flap jack Kalanchoe thyrsiflora help

Well living in zone 5 means bringing these great plants in.
My flap jack now has ants. Can I pour soapy water thru the soil to get rid of ants and not hurt the plant?
I really don't want to repot it, kind of big and hate to break it.

The ants are probably not as much of a problem compared to the other bugs they may be tending. Ants are often a warning sign. Take a close look at the plant to see if there are aphids or mealy bugs in there, before you take the plant inside where contagion is more of an issue.

When you try to get rid of the ants, be aware that they often lay down a scent trail and can get right back in there in a matter of hours afterwards. In cases like this I have used ant bait (eg. Amdro) in a platter underneath the pot. You can also put the plant on a plate filled with water (elevate the plant on a small object inside that plate so that it is not sitting directly in the water, rather surrounded by a moat).

I checked no ants on the plant but coming in and out of the drainage hole in the bottom.
Maybe I will try the moat idea. Thank you for the suggestions.

Could be root mealies. If you can pop the plant out of the pot and take a look, you can rule them out.

That is my issue I don't want to transplant it but maybe I will. I always transplant my big ole pot of succulants cause the pot is too heavy to move so everything comes out, move the pot, and then repot the pot, hummm in Baja bet you don't have that problem... ;) That is bringing everything in for the winter.

Fortunately not. I do move some plants under an overhang to get them out of the rain, but that's it.

We do have a pretty serious ant population here so I sympathize with your problem. This time of year they are particularly hungry. (And thirsty, here anyway, because we don't get any rain in the summer.)

Wow no rain all summer! That is hard to imagine.

All the more reason to have drought tolerant plants...

We haven't had a drop of rain since April... drought time in California... only even a single cloudy day so far.

Right about now the agaves are shriveling and wrinkling, a bunch of aloes have given up the ghost, Aeoniums are looking their absolute worst. On top of that the animals are getting desperate and eating things they normally avoid (like most of my spotted aloes, now chewed down to a nub). Our tap water (=well water) gets saltier and more alkaline with prolonged drought and I don't think it does them much good at this point.

Baja C, didn't yall get effects of the hurricane _
that I saw yesterday on radar ? Hope you are OK.

Baja B

The hurricanes don't travel this far north but we do get some crazy waves from the storm activity. And a little bit of frustrated precipitation, really only enough to get everything dirty. Thank you for the concern. The southern part of BC has a very different climate from ours because of those hurricanes.

Looks like it is running up the entire coast, but won't get you? Sounded like California will get a cool down and rain is what they are saying.

They said that about the last one and it was neither cool nor rain, but who knows...

Usually not the weather folks...rofl.

Hehe.

Any time there's a prediction for rain from June through August I routinely ignore it, and I can't remember regretting it. The summer drought is surprisingly predictable here (to the residents anyway).

By the end of September I start to take the rain forecasts more seriously because they're much more likely to be right. People are scurrying around fixing roofs and finishing home repairs right about now, for obvious reasons.

Just checking there Baja are you ok? The hurricane has unleased alot of rain up here in the states and even suppose to rain as far north as Missouri.

don't suppose you have a photo of your 'flapjack' plant, do you? Very unlikely it is Kalanchoe thyrsiflora.

I did not purchase this but was sent to me by a friend and was told that is what it was. If you do not believe this is true please let me know and why. Thank you in advance. If you need different pics let me know.

As expected the hurricane passed us by. It caused major damage south of here, compounded by looting in the aftermath. Natural disasters sometimes bring out the worst in people. :( From what I understand there was a major shortage of basic necessities like toilet paper and drinking water.

Your plants look really healthy. K. luciae is often mislabeled as K. thyrsiflora (much less common)... the main difference I see, without looking at the flower, is that K. luciae tends to be much redder. I'll leave the finer distinctions up to Palmbob and his more experienced eye.

This message was edited Sep 19, 2014 8:36 AM

glad to hear you are safe. Looting geehz, how horrible. We have seen a lot of that in disasters. Hope I am never in that much need.

Yeap mine is NOT red on the edges. The red is beautiful. Otherwise looks like it. Really not too surprised about the wrong name. That happens a lot when people send you plants. Hopefully not so much when you buy them, except I have a yellow apple tree with lots of RED apples...lol

If you find out the real name let me know would you please?
So foggy here you can't see. We are suppose to hit 80's and I have a ton to plant because the rain from the hurricane is suppose to be here tomorrow....

redness will only happen in full sunlight… grown indoors or in very little sun, they stay pale green… But you can see by the large, beefy stem, those are Kalanchoe luciaes alright.

Hasn't been in full sun at all. Thanks for the clarification and I will change the name.