So my mom gave me a ruby red grapefruit. Thing has come to life and is absolutely covered with new leaves and even some developing blossoms. When exactly should I plant it and what do I need to do?
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Aloe never bloomed. Pods didn't really do anything besides open at the end. Kind weird though is that it's already sending up another stalk. And the smaller plant next to it is also sending one up as well;
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For some reason one of the stalks became absolutely covered with aphids;
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About your aloe flowers.
They open only slightly at the very tips of the tubes. They send out little yellow fibers, starting from the tubes on the bottom and then gradually working their way up the stalk as the plant matures. Those fibers are actually modified petals I believe. That
is the flower.
The pollinator for that plant in the wild, without looking it up, is almost certainly a hovering bird. The reason you can tell is because of the color of the flower, the shape of it, and the position.
I am only an amateur botanist/biologist but my understanding is that animals generally do better at seeing in the red end of the spectrum whereas insects tend to do better at seeing in the blue end of the spectrum. So the fact that this flower is red is, although not solid proof, at least evidence that the intended target is an animal. A bird.
The long tube-like structure to the flower is also important. That is conformed to the shape of the bird's beaks. The nectar that all the pollinators are looking for is not front and center like it is in some flowers. No, this stuff is hidden deep. So deep, and in such a narrow tube, that insects struggle to reach it whereas birds with long sharp beaks (as all or almost all hovering birds have, for this reason) are able to easily penetrate the tube and get to the nectar. Penetrate the tube and get the nectar. Classic biology.
Also notable is the way that the flowers face downwards. That makes it easier for the hovering birds to access due to their anatomy and the way they fly. They start from the bottom of plants and work their way up whereas insects tend to be less discriminate.
And then the water-rich aloe plant itself can easily, by its nature, produce nectar in quantities suitable for larger birds rather than mere insects.
Big Phoenix
, congratulations on being the owner of a citrus tree! The following bullet points consist of information I read off of Growing A Grapefruit Tree: How To Care For Grapefruit Trees
Serpens do you have any night blooming Cereus cacti species in your region?