BRING HOUSEPLANTS BACK INDOORS

If your houseplants have been enjoying a holiday on the patio, now’s the time to bring them back indoors before the onset of cold weather. But first give them a little TLC: l Check for pests. Look over them for signs of scale insect, mealy bugs and red spider mite, and diseases such as mildew. Check under the pots and beneath the rims for slugs. Carefully tip them out of their pots to make sure that the roots are healthy and there are no vine weevil grubs. Treat if necessary with a biological control such as Nemasys. l Remove faded blooms. Take off spent blooms and yellowing foliage with clean secateurs, and remove any dirt or dust from leaves with a damp cloth. Dust hairy leaves with a fine paintbrush. l Reduce watering. Don’t feed foliage plants now until spring. Continue to feed flowering plants for another month or so with a liquid houseplant fertiliser to encourage more flowers. Then, stop feeding to allow the plants to enter their dormant resting phase.