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The Russian House Tomato is my best friend! This is a very unique and old heirloom tomato originating in Russia (duh) and brought to Canada in the 1890’s. It only grows around 12 to 15 inches tall. It was given the name “house tomato” to mimic the term “houseplant” because it grows very happily (and preferably) in pots indoors, just like a houseplant. It is indeterminate, meaning it will grow and produce tomatoes non-stop year-round. Here are five seedlings I germinated about three weeks ago, and they are doing fantastic. |
| Given that they are small plants by nature, I felt that I’d keep the five seedlings together instead of thinning them out. Later, when I transplant them to a larger pot they will form a nice, thick, bushy plant. Again, they are a very small plant, so it is preferable they are grown in pots because if grown outdoors in the ground they would prove difficult to harvest being so low to the ground. The fruit they produce are smaller cherry-type in size, maybe a bit larger, and very deliciously sweet/tangy. |  |
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As an heirloom, and still reasonably rare (I only saw a single listing for them on eBay at the time I’m writing this), I plan to save a lot of seed to sell. Like all tomato plants, they are extremely easy to propagate from cuttings. Even though you can grow them from seeds, if you already have plants, cuttings will mature and produce fruit a lot faster than plants grown from seeds. I’ve seen reports of people growing them in the same pot for many years, and I’ve personally grown them for seven years in the same pot, clipping off old stems so new ones can fill in and fruit. |
| Spider Plants (Chlorophytum comosum) and Golden Pothos (Epipremnum aureum) are two plants that will practically thrive if grown in just plain water, as you can see here. I have both solid green and variegated Spiders and marbled Pothos here that have been growing in mason jars of distilled water for more than three months. As you can see, one of the variegated Spiders has even produced a stolon with a baby at the end and has been producing flowers on the same stem for more than a week. |  |
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Normally I add a few drops of plant food to the water every few weeks, but I’ve been hesitant because I also have Nepenthes alata tropical pitcher plant cuttings in all three Mason jars as well. Nepenthes cannot tolerate plant food or tap water (which is why I said earlier that all three Mason jars contain distilled water). As you can see here, one of my Nepenthes cuttings has started to grow a pitcher. Even without any plant food though, the Spiders and Pothos all look to be doing very well anyway. |
| My Pregnant Onion (Ornithogalum caudatum) has been through a lot! I purchased it a few months ago from a lady on eBay. It arrived with a whopping 32 baby bulblets (which I’ve since planted and will discuss at a later date). I was, however, deeply disturbed when I opened the box to find that the entire top had been lopped off. While I get that she was trying to save on shipping costs and put it in a smaller box, it took about six weeks for it to finally recover. You can still see the distinct place where she had chopped the top off. However, now that it is growing new leaves and the roots have gotten settled into the new soil (it was also shipped bare-root), it appears to be recovering very nicely. Though they are called “onions” they are not at all edible. But as ornamentals they are great, growing clusters of bulblets on their sides (“pregnant”) and the leaves grow very long and drape down in long, loose curls. |  |
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Over the past three months I’ve purchased four fresh pineapples, all with the intention of growing a top. However, my groceries are delivered to me, so I was unable to choose the pineapples myself. While the fruits were all beautiful, unfortunately the first three had damaged or outright rotten tops. But the forth one turned out to be in really good shape. After removing all the flesh and about a half inch of lower leaves from the crown, and sticking it in a Mason jar filled with distilled water, it rapidly produced roots over the past three weeks without any hesitancy. I will likely leave it in the Mason jar for a few more months rather than planting it outright. Once it has a very large root system I’ll plant it in a pot and see if I can handle growing it on my balcony over summer and in my apartment over winter. Here in Oklahoma it can’t overwinter outside. |
| Now that it has some robust root formation, the crown is making considerable progress, with many new healthy leaves emerging from the center. Well aware of the fact Pineapples (Ananas comosus) produce rather large plants, with dangerously long, pointed and serrated leaves, I am going to have to be selective in where I choose to keep it inside over winter. But that’s many months from now, so not a particularly urgent concern of mine for the time being. I’d planned to start some from seeds just for fun (and maybe sell young plantlets), but three of the four pineapples I purchased had no seeds. The first one did have lots of little black seeds, but at the time I never thought to save them. |  |
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At 5:30 this morning my Porcupine Tomato (Solanum pyracanthum) greeted me with its very first flower! This plant, related to the tomato, which is why it has tomato in its name (double duh), is absolutely covered with long, hypodermic-like needles containing almost microscopic clusters of hairs on their tips. When poked by them, the hairs embed themselves in the skin and cause insane itching – not a fun way to spend the weekend (personal experience). |
| I plan to harvest seeds from the fruit to sell, as this is a very unusual plant that is surprisingly in high demand. Just like the edible tomato, vibrations are an excellent way of assisting the pollination of flowers. Even though they readily self-fertilize, this technique insures the maximum number of seeds per fruit: take an electric toothbrush or “personal massager” and gently press it to the main stem below a cluster of flowers for a few seconds a couple times a day. I bought this compact rechargeable one specifically for the purpose. Compact and waterproof, and with a battery life of about 2 hours of use on a charge, I keep it next to the pot. |  |
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I like to refer to the thorns as looking something like Candy Corn in color and, honestly, they are quite pretty – even if they’re painfully dangerous. It’s important to note that, even though they have “tomato” in their name, the fruit is poisonous and must be kept away from children and pets. That shouldn’t be too difficult, as the fruit are also often surrounded by thorns – not on the fruit themselves, but the branches and the fruit stem itself. Water regularly, so long as the soil is well-draining and dries readily. |
| The plants can often grow around three feet tall and six feet wide, if not larger, and can prove to be a real challenge when trying to prune them. This is why I tend to like to keep up with their pruning as they grow, by clipping off the growth tips when the plants get to about the size I’m comfortable with. That way they stop expanding and instead grow more branches from their main stems to fill out and thicken into a solid bush shape. They will continue to bloom and fruit and produce very colorful thorns so long as you provide them with lots of very bright light. |  |