I just found out why the plants by my desk get wilty every few weeks. One of the guys in the office is dumping the dregs of his coke cans in the planters whenever he doesn't feel like walking to the staffroom sink! He is a sugar junky and drinks 5 or 6 cans of coke a day - 3 of them, along with half a bag of Chips Ahoy, before 8:30 in the morning. Surprisingly, he only weighs about 145lbs. Not so surprising, he has a multitude of health issues. If anyone in the office has a headache, they dig into the Costco-sized baggie of pills in his top drawer.

Anyway, the plants are not mine. I just inherited them because my desk has the only window but I do take care of them. I was horrified when he came over with pop can in hand one day and said "Your plants look thirsty". He tried to convince me that coke is good for them, provides needed nutrients or whatever. At first, his argument was that he'd been doing it for years and the plants were still alive. I pointed to the one plant - it's leaves brown and twisted and shrivelled. I asked him, "didn't you ever do that experiment in high school where you leave a tooth in a jar of coke?" (it rots away within 3 weeks). And then I noticed his teeth which are brownish yellow and kind of furry-looking. Discussion over. I made a joke about it, asked him to please not "refresh" the plants anymore and turned back to my desk. Man, I thought I was bad with plants. I'm a botonist compared to this guy.