Zombies of the plant world ๐ง
๐ ๐๐ฎ๐ฉ๐ฉ๐จ๐ซ๐ญ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐๐ก๐๐ง๐ง๐๐ฅ: https://www.patreon.com/nickalexxander ๐จ๐ซ https://www.buymeacoffee.com/nickalexander – ๐จ๐ง๐ ๐ญ๐ข๐ฆ๐ ๐๐จ๐ง๐ญ๐ซ๐ข๐๐ฎ๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง ๐
โโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโ
๐บ ๐ ๐ ๐๐บ๐ฎ๐๐ผ๐ป ๐ณ๐ฎ๐๐ผ๐ฟ๐ถ๐๐ฒ๐ (ใฃโโกโ)ใฃ ๐๐ผ๐ถ๐น, ๐๐ธ๐ถ๐ป๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฒ, ๐ฝ๐น๐ฎ๐ป๐๐, ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ฝ ‘๐ด๐ฟ๐ผ๐-๐น๐ถ๐ด๐ต๐๐’ & ๐ผ๐๐ต๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐๐๐ฟ๐ฝ๐ฟ๐ถ๐๐ฒ๐: https://www.amazon.com/shop/nickalexander – ๐ฎ๐ณ๐ณ๐ถ๐น๐ถ๐ฎ๐๐ฒ ๐ฟ
0:00 Intro
0:24 Why These Are Impossible to Grow
2:06 Are They Actually Alive?
2:55 Care Misinformation
3:27 Potential Care Information Chapter
3:37 Soil & Watering
5:18 Humidity
5:36 Fertilizer
5:46 Light
5:51: My Conclusions
6:57 The Source of Misinformation
7:19 Outro
Information Sources:
https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2607/12/12/2654 – Endosymbyosis
Resurrection Plant Care Resources
https://tinyurl.com/ydyp3nrx
https://tinyurl.com/26zvfwkw
https://tinyurl.com/ydyp3nrx
https://tinyurl.com/2x2ezsb3
https://tinyurl.com/4pnznny7
https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Colonization-patterns-of-endosymbiotic-and-endophytic-bacteria-in-interaction-with-the_fig1_351998594 – Endosymbiosis
Photo Credits
https://melnikovlab.com/2024/11/09/sweet-dreams-about-the-resurrection-plant/ – Dried Resurrection Plant
https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/168764-Selaginella-lepidophylla/browse_photos
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/3450552
https://guatemala.inaturalist.org/observations/258216067
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/14020658
https://guatemala.inaturalist.org/observations/41344902
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/294967742
– Resurrection Plant In Habitat
https://spiritual-goodies.com/products/rose-of-jericho-with-tigers-eye – Resurrection Plants With Stones
https://tinyurl.com/yw3mv833 – Chihuahua Desert
https://vvturf.com/product/silica-60/ – Silica Sand
https://tinyurl.com/y3xun8r4 – Pebbles
https://www.plantipeeps.com.au/products/coco-chunks – coco husk chips
https://tinyurl.com/ycyjwc23 – charcoal
https://tinyurl.com/2kv752md – Potting mix
https://tinyurl.com/hedc56e6 – Humus
https://www.liveeatlearn.com/web-stories/10-ways-to-eat-hummus/ – Hummus
https://draguns.com/product/limestone-sand/ – Limestone Sand
https://www.oneearth.org/composting-the-simple-climate-solution-you-can-do-at-home/ – Compost
https://tinyurl.com/mrt27uby – peat moss
https://desertpackrat.blogspot.com/2015/01/foggy-desert.html – Desert Fog
https://www.dendroboard.com/threads/selaginella-kraussiana-and-your-growing-tips.239890/ – Selaginella in Terrarium
Music by STUDIO BEYOND – Love Me in All Caps – https://thmatc.co/?l=91E15566
Music by Calming Lines – Your Smile – https://thmatc.co/?l=2EDA38D1
Music by cold winter breeze – beneath the cherry blossoms – https://thmatc.co/?l=6FE71DEE
Have you ever found yourselves upon this desiccated ball of mystery? If you didn’t know what this was, it is the humble Salaginella lipidophila, also known as the resurrection plant or false rose of Jericho. And today is going to be essentially a reverse advertisement for this plant. But before I tell you why you should avoid these at many costs, especially if you have mold allergies, we are first going to discuss the habitat from which they derive in order to explain why it makes them nearly impossible to grow. These come from the Chihuahua desert of Arizona, Texas, New Mexico, and Mexico, Mexico. Usually growing in rock crevices shielded from the sun in organic dratus and limestone sand. Apparently, much of the moisture they acquire is from due mist and fog that collects on the leaves during the night and early hours in the morning, meaning they absorb water similar to that of an air plant. As a key part of its survival in extreme environments, the resurrection plant takes part in what’s called endo symbiosis with bacteria, which in simplified terms is a mutualistic relationship between soil bacteria and plants, where soil bacteria help promote growth, increase nutrient uptake, increase drought tolerance, and protect the plant from harmful bacteria and fungus. As you can see, these plants depend on complex relationships with microbiota in very particular conditions in order to thrive, which is why they are difficult for us to grow and not even grown by the people that sell them to you at all. They are actually harvested from the wild, more or less ripped from the ground, dried, and then sold, meaning the roots arrive already damaged, making it easier for harmful bacteria and mold to get into the plant. They are however not endangered in their native habitat and are actually quite numerous which is why I have some educational examples to show you today. As you can see all of the roots on this are sliced off. This one doesn’t really even have any roots at all. There are however some roots on this one. Probably the most out of the five I received. These are often sold under the sensationalist claim they can live 50 years without water. However, this has not been proven. Wild resurrection plants only go dormant a few months at a time. Anything longer than a year risk killing the plant, meaning these can’t sit on a shelf or in a warehouse indefinitely. Since these are sold in their dormant state, who really knows how long they’ve been sitting around in a store or a warehouse before you buy them? You might assume that the unfurling of their leaves means they’re alive. However, even dead plants will unfurl in the presence of water as the physical mechanism within the plant that allows this to happen does not require the plant to be alive. Essentially, if the center of the plant is already brown when unfurled, it’s dead off the bat. And if it’s green, like this one, you’re probably going to kill it anyways. But let’s say you’re really committed to growing one of these against all odds. I will start by telling you the rampant disinformation of putting this in a bowl of water with pebbles is absolutely not what you should do. As I’ve already described, this is a desert plant. Now, why would you put a desert plant in a bowl of water? Do you grow cacti in fish tanks? I don’t know. Maybe you like a good fish kebab. Regardless, this advice will invariably lead to fungal growth and cause the plant to rot and die. Any care guidance that diverges from the previous recommendation I have scrged up from the internet concerning the resurrection plant has been varied and oftentimes downright conflicting. For soil, one source suggested putting pebbles at the bottom of the pot and putting silica sand on top of that. One said cocoa husk chips and 10% activated charcoal. One source said regular potting mix. One source said one part silica sand and one part humus. Although they misspelled humus and wrote hummus. But at this point, who knows? Maybe that’s the secret. Another source said it should be in one part limestone sand and one part compost to replicate the soil and soil pH of its natural environment and that Pete moss or conventional potting mix would be too acidic and kill the plant. In a fortuitous event, all sources concur that they should only be planted in a few inches of soil as the roots are very shallow and too much soil will lead to excess moisture retention in raw. In terms of watering, most suggest misting the plant as its primary source of moisture with distilled or reverse osmosis water and to keep the potting media on the dry side but not completely dry. Most say that it should not be watered in the winter and be left to go dormant. However, one source said it should go dormant in the summer and only to water in the winter. I would think it would be dormant in the winter because what little rain there is in the Chihuahua Desert falls in the summer. However, it said they mainly absorb water through fog and mist. So, when does the fog and mist occur in the Chihuahuan desert? Maybe I’ll ask some Chihuahua. To be honest, if they could speak, they’d probably know more than most people online. Another person said to not even let them go dormant because it’s not necessary and actually stressful for the plant. As far as humidity, most say low humidity. One did say high humidity as in a terrarium. However, I can assume it’s very humid in the desert. I think they’re referring to another species as Salaginella in the horicultural trade that needs to be kept constantly moist and is often planted in terrariums. Nobody said anything about fertilizer, so I guess that’s up in the air. But to be quite honest, I don’t think anyone got that far. Everyone agreed it should be in bright light but not direct sun as it would dry out the plant. From this mlange of conflicting data, I’m going to extrapolate that the safest idea would be to grow it in some type of well- draining media with a neutral pH. Mist it with reverse osmosis or distilled water in the summer, just enough so it doesn’t curl up and stop watering to let it go dormant in the winter. If your house stays above 70ยฐ F year round, maybe don’t let it go dormant. I think the key to keeping the plant alive is to make sure it’s not cold and wet because it seems like molden raw is the primary killer of resurrection plants. As for fertilizer, I would suggest avoiding it entirely or if you want to mist it with a quarter strength folure fertilizer once a year, probably in the spring. I don’t know, maybe potentially. I’ll try and keep this one alive. We’ll revisit this and we’ll see. Ferns, which this is loosely related to, do not need a lot of fertilizer because they don’t flower unlike a lot of the plants that we grow. even if you haven’t flowered them. Foliage plants like filidendrrons do indeed flower and you can definitely burn fern type plants if you overfertilize them. Ultimately, I think the source of inconsistent information is confusion as there are lots of plants colloquially called resurrection plant. People often conflate it with the resurrection fern pleopeltus polyoides and other species of salaginella which this is. If you’ve made it to this juncture in my salaginatory audiovisisual simulation quadrilateral, thank you for watching this roller coaster of a video and taking this journey with me. I feel like we’re really close now. Do you want to do a blood oath? Okay, put your finger up. Okay, there we go. We’re blood sisters now. Like the video if you’re emotionally allergic to these now. Comment your drug of choice and subscribe if you want to do more blood oats. Today we’re going to put some fake eyelashes on this Venus fly trap because nobody said we couldn’t. Have you ever just thought maybe your beef leaf just wants to feel pretty? We’ve got some meal worms. So, it’s time to give our traps some Tannibrio treats.
24 Comments
Watch me apply false eyelashes to my Venus Fly Trapย
https://youtu.be/7sc2aBB-FqM
I live in southern AZ, I wonder if I could get one in a nursery for my yard to go with my joshua trees
I've got a really well established limestone Mexican ping rock and, wanting a sympatric species on it, I considered adding one of these, but I've known these issues and decided against it. Still tempted sometimes. I love a challenging grow.
And since you asked, MDMA ๐
Damn… i was sold a lie ๐ข welp, i'll see if i can keep them (yes plural, recent purchase) alive.
Good to know. I bought one many years ago while visiting Arizona. It never was green, and probably dead. This was before the internet, which as you showed, is not a helpful source of info about this plant anyway. Once in a while, I've thought about buying another one, but now I know better.
I actually had no interest in these but hearing theyre finicky, annoying and a lot of work for not much results is making them feel like a kindred spirit and also activating my masochistic tendencies. Theyre going on the buy list
Some misinformation I came across is that they dried up so much sometimes their roots died and they blew in the wind like tumbleweed. Then if they got in a patch of water they put dow roots and grew again and that was a means of dispersal and they also scattered their spores like this as tumbleweed does with its seeds . It even suggested as the water continued to rise they could grow under water. I have seen them attached to stones with silicon rubber and even put in aquariums to reassurect, even if they are still green and alive they soon won't be.
they're from america??? D:
omg, i just found you and your cadance and mannerisms are everything for me. Great video, blood pact sealed!
how high are you in this video you look like a human melatonin gummy
Garbage video quite frankly. You don't even know the joy of growing a "difficult" plant
Unfortunately the only thing stopping me now is that theyโre harvested from the wild. My drug of choice happens to be โstupid complicated drama queen plantsโ and the weird things I grow in my fish tanks arenโt cutting it anymore. Iโm absolutely positive I could get one of these to survive beyond a year without rotting but I also donโt want to acquire a kidnapped plant. Maybe Iโll figure something out later.
Thank you for doing this, honestly, I wondered whyyyy mine is brown after rehydrating it & now I know why! They're doomed from the get go!
Who are you? This is an awesome video.
I have tried six different times to grow these the longest Iโve been able to keep one alive was about a year and a half. I went away on vacation for two weeks. I gave it a little extra water before I left and I came home and it was dead. The middle had molded and turned brown.
3:51 Hummus!๐
Well this plant has scared me in odd ways hence I will not buy this Gremlin plant…
I have one growing slowly in my kitchen window. Iโve had it about 3 months now. Iโm still working to get it set up how I want it, but this was insightful. ๐
Use hummus for potting the Resurrection Plant โ๏ธ
Got it got it
these are for traditional magic so no
Do you have a video on plumeria? I suck at plants. Mostly I just buy seeds for native plants and throw them in a tilled area in my yard and leave them beโฆI recently have started trying fancy plants and have 2 plumeria bushes that are 3 inches tall with like 5 leaves and Iโd love to keep them alive as I love the flowers. Iโve already brought them in for winter but I need more and better advice then google..please
Came for the plants, stayed for the blood oaths ๐ฉธโฅ๏ธ
7:21 I come back for your vocabulary every time I see you on my recommended and you never disappoint. thank you for doing all this research and putting it together with such dry wit. I really enjoy your videos <3
I wonder if a warm desert terrarium with good air flow and a reptile fogger on a timer would make a plant like this happy. without being able to reproduce the bacterium the plant needs for the beneficial cooperative relationship, I imagine an undetermined amount of direct sunlight could help protect it from infection. do you know if the bacteria is mainly in the substrate, or if it also covers the plant above ground, protecting the whole body, or mainly the roots and crown?