PLANT CHORES: Cleaning houseplants! Treating spider mites and scale, washing a tree, pest prevention

Let's clean some plants together!! 🧼🧝‍♀️✨ There are so many plant care tasks to tackle when you have over 300 houseplants, and there is always a plant that needs to be washed! Join me for a day of plant cleaning 😄
PLANT CHORES: EPISODE 4
Some topics in this video: preventative pest treatment using alcohol, washing plants with a pressure sprayer, lugging my biggest plant outside for a bath, showing you my big dieffenbachia, washing some of my low light plants, washing pesticide residue off of my Philodendron giganteum, Ficus triangularis, Ficus umbellata, watering and soaking air plants, how to water a flowering air plant, treating cactus scale, dusting and wiping 😊🌱🧽
Thanks so so much for watching and subscribing!! 💕
Cheers to making new plant friends!
IG: @reallybigplant
#plantcare #houseplantcollection

[@leximay7059]

The confidence you have to drag that plant outside is outstanding to me 😂

[@laurenervin1404]

I know!🤣 Just watching this I had an anxiety attack when the elevator door opened and there was someone in it😅

[@reallybigplant]

😆😆hhahaha thank you!🤗💕✨ sometimes ya gotta just commit to doing something ridiculous🤣💜

[@reallybigplant]

sorry to cause you anxiety😅!! there’s a guy who lives in my building and he sits outside by the front entrance all day every day, and he has seen me bring literally hundreds of plants inside...i do feel pretty embarrassed at this point lol🥴

[@leximay7059]

@@reallybigplant that's hilarious honestly 😅 he probably enjoys watching you live life with big plants in an apartment 😂 I can only wish mine will get that big

[@laurenervin1404]

@@reallybigplant that's hilarious🤣 I live in a townhouse so we all live really close to each other in my neighborhood and with so any of them now working from home, there's ALWAYS someone around when I'm doing all my plant chores things like washing and repotting them. And because I have so many plants, I'm out there basically every other day😅 it's gotten to the point that I try to do as much as I can on my back porch, but I don't have a hose set-up back there, which makes spraying my plants down and cleaning up soil a bit difficult😬🤦🤣

[@MadisonWestfield]

LOL the way you ducked under that monstera leaf like a ninja investigator 🕵️‍♂️ haha good plant mom

[@reallybigplant]

hehe thx so much for watching!!💜

[@normatrewhella9003]

When I’m feeling sad, I just watch you . Your antics make me laugh.

[@RaychelxEdge]

Please get a rolling dolly to help you drag your plant outside. Watching you struggle was enough. 😂

[@saraialegria]

For a second I thought you were going to toss that gorgeous cacti 😅 you're so cool for treating it 🙏🏽 here's hoping you overcome that nasty scale 🤞🏽

[@reallybigplant]

for a second I thought I was gonna toss it too 😅🤣 thanks so much for the support!! 😊💜✨

[@ashleighbaker496]

why am I so impressed by you taking that big ass plant all the way downstairs 🤣 you got me to subscribe with just that!!

[@shiningstar1869]

I did not know there were different types of scale. I am a new subscriber. I've been growing plants since 1986 and never had a problem with thrips. I recently had an outbreak from them and lost several plants. Hope to learn more from you in the future. 🌿👍🍃

[@reallybigplant]

ahh thrips are so hard to fight off!! sorry to hear they attacked your collection! i lost a bunch of plants to thrips last fall😓 and yes unfortunately there are tons of different types of scale insects, i try not to think about it too much lol😅😅😅 thanks so much for watching and subscribing!!😊💜🌿✨✨

[@ONEFREESPIRITED1]

As you were spritzing your ficus outside, I was thinking that perhaps a small step stool, a tarp underneath and a sprinkler type water jug might work and save you from having to take it outside. I enjoyed watching your plant chores. 🥰

[@reallybigplant]

thanks so much for the suggestion!! I actually looked into getting a pop up decontamination shower (like for people in biohazard situations) to do this kind of thing but they’re too expensive and big hahaha😂🤦‍♀️ I should just try a tarp next time😆 thanks for watching!!💜☺️✨

[@boops8067]

please never stop doing plant chore videos

[@funnylittlecactus4672]

I just found your channel today and I'm loving your videos so far! I just wanted to say I love the way you explain things and give very informative and helpful advice.

[@milyvelez8682]

I am impressed with your charisma and simplicity! God bless you and,please, don't stop these videos! I enjoy tremendously! Mily from Florida

[@angelinemccloud1258]

That tree situation is true dedication!! You go gurl.. an I’ve really only had a few fungus nats here n there when purchasing from big box stores once I change into my soil it’s fine n need oil an yea thank u for ur time n dedication I enjoy ur vids

[@ChrissyJijon]

Enjoying your plant chores videos just now since I just found you yesterday.

[@JustASliceOfSweetPotatoPie]

What a workout! Have you thought about getting a dolly? That way you could pull or push rather than drag the tree so far. When you enter the elevator, all you'd have to do is tilt the dolly and push it on in. Easier on you and the plant! Thanks for sharing your videos.

[@StitchesbySharonH]

Your plants are gorgeous! Seeing you drag that plant around was funny but also made me nervous when you ran into other people, lol. I’m glad I have my own house!! I always thought scale was brown so now I’m not sure if I would recognize it… One thing about the air plants - the tips that were sticking out of the water might eventually turn brown from not getting soaked. I have that with a few of mine so now I use a ceramic lid as a weight to keep everyone under the water. Thank you for sharing! 💜💚🪴🌵

[@reallybigplant]

hahaha yes i feel like everyone in my building was using the elevator right then 😅😅😅 i can’t wait to hopefully have my own house someday😍💕 or even like a balcony so i could wash my plants in peace and solitude 🤣 and yep scale comes in many shades unfortunately...😭 thanks so much for the air plant tip! I think I usually have them jumbled up enough that different ones stick out each time, but I’ll start paying attention now to make sure the same tips don’t get neglected 😊 thx for watching!!💜✨✨

[@StitchesbySharonH]

@@reallybigplant 🥰

[@lisaalexander1102]

I’m in love with that green chair!

[@silenc3x]

For the big guy: Tear a garbage bag in half, put under tree, and then spray it down in your place. Use towels for any overspray, but I bet it's easier than lugging that tallboye downstairs. Also might need a step stool lol. Also, I really respect your takes on bio-security. Glad to see somebody following good practices. I don't think I ever took it too seriously until I lost some cannabis plants to spider mites. On weed, at that point it's basically game over. You don't want to ingest most things you would treat them with, and you don't want to ruin the buds. Even pesitcide-free options like ladybugs would still leave poop everywhere lol. If it happens to you, you learn to completely step up your game and learn thy enemy. Even though I don't grow anymore, those practices stick with you. I recommend anyone growing cannabis completely changes their clothes before even entering their grow space each day. No shoes, clean clothes, and washed hands go a long way. Obviously this would only apply to indoor growing. If you grow outdoors, you are at the mercy of nature.

[@lyndapknox3481]

Great video! You’re the big plant guru😁

[@dor4376]

i learn a lot from your vids! thank you!💙💙💙

[@theplantypants2461]

Man, I LOOOOVE your videos!

[@reallybigplant]

😊💕💕💕 thanks so much for watching!!💜🤩

[@sherriemedellin5575]

The things we do for our plant babies 🪴

[@bronwenisabel]

Hope you find your plants scale-and-spider-mite-free soon! Thanks for another very entertaining and informative video. :) My least favorite pest is definitely thrips. I will go months without seeing them, and then all of a sudden they pop out again. I've mostly accepted having pests lurking around as part of having a larger collection. My collection still half the size of yours; I'm so impressed with your diligence/vigilance! I gave up on washing things and now go the lazy (but expensive) route of letting beneficial insects take care of pests for me. I am also in Canada where we don't have access to heavy duty pesticides, which is probably for the best (though I would probably use them at this point to get rid of these &#*#@$ thrips, who are unphased by neem, alcohol, castile soap, insecticidal soap, or End-All)!

[@reallybigplant]

that’s so cool you use beneficial insects!!! I think about it sometimes but I think i’m too generally freaked out by bugs that adding more bugs just doesn’t seem like a solution that will ever work for me hahah😅😅😅😂 what types of insects have you released? I agree that thrips are probably the worst!!! I lost a bunch of plants to thrips last fall that i decided to get rid of instead of treat😭 And yes, unfortunately pests are just part of the equation with this many plants🧝‍♀️ thanks so much for watching and for your support!! 💜😊💕🌿✨✨

[@bronwenisabel]

@@reallybigplant Ugh so sorry to hear about losing plants to thrips, though it seems like you got them well under control, which is impressive! I totally understand about finding the idea of predators really yucky. I started with soil predators (nematodes I think?), telling myself I could never apply any sort of insects on the leaves or flying insects...At this point I've tried a lot of them! Honestly once you apply them if you already have pests, you rarely see them again (and if you don't have an active infestation, most of them tend to die pretty quickly). I use a lot of generalist predators which I have found is awesome for spider mite prevention, though once a thrips population is established I've found them much harder to get rid of! The downside to predators is that you have to keep applying them, you need the ideal conditions for them to be effective, some of the application methods are messy and unsightly (vermiculite everywhere), and they are super expensive (at least in Montreal, Canada where I live)! In soil, I have used quite a bit of strateolaelaps scimitis, and have just started using dalotia coriaria, which fly but are much more voracious than strateo. They are quite creepy crawly though, but I find my brain kind of shuts out my distaste when I know that they are reproducing properly and doing good things by eating bad things. :D For the leaves, I've used neosilius cucumeris and amblysius swirskii (super tiny, unobtrusive crawling insects that are frankly kind of adorable), but I find orius insidiosus the most effective. They are little flying predators that need 14 hours of daylight, so best used in summer. They are the only predators I have access to that are really aggressive with thrips and can eat all stages, including adults, which is necessary when you're trying to break the egg-laying cycle but you don't have time to scout all of the leaves. They do it for you! Thanks for your great videos! Really appreciate all of the work you put into them as well as all of your plant care!

[@IzzmeisterSupreme]

Super informative! Thank you :D

[@atiyafirdous2744]

I love that cactus, it's so pretty. Hope mine will also grow this beautiful ❤️

[@reallybigplant]

😊my cactus says thank you💕 thanks so much for watching!!💜✨🌵

[@aleksandralomanska1833]

Thank you for so many useful info 👏👏👏👏

[@vibe3339]

I really emjoy this type of videos. :)

[@joysmith23]

Your dramatic slo-mo’s are the best 😂

[@reallybigplant]

🤣🤣🤣 thx for watching Joy!✨

[@murusorowangu]

I really enjoy these plant chores video. I haven't had an infestation yet. I'm a new plant mama (thanks to the pandemic) and obsessively check my 18 plant collection almost daily 😅. I purchased some neem oil to have at hand cus I'd hate to be caught unprepared. Whew!

[@reallybigplant]

good idea being prepared with the neem! 18 plants is an impressive collection! 😍 it’s like the perfect number of plants... your plants are lucky you pay such close attention to them, that’s wonderful 😊 my plants are jealous haha 😅 thanks for watching, i’m so glad you like the chores videos! 💜

[@kkmeilicke]

Great video! It's interesting to see the different ways people deal with pests. I've seen thrips damage on some of my newer plants, and found some non-moving specs that could have been thrips. I freaked out and bought a spinosad concentrate (like Capt'n Jack's) and a gallon-sized sprayer. I've been treating my whole collection every month or so. Luckily we have a big patio that makes it easy. My biggest problem has actually been root rot. I always seem to over water--I think my soil mixture isn't draining like it should.

[@reallybigplant]

thanks Kris!😊 sometimes it’s the non moving specks that really get me feeling paranoid 😅 i’m jealous about your patio!🤩 sorry to hear about the root rot! sometimes the soil gets compacted at the bottom or around drainage holes and the plants just need a repot. you can also try watering with a little hydrogen peroxide too to combat the rot ✨ thx for watching 👋😊💜💜💜!

[@MadisonWestfield]

I am IN LOVE with that stunning cactus. Just looking at it is so mesmerizing. 🌵 you’d have to pry that baby out of my cold, dead hands if it were mine.

[@reallybigplant]

aww that makes me appreciate it more and I feel bad i was so nonchalantly considering tossing it 😭 thanks so much for your enthusiasm!! 😄💕✨🌿 i’m gonna keep trying to save it!☺️

[@jennyblack9898]

😎 Delighted 🪴🌷🪴

[@tracyanne2617]

I love your videos. So informative and fun. I recently had mealy bugs on my escargot begonia twice, so I just threw it away. I couldn’t deal with it. Lol. I miss it because I love that plant. Oh well.

[@reallybigplant]

ah sorry to hear that!! sometimes it’s just better to say goodbye to an infested plant even though it’s always sad 😢 i hope you find another nice pest free one soon!✨ thanks so much for watching! 😊💜💕

[@honestperson7947]

You should invest in the little wheely tray from Home Depot makes moving big plants a dream!

[@MariaFuentes-jh3le]

I enjoyed it very much & also informative! I'm fairly new to your channel thank you.

[@claudiah5507]

I bought a plant and I noticed it had little bugs in the soil (they were not soil mites , sprintails, soil mealy bugs, thrips or any other common house pests). I changed the soil my plant was in and washed and sprayed the roots too. And I thought I was done with it cause I didnt see them for awhile, buy they came back in the soil and it spread to other plants I had. I tried under watering it because I thought they were springtail, they were not and I nearly killed my plants underwatering them. I finally just cut and repropagated them or removed them from soil washed with hydrogen peroxide mixture (water and h202) and put them in leca which actually did the job. This sounds over the top but there were many little brown bugs in each pot and it was gross and it bothered me and they wear spreading very easily and quickly.

[@psfgtech]

Great video, can't spread the pests inside, in Florida I now know why everyone has fake plants inside 😆

[@Lorenmcdee]

Yo haven't checked you out in a while I think you improved your on air personality since last I saw!

[@reallybigplant]

thanks so much for watching! 😊💕✨

[@Lorenmcdee]

@@reallybigplant dude any time! I really like how your channel is evolving. I like that you don't have an unrelatable giant god damn house (good location though dang) but you still manage large plants. Like you clearly stage your area pretty well and you have an awesome aesthetic. I like how you made your seating area so cozy and you showed how your dumb cane looks different from behind. I liked you taking the triangle leafed plant down and just making it work. Like that's a lot more relatable than the like weird influence-y stuff available. Don't get me wrong I like that too but this seems more relatable. Also you're freaking chill. Like you're hella pretty and like just cool.

[@mamalu836]

You need a luggage rack to wheel the big suckered outside!

[@emmy8009]

The white spots on the leaves (that aren’t bugs) are called cystoliths - they’re little calcium carbonate growths in the cell walls of the plants. I’ve heard from somewhere that they help some plants photosynthesize or something, but I don’t necessarily think that is true considering it’s a mineral deposit of calcium

[@theldor9597]

great sharing.thanks!

[@reallybigplant]

thanks so much for watching! ☺️💜✨

[@evynfife7603]

I had a couple black pagoda lipstick plants (mother and child) that kept getting aphids. To try to get rid of them I used rubbing alcohol and q-tips to clean the aphids off and then treated them with neem oil. It worked for the first two outbreaks but the third was too persistent for me to keep up the effort. I think what happened was that I didn't immediately take care of the issue and instead put it off for a week or two. It got so bad that ants started to tend to the aphids for their nectar! Eventually I had to get rid of both of them 😭. Thankfully, the aphids didn't get to any of my other plants. If/when I have to deal with this problem in the future I will definitely tackle the issue immediately before it becomes uncontrollable. Lesson learned! I have to admit, now I'm apprehensive about getting more black pagodas even though they are so pretty...

[@MiscellaneousMichelle]

💚

[@reallybigplant]

😊💜💜

[@jesangel4472]

Love your videos! I have had issues with gnats mostly, they are soo annoying.

[@reallybigplant]

ahhhh yes they always seem to fly between my face and glasses, SO GROSS AND ANNOYING!!😤 thanks so much for watching 😊💜✨✨

[@sherryporsch9349]

Good luck treating the scale an mites. Your Tranglularis is awesome. You made me think about, “ an Ant can’t move a Rubber Tree Plant” lol but he/ she has high hopes !! 😂🤣 sorry 💚

[@sherryporsch9349]

PS one of my tallandsia grew a pup an never bloomed, unless it bloomed before I got it?

[@joyceleneave2147]

How do you water the plants once you have them vining on the wall? Excited to watch my living wall grow!

[@jenniferjsaracino]

Thrips are kicking my butt. I seem to be managing the infestation but can’t seem to kick the altogether. Kinda the same with the mites but they are way less distressing.

[@reallybigplant]

thrips. are. the. worst!!!! I lost quite a few plants to thrips last fall. have you tried a systemic insecticide like Bonide Houseplant Systemic (active ingredient imidacloprid)? i know it’s not organic but that’s the only thing that’s helped me with thrips in the past. good luck with your thrips battle!!🤞 thx for watching!😊💕💜

[@psfgtech]

In Florida, I love my plants, but spider mites, and no seums get in and cover the underneath the leaf, you did a great job

[@kramer254]

🌿

[@sherriemedellin5575]

Just a tip ,I order the long swabs from Amazon to get in between all the leaves WORKS 👍

[@reallybigplant]

oohh long swabs, that’s such a good idea!🤩🤩 thanks so much for the tip and thanks for watching!!😊💕✨

[@sherriemedellin5575]

@@reallybigplant are you kidding me,I love watching you ,I have a Big question can you please do a video on the money tree plant 🪴🌴🌵🌿

[@benharvey356]

horticultural oil sprayed on scale on camellias knocks it out pretty good. But I have a yard with a ton of camellias and manual removal would be time prohibitive. I don't know the first thing about cacti, but would you be able to treat scale with spraying horticultural oil? I like Bonide all seasons horticultural oil. It may be worth trying instead of tossing the plant. It works on all kind of insects.

[@Ch33Ch22]

👍🌿

[@jodirauth8847]

Do you repot your plants in fall before you bring them inside. Do you bake your potting soil.

[@TeaTea.]

Heya, I need some help. I think I just found scale on my ficus shivereana and it was near a couple of plants. I scraped them off and treated it with neem oil and an insecticide spray, I'm thinking about getting systemic granules tomorrow. Do you think that's a good idea? Do I also have to treat all of my plants now?

[@marmar6692]

This treatment u make with alcohol for spraying, what are the exact measurements, thnx

[@reallybigplant]

I aim to create a roughly 30% alcohol solution, so when I start with 90% isopropyl alcohol, I use roughly 1 part alcohol to 2 parts water. If this were a more delicate plant I might use closer to 20-25% alcohol, so 3-4 parts water. Hope this helps, thanks so much for watching!😊✨

[@canna-cabobs3456]

try the liquid dirt spider might recipe.

[@canna-cabobs3456]

8 cups - water 1/4 cup - Tea tree soap 1/4 cup - Peppermint soap 1 cup - 70% Alcohol 1 Tbsp - 1% Peroxide CACTUS!! 8 cups - water 1/8 cup - Tea tree soap 1/8 cup - Peppermint soap 1 1/4 cup - 70% Alcohol 1 Tbsp - 1% Peroxide ***NO SUN FOR 12 HOURS AFTER APPLICATION!!***

[@lorenalorena7078]

How many times are you suppose to clean your plants?

[@sarah9314]

I want to be chill about pests but I am still kind of intense and nervous any of them honestly

[@NattyPyon]

I've been fighting ants and white scale on my orchids 🙄 the worst

[@reallybigplant]

ahhh double whammy! best of luck treating them 💪✨ thanks so much for watching!💜😊

[@filippa1434]

The pest I hate the most is definitely thrips. Getting rid of them is always just temporarily. I hate those beasts

[@normatrewhella9003]

Your funny. Your neighbours must get a kick out of you.

[@JackMontana69]

OMG! 😳 That tall tree is way-way-way too much for me. Nah! Ugh! 😫 , 😖 A-ah! Nope. Hell Nope.

[@willajohnson8577]

I LIKE watching your very interesting videos and beautiful plants but please cut back on the bad teenage habit of putting LIKE In front of every other word.😁