Houseplant myths
From watering and misting to making your own fertiliser, ‘plantfluencer’ Tony Le-britton digs in to discover the truth. By HANNAH STEPHENSON
Over years of lovingly tending his houseplants, self-taught grower and prolific indoor plant collector Tony Le-britton has learned that not all advice on maintaining plants rings true.
The ‘plantfluencer’ – whose Instagram account at @Notanotherjungle has built up more than 230k followers – has now written a book, which sorts the fact from the fiction.
Here are some of the houseplant expert’s findings...
Myth: Bottom watering is best
“If it’s working for you, fine – but for someone who hasn’t dealt with plants before, top watering is really going to help, or if you overwater plants or have plants with root rot, top watering is going to help,” says Tony.
“The problem with bottom watering is if you’re sticking a pot into water, the substrate oversaturates and absorbs so much more water than just watering from the top. And that means if you don’t have lots of light, and your plant isn’t using that water fast enough, then it’s much more likely to be over watered, and to cause root rot and other problems.”
Myth: You must stick to a watering schedule
“People think that you read a care label on a plant that says, ‘Water every seven days’, or ‘Water every seven to 10 days’. Well, it could need watering every two days, if it’s getting
optimum levels of light and it’s really warm. Or it also could need watering every month if it’s low light. You might check your plants – and some will need watering, other’s won’t,” he says. “Only water it when it’s dry.”
Myth: Tap water is bad for plants
“Tap water is absolutely fine for houseplants. The only exception to that is carnivorous plants, which require rainwater or water from a river or a pond, something like that,” he says, adding that levels of chlorine in tap water are way below
any level which would affect your houseplants.
Myth: You have to mist
“If you are trying to increase humidity, it’s not doing that. And it can cause things like fungal problems on the leaf if the water is not drying off,” says Tony. “The plants we have available to us do not need any extra humidity, other than a regular home environment.”
Myth: Homemade fertiliser is always best
Tony says home-made fertilisers are “a total waste of food or total waste of time. Sometimes it can actually create a negative impact on the plant.
“For houseplants, get a synthetic natural blend fertiliser, as they are not able to access natural fertilisers very well,” he suggests.
“Comfrey fertiliser is brilliant, seaweed fertiliser is brilliant, when used outside, because in the soil you have bacteria that can break those nutrients down and make them accessible to the plants.”
Tony says if you put comfrey fertiliser in your houseplant soil, it can cause a build-up of anaerobic bacteria, root rot and fungus gnats. ■ Not Another Jungle by Tony Le-britton, right, is published by DK, priced £16.99