Some good growing tips I learned. Hoping you can add some more
.
1) When you get a plant in mail, don't put it in direct sun right away. Give it a day or more to adjust from total dark to light.
2) A good seed starter tray is a plastic blanket bag w/ a zipper. They are usually clear for light to pass, & the zippered closure gives easy access & holds humidity. Use wooden skewers to prop top if necessary. (New sheet sets come in this too) If heat's needed, I use a old heating pad under, or set in a sunny window.
3) To keep bugs out of potted plants outside, put pieces of pantyhose or fine window screen inside at drainage holes before filling w/ mix.
4) For slug bait, put shallow pans of beer by plants. They crawl in & drown.
5) Crushed eggshells & old coffee grounds are excellent for garden soil addition.
6) Gnats or bugs in potting soil...cover soil with newspaper (black & white print) & water over paper when needed.
7) Miracle Grow potting mix (feeds for 3 months) mixed with perlite is the best for my plants - ESP potted nanas over this past winter!! Amazing growth!
8) To keep suns intense heat off black pots, spraypaint 1 side white & face towards sun. To heat pot, turn black side towards sun.
9) Indoor/greenhouse plants...if soil temp is 55*f or below, provide shade cloth against direct sun. Cover with sheet if necessary.
Warmth + sun = growth... cold & shade = dormant or semi dormant.
Warmth & shade = BAD... cold & direct sun = BAD or WLD (winter leaf drop)
10) For aphids & mites indoors... 1 tsp Dawn dish soap (because is said to be more concentrated & sticks better) to about 6-8 oz HOT tap water. Spray on to saturate & repeat if necessary next day. Outdoors... usually a good blast with a hose will do it. Stubborn insects...swab w/ rubbing alcohol.
11) Salt build up or when nothing else seems to work on a sick plant... flush pot with clear water 3 times the volume of pot.
12) To warm soil quicker for planting...cover with black plastic (don't all of us northerners know this?).
13) Never walk barefoot in garden if you're allergic to bees...unless you have a epi pen & ambulance nearby.
These are all tried & true. If they don't work, have a banana daiquiri on me!