The household item you can use as fertilizer to save your plants.

Have you ever seen the plant section at Lowes? You could use the word “distressed” to describe it. You can also use that word at the register for a lofty discount to save a plant baby or two.

That’s what I did with my banana string plant. I was looking for a hanging plant for a shoot I was doing and they didn’t have that big of a selection. They were either not hanging enough or dead. 🙁  This banana string plant was looking so sad.. I might’ve even heard it yell for help. I picked it up and debated buying it for what felt like 3 hours for Mike.

You know when you want something but it’s just a little too much for what it’s worth? That was this plant. I don’t do very well with succulents so I thought this might be some sort of succulent and I would probably end up killing it anyway. So I didn’t want to spend the $12 or whatever obnoxious number they had on this suffering plant. Although killing it might’ve been a better option than letting it sit in the dimly lit cold Lowe’s. (meanies) Like that one time I threw my dead fiddle leaf over the fence because I could watch it suffer anymore. (another plant that has trouble living in my house)

Anyway, I bought the plant. Bob (I don’t know what the managers name was) gave me this plant for $3. So I put it in my backseat like I was putting my newborn in there. When I got home I started the healing process…

1. Prune – I pruned all of the dead pieces out of and off of this plant. It literally had nothing left to it. It looked like Tommy Pickles.

   Seriously… it looked like him.

   This is a current photo of the roots. They were worse before but now some (bananas?) are starting to grow closer to the root.

2. I repotted it into a little clay pot that I bought at Anthropologie. I made sure it had drainage in the bottom.
3. I started watering it twice a week very lightly (light a couple spritz). I didn’t want to over water it like I do to every other succulent.

4. finally… THIS is what made my banana plant start growing like a weed. COFFEE GROUNDS! Yes, I put my leftover Keurig coffee grinds into the soil and then watered it. I’m talking like a couple hefty pinches. DO NOT PUT THE WHOLE KEURIG INTO YOUR PLANT. It might work but I don’t want to be held accountable if it doesn’t. My sister in law told me about this and it works. I started using it as a fertilizer for a couple of my other plants and so far they’re doing great!

Now every week there are brand new pieces standing straight up! So if you’re having trouble with your banana string plant or any other plant for that matter… try it.

 

If you know of any other great ways to help suffering plants or fertilize.. comment below!

 

xo
Cara