Homeowner Baffled When Their Outdoor Potted Plant Starts to Burn — Fellow Gardeners Have an Answer
Imagine the plight of a homeowner when they wake up in the morning to find their plants spewing smoke out of nowhere. One Reddit user (u/SimpleWays421) asked for help on the internet when her outdoor plant, placed on the front porch, was on fire. She showcased the flames and smoke emanating from the soil and roots of the plant, clueless about what may have caused it. The homeowner’s distress was evident as she explained the chain of events that led her to the eerie discovery. Fellow gardeners and plant lovers with similar experiences discussed the possible reasons and shared advice on how to prevent such scenarios.
A burning plant on the porch
“Why is my plant on fire?” the viral Reddit post, with 26,000 views, was captioned. The original poster revealed that she was getting ready to head for work when she noticed her potted outdoor plant on fire. In the clip, the homeowner lifted the fuming plant out of the pot for a closer look and showed how the plant was burning on its own. “7 a.m., burning plant on its own…how I don’t freaking know, spontaneous organic combustion somehow or the sign of the devil that we’re on the wrong path and we need to move from the house,” the poster said.
The unpredictable situation urged the homeowner from Ontario, Canada, to contemplate whether negative energy was at work. To add context, she mentioned that the night before was cold and rainy, hence, heat or the sun could not have been a probable culprit in the event. The post received about 3,000 comments from people, who reassured the homeowner that it was not a supernatural event but had some logic involved. A top comment by u/bikeonychus speculated, “Is it possible that someone threw a cigarette butt in there?” This sparked a deluge of support from fellow gardeners and homeowners.
Fellow plant lovers debate
u/NoDontDoThatCanada admitted, “I did this exact thing one time…put out a cigarette in a pot with a dried up old tomato plant. I came back later to find the pot melted and the roots completely burned. I’m lucky I didn’t set my building on fire.” The comment added that peat in a potting soil is likely to catch fire from even the faintest light of fire, many times resulting in wildfires. However, the poster confirmed they do not smoke.
“I put out a fire in my enormous calla lily pot last week from my neighbor ashing in it,” disclosed u/KittenInspector. Likewise, u/Majesticbirch added, “Compost can spontaneously combust. It's possible that your soil mix is funky.” Someone else debated the claim that peat or compost is combustible at even minute amounts. u/s0rbus_Aucuparia contested, “It takes a pretty massive volume of compost to generate the amount of heat necessary to cause combustion. Much larger amounts of material than your standard backyard pile, and certainly more than a single patio planter.”
However, they did not have a justified explanation for the burning plant in the video, blaming it on aliens. The popular opinion in the comments was cigarettes, with plenty of stories about how one cigarette butt managed to set ablaze half of villages or burn down apartments and pots, without the smoker’s notice. According to AP News, plants that contain aromatic oils, resins, waxes, or gummy sap are quick to ignite despite being well-watered. Some of the inflammable plants include bamboo, acacia, eucalyptus, and rosemary, among others.