Tips for successfully raising houseplants
If you’ve had a love/hate relationship with houseplants, it might be time to give them another chance.
Many people love houseplants and cultivate them to beautify and enhance their living space.
Others, however, avoid houseplants at all costs, claiming they only have to look at a plant to trigger its swift demise.
If you’re someone who has a love/ hate relationship with houseplants, or who has tried without success to raise them and given up, it might be time to give them another chance, suggested Dr. David Sanford, associate professor of ornamental horticulture at Penn State Berks.
Sanford and Dee Dee Kerscher, a Master Gardener and horticultural program assistant for the Master Gardener Program of Berks County, offered some tips for getting started with or becoming more adept with houseplants.
Don’t get too attached
The first thing Sanford advises is to avoid becoming overly sentimental about your plants.
“My feeling is that they’re disposable,” he said. “If you buy a plant and it doesn’t grow, try a different plant.”
Unless you have an African violet or fern that’s been handed down through five generations of family members and is now in your care, don’t sweat it. If you are the keeper of that family heirloom, call the Master Gardeners at 610-378-1327 for advice.
Buy the right plant for your home
Matching a houseplant to the right spot in your home is crucial to its health and survival. If you’ve got south-facing windows where light streams in all day, you can grow just about anything you want, according to Sanford.
“But, you can’t put a flowering plant or a plant with variegated leaves in a dark spot and expect it to do well,” he said.
A rule of thumb, Sanford said, is that the darker the leaf of the plant, the better it will survive in lower light.
If you move houseplants outside and back inside, do so gradually
A mistake some gardeners make is moving houseplants too quickly, Kerscher said.
Many people move houseplants outside once the threat of frost has passed. The problem, she said, is that moving a plant from moderate indoor to bright, hot outdoor sunlight can shock and harm a plant.
Conversely, houseplants should be transferred from outdoors in the fall to indoors gradually, giving them time to get used to less sun and light.
Don’t over water, but don’t under water
More people over water their houseplants than underwater them, Sanford said, but there’s no one rule for how often to pull out the sprinkling can.
“You don’t want the leaves to wilt, but you want the plant to get dry before you water it again,” he advised.
Some gardeners like to stick a finger in the dirt up to the first knuckle to check on the moistness below the surface.
Generally, Sanford said, he waters his indoor plants once a week.
“But, my grandmother watered every Sunday and every Wednesday, and her plants grew as well as mine,” he said.
Watch your indoor temperatures
Most houseplants do well in daytime temperatures between 70 and 78 degrees, with nighttime temperatures 5 to 10 degrees cooler. Temperatures for tropical plants must be controlled more carefully than for some other varieties.
Know when and how to fertilize
Plants in an indoor environment generally don’t grow very fast, meaning they don’t need a lot of fertilizer. They do, however, need some.
Kerscher prefers to use a slowrelease fertilizer, to be applied in the spring and again in the fall.
“When your plants start to show new growth in the spring, it’s time to fertilize,” she said.
Plants to try
English ivy, philodendron, snake plant, pothos, ferns, dieffenbachia and peace lilies are examples of plants that can grow in lower light environments. Fiddleleaf figs also are popular houseplants, and not difficult to grow.
To improve your chances of growing houseplants successfully, Sanford advises sticking with the basics.
“My general feeling with indoor plants is that you’ll probably have better luck with nonflowering plants and those with dark leaves,” he said.