My Plant and I

Gifted a plant I decided to do some research on my plant, Tradescantia zebrina, also called Wandering Jew, which some find controversial and prefer to call it Wandering Dude. I was gifted two sprigs of the plant by a co-worker at the school where I work. She gave them to me wrapped in wet paper towels and told me to put them in water and watch their roots grow, at which time I could plant them in soil. I told her I do not do plants Right away it cost me $25 to find a pot and some potting soil. Now, the thing about this is that it all started when I gave her a bulb that had been given to me by the ladies I sing to once a month. I gave her the bulb because, I told her I don't do plants, so, then, she turns around and gives me these Wandering Jew sprigs, and now six months later I have this plant in a pot and have been through endless adventures with it. The honey and Dawn liquid trick The first lesson I learned about having this plant was the way to catch fruit flies. Actually, I only caught one, and I haven't had any since, but I just thought I'd share that. You can look it up, how to get rid of fruit flies with apple cider vinegar, honey and Dawn liquid, and it works. The salesperson at Ace Hardware told me about it. The problem, however, is it dries out. I may just abandon that whole idea for the time being. But as soon as I said that, a fruit fly appeared in my environment. Maybe if I mix it with apple cider vinegar that will help. I don't remember doing that before. Controversial Name First of all, let's clear up this business about the name Wandering Jew being controversial. I don't care about that. I think it's honorable to call a plant that. My mother, I am sure had this plant. She had all kinds of plants. She had a green thumb. And she talked about the "Wandering Jews" referring to the actual Jews. She was fascinated with their story. So, I don't have a problem with the name. Transplant Stress I think the name of the plant speaks of the "hardiness" of this plant. Everyone says that anyway. I have lost quite a few sprigs that failed to grow for one reason or another, but I do have a pot full of about six or seven sprigs. This is what I wanted because I had seen that in the pictures online. Some of the sprigs have grown quite tall again by now, like about 12 inches tall but they are still standing up. I have learned that there is such a thing as "transplant stress." The first time I replanted several sprigs and after I bottom watered for the first time, they all fell over as though dead. They later recovered. This time, the second time, they did not suffer transplant stress. I have no idea why. Bottom watering Bottom watering is putting the pot in a pan of water for about 30 minutes until the soil is moist but not soaked. It seems to work better than watering from the top. The plants don’t like their leaves wet either. The Pencil Trick I learned that the best way to get a sprig to grow is to stick a pencil into the soil and put the sprig in there and gently move the soil around it. It's amazing. I don't actually understand where you're supposed to cut the sprig--under the nub where a leaf grows... AI Overview: "Cut Tradescantia stems just below a node (the bump where a leaf grows) to propagate. Take cuttings that are about 4–6 inches long from healthy stems, removing the leaves from the bottom few inches before placing them in water or directly into soil." I don't really understand how you cut "just below the node" and remove the leaves below the cutting. If you have cut the sprig off "just below" the node, how are there any leaves below that to remove? Toxic to cats! The only thing I wanted to add tonight is the part about this plant being toxic to cats, and one source says to keep the plant out of reach of the cat because it can cause "mild to moderate gastrointestinal upset... (may) include drooling, vomiting, diarrhea, and lethargy." I am not sure how you can keep anything out of reach of a cat. Any suggestions? If I ever got a cat I would have to rehome my plant. Oh, and I named my plant Sylvia. Sylvia Plante. You know because of the silver on the leaves. They are beautiful, the purple and the silver. I have also read that they like being spoken to, and that's probably true. Why wouldn't that be true? Not sure how you know if a plant likes anything, but it can't hurt, right? I have written way too many words. I need to go read. Goodnight.