Indoor Plants: Exam 1

Plant Classification Largest to Smallest :: Division, Class, Order, Family, Genus, Species, Variety, Cultivar

What is the highest level of classification commonly used for reference :: Family

What are the Rules when writing the scientific name :: The first letter of the genus name is always capitalized, the species name is written in lower case, both name should be italicized, or underlined but not both

What are the Rules for variety name :: should be italicized or underlined

What are the Rules for cultivar name :: the first letter of each word in the name should be capitalized and in single quotes

What are two thing to remember about common names :: common names may differ from country and regions, common names can be deceptive

What are other names for the Swiss Cheese plant :: split-leaf philodendron, hurricane plant, Mexican breadfruit plant

What are the benefits of Indoor Plants :: Beauty/Aesthetics, bring the outdoors in, healthier and cleaner air, increase humidity in the home, hobby

What are the health benefits of indoor plants :: plants release oxygen, plants increase humidity, plants reduce airborne contaminates like dust and pollen

Facts about increase humidity levels :: could be a benefit or negative, plants release 97% of the moisture they absorb, they release through the process of transpiration and evaporation

What is one fact about containers and media :: all containers will restrict plant growth to some extent

Plastic with drainage containers :: inexpensive, light weight, and non-permeable, only allow water to escape through bottom drainage holes

Unglazed Clay with Drainage Containers :: porous, requires more water because of evaporation from all surfaces, difficult to clean

Glazed Clay and Ceramic with Drainage :: enhances aesthetic, drainage through holes or surface evaporation

What is the Pot in pot method :: filling a portion of the container bottom with gravel or clay creates an area for excess water used for glazed and ceramic containers

Why is it important to clean containers for re-use :: remove fertilizer residues, to kill plant disease microorganism

Facts about media :: rarely used as substrate for indoor plant, soil-less media ( no mineral soil)

Characteristics of a good medium :: porous and well-drained yet retain water, should consist of 50% solid particles and 50% pore space, low in soluble salts, uniform, sterile free of diseases, pests, weed seeds, and harmful chemicals, slow to decompose

Water/Nutrient Retention and Loss :: coarse textured materials such as sand or perlite, enhances the drainage capability of media, smaller particles and organic matter such as peat moss enhances water and nutrient retention

What are six media components :: garden loam, bagged potting soil, peat moss, sand, perlite, vermiculite, sphagnum peat moss, composted pine bark

Characteristics of Peat moss :: organic matter composed of decomposed marsh or bog plants, increases water and nutrient holding capacity, makes up the bulk of most mixes

Characteristics of Sand :: improves drainage properties of media

Characteristics of Perlite :: used to enhance drainage and reduce weight

Characteristics vermiculite :: excellent for increasing water holding capacity of media

Characteristics of sphagnum peat moss :: greater water holding capacity than standard peat moss, anti-fungal properties, for seedling media

Characteristics of Composted Pine Bark :: increases water holding capacity and improves drainage

What is the most frequent maintenance practice involved in indoor plant care :: watering

What is the most common cause of indoor plant death :: improper watering

Importance of water :: growth for plant organs, lowers heat stress of plants through transpiration

What are two types of improper watering :: overwatering and underwatering

What factors affect water frequency :: plant type, container material and size, light exposure, room temperature and relative humidity, canopy size or leaf surface, media type, pot bound/root bound plants

How do you know if a plant needs water :: leaf turgidity, relative weight, soil/media color, touch

What are tips to remember for watering :: do not establish a schedule or routine, always underwater than overwater

What are symptoms of overwatered and underwatered plants :: yellow leaves, wilting, erratic leaf drop, stunted growth, plant death

What are symptoms specific to overwatering :: root rot

Common watering method :: use room temperature water (65-75) during the day for evaporation, top watering avoid leaf contact and letting plant stand in saucer of water, bottom watering

Water quality issues :: water quality change with location, chlorination if concerned allow uncapped water to stand overnight, fluorine left tip burn and margin necrosis use water from different source

Relative humidity :: humidity is usually 35-65% indoors, most plant tolerate 30%, plants prefer 60%, brown lead margins are main symptom of low humidity

How to increase humidity :: plant misting least acceptable method, place plants in rooms with higher humidity like the kitchen or bathroom, grouping plant together, use of pebble or gravel tray to maintain water level below container, using room humidifier, closed structures such as terrariums

Important fact about light :: many indoor plants ca adapt to less than ideal light levels

What are the aspects of light :: quality, duration, intensity

What is Light quality :: the wavelength or colors within light

Which wavelengths are absorbed by leaves and critical to photosynthesis :: red and blue wavelengths

What is Fluorescent light :: cool white light, have adequate amounts of red and blue wavelengths

Incandescent light :: mostly red wavelength very little blue, not useful for growing plants indoors

Halogen Light :: produce heat that can burn or scorch plants

LED (Light emitting Diode) Lights :: highly energy efficient, can be custom designed for plants or stages of growth, all wavelengths available, long lasting

What is Light duration :: number of hours per day or per 24-hour cycle plant receives light

What is an indoor pant growth cycle :: grows rapidly as day length increases and more slowly as day length decreases

Light Duration Problems :: insufficient exposure leads to decreased food production via photosynthesis

What are the results of insufficient light duration problems :: slow and or stunted growth, paler color of leaves and flowers

What is Light intensity :: refers to brightness, or level of light

Which plant require high light intensity :: plants with colored or variegated leaves and flowering plants

North facing window exposure :: limited or low light, receive least light intensity for longest period

What are the symptoms of inadequate intensity :: excessive stem elongation, leaves may yellow and drop, failure to form flower buds, fading of leaf variegation

South facing window exposure :: direct light, receive greatest intensity for longest period

What are the symptoms of excessive intensity :: leaf scorch leaves may looked bleached leaves may curl

Which facing windows receive intermediate light levels :: east and west

Different between east facing windows and west facing windows :: west windows have higher average than east windows

What is phototropism :: response in which stem, leaves, and or flowers grow or bend toward light

What to remember when selecting plant for light intensity :: select plants for the given light intensity or change the intensity to suit the plant

What is the optimal temperature for indoor plant during the day :: 65 - 75 degrees

What is the optimal temperature for in door plant at night :: 5 - 10 degrees cooler than during the day

What processes do temperature affect :: photosynthesis, transpiration, respiration, dormancy

Concerns about temperature :: areas with abnormally warm or cool current, heating or air conditioning vents, near frequent opened exterior doors

What temperature can injure tropical plants :: below 40 -45 degrees, sensitive to below 55 degrees

Things to remember when choosing plants :: the more you make a plant tolerate the more stress it experiences, right plant for the right place know the conditions you have and choose plants suited to those conditions

What are six important aspects for plant maintenance :: pinch, pruning, cleaning, deadheading, repotting, scout for pests & diseases

Pinch :: pinch terminal growth back to a node to encourage branching

Pruning :: removing portions of a plant affected by pests, always prune back to a node

Cleaning :: remove old or dying foliage, plants naturally shed older leaves

Deadheading :: removal of spent flowers, reduces fungal diseases from dead tissue

Repotting :: only repot when necessary, indoor plants will reproduce new stems, leaves and roots will expand, some plants like being root-bound or pot bound,

Scout for pests & Diseases :: look over plants on a regular basis looking for anything abnormal

When are plants most susceptible to pests :: when they are stressed

What are most plant disorders :: they are abiotic, mostly cultural problems, not pest or disease

What are the big three pests and diseases :: insects, spider mites, fungi

What are two types of insects that damage insect plants :: chewing types, piercing and sucking types

What damage does chewing type insects cause :: holes in leaves and torn leaf surfaces

How do you remove damage from chewing insects :: physical removal

Examples of chewing insects :: beetles, caterpillars, earwigs, fungus gnats

What is one main type of chewing insects :: fungus gnats

Facts about Fungus Gnats :: can be controlled by allowing growing medium to dry out between watering, do not cause much damage, presence s an indication of overwatering

Examples of piercing and sucking insects :: aphids, whiteflies, scales, mealybugs, and leaf miners

Facts about piercing and sucking insects :: can cause serious plant damage and transmit plant diseases, difficult to spot until infestation is severe, rapid reproduction rate and ability to develop resistance to chemical controls, can secrete sooty mold fungus

Spider mites :: cause similar type of injury as piercing and sucking insects

Plant Pathogens :: organisms the cause infectious diseases on plants

How do fungal diseases get worse :: poor air circulation, overwatering, insufficient drainage, high humidity, low light levels

Examples of fungi :: damping-off, fungal leaf spot, powdery mildew, root rot, crown rot

What are symptoms of viruses :: mosaic patterns, blotchy spots on leaves, contorted growth

What are pests preferences :: some are indiscriminate in attacking plant and other are host specific

How to manage and control pests and diseases :: cultural practices are the easiest to implement with prevention as the key, clean and healthy plants are best able to endure or overcome pest infestation

What are mechanical, safe, cost effective and environmentally friendly ways to control pests :: remove larger insects by hand and smaller ones with high pressure water spray, use dilute soapy water to wash and rise thoroughly, scrape off pests with fingernail or toothpick, dab pest with alcohol soaked cotton, removed infected plant parts with scissors or shears dipped in bleach

What is the last resort for management and control :: chemical

What are five types of pesticides :: insecticides, miticides, fungicides, bactericides, viricides

What are two types of insecticides :: natural and synthetic

What are insecticides for :: to control insect pests

What are miticides for :: to control spider mites

What are two type of fungicides are what are they used for :: natural and synthetic, to control certain fungal diseases

What are Bactericides for :: to control bacterial diseases does not include exclusion or eradication of infected plants

What are viricides for :: to control viruses does not include exclusion or eradication of infected plants

What causes phytotoxic :: improper applied chemicals

What are signs of phytotoxic :: browning of leaf margins, yellowing leaves, brown/black leaf spotting, erratic leaf drop. distorted or abnormal growth, plant death

What are some pesticide formulations :: wettable powders, soluble powders, liquid, emulsifiable concentrates, pre-diluted sprays

What are pre-diluted sprays :: ready to use, best for indoor plants, no measuring or mixing

Steps to treatment of pests :: quarantine plants, identify pest or disease

What is often mistaken as damage from pest or disease :: cultural or environmental issues