- Remove plants from near radiators, drafty windows, and vents.
- Verify the air’s humidity.
- Keep the temperature constant.
- Give them a test drive.
- Stay away from overwatering.
- Spritz your plants with water.
- Reduce your use of fertilizer.
- (Surprise!) Keep the cacti cool.
How can indoor plants survive the winter?
Every year, exactly before Thanksgiving, your houseplants start to look a little run down. As the leaves begin to turn yellow, they appear to be sad in general.
Your indoor plant pals are having a difficult time right now, especially if you reside in the Pacific Northwest where the days are so short. However, don’t worry! We have some advice to help you maintain indoor plants alive throughout the winter and get them to look healthy and green.
Tips to Revitalize and Keep Houseplants Alive in Winter
- Reduce the water flow (and the fertilizer for that matter) crimson leaves? Strange insects buzzing around your pot? moldy ground? All of them are signs of excessive winter irrigation. In the winter, indoor plants all need less water. Winter is a particularly risky time to overwater. Your plants will appreciate it if you take care not to leave your pots too damp. Try halving the frequency of watering, or just water your plants when they appear to be thirsty. Oh, and reduce the fertilizer use as well while you’re at it. Right now, they don’t require it, and having too much is bad news.
- Cleanse your plant. It’s hard to believe, but the excessive dust that gathers on the leaves of your plants, especially the giant tropicals, prevents the plant from photosynthesizing. The following time you water, make sure to rinse the entire plant and, if necessary, gently wipe it off with a paper towel. Your plants need all the light they can get right now. Pro-tip: Fill the bathtub with plants and turn on the gentle pressure in the shower.
- Close those windows. Many plants are vulnerable to cold air, especially tropical ones. When it’s chilly out, they’ll start dropping leaves like crazy! To solve this issue, either relocate your plants out of the reach of cold drafty areas like windowsills and doors, or make sure your windows are sealed and insulated.
- Put the light on. It is dark. Plants require sunlight. If your windows aren’t providing enough light, consider replacing the incandescent bulbs in the closest fixture with full spectrum lights. Or, it’s really simple to set up some grow lights if you’re as passionate about plants as we are.
- Repotting should be delayed, but don’t be scared to prune Repotting your plant should not be done in the winter. I know! Even if the nursery’s new pot is adorable, your plant will appreciate it more if you wait until spring to put it up. Now is a quiet time of year for root growth. Large pots’ soil retains moisture longer. If you repot now, you run the risk of overwatering and root rot. Having said that, don’t be afraid to remove any leaves that start to turn brown or yellow as well as any vines that appear “leggy.” Although new growth won’t likely appear until spring, pruning usually improves the appearance of the environment in the interim.
If you follow these suggestions, your houseplants will soon look vibrant and prepared for a robust period of active development come spring. Do you have any advice on how to keep indoor plants alive during the winter? Let us know in the comments.
How can I prevent the cold from killing my plants?
A gardener would be moved to tears if they lost all of their hard work, money, and priceless plants in the middle of a harsh winter. Maybe the plants were chosen carelessly, or maybe this winter was a little bit colder than usual. The first step in defending your plants against winter’s cold is to know what low temperatures they can take. Cold-sensitive plants can also be safeguarded with a few straightforward methods when the weather drops below expectations.
Grow plants that require cold in a location that is shielded from chilly breezes. These plants do well in the middle of a garden, next to a windbreak, or along a wall.
Early in the fall, at least six weeks before the first frost, stop fertilizing plants. Late-season tender new growth won’t harden before the arrival of cold weather, leaving the plants susceptible to winter harm.
Put 2 inches of mulch all around your woody plants that are sensitive to cold. On nights with light freezes, this aids in preventing the roots from becoming overly cold. Maintain a distance of 1 to 2 inches between the mulch and plant stems. Apply 2 inches of mulch to perennials that have died back to the ground.
When temperatures are predicted to go below what they can tolerate for cold, cover plants. When a minor freeze happens, this is often 28 degrees Fahrenheit. Till the foliage is at the ground, cover it with a burlap or flannel sheet. If at all possible, place chairs or pegs over the plants before hanging the cover to prevent it from touching the foliage. Small plants can also be covered with an upside-down container, such as a plastic tub or planting pot. If required, take off the covers in the morning and put them back on at night.
Why are my indoor plants perishing in the winter?
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Winter indoor plant maintenance is far more difficult than summer indoor plant maintenance. I don’t want you to be in pain any longer! I’ll thus provide you with a ton of advice on how to maintain indoor plants over the winter in this piece.
When it’s too cold to work outside during the winter, many enthusiastic gardeners resort to indoor gardening.
We can enjoy the enjoyment of caring for plants, being surrounded by greenery, and getting our hands dirty by growing them indoors during the winter.
However, taking care of houseplants in the dead of winter when the days are short and the house is dry can rapidly become a major task.
In most houses, the winters are too dark, too cool, and too dry for indoor plants to grow.
It is much more difficult to maintain healthy indoor plants in the winter due to reduced sunlight, dry air, and colder temperatures.
Adjust Your Watering Routine
Although it may seem contradictory, the majority of indoor plants require less water in the winter. Despite the fact that winter air is dryer, plants develop more slowly and some even fall into complete dormancy during the colder months. As a result, plants require less water to maintain their hydration, and overwatering can cause root rot. Remember that different plants require varied amounts of water. Drought-tolerant cacti and other succulents may not require any watering, whilst certain tropical plants may still need more frequent watering.
Winter months can cause surface soil to dry up more quickly, but it isn’t necessarily a sign that the plant needs water. When the soil is dry an inch or two below the surface, test it with your finger; if it is, it’s time to get the watering can out.
Tip
Do not water your houseplants with cold water. To prevent shocking the roots of the plant, use water that is close to room temperature. In some winter climates, tap water can become very chilly; thus, wait several hours before using it to water your plants. This kind of gradual warming also enables dissolved gases, such chlorine, to evaportate from the water.
Alter Humidity Levels
The largest challenge that indoor plants face throughout the winter months is often low humidity levels. Plants like a humidity level that is closer to 50%, which might drop to 10 to 20% in heated homes during the winter. If your home has a humidifier, move your plants there so they can benefit from it. If you don’t have a humidifier, find another way to increase the humidity.
Organize your plants first into groupings. Plants naturally release water through their leaves through transpiration, thus combining them will make good use of that moisture. Because they absorb moisture from showers and cooking, bathrooms and kitchens are the greatest places to keep plants.
The age-old method of putting your plants on or close to a tray of water is another excellent choice. But avoid letting the plants submerge themselves in the water. Put stones or pebbles in the tray to elevate the pots’ bottoms above the water line, then set the pots on top of the stones. By doing this, humidity levels will rise without encouraging root rot.
Instead than helping the plants, misting usually works better at making the gardener feel good about themselves. You might believe that spraying your plants will provide them with some comfort, however misting just provides a brief burst of moisture. Because indoor temperatures allow moisture to evaporate quickly, misting is necessary several times a day to be effective. Try misting if you only have a few plants and believe you will be really diligent about it. An indoor plant may rarely be over-mist. Misting plants in humid summers can result in fungal issues, but this shouldn’t be a concern in the winter.
Pay Attention to Temperature
Like most people, most plants thrive in temperatures above 50 degrees Fahrenheit at night and between 65 and 75 degrees Fahrenheit during the day. Keep your plants away from heat sources like radiators, ovens, fireplaces, and electronics in order to give them that, as well as from chilly drafts. Houseplants can die from temperature changes just as quickly as from extended exposure to heat or cold.
Follow the Sun
In addition to having fewer daylight hours, wintertime sunlight also comes in at a lower angle. Your houseplants might need to be moved to a brighter location or even given more light. An all-day sunny window with a south or west orientation is an ideal location. Moving plants next to a chilly window, however, should be avoided since they might experience a draft.
Every time you water your plants, rotate the pots by roughly a quarter of a turn. This prevents some branches from reaching for the light, allowing the plant to grow evenly and receive some sun on all sides.
The amount of light that reaches plant leaves can also be diminished by layers of dust. This dust can be removed from leaves with a moist cloth, giving plants more access to light during the winter.
Plants will need to be exposed to the grow lights for extended periods of time in regions where the winter sun is essentially nonexistent and where the majority of their light comes from supplemental lighting. If a plant needs six hours of direct sunshine, it can also require an additional 12 or 14 hours of light to provide the same amount of energy. Grow lights are far less strong than sunlight, thus plants require more time under them to absorb enough energy.
Put Your Houseplants on a Diet
Because they are not growing as quickly in the winter, the majority of houseplants don’t require any fertilizer. Stop feeding them until early spring as continuing to do so would only disrupt their natural cycle. Resuming fertilization will give them a boost for the growing season if you start to notice new growth or the present leaves seem to be turning greener.
Some tropical plants grow rather actively all winter long, especially vining climbers or trailers, and they may still need some feeding, but often at decreased rates.
Cut back on the frequency of watering.
The soil won’t be drying out as quickly unless you maintain a sauna-like temperature inside your house. As a result, the roots won’t require as much water now.
I water my houseplants usually every seven days because I reside in Tucson, which is hot and dry for five months out of the year. I reduce the frequency to once every 1021 days throughout the winter.
The sort of plants you have, the size and composition of the pots, the humidity level, and how warm or chilly your home are all factors that will affect how frequently you water yours.
Decrease the amount of water.
I water my indoor plants about 25% less throughout the winter. In the summer, I use a larger watering can, and in the winter, I use a smaller one. This stops me from suffocating the plants.
This keeps the soil from becoming too wet near the bottom of the pot, where the majority of the roots are, where I have quite a few large floor plants with a lot of soil mass.
Don’t let too much water collect in the saucer.
You don’t need to completely submerge the grow pot’s bottom in water; a small amount of trickling out onto the saucer is acceptable. Doing so will eventually cause the roots to decay.
It’s good if it rests on pebble or rock layers; more on that under “Humidity.”
What are potted plants used for during the winter?
You might need to give your pots additional protection depending on where you reside. The following are a few choices for overwintering containers:
- Put many pots next to the house or wall on the ground. Put the cold-hardiest plants outside the grouping, and the weaker ones in the middle. Place straw bales around the outside. Putting them together improves the insulation’s mass and volume, shielding them from chilly breezes that could cause freezing and desiccation.
- Mulch pots with straw, mulch, or chopped leaves for further insulation. Snow is a wonderful insulator as well. Grouping pots in a premade pond liner and filling it with mulch is an intriguing concept for insulating containers.
- The only insulation for roots is the wall of the pot itself because the majority of roots usually tend to be on the exterior of the rootball. To insulate roots, place foam along the walls of square pots that is at least an inch thick before planting. Fill the internal walls of rounded pots with foam peanuts.
- Fill the container up with soil and bury the pots there.
- Plant the rootball in the ground after removing it from the container. Clean the container, then keep it inside. Next year, remove the root ball and repot it in the same or a bigger container.
- Burlap, bubble wrap, old blankets, or geotextile blankets can all be used to wrap pots. Since the roots require protection, the entire plant doesn’t need to be covered. The root zone will retain heat thanks to the support of these protective covers.
- Cover plants at night with cloth, burlap, or plastic if low temperatures are anticipated. If you use plastic, make sure to take it off during the day because the heat can hasten the growth of the buds. Additionally, when covering, take care not to harm the plants’ tops. Plant damage from the cold and pests is facilitated by injury.
- To offer further security, place your pot inside of a larger pot. The bigger pot should have extra insulation or sturdy walls for this to work optimally.
Hard freezes may be unusual to nonexistent in USDA Zones 7 through 11, therefore it may not be essential to add insulation or move pots indoors for the winter. There are several tasks, nevertheless, that you should still be mindful of. Plant development will stall in the winter because of the lower temperatures, and watering may become less regular. However, salt can accumulate in the soil and increase toxicity levels. Leach the salts out with water. As required, fertilize plants as well.