How To Care For Different House Plants

Similar to watering, it can be difficult to determine how much fertilizer to apply. It is dependent upon the age, growth pace, and season of the plant. The best times to fertilize houseplants are in the spring and summer, when they typically go through a growth spurt. The majority of indoor plants don’t use much, if any, fertilizer during the brief days of fall and winter. For information on how much plant food to use, read the label.

It’s crucial to prevent overfertilizing your houseplants, much as overwatering. Their roots may become damaged by too much fertilizer, which would restrict their growth. Use a fertilizer with three figures on the label that are almost equivalent for blooming kinds (nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium). Too much nitrogen might cause a plant to produce lots of leaves but few blooms.

How are numerous plants cared for?

Although the guidelines are generally the same for all plants, they may vary significantly based on the setting in which your plant will be residing. This section is for you if you’re mostly interested in learning how to care for indoor plants that are potted. Here are our top suggestions for maintaining indoor plants:

Choose the Correct Pot

Drainage is crucial for the health of your plant. A pot’s bottom should ideally have a hole in it so that any surplus water can drain out of the soil and gather in a tray beneath the pot. The excess water is held in the soil if there isn’t a hole like this. Frequently, this is more water than the plant can effectively absorb, which causes a plant to “drown.” The likelihood that you have a drainage issue and the plant is excessively wet increases if you observe that your plant is wilted and drooping but the soil is still damp.

Similar to people, plants require a large amount of area to grow. The plant will become top-heavy and the roots won’t be able to maintain the amount of foliage on your plant if the roots don’t have enough room to spread out. It will wilt and die as a result of this.

While leaving the plant in the pot or basket it came in is the simplest option, it’s not always the greatest for maintaining the health and vitality of your plant. Your plant needs to be in a pot that allows it room to expand and spread its roots if you want it to remain healthy. It will also need a pot with sufficient drainage.

Use Good Potting Soil

You should also consider the type of potting soil you’re using if you’re repotting your houseplant out of the container it came in and into a better pot. Simply taking some dirt out of your backyard is insufficient. Purchase a bag of potting soil instead. These mixtures frequently include additional nutrients or fertilizers to keep your houseplant strong and healthy.

You might be able to locate a potting mixture made especially for the species of plant you’re working with. There are frequently potting soils made with the precise nutrients for certain plants, such as cacti and succulents, if you’re planting one of them.

Watering: Not Too Much and Not Too Little

Watering might be somewhat challenging, especially if you’re not experienced with plant care. If you water your plant excessively, it could quickly drown. If a plant receives insufficient water, it will dry out and die. You need to strike a fine balance between these two extremes if you want happy, healthy plants. The majority of plants thrive when the soil dries out between waterings, even though other plants like to dwell in damp soil.

Feel the soil, preferably close to the edge of the pot, to determine whether or not your plant needs water. It’s time to water if the dirt seems dry and crumbly. It most likely doesn’t require more at this time if it still feels damp. You ought to get the hang of sensing when your plants need water after a few weeks of practice.

Naturally, you’ll be able to tell if your plants are dehydrating. Your plant needs water immediately if the leaves start to become dry, brown, and shriveled. However, ideally, you’ll water your plant well before it reaches this stage.

Water your plant until the soil no longer absorbs any more water or until the water starts to run out of the hole in the bottom of the container. It’s time to stop watering if water starts to collect on top of the soil and the soil stops absorbing any more water.

Given that each plant and each plant species is unique, it is challenging to specify with precision how frequently you should water your plant. To learn more about your particular plant, you can do some research online, but generally speaking, it’s best to listen to your plant when it needs water. Learn to read a plant’s soil and leaves so that you can tell when it needs water.

Give Them Plenty of Light

Although each plant prefers various amounts of shade or sunlight, none will grow in complete darkness. Your plant won’t thrive if you place it in a closet, high up on a shadowy shelf, or tucked away in a dark corner.

To thrive, your plant requires at least some sunlight. Because of this, windowsills are excellent locations for plants. However, if your windowsill isn’t big enough, you still have other choices. Place them in front of a window or somewhere with lots of natural light, on a table or a cart.

Keep Your Pet Away

Although it should go without saying, if you’re unfamiliar with houseplants, you might not have considered it. Animals may like your plants, but sadly, they frequently do so to the point of death. Specifically, your pet could consume or destroy your plant out of excitement.

Try putting your houseplants in areas where your pet can’t access them to solve this issue. Maybe place them on top of a cupboard or high up on the counter. Just remember to strike a balance between putting the plant somewhere safe and making sure it gets sunlight.

There are numerous plants that are poisonous to animals, therefore keeping plants and pets apart is also important to keep in mind.

Learn About Your Plant

Whether you’re taking care of garden plants, hanging outdoor baskets, indoor houseplants, or something else else, this is a fundamental precept of plant care. Spend some time getting to know the kind of plant you are taking care of. Find out how much shade or sun it prefers. Find out if it need daily watering or if it can go up to two weeks without it.

Every plant has a distinct set of needs of its own. While there are many general guidelines that can be applied to most plants, learning about each kind of plant separately will yield the best outcomes and the highest success rate.

How should typical houseplants be cared for?

You don’t need to fertilize the plant at all, and you just need to water it once a month. If the leaves begin to droop, gradually add more water until they begin to burgeon once more. It’s a good idea to clean the leaves with a damp cloth or softly sprinkle them with a spray bottle throughout the year.

Can various houseplants be planted together?

Yes, you can grow several houseplants in the same pot. Consider this. We frequently blend several plants in the garden. If you’ve ever purchased or received a live plant gift basket, you’ll notice that the florist blended several different plants.

There are, of course, a few general guidelines for mixing houseplant containers. The growing conditions for all houseplants in one container should be the same. For example, pairing a cactus with a fern wouldn’t work out too well. However, many varieties of succulent plants are at home among cactus or other succulents.

How frequently should indoor plants be rotated?

Lon & George, a leading provider of premium plant delivery, brings you the most recent plant care advice for maintaining the happiness and health of your foliage.

Like people, plants have positive and negative aspects. For balanced growth, plants, unlike humans, must exhibit both on an equal basis. And if you’ve ever seen an indoor plant that is substantially leaning, you can know it wasn’t being rotated on a regular basis.

So why is rotating indoor plants a good idea? Unlike the sun, which moves across the sky throughout the day, windows and artificial light place restrictions on the amount and location of light exposure our plants receive. And as all plants incline themselves toward the light, this frequently results in unequal growth patterns. By rotating them, we essentially make sure that our plants receive an even distribution of light, which reduces lean and encourages new growth where it may otherwise stagnate.

So how frequently should indoor plants be rotated? Rotating plants once every few months should work for those that prefer lots of light. However, you might need to rotate a plant more frequently, up to once every few weeks or once a month, if it is put in a medium- to low-light region.

Additionally, as a nice reminder, if it has been a while since you rotated your plant, you might need to give the side that has been hidden a little bit of a clean up! Remove any dust accumulation from the leaves, and while you’re doing it, don’t be afraid to pick up any dried-out leaf.

What can I do to keep my house plants content?

Watch how often your plants need to be watered. Seasonal variations in plant water requirements. They require more water when they are actively growing. Keep an eye on your plant’s behavior and adjust the watering as necessary.

Step 2

Consider your plant like a sponge when watering it appropriately. It’s not necessary to wait until your plant is entirely dry before flooding it because it can be stressful. If you imagine your plant as a sponge, you want to maintain it moist enough so that a slight squeeze will provide one or two drops of water.

Step 3

Keep the soil where your plants are moist. To keep moisture in the container, surround the base of your plants with some moss, mulch, or even rocks. Use a moisture-retention soil if watering becomes difficult due to your busy schedule.

Step 4

Need for feed. Feeding will result in larger, more lush, and bloom-filled plants. Plant food that is pre-measured and ready to use eliminates the need for mixing, weighing, and other errors.

Step 5

Stay away from insects. Like other plants, houseplants are susceptible to pest infestations. Utilize the most recent insecticide for plant care, which kills existing pests and guards against future attacks to produce stronger, more resistant plants.

How many indoor plants are ideal?

Human life is dependent on plants. They can eliminate contaminants from the air we breathe and change the carbon dioxide we exhale into fresh oxygen through photosynthesis.

Indoor plants help purge the air of cancer-causing volatile organic chemicals like formaldehyde and benzene, according to a renowned NASA experiment that was published in 1989. (Those NASA researchers were looking for efficient techniques to purify the air in the environs of space stations.) Later studies have discovered that soil microorganisms in potted plants also contribute to the purification of indoor air.

Some scientists claim that indoor plants are efficient natural air purifiers based on this research. The quantity of leaf surface area determines the pace of air filtration, according to Bill Wolverton, a retired NASA research scientist who conducted that 1989 plant study. And the bigger and leafier the plant, the better.

According to Wolverton, it’s impossible to predict how many plants could be required to completely purge a room of its impurities in the absence of pricy testing. He does, however, typically advise at least two “excellent sized plants per 100 square feet of indoor space.” One of the best plants for eliminating airborne contaminants is the Boston fern, although it might be challenging to cultivate it inside, according to him. “The golden pothos is a well-liked and simple-to-grow plant, so that’s usually what I suggest.

While Wolverton has long been a strong supporter of indoor plants—he has written books on the subject and currently runs a consultancy business that promotes their use to purify contaminated air—other experts contend that the evidence supporting their ability to do so is far from clear-cut.

According to Luz Claudio, a professor of environmental medicine and public health at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, “There are no conclusive studies to indicate that keeping indoor plants can considerably boost the air quality in the home to benefit health in a meaningful way.

Claudio has examined the studies on the advantages of indoor plants on the quality of the air. She claims that under “laboratory circumstances,” there is no doubt about the ability of plants to remove volatile chemical pollutants from the air. However, there isn’t much solid scientific evidence to support the idea that adding a few plants to your house or office will help to filter the air there.

The majority of research projects to date, including the NASA study, placed indoor plants in restricted spaces to gauge their ability to purify the air. Stanley Kays, an emeritus professor of horticulture at the University of Georgia, claims that those studies aren’t really relevant to what takes place in a home.

A 2009 study on the purifying properties of 28 various indoor plants was co-authored by Kays. While many of those plants were capable of purging the air of contaminants, the author claims that transitioning from an enclosed container to an open atmosphere drastically alters the dynamics.

How often should indoor plants be watered?

Although watering houseplants may seem like a straightforward operation, many people either overwater them or neglect them until they get parched. Generally speaking, the potting soil for indoor plants should be kept damp but not soggy. In the spring and summer, they typically need watering once or twice a week; in the fall and winter, they require less watering. However, this isn’t always the case, depending on the kind of houseplant.

  • Only give orchids a small bit of water once a week to water them.
  • Succulents and cacti need relatively little water. When the potting mix has dried out, only water.
  • Water citrus plants more frequently and consistently than you would other houseplants.

The Westland Watering Indicator makes it easier to know when to water. This watering stick is very simple to use and may be used all year round. Just insert the stick into the pot of compost. The indicator will then turn red to let you know when the plant needs extra water. When no additional water is required, the indicator will turn blue. Within two hours of watering the plant, the indicator’s color should shift from red to blue.

Another crucial factor is the type of water used on indoor plants. This is due to the fact that many plants are sensitive to the salts and chemicals found in tap water. So it is advisable to use rainwater to water your plants.

Feeding

To promote lush, robust growth, indoor plants must be fed while they are developing. Only while a houseplant is actively developing, not when it is dormant, should it be fed.

During the growing season (spring and summer), the majority of indoor plants need typically be fed every other watering, or around every 10 to 14 days. In the fall and winter, feed indoor plants after every fourth watering because they will need fewer nutrients.

Using a liquid concentrate feed is a good approach to feed houseplants. These are a fantastic way to feed and water your plant simultaneously. They work best, though, when the mixture isn’t created too powerful or too weak. Given that it is filled with the necessary nutrients, Westland Houseplant Feed is a fantastic plant food for indoor plants. Additionally, it contains a simple measure doser that requires only a squeeze of the bottle to fill the dosing chamber. Any extra plant food will be removed by the doser, leaving you with a 5ml dose to mix with 1 liter of water. This indicates that the combination you use to feed your plants is the proper strength.

The list of specialized feeds for various types of indoor plants that include the precise ratio of nutrients required for their growth is provided below.

  • Feed for succulents and cacti offers nutrients that improve flowering.
  • Citrus feed: provides nutrients that promote fruit development and set.