Steps for when things go to pot
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OT everything will go to plan. Wardrobe failures are legendary in TV circles, such as the female star’s frock letting her down – usually live on air. And as I know too well from hosting my own show, props vanish just when the camera is meant to zoom in for a close-up. You have to act fast to retrieve the situation. But it is just the same at home. Most parents are well versed in dealing with every domestic disaster from lost homework to hysterical relatives. But when it comes to a house plant crisis, ah, that’s a bit different.
There are only so many ways a pot plant can let you know something’s wrong, so watch out for the warning signs – shedding leaves, yellowing, browning, wilting and flowers that die off far too fast.
Don’t panic. Get back into good habits. Start your day by checking plants, testing the compost with a finger or lifting pots to see if they feel light, a sure sign the compost inside is bone dry. Take a small can of water around with you and dose plants that need it but don’t go too far the other way and leave plants standing in saucers of water or they’ll drown.
While you’re at it, give pot plants a swift “picking over”. Occasional yellow leaves or dying flowers are only natural but if it’s happening quickly it may be a reaction to overly hot rooms or faulty watering. With cyclamen, it’s important to tug out spent flowers complete with stalks when the petals go over, so there’s no “stub” left to go rotten, as it spreads disease and can kill the corm.
With cymbidium orchids, nip off the lowest flowers when they fade and the buds on the rest of the spike will continue opening for weeks. But when hyacinth or narcissus are past their best, put the whole plant outside as there’s nothing more to come this season.
Tatty-looking plants want taking out of your display so find a windowsill in the utility room to turn into a temporary “convalescent corner”. Take off dying flowers or dead leaves which immediately reduces much of plants’ stress. LANTS that have dried out to wilting point need a good soak but let the pot drain well afterwards. Conversely, waterlogged ones need standing up on stones in a bowl so they can drip dry. Try to keep invalids at a steady room temperature and mist them over once or twice a day to raise humidity.
Once they are looking better, they can go back “on show”.
The trick is to know when you’ve a real no-hoper on your hands. It happens to the best of us. Sling it out and console yourself by thinking, “better luck next time”.
ENSURE MUM’S THE WORD THIS CHRISTMAS