It’s no news that plants add color and wonderful energy to your home when you bring them in. You might have heard people complaining about how difficult their plant has been to manage — but let me demystify all your fears related to houseplant grooming. I am sure that by the end of this article you’d be wanting to add a new member to your family: a green one, that will sit silently in one corner and need the tiniest bit of love yet will provide you with the most vital element for your survival!
1. Keeping hydrated:
When you are buying a houseplant, educate yourself of its water-intake requirements. Most will come with instructions for moist, but not wet soil. however, some of them, like aloe or echeveria, would prefer drying out in between watering. To keep things straight for yourself, it’s advisable that you either choose plants with similar watering needs or group them in different spots according to their water needs. Keep in mind that you will have to make changes to your watering habits as seasons change. As a rule of thumb, always check the moistness of the soil before pouring in more water; be sure that it’s dry a few inches before you put more in.
2. Bright or Night:
Before you decide a location for your new homie, I suggest you consider whether your houseplant is shade-loving, or does it enjoy a spotlight on itself? It’s very important that before you put a spotlight on your plant pot, you familiarize yourself with what sort of light is best for its growth. Most indoor plants, especially flowering plants, cannot thrive in direct sunlight so a shaded or partly bright spot, which could be an east- or west-facing window in your living room, could do them a lot of good.
3. Fertilizer from food:
Most houseplant owners will suggest that you go to the nursery and buy organic fertilizer for your green buddies but here’s a hack from the pros’ books: Eggshell water! There is absolutely no need for you to buy some fancy, weighty bag of fertilizer for your leafy roomies. They’ll do just fine with a DIY fertilizer. Provide your plants with an abundance of calcium and potassium by making a simple solution from mixing eggshells and water in a container and pouring it into the pot, letting it remain there a few hours. Although you can use this home-remedy any time of the year, the spring season is the best season for fertilizing plants as they’ll be fashioning a new growth in that time.
4. To pot or to re-pot:
Yes, it means you’ll have to depot your plant and then either shift it to a new, larger pot or simply change its soil, clean the existing pot, and plant it back in. It might sound a lot of work but it’s only once a year, and trust me it isn’t as much work as you’re thinking. This step is important because as plants grow, their roots will outgrow the pot size and the congested space will hinder their nutrient uptake.
5. Propagating:
Some of the most convenient ways to produce more plants from the parent plant include taking a part of the plant: a stem, part of a root, a leaf, or any other plant organ and placing it into new soil to grow. This can be done when you re-pot annually. Many cuttings would require being placed in moist soil and humid environment right after they’ve been taken from the parent plant. Some woodier types or succulents might prefer dryer conditions.