Okay, so I wanted to share something I tried recently, something I kinda picked up and call the “Don Bush” technique. It’s not fancy, just something that worked for me with a plant I almost gave up on.
You know how sometimes you have that one plant, just sits there looking sad? That was my ficus. Droopy leaves, looking all miserable. I tried watering more, watering less, moving it around… nothing really clicked. Felt pretty useless, honestly. Was close to just tossing it out.
Then I remembered something old Don Bush next door used to do. He wasn’t even a big gardener, just had this knack. He’d take struggling plants and sort of… reset them. That’s what I decided to call it, the Don Bush method. Sounds a bit daft, I know, but bear with me.
Here’s what I did, step-by-step:
- First off, I pulled the poor thing out of its pot. Roots looked okay, not rotted, just cramped.
- Next, I got a slightly bigger pot, made sure it had good drainage holes. This seems obvious, but sometimes we forget, right?
- Then the soil mix. This was Don’s main thing, I think. He always said “give ’em fresh air down below”. So I mixed my regular potting soil with a good amount of perlite and some orchid bark I had lying around. Made it real loose and airy.
- Repotting time. Gently put the ficus in the new pot, filled in with my “Don Bush special mix”. Didn’t pack it down too tight.
- Watering was key. Instead of a big soak, I just gave it a little drink, enough to moisten the new soil but not drown it. Don always muttered about “wet feet” being bad.
- Finally, placement. Put it back in bright, indirect light, but not somewhere it would get blasted by sun or drafts. Just let it be.
And then, the hard part: waiting. For about a week, nothing much happened. Still looked kinda sad. I almost thought, “Well, that was a waste of time.” I just watered it lightly when the top inch felt dry, like really lightly.
But then, maybe ten days later? I saw a tiny new leaf starting to unfurl. Like, properly green and not sad-looking. And then another one. It wasn’t dramatic, no overnight miracle. But slow and steady, it started looking… better. More upright. Less like it was about to give up the ghost.
So, the result? It worked! The ficus is still alive, pushing out new growth. It’s not gonna win any awards yet, but it’s definitely happier. It just needed that reset, that different approach I guess. Sometimes the simple, old ways are worth trying. It wasn’t complicated, just paying a bit more attention to the basics: roots, air, water. That’s my Don Bush story for today.
