Indoor Plants

[blaithin]

Calling all Indoor Plant Gurus!

So I have graduated from the "Killing every plant I own" stage to being able to keep some indoor, potted plants alive. (Although I currently have a couple kittens determined to test that ability. Summer barn weather for kittens can't come fast enough!)

However I would now like to work my way from just having living, green plants to having plants that actually grow LOL

So to you ladies out there with wonderful green thumbs that have living plants thriving and taking over your homes... Tell me your secrets!

So far I've tried fairly successfully to keep myself on a schedule of weekly watering. Less if they need less (the cactus), and have a little self watering doodad in if they need it more frequently (the spider plant). I tried those fertilizer spikes before but, because of my inconsistent watering, they didn't seem to actually dissolve and work   I currently have some liquid additive stuff that I sometimes remember to put in. But like I said, while things aren't dying, they're not necessarily growing either. I understand part of that right now is that it's winter here. The house isn't an ideal warm temperature and the sunlight is minimal despite all the southern windows being hogged by pots. I've heard various things like homemade fertilizer from egg shells, banana peels, sugar, coffee grinds and whatever else comes up. But since I'm so good at killing things I'm scared to actually try anything in case it really, really doesn't work.

Typing this I do recall that I bought a beautiful coffee table book on house plants a couple years back. I'm going to go try and find it and see if it also has helpful tips for me Haha

[saysfaa]

Most house plants like it much more humid than most houses are in the wintertime. It helps to put a pie plate of water under their pots - support the pot with marbles or something - in addition to whatever other forms of humidifying you can provide. The humidity is good for people too. One downside, though, if you live in a poorly insulated house or one that doesn't have good windows, is the condensation in or on the walls and windows.

[northstar]

I have a business where I take care of indoor plants at businesses. They are much drier than homes, usually low light. So the ones I like best that grow and always look good-
ZZ plant, philodendrens, there's lots of varieties,crotons-like more light, sheffleras, I can't remember the names of some of them.
Marsha

[lew92]

I have an ivy and a philodendron hanging above a window seat and they are thriving there. The window faces east and if I remember, I water them about every 2 weeks. These are plants that I got at Aldi for about $3 each, 2 or three years ago, in plastic hanging baskets and I've never repotted them or fertilized them.

We keep our house a bit cool in the winter - 64*F during the day, 60* at night - and I do have humidifiers going all the time. I also have a few plants in our spare bedroom, which doesn't have a heat vent, so stays about 60* all the time. South facing window and I only remember to water about every 3 weeks or so. Sometimes the plants do okay, other times they do great. The Christmas cactus seems to thrive on the neglect and tends to blossom about three times a year.

I would say less heat, more humidity and not so rigid scheduling. When I do re-pot plants, I use a mixture of barnyard dirt and vermiculite.

[bigredcow]

We have a prayer plant and a pothos that are doing quite well. I live off farm and our condo has ZERO sunlight in the winter with no east or south facing windows and a massive hill to the west.

We water when they tell us to water them (meaning we notice they look like they are dying 😱).

The cat decided to start eating the prayer plant, so it lives on top of the fridge. It has been dumped on the floor many times and always manages to survive, the poor thing. We had a nice jade plant that was less... durable.

I fertilize with water from my aquarium.

[northstar]

I use a moisture meter when I water once a week. Most plants only need watered every other week. More plants are killed by overwatering than underwatering.
Marsha

[raerae]

^^ this
My sister is envious of my greenthumb and is starting her own collection, in the laundry room, with a chicken wire screen door to protect them all from her cats...

I highly suggested starting with plants that thrive on neglect and low light:
Pothos philodedron, snake plant (mother in laws tongue), cast iron plant (I like Milkey way), peace Lily, spider plant.
They'll go a long way towards teaching you to care for them, which is mostly just leaving them alone.

Over watering is the leading cause of death, second being over feeding, third being repotting and pruning too much.
Unless you have cats.
Putting a screen, or large pebbles in the pot deters cats from using it as a litter box, but keep plants high or hanging if they're poisonous to animals eating them.

(Spider plant is a cat favorite for its slightly hallucinogenic properties, little like catnip, it's harmless to the cat, but they'll destroy the plant)

Most of my plants I water by setting in a bath for half an hour, or until the top of the soil is wet, then drain thoroughly, and wait until the top inch is dry, ( more in plants like pothos and spider plant, who actually prefer dry, overcrowded pots) before watering again. Think of it like a done cake; if it doesn't leave an indentation when you push a finger in,
it's probably time to water.

I do use grow lights, but growth still slows over winter, most indoor plants can't handle direct light, but do best in filtered bright light. Think southern exposure through sheer curtains.

I keep a humidifier in the same room as the plants, but our thermostat tells the humidity in the house, condensation can be a problem.

If your indoor air is dry, I find they need watered more often, and the smaller the pot, the faster it dries out.
Also, clay pots dry out faster than plastic or glazed as they pull water from the soil.
Never let plants sit in drain water, empty the catch plate.

Most plants only need fertilizer once a month, some at half strength, but keep in mind the soil they're potted in only needs fertilized after the nutrients are taken up by the plant.
Most potting soils feed for up to six months. I don't repot more than once a year, two in most cases, and usually I just divide the plant and put half in the original pot.

I check my plants daily, cuz I'm weird and obsessive like that. But if you just keep an eye on them often enough to see changes, they'll tell you if they're not getting enough or too much of something.
They wilt when they need water, or look dull and lose the bright green.
They get leggy and one sided if they can't reach enough light.
Burnt tips or yellow leaves can mean something different for each plant so learn what it means for the one you have. (Pothos and dumb cane are criers, they weep, leaving water droplets on the leaves, which contains salts that can leave burnt tips when it dries)

African violets are easy to keep, but most people don't know that they shouldn't water from the top, a drop of water on the leaves can rot them.

I'm no expert! I just have a knack for it and I'm a research addict!

Good luck and post pictures!

[blaithin]

Thank you raerae I was hoping after your one plant window photo you'd post your tips!

I really need to look up which plants I actually have. Some I don't even know the names of! I did just buy a spider plant a couple weeks ago. For some reason I never really wanted one, we always had them growing up, but now I just want green so I picked one up. (Also one of the only ones I can seem to find to buy this time of year anyway!) It's in a macramé plant hanger since I really enjoy those and they keep the plants safe from the kittens. I also have a Jasmine plant that was in my attempt at a fairy garden last year. All the other plants in the fairy garden slowly faded away due to season differences, yet somehow the Jasmine carries on and blooms regularly! And there's 3 orchids which, while not currently blooming, seem to be otherwise fine. Despite having mealy worm problems and teaching me how to deal with those. Then I have a little bonsai tree that's doing ok (although requiring pruning) and two plants I don't know the name of. One I think I have the tag for still so I can look it up and the other an old cowboy gave me. It's big, has palm leaves and has survived almost everything and come back as good as ever. Oh... and I have one of those generic looking tree things that looks like a cross between a palm tree and a spider plant. It's not surviving the kittens well but maybe I can bring it back to life. And I have some Amaryllis because I absolutely love them and grow many every year.

lew92 I really doubt being too warm inside is being an issue right now. I'm surprised some of them haven't died from drafts near windows LOL The thermostat is usually between 65 and 70 depending on the cold snap outside. But the humidity is going to definitely be an issue since winter is so dry here anyway and then you add in furnace heat. I was checking out the catch trays of the pots the other day to see if I could stick in some pebbles and add some water to help increase the humidity. Not sure if the ones I have are big enough for that to work though.

I did invest in a moisture reader like northstar suggested. Most of the plants are showing very moist on that scale  But I think a lot of it has to do with me using pots that are too big. I found my house plant book and it talks about using too big of a pot so that the plants roots don't access all the soil to use up the moisture which can lead to soggy dirt and root rot. I was always of the mind that if I gave them more room, they'd enjoy their liberation from their small garden store containers and fill it fast and not get root bound. Learn something new every day!

So now I'm going to go on a mission to let the pots dry out a bit - except the orchids - and the moisture reader will hopefully help me do that without panicking I'm drying them out too much!

Thanks for all the suggestions ladies! Especially of plants to look for

[treatlisa]

I think the orchids need to dry out too... my understanding was to water them well, drain water away, let them dry out for a week or 2 - then start again. It has worked well for me. I have several and a couple of them are about 4 years now. 2 of them just re-bloomed -always a thrill! Mine are potted in rocks or bark with a little moss - specifically so that they will dry out. I do try and get to them before they start to wilt. Which reminds me...

[blaithin]

Feb 16, 2018 0:26:57 GMT -5 treatlisa said:

I think the orchids need to dry out too... my understanding was to water them well, drain water away, let them dry out for a week or 2 - then start again. It has worked well for me. I have several and a couple of them are about 4 years now. 2 of them just re-bloomed -always a thrill! Mine are potted in rocks or bark with a little moss - specifically so that they will dry out.

A couple of mine came with labelled instructions (my kind of plant!) to give them 1/4c a week. The other said 1/2c every three weeks. So I figure with my shoddy memory if I aim for 1/4c a week they end up somewhere between the two instructions Lol

[treatlisa]

Sounds like a plan. I think as long as they aren't sitting in water all the time they will be fine.

[blaithin]

Well I haven’t killed them yet which makes me happy haha

I was always terrified to try orchids. Thought they were supposed to be hard. But when I was visiting family in Norway last year my step mom had a bunch just scattered around on windowsills. She said she’d water them a little bit every week or some of them liked an ice cube now and then, otherwise they were easy. Gave me the confidence to try them myself so I bought one when I got home. Which means I’ve had the oldest since the beginning of June and it’s still green! It’s outlived a couple other plants actually Lol

[raerae]

My dahlias started blooming again at Christmas, but I cut them to the ground, along with my geraniums, my parade rose and all 3 of my hostas in order to eradicate white powdery mildew and red spider mites.
Alcohol on wpm, mild soap on mites, black pepper sprinkled and sprayed as tea. Worked, but damage was done after a month of neglect dealing with Maggie and Christmas. They had to be cut back to start over.
They're recovering. The rose is already 4"tall and the dahlias in their smaller pots are between 3 and 6", they'll be ready to go out when spring is finally here.
I find geraniums really picky, but they're supposedly some of the easiest and most hardy house plants. Mine don't like being inside. At all.

I like big, full foliage air purifying plants, I've never had an orchid or a bonsai, though I'd love to! I'm just afraid I'd kill them.

I started 3 saplings as bonsai experiments 2 years ago, an elm, a oak, and.... I can't think of the name of the last one atm.... Fibro fog...
Anyway, they're doing ok, the elm is actually thicker trunked and adapting very well, just trying to get leaf size down... Except my dog ate the leaves...

Point is, stuff happens. Some things are inevitable, but you can almost always cut back and start again.


ETA, I really do recommend researching care on each one, some plants cannot be fed over winter, growth slows and it'll burn the roots instead of being absorbed.
Some need liquid plant food and some do better on slow release granules.
You mentioned potting up too big, that's especially a problem with shallow root plants like pothos, their roots will rot so easily in deep large pots that tends to be wet far too long. It's another reason they prefer to be crowded and root bound like spider plants.
When you do need to pot up, remember to gently spread the roots... I had a beautiful plant given to me in a pot it should've been happy in for years...
When it nearly died I pulled it out...
It had been repotted, but the soil in the bigger pot basically served as a small pot itself... The roots were still bound in a solid clump in the shape of the original pot it was grown in.
So it came out like a cork.
It had no way to stretch out into its new pot.
I also usually only pot up young plants as they outgrow their starter pots.
Large plants I divide and set back the original sized plant in the original pot, with the new divisions going into new pots appropriate for their size.
Plants actually do better being a little root bound before moving up, it forces them to grow... (sigh, words...) the small vein roots..... Rather than tap root, the smaller roots, hair root, absorbs more nutrient and water.

Anyway... You shouldn't have to repot anything for a long time. But do check the pot and root ball when you bring home a new plant, especially if it's from a commercial grower, Walmart, Aldis, grocery store, etc.
I do like Lowe's, they contact with a nursery that grows specifically for them, but there's a beautiful little nursery near me that I'd like to live in of i could lol

[sdmilkmaid]

You mean orchids would survive with my cactus that thrives? !!!

I have a cactus, (and now it's baby) a Christmas cactus, a gorgeous aloe, and a mother-in-law's tongue.
I killed a dieffenbachia, a spider plant, and some ugly ivy thing.
I had an amaryllis, too, but it was dried out when we moved and I forgot it. I got it to re bloom once in about 5 years, by repotting it with compost, and watering it with the rinsings from a honey jar.
Rachel

[raerae]

^^ hey don't knock a cactus, I have several in with my succulents and I like them.
They're like.... Idk... Toy plants, they're so cute!
They are outgrowing the pot though... In six months the cactus grew from two inches to eleven.... -Insert off colored joke here-

[sdmilkmaid]

I'm not knocking the cactus. I like them.
My piano teacher when I was a kid had a whole shelf of different cacti. I would love to have more, but DH thinks cactus jump out and grab you. *eye roll*
Rachel

[blaithin]

I’m currently in the process of killing a Christmas cactus 🙈🙈🙈

[lew92]

Overwatering Succulents like Christmas cactus need a lot less watering than other plants.

If your plants are above a heat vent, shut it completely. Even 65-70*F is way too hot and dry with that direct heated air. When I had orchids, I read that the pot should be set on a tray of pebbles with the lower tray watered to keep humidity around the plant, but not around the roots. Mine did well for a couple of years and even re-bloomed, but then I forgot it near the window in the un-heated sunroom and it froze one winter.

[blaithin]

I’m not sure I’ve watered my Christmas cactus Lol

I think it’s a victim of moms repotting technique. If plants manage to survive me then they have to survive her (and vice versa)

[blaithin]

I thought I’d take a peak at the cactus to see if I could help it.

It was still in its tiny store pot, just that was placed in a larger pot and heaped over with dirt hahahaha

Oh dear :x