I have to "water" this bottle Tradescantia like once a month or so, but rotate that motherfucker almost daily so it gets roasted evenly :D (slrpnk.net)

submitted 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) by Guenther_Amanita@slrpnk.net to c/houseplants@mander.xyz

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I have a Tradescantia fluminensis growing in a hydroponic Kratky/ wick setup in an old bottle.

I never fill the bottle with more than 1/3 nutrient solution, but it lasts for more than a month, in winter even two.

Zero maintenance you think? Wrong! This plant is only a few months old, and growing like a weed.
I have to trim it every few weeks, and like a hydra, it regrows more twigs than I cut and gets even bushier.

The neon colors only get out if it gets enough sun, but sometimes, it's too much, and it gets a slight sunburn.
I have to rotate it every few days to not get burnt too much on one side :D

The roots also look great

The other one is a bit younger and looks like this:

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[-] unexposedhazard@discuss.tchncs.de 3 points 3 weeks ago

I thought rotating plants frequently was bad for them 🤔

[-] luciole@beehaw.org 4 points 3 weeks ago

Regularly rotating plants to keep them from being lopsided/unbalanced is traditional practice. On the other hand I’ve seen some argue on the 'net that this is purely for aesthetic reasons, unnatural and stressful. My two cents is that an indoor plant lives under different circumstances than an outdoor one since outside the light source moves across the sky everyday while indoor the window is stationary. Furthermore a strong unbalance can threaten the structural integrity of a plant so I think it’s more than aesthetics.

So whether you rotate your plants or not, someone somewhere will think you’re doing it wrong. It’s that sort of thing.

[-] unexposedhazard@discuss.tchncs.de 1 points 3 weeks ago

Seems logical yeah

this post was submitted on 29 Apr 2025

58 points (100.0% liked)

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