slopes are generally dry. Gentle slopes and valleys will tend to collect water. The soil in these areas will actually be able to absorb water to saturation point before the water drains away.
2. Determine Water Zones - Observe your garden, observe it during the rain, observe it when you water it. Observe the way the water flows, where it moves quickly, and where it settles. Observe evidence of water levels based on the natural growth in the area. Moss, Fungus, mushrooms, wet leaves, snails, slugs, worms will indicate wet to damp areas. Dry leaves, exposed stones, gravel, sand, cracked soil, powdery soil will indicate dry areas.
3. Plant Water Requirements - If you have a specific plant you want to grow, find out how much water it needs (Wet, Damp, Dry). Once you know how much water it needs, it's just a matter of matching the plant to the appropriate zone
4. Control your Water Zones - Once you understand the concept of water zones, you can control the water zones in your garden.
1. Create Wet Zones - Once you understand how water flows and drains in your garden, you can dig drainage ditches, trenches, ponds, or pools that allow water to collect, giving the soil in the area some time to absorb it before it escapes as run-off. With some imagination, you can get water to reach all parts of your garden by simply watering the highest point in your garden, and controlling the flow of water via an irrigation drainage system of pools and trenches. I have done this in both of my gardens with much success, and absolutely no need for sprinklers or drip irrigation. All i use is a hose that leads to the highest point in my garden, and then a network of contoured drainage ditches and mini-pools to lead the water through all parts of my garden. Once i turn the hose on, the entire garden gets watered. And no water gets on the leaves.
2. Create Damp Zones - Damp zones will naturally occur around your Wet Zones. Damp zones can also be created by controlling the shade factor.
3. Create Dry Zones - Create Dry zones by making small mounds or hills. One very useful technique when planting (i'm sure you've seen gardeners do this) is to dig a small circle, and put all the dirt in the center in a mound. This way you have a mound in the center that is high and dry, and a low circular ditch around the mound that will collect and hold water. If you plant in the mound, the plant gets to keep itself dry, reducing the chances of fungus and rot. However, the area right below the mound is very wet, so the plant can push its roots as deep as it wants, and drink as much as it likes. If it requires more water, it grows deeper roots. If it doesn't need much water, it will stay in the high part of the mound, and will not venture further down. Furrows and pots with saucers use this same concept.
4. Soil
5. Optimal Locations
2. Level 2 Requirements - If these are controlled, your plant will thrive
1. Pests
2. Fungus
3. Diseases
4. Wind, Heat, Dust
5. Pruning
6. Fertilizer

Plant Attribute List

Plant Attributes Tracking List

ID - Id number
PName - Plant Name (in database)
ScName - Scientific Name
OtherNames - Other Names
HarvestAfter - From planting, how long does it take to first harvest
GrowthCycle - How long does it live? Any special attributes?
Sun - How much sun does it need? (Full Shade, Partial Shade, Medium Sun, Full Sun)
Soil - What kind of soil does it need? (Sandy, Rich, Loose, Clay, Rocky, Well-Drained, Normal, Poor, Wet)
Water - How much water does it need? (A Little, A Lot, Always Wet, Cannot stay Wet)
Crown - How tall does it get?
Root - How do the roots grow? (Deep, Wide, Buttress, Damages Structures, How deep? How wide?)
Benefits - Any special benefits of this plant?
Diseases - Any special diseases of this plant?
Pests - Any special pests of this plant?
Zone - What zone should it be in? (Close to house, medium from house, far from house)
Uses - How can you use this plant?
Detriments - Does this plant cause any specific detriments to anything?
SpecialNeeds - Any special needs this plant may have
Produces - What products does this plant produce?
ProcessInto - What processed goods can be produced from the raw materials obtained form this plant?
Propagation - How is this plant propagated?
Spacing - How far should it be spaced from other similar plants?
Harvesting - How / When do you harvest the products form this plant?
Storage - How do you store the products obtained from this plant?
Companions - What other plants make good companions to this one?

The Green Chinee - Origins

I started this blog in an attempt to record the growing amount of information i seem to have collected since i decided to "go and plant stuff".

Background:
Born and bred on the island of Trinidad, in the twin republic of Trinidad & Tobago. I am of Chinese descent (duh). I was an average student, nothing spectacular. Studied Systems Analysis in Miami for my undergrad, and did a Masters in Project Management in Trinidad (mainly because i didn't know what to do next, all i knew is, i was bored, and needed to do something). I am an IT consultant, and have spent most of my professional career as an IT Manager / Systems Analyst / Database Administrator / Developer in Manufacturing and Food Distribution environments. Most of my spare time was spent on video games, MTG and anime. I was always generally aware of the earth's problems, and my knowledge of natural systems was limited to geography in secondary school (equivalent of high school). I would watch national geographic, and was always interested by nature, animals, and ecosystems. I would always think about recycling, and saving the earth from my early experiences watching Captain Planet. But i had never actually done anything. My gardening skills had been limited to what my father had shown me when we would prepare small pots, fertilize plants, transplant flowers, or cultivate new plants from seed or cuttings, just as general garden maintenance, but nothing more. My home did not have a large garden. There were a lot of pots, flowers, orchids, generic home shrubbery, and random herbs (chadon beni, pimentoes, thyme) growing here and there, but nothing structured.

The Event:
A few years ago, my girlfriend (now wife) took me to a "Red Earth" festival being hosted by the Australian Embassy in Chaguaramas. The festival advertised that there would be a farmer's market, and a short course on how to survive in the wilderness, and a course on sustainability and permaculture. We had no idea what any of this was, and we really just went because we thought it would be cool to see. I had heard about permaculture before, but had no real idea what it was about.
The farmer's market was pretty cool, and the wilderness survival tips were also quite interesting (i'll make a separate post about those later). But what really captivated me was the talk on sustainability and permaculture. This was where i met Mr. John Stollmeyer of Wa Samaki Ecosystems, and was introduced to the idea of permaculture.

The Awakening:
At this time, i was probably about 28years old, and i had never really thought much about plants. What i did know a lot about however, was databases, systems, design, and efficiency. I also knew a lot about MTG. As i listened to John talk about sustainability, and design, a number of ideas lodged themselves in my brain, and started all of my wheels turning. For the first time, a whole number of questions that had been floating around unanswered in the back of my brain suddenly became answered, and there was a flood of understanding that came over me.

1. What is energy? - All energy comes from the sun. Okay, so this isn't 100% true, so i will rephrase. 99% of all ORGANIC energy comes from the sun. (geothermal, chemical and nuclear are a whole different kettle of fish, and we will discuss those later) All plants use solar energy, and store it within their bodies. This eventually becomes food for others. Animals eat plants and produce waste. All animals are grown from plants. Animals and plants are made of the same stuff. Bio-waste, humus, soil, oil - they are all the same thing. Physical manifestations of Energy in different forms. They taught us this stuff in school..circle of life, food chain...but for some reason.. i never quite understood how the whole system worked. Until now.
1. The Circle of Energy - Sun - Plants - Soil - Plants - Animals - Soil. We all live in a closed system. All of our energy comes from whatever energy has landed on this planet from the sun. Every piece of organic matter - leaves, trees, wood, fish, people, food, oil, everything...is just a solidified piece of sunlight.
2. At this point i understood. Plants are nature's batteries. They are like sponges,soaking up the sun's energy, and trapping it. they are also, the only batteries. Animals do not store sunlight directly. They store sunlight by eating plants that have stored sunlight. The waste that animals excrete is also sunlight, just in a form that animals can't use.
3. Once i understood this, everything suddenly became clear. Our goals on this planet should be to harvest as much sunlight as possible, all day, every day, at all times. Every piece of sunlight that is not absorbed by a plant, is basically wasted.
4. This was the one driving thought that stuck in my mind. This was the reason why i decided that it was time to DO something. For the first time, i felt a sense of urgency. I felt a sense of "All that sunlight going to waste"
2. Sustainable Design - The idea of designing a natural system so that it does not require human intervention, and it can look after itself. I was completely blown away by this idea. It had never occurred to me before that something like this could even be possible. 
1. Plants as building blocks - The basic idea here is that every single plant has a different set of attributes. Every single plant is like a miniature factory. Is takes in X, converts it, and produces Y. Therefore, the idea is, that if you can find one plant that takes X and produces Y, and another plant that takes Y and produces X, together, you have a sustainable system. A sort of, natural perpetual motion machine (which isn't really perpetual because everything is fueled by sunlight). At this point, the strangest link happened in my mind. I had used this technique before. All of my experience building MTG decks suddenly sprang to life as i thought about this idea of sustainable design. The idea of taking opposite cards, and using them together to create some kind of synergy. I was hooked. From this point, my love of designing systems took over, as i realized how it could be applied to plants. Now all i had to do was figure out the attributes of every single plant...
2. The Database - My original idea was to basically create a sort of "Skills and Abilities" card for every single plant, in much the same way you would have information in a game about different weapons, or different character classes, or different creatures to make decisions easier. Right away, i realized that this was not going to be easy, as most of the information out there is not geared towards this kind of thinking. So i decided to build my own database of information, and develop "cheat sheets" for every single plant i came across during my search for information. This is the list of attributes i started tracking.

The Action:
Now, a normal person would have gone online and started reading about plants first, and started gathering information that way. Now, don't get me wrong...i tried that. However, every single piece of gardening information online seems to be heavily geared towards home gardening, and NORTH AMERICA. There is VERY limited information on a lot of the plant species we grow in Trinidad, and in the Tropics in general. Also, a lot of the techniques, and advice they give, is based on the four seasons, and a generally colder climate, with a lot less ambient bug life. There is little to no technical information about the plant attributes, and even that is wrong, or is different because of the different species that exist in North America.

1. The Planting - So of course, in my gung-ho, red mage, brute force password-cracker attempt at getting information for my database, i requisitioned some bricks leftover from some construction done at my sister's house, commandeered a part of my front lawn, and set up the most godawful ugly planting bed that you have ever seen. I took all the bricks, and made a rectangular outline of a bed on one side of the lawn. (because that's all my father would let me have) I was going to dig up all the soil, but the permaculture way spoke about not disturbing the natural configuration of things. So instead, i would only dig up small areas as  i planted things. 
2. What did i plant? - Everything. Whenever mom came home with groceries, whatever vegetable bits she had leftover, i would take, and plant, just to see what would happen. In my database, i would record the date, and as much information as i could find about that plant that was applicable to my location. I would talk to my friend, go by the neighbours, go to the plant shops, everywhere, and ask for plants. Now there were a couple rules to the types of plants i was growing.
1. It had to be edible, or useful in some way - All those decorative plants, i didn't care about (this changed a little later on, as i learned more and more about how plants worked)
2. It had to be free/very cheap - i was hell bent on spending as close to zero money doing this, just to prove that it could be done
3. It had to be easy - If the plant required too much attention, or could not survive on it's own, i didn't bother with it. I believed in lazy gardening. If something kept dying, i just planted something else.
3. The Realization - As i started asking for different things to plant, i suddenly realized how LITTLE i knew about the food i ate. A lot of the vegetables i would just eat without giving a second thought, i had NO CLUE what the plant looked like, what requirements it had, how to harvest it, WHEN to harvest it...nothing. And that upset me. It angered me. I wondered, how could something so basic to survival not be common knowledge. So i started asking everyone. And what shocked me even more was that NOBODY seemed to know. Then, like every techy, i turned to google, and made another shocking discovery. You can't search for plants if you don't know their NAMES. I had a bunch of stuff growing in my yard. There were a bunch of vegetables selling in the grocery, and our markets. There were trees growing everywhere. But if everyone calls something by a local name, you can't find that online. I looked at so many trees and thought "what is that?" and then realized there is NO WAY for me to find out the name of that tree, except to find someone who knows, or to keep showing pictures of the tree, leaves and flowers to people in the hopes that someone knows it. This got to me. As an IT person, who is used to ID numbers, and order, and information being easily available with all our google and facebook and advanced technology tools, i was floored at the idea that all of this technology fails utterly and completely when it comes to finding the name of that tree over there. If anyone has a link to some sort of online Plant Database with a Similar Image search function...that would be spectacular. If that sort of thing doesn't exist, well hey, there's a million dollar idea for free. Go build it for me.

Down the Rabbit Hole:
That simple action i took, of putting down some bricks in a rectangle, had some unforeseen consequences. Suddenly, i had this ugly bed with nothing in it. It only had lawn grass, and a few failed attempts at planting random things in random places. However, there were also a few successes. These minor successes drove me to want to learn more, to do more, to do better. When my first set of plants failed horribly, i was ready to give up. But there were a couple that didn't fail horribly, and started doing quite well. That made me stop and think. "Why did those die? Why did those live? What did i do differently?". And then i went down the rabbit hole..searching for answers. And i found them.

All the things you need to know about plants.

A Few of the plants i have had success with -

1. Sweet Potato - I took the rotten part of the top of a potato that mom cut off and planted it. Within 2 weeks, i had a vibrant sweet potato vine that i cannot get rid of to this day. I learned that sweet potatoes grow from vines, and only make potatoes where you plant them. 
2. Cassava - I got a cassava stalk from our dude that sells veggies outside the supermarket. Planted it, and now i have endless cassava plants, and every so often, i get cassava for doing pretty much nothing.
3. Bananas - I got a tiny banana shoot from a friend at work. Now i have over 12 separate plants, more bananas than i can eat, and banana leaves for pastelles at christmas.
4. Dasheen - Planted the top of a dasheen in a soggy part of the lawn, and now we have a vibrant dasheen patch where we get dasheen bush to use as spinach, and every so often, an actual dasheen or two.
5. Lime, Lemon, Portugal, Orange - Citrus plants are the easiest things in the world to grow. They are strong, they are hardy. They just take forever to mature. I will always remember when i first planted my lime seeds taken from a few limes my mother squeezed for lime juice, she said "You know how long it's going to take for you to get limes from that?". Honestly, i had no idea how long it would take, but i didn't really care. I planted them anyway. A few months ago she got her first lime from those trees, and i don't hear anyone doubting me any more. 
6. Ochroes / Okra - I got some seeds from an old family friend, and these things grow super easy, but their fixed lifespan means constant replanting..which is a pain.
7. Mung Beans/Bean Sprouts - Fast, prolific, easy. These things amaze me every time i plant them.
8. Rosemary, Chives, Thyme, Chadon Beni, Basil - All very easy to grow under the right conditions