In the winter, a lot of plants hibernate. If you cultivate outdoors, you may easily observe your perennial plants and deciduous trees dormanting over the winter by just looking out the window. They have all lost their leaves. Case resolved.
There are several misconceptions regarding houseplants’ winter dormancy, says Costa Farms’ horticulture Justin Hancock. He claims that contrary to popular belief, houseplants do not genuinely become dormant. They do, however, respond to changes in your home’s climate.
In the winter, your house is dryer. The decline in houseplant growth is caused by things such as furnaces, space heaters, and fireplaces that produce hot, dry air (which also means reduced humidity). Leaf shedding may also be influenced by dryer circumstances.
And everyone is aware that light has an impact on plant growth. Some indoor plants respond to reduced light by slowing down new development due to the combination of winter’s lower light levels and fewer days.
Hancock claims that instead of being dormant, your houseplants are merely adjusting to their new winter living conditions and are conserving energy. But he claims that simply making minor adjustments indoors, you can lessen the affects of cold. To make a hotter, dryer living area more comfortable, add additional humidity. Additionally, you can influence the lighting. He suggests using artificial lighting to supplement. Or, Hancock advises, “you might move plants closer to a window that was previously obstructed by a deciduous tree; you could discover that your houseplants grow a little more in the winter.
Oh, and feel free to repot your plants, Hancock advises. Repotting in the winter is good, according to him. Don’t overwater, though. Hancock warns parents of indoor plants to avoid mistaking a lack of development for a need for additional water. If they aren’t developing as quickly, you need to be more careful about not overwatering them, he advises. The main cause of indoor plants dying is over watering.
Which month enters dormancy for houseplants?
There are challenges to overcome if you want to maintain the lovely houseplants that make up your indoor garden once you have assembled them. For your plants to thrive, you must continue to give the optimum soil, water, sunlight, temperature, and ventilation. It’s not too difficult to overcome these difficulties.
However, even those indoor gardeners who excel in these areas frequently struggle with dormancy.
If at all possible, strive to provide plants that have had damage, gone dormant, or are otherwise not at a lovely stage following harsh pruning good care.
Apartment residents and certain gardeners with limited space can be forced to toss out withering plants, donate them to sympathetic friends who also cultivate, or make arrangements for the plants to rest in a friend’s basement.
Many gardeners who can cope with the stress of repotting, fertilizing, trimming, and troubleshooting plants are ignorant of the changes that occur throughout a plant’s life cycle. Outdoor plants, shrubs, and trees are in a state of dormancy, and the winter’s “rest” is generally accepted.
A houseplant’s dormancy is much more subtle. Usually, growth is generally slowed down. You might not be aware that the dormant plant requires a different approach.
Outdoor plants abruptly enter dormancy when the seasons or environmental factors change. The loss of leaves on deciduous trees that are native to the North is an illustration of this. Huse plants typically originate from warmer areas, when a drop in rainfall or a rise in temperature triggers dormancy.
Houseplants’ dormancy is little or nonexistent since they are not subjected to these environmental changes. You must learn to spot the dormant plant symptoms and even induce dormancy in overworked plants.
The days are short in the months of December, January, and February. This presents a great opportunity to cut back on the water and fertilizer your plants have been using. Too much water or fertilizer can harm resting plants because they do not require as much of either.
Every plant has its own unique sense of timing. Reduce the amount of water and fertilizer applied to the plant if it seems to enter dormancy at any other time of year outside the winter. A plant just cannot sustain its optimal condition forever. Most plants can persist for years if given a rest.
Maybe you’ve ever questioned why your Christmas cactus didn’t bloom at Christmas or why it did at Easter. Some plants, like the Christmas cactus, are extremely sensitive to changes in the lengths of day and night. There are plants that thrive in a variety of day lengths, including those with long and short days.
Many plants’ flowering times are influenced by temperature as well. Fortunately, the majority of houseplants belong to the group that can grow or flourish in a wide range of temperatures and day lengths.
When we opted to leave the hall light on all night one year, my Christmas cactus was unable to bloom. In the hallway, close to a west window, was the cactus. We had failed to supply the essential darkness throughout the crucial moment because we were a short-day blooming.
Domestic plants resemble people. They are eager for a summer vacation after a long winter of labor. With their blossoms or exquisite foliage, they have enlivened our gloomy winter. They too need to be refreshed or get some rest in order to face the winter with renewed strength.
Many indoor plants can survive the hot months outside. African violets and other plants with delicate foliage should only be grown indoors. Houseplants that are brought outside for the summer should be placed in environments that are comparable to those found inside.
Among the plants that gain a lot from a summer garden vacation are geraniums, shrimp plant, and oxalls. For optimal dormancy, various plants, including amaryllis, fuchsia, gloxinia, caladium, Christmas cactus, other cacti, Easter lily, and other lilies, need to be handled carefully.
The plant needs to rest once the amaryllis blossoms have faded. Keep all of the leaves on the tree since they provide food for the next year’s bloom. During the summer, place the pot outside and fertilize every two weeks. Bring the pot indoors in the fall and reduce the water level until the leaves are dry and yellow.
To prevent the bulb from shriveling, store the pot in the basement and water it once a month. In December, replace the top third of the soil and start the cycle by giving it regular waterings and exposure to sunlight.
Similar to gloxinia, except after the blooms have faded, they are planted indoors rather than outdoors to rest. During the six to ten week dormant stage, water them twice or three times in a cool basement. Repot the plant after that, give it more water, and place it in the sun.
By keeping the soil a little drier and the wintertime temperature at around 50 degrees Fahrenheit, fuchsias can be forced to rest.
Cut down a portion of the top growth in October and November. If you want the fuchsia to grow bigger, repotte it into a pot that is one size bigger. Repot it into the same pot if necessary.
Start providing enough watering, daily leaf misting, and weekly plant feeding in January.
What kind of indoor plants hibernate?
Many of your indoor plants may be going through a period of winter dormancy if you’ve seen limited growth throughout the colder months. The full growth you know and love will return once the weather begins to warm up, therefore plants that go through this phase should be taken care of rather than thrown out.
You can compare the appearance of winter dormancy with times of stress by having one or more of these houseplants in your collection. This can help you determine whether a plant is too far gone versus when it is going through a normal cycle:
- Queen of marble pothos
- Asian evergreen
- Philodendron
- a. l. v.
- Viper plant
- fig fiddle leaf
- The delicious monstera
And this is only the start. Due to the natural course of things, most houseplants will go into some sort of winter dormancy, whether it be slow growth or leaf drop. You won’t have any trouble keeping your plant babies alive until the following growing season if you are careful about your regimen for caring for them in the winter.
Keep your plants warmbut not too warm
Air that is too chilly can be quite damaging to many plants. Make sure they are shielded from the cold air as the first step in winter plant care. By insulating your home’s doors and caulking your windows, you can partially fix this problem. Additionally, during the hot months, if you store plants next to exterior doors or on leaky windowsills, make sure to relocate them to places where they won’t be stunned by the chilly air.
Keeping plants away from heat sources like fireplaces, radiators, and even heating vents is also a good idea. Blasts of hot air can harm your plant just as much as blasts of cold air. For the optimal conditions for plant life, keep your plants at a constant temperature of 65 to 75 degrees F (18 to 24 degrees C) during the day and above 50 degrees F (10 to 10 C) at night.
Reduce your watering and use warm water for plants in winter
The majority of houseplants “dorm” throughout the fall and winter even though they are inside. With less light, plants will grow slower and use less water and fertilizer. As a result, your indoor plants may require less feeding over the winter.
Observe the general recommendations for watering and only apply water if the soil is dry an inch or two below the surface. Keep in mind that leaving your plants submerged in water can result in root rot, fungus, mold, and a number of other problems. If you notice yellow leaves or moldy soil, you should lessen how often you water your plants. In the winter, you might also wish to give your plants warm water. It is best to water plants with warm water in the winter since it not only promotes faster and greater plant growth, but it also keeps the plants warm.
We advise you to stick to the typical “once per week” schedule used by most houseplant owners in order to maintain consistency and avoid disrupting the rhythm. But on the days you water your plants once a week, merely cut back on the water you give them by 25 to 50 percent.
Increase your home’s humidity
Low humidity during the winter months is a problem for both people and plants. Keep your humidifier on if you have one because plants prefer humidity levels of roughly 50–60%. If not, try grouping your plants in your home’s most humid areas—typically the bathrooms or kitchen—or setting them on top of a sizable tray or baking sheet that is moistened with water. Place some stones in the water, then place the plants on top of the stones (you just need to make sure the pots don’t touch the water).
Clean your plants
In the winter, the sun is scarce. Make sure the leaves of your indoor plants stay clean and dust-free so they can make the most of the little amount of light they receive. Put your plants in the bathtub once or twice a month, and give the leaves a gently rinse with a handheld sprayer or wipe them down with a moist towel to remove dirt and grime. Keeping the leaves clean will increase their capacity for photosynthesis.
Give them plenty of light
The final tip for maintaining indoor plant life is to remember that during the fall and winter, plants require light more than anything else. To ensure that every plant receives the necessary amount of sunlight, you must rotate your pots with extreme care. Use a full-spectrum lightbulb in a typical desk lamp to shine it on your plants for at least 12 to 14 hours each day if the amount of natural sunlight available is insufficient. Find out more about how to set up a grow light or buy an LED grow light from our shop.
As a final piece of advice, it’s important to remember that some of the suggestions we make in this post call for adjusting many variables.
For instance, if you relocate your plants away from a drafty window, the amount of light they receive will almost surely change, and possibly the humidity will as well. For this reason, after you’ve moved your plants, keep an eye on them every day. To get it correct, you might need to try a few different things or need to go back and undo some modifications.
How can plants be kept from going dormant?
The plants that require the most warmth, light, and humidity are the most difficult to maintain from going dormant, as you can probably predict. Your plant will continue to grow if you can avoid consequential dormancy, even though that growth could be a little nasty.
Although I don’t think any of my plants have hibernated, the following have grown the least:
- Two new, awful leaves have been spotted by Alocasistingray. Despite Amazonica’s blooming, Zebrina and Amazonica had lost all of their leaves and stopped producing any.
- Green Wonder and Pedatum philodendrons. All of the heart leaves are putting forth a lot of growth, albeit modest, and Selloum is acting as though nothing has happened while sprouting new leaves.
- It’s interesting to learn about Monstera Deliciosa. From October through March, there was no new growth, and in April, three typical leaves suddenly appeared. All right.
- The Fiddle-leaf fig didn’t produce any new growth, but it didn’t perish, so I’m counting that as a gain.
- Hoya Carnosa Krimson Princess has continued to develop despite Hoya Crinkle 8 not producing any new growth.
- The Calathea have collectively produced some growth, but it has been a little weedy and crunchy. Strangely, my Orbifolia, which hasn’t slowed down at all, is the exception that proves the norm. She even offered up a leaf half that my bunny had nibbled back to the base. It continued nevertheless and spread the remaining leaf.
How can you recognize a dormant plant?
There are fortunately a few techniques to tell whether a plant is dormant or dead. You can apply a test known as the snap-scratch test to trees and bushes. It’s as easy as it sounds to take this test. Simply attempt to break a branch from the tree or bush. The branch is dead if it snaps easily and has a gray or brown inside. The branch is still alive if it is malleable, resists breaking off readily, or displays fleshy green and/or white interiors.
If the branch doesn’t break at all, you can use a knife or your fingernail to remove a little portion of the bark and examine the fleshy green or white hue that lies beneath. When conducting this test, cut out the dead branches because it is conceivable for certain branches on trees and shrubs to die over the winter while other branches on the plant remain alive.
To determine whether perennials or some shrubs are dormant or dead, more intrusive investigations may be necessary. Digging up the plants and looking at the roots is the best technique to check these plants. Replant the plant and give it extra time if the roots appear to be fleshy and healthy. Discard the plant if the roots are dry and brittle, mushy, or otherwise clearly dead.
Each and every thing has its time. Just because we are prepared to begin our gardening season does not imply that our plants are. Sometimes, all we need to do is wait it out and let nature take its course.