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Alt-tag: Caring for indoor plants
Having indoor plants is an excellent way of introducing nature to your home. It will not only improve the visual appeal of the space but also bring some calm and peacefulness to the overall interior design. And the best thing is, anyone can grow them on a budget! Still, not all plants are easy maintenance and keeping them healthy demands a special commitment. But, for less challenging options, making sure the plant has enough light, fertilizers, and water are three main factors. For those of you who consider adding a botanical element to your eco-friendly home, we made a guide to caring for indoor plants.
Picking the right plants for your home
Indoor plants bring life and health to your home. Therefore, to return the favor, you need to make sure they have all the necessary elements to thrive. But not a house plant would be a good choice for beginners. Usually, first-time plant keepers opt for different types of succulents, cactuses, sansevierias, dracaenas, and ficuses. They can sustain with minimal care, even with lacking enough light or fluctuating temperatures. The most common kinds are suitable for any space, from a living room, kitchen, and hallway to a home office and dismal corners.
Some of them can also be edible or with healing properties. Such plants are perhaps not always visually appealing, but the fact that you have fresh garnish and your own home pharmacy beats the looks. So before you become bedazzled by the looks of some majestic plant on the internet, make sure to check about their other properties as well.
Caption: Caring for indoor plants is not only an obligation but fun as well, since you get to express your creative side.
Alt-tag: Woman planting a succulent
Where to put them?
More than any living organism, plants require light to grow. 12 to 16 hours of light per day, to be more precise. The best option is to find them some room near south and west-facing windows. Especially if you've decided to have a plant that tolerates full sunlight exposure. But if you get a low-light plant, putting them near a north-facing window might be a good idea.
After finding the right place, make sure to rotate the pots every couple of days. This will help with consistent growth since they tend to lean toward the source of light. Like humans, plants need adjustment to new living conditions. Moving them from place to place won't do them any good. However, if you are moving long-distance and need to transfer them to your new home, you will have to be extra careful. They can be quite fragile, so they might require special moving services.
Watering the indoor plants
After deciding on your indoor plants, it's crucial to inform yourself about the watering requirements. You might think most plants die from lack of watering, but actually, it's quite the opposite. Even though every plant will demand different treatment, the most common are:
Watering the plants at room temperature,
Make sure your tap water doesn't have too much fluoride because minerals and chemicals can turn the top of leaves of some plants brown. alternatively, use filtered water
Late fall and winter require less watering than spring and summer.
Adequate pots with holes to let the extra water out. Using unglazed, porous clay pots is always a great option since the material is absorbent.
Adding a few drops of ammonia to a 1 l water bottle can help with growth and more intensive leaf color.
Caption: It's very important not to overwater the plant. If necessary, touch the soil every day to check its moisture levels before watering.
Alt-tag: Woman watering indoor plants
Feeding your herbs
Even though indoor plants will use the soil minerals to feed, fertilizing is also necessary for their development. Most house herbs respond well to fertilizers. Still, you need to know what, when, and how to use it. Flowering plants require more phosphorous products, while fertilizers with a higher ratio of nitrogen will benefit the foliage growth. You should never overdo supplements because you can harm the plant. From early spring to late fall, your house greenery should be fertilized regularly, according to bottle and plant instructions. During the winter months, feed them occasionally.
Nowadays, caring for indoor plans was never easier since you can buy every supplement at the store. However, for those of you who want to save some money or simply enjoy eco-friendly ways of handling the herbs, there are organic fertilizers you can make yourself. Some of them include:
dissolving a teaspoon of Epsom salt into a liter of water, and sprinkling a small amount of it on the soil,
emptying used green tea teabags on the soil, after which you water it,
mixing a scoop of coffee grounds with the potting mix before planting to create a rich soil or leave coffee grounds in the water for a while, and then use the liquid for watering,
placing banana peel directly on the soil and wait until it breaks down.
Special care
No matter how resilient to the environment the plants are, there are some outer factors, especially pests and diseases, that will influence their well-being. Thus, frequent examining the foliage is a must! Luckily, they react rapidly to discomforts, so the problems are visible soon after they are affected.
Use the opportunity to check the plant's health when doing the occasional ''dusting" of the foliage. Our homes accumulate dust everywhere, so the leaves of your greens are not excluded. While gently wiping the foliage, check for any signs of change of color, texture, or drying. Any unusual symptoms might be the signs of pest infestation.
Still, sometimes hanging leaves can be a sign of overwatering or a temperature shock due to transport. According to relocation specialists from Eagle Van Lines Moving & Storage, some plants can show signs of discomfort after a long-distance move, no matter how well packed and handled. Fortunately, it's only temporary, and the plant will get back to its former state after adjusting to a new place.
Caption: Informing yourself about the most common signs of plant discomfort will help you find the solution sooner
Alt-tag: Woman reading a guide to caring for indoor plants
Winter care
During the wintertime, everything seems to slow down. Days are shorter, temperatures lower, the air is dryer. The environment is different, and as people, some plants are not taking these changes so well. Even though caring for indoor plants requires all-year-around engagement, winter usually comes with less pest-caused issues and less watering. Still, the temperature shock is not something to take lightly. The moment it starts getting colder in the autumn, protect your house plants. Putting isolation such as Styrofoam or cardboard on the windowsill and between glass and the plants is necessary if the temperatures are very low.
Conclusion
Hopefully, the guide to caring for indoor plants will help you with your new green home addition. Taking care of them might seem complicated on paper, but like with most things, it's all about getting used to the routine. Getting informed about the requirements and writing down specific instructions for your plant will help you in the beginning. Soon, after you've mastered your botanical skills, you might consider dedicating some time to landscaping your yard or maybe even having your own garden!
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