My Indoor Houseplants

As the daylight lengthens, many of our houseplants put on a spurt of new growth. Now is a great time to give them some extra attention to help keep them healthy and attractive.

1. We should give them a good cleaning by wiping down the leaves with a damp cloth or spraying them under the shower. This will remove the dust and open the pores on the leaves so that the process of transpiration is improved. Transpiration is the process where the plant absorbs gasses from the air and gives off oxygen to the air. Clean leaves are also better able to absorb the light to promote healthy growth. Plants with fuzzy or furry leaves should be dusted with a soft brush or duster as the water will damage the leaves.

2. Now is an excellent time to check whether our houseplants have outgrown their pots and need to be repotted. Most houseplants will repot better during a time of active growth. Spring is such a time. Do your indoor houseplants need repotting?

3. Many plants can be pruned back if they have grown too large or uneven growth has made them unshapely. The best time for pruning foliage plants is in the spring when the new growth has started. This will cause new growth to start below the branches pruned, producing a bushier plant.

For flowering plants we need to know about the flowering characteristics of the plant. Many flowering houseplants produce flowers on the new growth and pruning will produce multiple new shoots that will bud and produce flowers. Some flowering plants will flower on growth that is one year old already and pruning old growth can reduce the buds produced.

4. Our houseplants will also benefit from an application of fertilizer when the new growth starts. This will give the plant the nutrients it needs for healthy growth. Fertilizing should continue through the growing season as appropriate for each houseplant variety.

A little attention at this time of year will do much to improve the health and appearance of your indoor houseplant.

As winter approaches, we begin to think about what effect the shorter days and reduced light levels will have on our houseplants.

If you are using natural light to grow your houseplants, the amount of light available in your home or office will decrease during the winter.

As the days shorten, the duration of light will decrease and your plant will receive light for fewer hours each day. This will reduce the amount of light your houseplant has available for growth.

Also as the sun drops lower in the fall and winter skies, the intesity of the light decreases. This will also reduce the amount of light available for plant growth.

Fortunately your houseplants have adapted to this seasonal change.

Except for plants that normally grow only near the equator, the seasonal change of light has been a part of your houseplant’s environment for thousands of years.

Even those plants that only grow near the equator ( and indoors) have adapted to a season of less light. Near the equator there is often a wet season which has long periods of heavy cloud cover. This cloud cover will reduce the light available to the plant.

So, how does this affect your houseplant in winter? Well not very much actually. If your houseplants are in enough light to provide a healthy rate of growth in the summer, they will do just fine in the winter.

The houseplant will enter a period ofsemi dormancy or dormancy in which the growth slows or stops altogether.

When the days lengthen and the light intensity increases, the houseplant will break out of it’s dormancy and begin a new phase of growth.

To keep our houseplants healthy, we need to provide our houseplants with water when they need it. This means checking our plants often so that we provide the water at the right time.

The right tools will make this task easier.

Firstly, your houseplants need to be in a grow pot that has a tray to capture the excess water as it runs through the drain hole in the bottom of the pot. By using enough water so that water runs through the pot, we help to flush out excess salts from the fertilizer. Salt build up in the soil will harm and even kill your houseplants.

Secondly, we need to use a watering can with a long thin spout. Many houseplants are harmed by water touching their leaves. This is the case in most plants with a soft furry covering like African Violets. A long spout will allow you to apply the water at the base of the plant under the leaves and not damage the leaves.

Thirdly, the watering can should have a large enough resevoir to minimize trips to refill it. The one I use holds approximately 1 quart ( 1 litre). This provides enough volume to make mixing fertilizer in the right portions quite easy.

To collect excess water that is caught by the tray beneath each plant, we can use another common kitchen tool. A turkey baster, the kind with the bulb that you squeeze to draw in the liquid, can be used to collect water that sits in the tray after 5 or 10 minutes. You never want to let your houseplants to stand in this water for long.

I have used the watering can pictured for many years now.

You can find watering cans and turkey basters at many stores you use in your everyday shopping.

Have you noticed how one person will say a particular houseplant is easy to care for and a second will call it tempermental or difficult? And they are speaking about the same plant!

Truly the large majority of houseplants fit into the easy care category if they are given the proper care and room conditions.

Your house plant needs the proper amount of light. If you provide it with too little light it will produce leggy or no growth and smaller leaves. Many houseplants, like croton or golden pothos will lose their color or variegation if there is not enough light.

Your houseplant needs the proper amount of water. Be sure to check your houseplant often enough that you can give it water when it needs it- not necesarily every time you check. I check mine 3 times per week in spring and summer and twice a week in fall and winter giving each plant water as needed.

Your houseplant needs the proper temperature range. Most houseplants like temperatures lower at night, just as it was in their original environment outdoors.

Houseplants almost invariably dislike drafts whether hot (heating vents) or cold ( air conditioners in summer or outside doors in winter).Some plants, like poinsettia, will immediately show you their displeasure by suddenly dropping leaves.

Be sure to use the proper soil type for your houseplant and only use grow pots with holes in the bottom for proper drainage.

If you provide a houseplant with the conditions it needs it will be easy care.

If you try to grow a houseplant in conditions it doesn’t like, you are setting yourself up for failure.

To get an easy care houseplant, check out the conditions where you want the plant to be displayed. Then buy a plant that will thrive in those conditions.

Follow the link for information about many easy care houseplants.

How often do you water your houseplants is a question I see asked over and over again. The real answer is as often as they need it and no more often. Both over-watering and under-watering will be harmful to your houseplants.

As unsatisfying as this answer is, it is the only correct answer. What you need to do is set up a watering schedule that will accomplish this.

To do this you need to pick a time of day, preferably before noon, when we can water two to three times a week. You check each plant at that time but water only those that need watering. Those that don’t need watering are left until the next visit.

How do you know which plant needs water and which should not be watered? You use the finger test. Push your finger into the soil about 1 to 2 inches depending on the depth of the pot ( about 1/4 to 1/3 of the depth of the pot). If the soil is dry, add water. If the soil is still moist, do not water until the next visit.

Many will think this is a lot of work, but it is not. It will only take about 5 minutes to water ( or check) 20 to 25 houseplants.

Morning is the best time to water houseplants. The plants will take up the water during the growth of the day. When the sun goes down, your houseplants take a bit of a rest just as we do when we sleep.

Make this a pleasant task rather than a chore by looking at each plant and removing any flowers that have wilted or any leaves that have reached the end of their life to be replaced by new growth.

Personally, I check my houseplants 3 times a week in spring and summer and twice a week when the temperatures cool and growth slows in fall and winter. Some plants will need water each day but others may go 10 days to 2 weeks without needing any.

The need depends on many factors including temperature, humidity, rate of plant growth, soil type and consistency, pot size, and length of daylight. The biggest mistake is to try to put your houseplants on a watering schedule that doesn’t take into account the various factors that affect the needs of the house plant.

Houseplants come in many variations of color, variegation, texture, size, leaf shape and structure, and floral characteristics. Many can be found to complement all styles of home decoration.

When it comes to houseplants, Mother Nature has provided us with an amazing variety.

We can find great variety in color.  There is the solid green leaves of the English Ivy or Peace Lily.  And among those plants with variegated leaves there is great variety in the pattern and colors. The Chinese evergreen has grey green patterns on it’s leaves.   Areas of yellow highlight the leaves of the Golden Pothos. Yellow stripes appear like trim on the edges of the Mother in Laws Tongue. And for a bright cool area there is the beatiful Croton with its shades of red, green and yellow creating a splash of color that will brighten any room. Everyone is familiar with the Poinsettia and the bright red brachts it displays at Christmas.

We also have many houseplants with beautiful floral displays. For winter color we have the Cyclamen and Christmas Cactus. Through most of the year, potted Mums in many different colors can be found at your florist shop. The Peace Lily has a beautifully shaped white flower. Orchids are grown for their spectacular and intricate flowers.

Texture in houseplants is also greatly varied. There are the hard waxy leaves of the Hoya or Mother in Laws Tongue and the soft fuzzy leaves of the African Violet. Many succulents have thick, tough leaves that hold a supply of water letting them go long periods of time between waterings.

You can find houseplants that grow as bushes like the Ficus Benjamina or that produce a tuft of leaves at the end of a single tall stem like many dracaena. The Peace Lily sends up individual leaves from the soil. Palms send up fronds from a central base or trunk.

Nature provides us with an abundance of variety in our houseplants. We may not find all forms attractive and that is a matter of personal preference. We need to select suitable plants from the varieties available to add a touch of nature to our interior spaces.

We will need to prune our Ficus Benjamina periodically to keep it healthy, full and attractive.

We may need to prune to…

1.-remove dead branches. Dead branches are not only unsightly, but will interfere with new growth.
Ficus Benjamina before Pruning

2.-reduce the size of the houseplant. The ficus benjamina or weeping fig, can grow rather large in both height and spread. If left unchecked it can demand more and more space until it needs more space than we are willing to give it.

3.-get rid of weaker growth to produce a stronger plant. The weeping fig produces many thin branches that bend under the weight of the leaves. This is an attractive feature of the houseplant. Pruning will be needed however to encourage stonger growth to produce a shaplier plant as it matures.

4.- create a bushier, more shapely plant. Pruning will encourage the branches to divide producing a thicker, fuller houseplant.

5.- make room for new growth.

We should remove dead growth any time it appears. Cut away all of the dead material.

Pruning for other reasons should be carried out in the spring when the new growth begins to appear.

We should always use sharp tools to make the cuts as the will cause less damage to the branches. The cuts will heal faster and allow less time for disease to attack the open wound.

Cuts should be made just above a node on a branch, as that is where the new growth will begin.

Ficus benjamina can withstand removing up to 1/3 of the plant if needed. This is referred to as a hard pruning.

The new growth will fill in the areas where branches have been cut away making a fuller bush.

The ficus benjamina shown in the images had not been pruned in 2 or 3 years. It was pruned to remove some dead branches and weaker growth and to reduce its spread. It was claiming more of my living room than I was prepared to give it.

Regular pruning of your ficus benjamina will control its size and shape and improve its appearance.

If you notice a white or yellow substance on the top of your houseplant soil, it may be that one of the many varieties of mold or fungus has found a home in your houseplants.

Mold and fungii are spread by spores. By the time you see the mold or fungus on the surface of the soil, millions of spores have already been produced.

When a houseplant has fungus growing on the soil, it should be separated from the other houseplants. The spores are very tiny. It only takes a small disturbance to send the spores airborne where they will move to the other houseplants nearby.

While many molds and fungii are actually beneficial to plants, they may be toxic to people. Great care should be taken with mold. They may also cause reactions in people with allergies or sensitivities to molds. It is suggested that you should use latex gloves and a mask when dealing with mold and fungii.

Several things can be done to reduce or get rid of an infestation. These methods will need to be used if changing the plant’s growing environment do not control the fungus outbreak. Fungus likes darkness, heat, high humidity and stagnant air. Fungus may disappear if we move the houseplant to a brighter location, a cooler location, a drier location or a location where there is more air movement.

1. You can carefully remove the top 2 inches of soil where most of the spores would be located. You should move the plant outdoors, if possible, to do this. Remember, disturbing the soil will send the spores airborne and they will spread around the room. Then replace the soil with sterilized potting soil.

2. If the fungus returns or the infestation is extensive, you can repot the houseplant. This should be done outside, if possible, so that the spores will not be spread around the room.

Take the plant out of the pot and remove all of the soil from around the roots. The soil may be washed from around the roots taking care not to damage the roots. Before replanting, the pot should be washed with hot water and bleach to get rid of the mold and spores. Then replant in the pot with new sterilized potting soil.

3. Another method that works is to use a weak vinegar solution. The mold or fungus does not grow well in acidic soil, but be careful as your houseplant may not either.

Mix 1 part vinegar with 10 parts water and spray the affected area. Spray enough that the affected area is totally damp but not so much as to moisten the soil down more than an inch.

Spray once between waterings and don’t water for a day or two after watering to allow the vinegar to kill the fungus. This will need to be repeated as additional spores already in the soil start to grow.

Mold and mildew are types of fungus. They grow from tiny spores that will float in the air from one place to another. They produce millions of spores. Once you have a mold or fungus infestation, it is very difficult to get rid of but can be controlled.

Fungus likes higher temperatures ( 75 to 90oF), high humidity, stagnant air, and darkness. If we control these factors, we will have some success in controlling the fungus.

1. Keep the temperature in the lower range (60 to 70oF). The mold will not grow as well at those temperatures.

2. Usually it is not difficult to keep the humidity at an acceptable level. Too high a humidity is often caused by overwatering or using plant pots without drainage holes in the bottom.

Always make sure that the plant has dried sufficiently between waterings. Test the soil with your finger down at least 1 inch (2 inches in pots 10 inches in diameter or greater) If the soil is not dry that far down, the houseplant does not need to be watered yet.

If the pot has no bottom drainage, the soil will remain much moister lower down in the pot. The water has no where to go but up and will raise the humidity near the surface of the soil.

3. While it is best to keep most house plants out of drafts, some air movement is needed. This circulation will disperse the oxygen and humidity given off by the plant throughout your room and replace the air around the plant with new room air. This will benefit you and your houseplant. It will also help dry out the surface of the soil where the fungus will start to grow.

4. Mold and fungii grow best in darker conditions. If you place your houseplant in a brighter location, the mold will not grow as well.

These are just some of the methods we can use to discourage the growth of mold and fungus on the soil around our houseplants.