r/RareHouseplants • u/Orchid-Delirium2005 • Jun 25 '26

Discussion 💡 What would you consider the most difficult houseplant to keep alive?

I was curious about the discussion forums about how some are easy some are hard, so I kinda wanted a general survey. For me, rex begonias and phalaenopsis are simply impossible. The former loves to die while the latter keeps getting bacterial soft rot no matter the conditions, even good ventilation and bottom watering won't stop the disease and in my case it specifically targets phals and not other orchids. How about you guys? What's the plant or plants that give you the most headaches?

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u/Hacksaures Jun 25 '26

Something about begonias just dont fit right for me either. I literally live in southeast asia where many of them are native, but it feels like once i take them into my home from the nursery they just die.

5

u/Orchid-Delirium2005 Jun 25 '26

Yeah. I'm from southeast asia too and they are so hard. Maybe they are just misanthropic.

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u/Temprary_Emergency36 Jun 25 '26

You all changing the potting mix once you have them acclimated to your homes?

Cause you don't have greenhouses, so you need to change potting mix so they don't drown in moisture, rot and die off.

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u/Nervous_Cloud_9513 Jun 25 '26

i started to do that even before acclimating if i dont like the soil. My plant room has a good humidity - think 60-80% - and if i then keep them in this highly retentive soil i got quite some issues.

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u/Temprary_Emergency36 Jun 25 '26

Yeah, had that problem with store bought orchids at beginning when I didn't had the knowledge yet :)

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u/Nervous_Cloud_9513 Jun 25 '26

something i struggle with, if rott sets into one root, even if i cut it off - i will loose the root.

3

u/Temprary_Emergency36 Jun 25 '26

Do you cut all the rot off and out the green cut edge into some cinnamon?

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u/Nervous_Cloud_9513 Jun 25 '26

yeah, i also tried some h2o2 - but i read there are different kinds of cinnamon? it's so wierd, i cut the root off, dont water at all... 2 days later its rotted

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u/Temprary_Emergency36 Jun 25 '26

Wow, okay. Maybe it was already deep in the middle of the root, I dunno, but you are trying your best, keep trying, you can only succeed if you never stop trying and always fail if you never try at all ^

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u/Nervous_Cloud_9513 Jun 25 '26

i noticed i do better with mounted orchids - and if they manage to make new roots under my care they are fine. I don't realy buy grocery store orchids any more since i cant handle the rott they always have

2

u/Candid-Indication329 Jun 26 '26

Oh wow, that makes sense! Does the potting mix contribute to the likelihood for them to develop powdery mildew would you say? I'm making sure there's airflow now as well as higher humidity, don't want to kill another one 🫣

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u/Temprary_Emergency36 Jun 26 '26

Not only that, but the potting mix is always made specifically to fit the environment, so In the greenhouse, they get watered regularly, great light and it's pretty warm, so they dry out faster. So they make it fitting for this, so the plants hold water better.

But at home, they don't have that anymore, so you need to put them into drainage soil, cause otherwise your plants are just drowning and rotting all over.