The 3 worst cultural mistakes you've done?

[sechjoh]

To read something on the net and think that it is 1. the truth, 2. the whole truth and 3. nothing but the truth

[IanW]

I sowed 24 different species into 2" pots, put pots on propogator & propogator on kitchen worksurface where it could benefit from the under cupboard lighting. Everthing was going nicely with multiple germinations. Dudley, our cat, decided they might do better on the floor. So he somehow pushed/pulled & got the lot onto the floor. Fortunately I had some backup seed for all bar a couple of those sown.

I was sowing seeds once, using the baggy method, I'd bagged up about 15 bags worth and put them onto a seed tray ready to take out into the greenhouse light area after I'd finished another tray. I put the completed one on top of one of those round malteser tubs whilst I did the other and my dog, clearly bored and wanting attention got out of her basket, came over, put her nose under the edge of the tray, flicked it up, tipping them all over making the potting mix and seeds spill out everywhere into the bags and then quietly walked back to her basket.

Never in my life did I think dogs were capable of malice, I now believe they are as it was so purposeful in the way she got up, walked over, tipped it all over, then walked back!

Thankfully with a magnifying glass and a sieve etc. I was able to recover most the seeds in most the bags but that was a long painful job.

[Torbjorn]

1
I once put about 48 square pots, with seeds, in a growbox, flooded the box to have the pots saturate with water.
The problem was, the box was almost as high as the pots, and the substrate did not saturate, but floated.
All substrate, and all seed mixed up, and partly down the drain.
I sent off an identical order to Mesa Garden, with this explanation....and started over.
2
Repeting the same mistake of sunburning plants every spring! I WILL try better this year
3
Trusting that this or that grower cannot have mealies, and thus not quarantine the plants when I get them.

[Aiko]

1
I once put about 48 square pots, with seeds, in a growbox, flooded the box to have the pots saturate with water.
The problem was, the box was almost as high as the pots, and the substrate did not saturate, but floated.
All substrate, and all seed mixed up, and partly down the drain.

Oe, I did that too!
But I was walking with a try of freshly sown pots that were still standing in some water. I have now learned you need to keep the tray level or the water will flush away all seeds, and who knows where they will end up*...

* That only explains partly why I have an Echinocactus-like cactus between my Ariocarpus seedlings. I haven't sown (a) Echinocactus species that time...

[anders]

1. Leaving most of my plants in subzero temperatures for a long time last winter. My Lobivia and Sulcorebutia were not as cold-hardy as I thought. Most of them survived, though.

2. When I placed some pots with seedlings on a table, stepped up on the table to reach something, and finally took a step on a part of the table that was outside the rectangle formed by the legs. (result: me, table, pots, soil and seedlings at very different locations on the floor). Of course the seedlings were too small to be reliably identified.

3. a) When I badly hurt a beautiful Notocactus scopa by holding a spray can with insecticide too close to it. b) when I threw it (the plant) away without trying to get offsets from it first.

[Patricia-CR]

sorry, but some of the mistakes are just way too funny...

[Torbjorn]

sorry, but some of the mistakes are just way too funny...

And it feels good to know I am not the only one that makes stupid misstakes.
I try hard to do every misstake maximum one time....

[AllanA]

I can give you two,but they were so bad they are worth more than 3.
1) A few years ago I had a bad problem with algae in my seedling pots. I went to our local horticulture wholesalers and asked what I could use, ( most stuff that works has been banned ). They said that a company was trying to get them to stock a product called ' Green Remover ' which should do the job. I was given a litre to do a trial so that I could report back on the success or failure. I sprayed 4 x 2" pots with this stuff and left them 4 days. All the algae was dead and the seedlings looked great, so I sprayed the other 150 pots---Big mistake ---I should have waited two more days as the seedlings were also killed. I lost about 2000 seedlings!.
2) I lost as many two years later when I got a greenhouse and stopped growing indoors under lights. Conophytum seedlings do not like sunshine. Even with shading they did not like the change and went white then died.

[Hedge]

Along the lines of Lithos, I was too late for my Grandmother's funeral due to unexpected roadworks (turned up at the crem as the next service began) but with regard to growing plants it's been mainly

1) getting the watering wrong for non cacti - does anyone have a comprehensive list of which succulents should be watered when (I'm thinking particularly of mesembs and echeverias)

2) knocking precious plants over due to being clumsy, usually when they are in flower and losing the buds too....

3) buying plants that I can't keep because I don't have the right conditions but just wanting them anyway!

[Lindsey]

does anyone have a comprehensive list of which succulents should be watered when (I'm thinking particularly of mesembs and echeverias)

I like Frans Noltee's "Cultivation Guide for Succulents" ISBN 90 76774 03 x . I have the 1999 edition, I don't know if it has been updated. Not infallible but a useful reminder. And there is more specialised info on mesembs, maybe in the MSG Bulletin or other MSG resources? (?? I can't remember just now, I grow fewer mesemb genera these days and I've learnt from experience when to water )