When it comes to indoor landscapes, almost every household has houseplants decking up a few corners. While some might keep them for aesthetic purposes, others might understand their more significant role before keeping them.
No matter what your purpose is, having houseplants is always a good option as they create an extremely lively aura and uplift the ambience of the space. However, your job is not done with the right selection of plants or giving them an apt corner of rest. Having indoor greens comes with a definite responsibility of keeping them healthy and thriving. They need attention and proper living conditions, just as any living being.
It is okay if you haven’t read the manual beforehand. Here are certain essential tips to help you take care of your indoor garden and keep your plants healthy and happy. Take the guide:
1. Avoid Movement
Plants take time to get habituated to a surrounding and change their structure and leaf orientations accordingly. So, avoid moving them around often and exposing them to different elements as it might damage the foliage or stunt their growth. The signs when you move them are falling leaves, or plants turning pale altogether.
2. Water Moderately
One of the major reasons for indoor plant deaths is overwatering. One must know that indoor plants need, comparatively, lesser H2O than outdoor plants and if they receive excess water, it leads to rotten root. Make sure you allow the soil to be dry partially before you water them next. You can mist leaves and aerial roots for healthy foliage growth. Always use pots with holes for excess water to drain out.
3. Choose The Right Container
The colour, size, and material matters a great deal in keeping the indoor plants healthy and thriving. As aforementioned, you must always choose pots with drainage holes. While choosing the container, you must always keep in mind the plant needs and your decoration needs. If you intend to start seeds in plastic pots, make sure you always sterilize them to avoid bacteria. For clay pots, you must clean them from time to time to remove salt and clinging earth to avoid diseases. Soak the pots in a bleach solution.
4. Clean Often
Use a moist cloth or damp cotton to clean the dust off the foliage from the base to the top and the tip. Always use lukewarm water to wash the plants as cold water might cause spots. Avoid using polishes and oils as it might cause the pores to block and result in difficult breathing of plants.
5. Match The Environment Conditions
Different house plants need different environmental conditions to grow. Certain plants like pothos, ZZ plants, snake plant etc will thrive well under low lighting conditions while indoor plants like orchids, spider plant, succulents and so forth will not complain even if you occasionally forget to water them. So, choose the plants according to the lighting or humidity conditions of your house, your availability and interest etc.
6. Prune Regularly
Pruning encourages new growth. Make sure you regularly prune the plants before they get an unbalanced growth. The plants should receive pruning right from an early age for their proper size and shape. It also helps save the plant from the dead and diseased leaves.
7. Use Good Quality Soil
For proper nutrition and aeration, it is important to use good quality soil and not the regular garden soil. Opt for packaged potting soil from the nursery as they are exclusively mixed to give the right kind of nutrients. A good container soil consists of perlite, peat moss, and vermiculite. However, make sure you fertilize the soil regularly as nutrients in the container soil can exhaust after some time.
With these tips to keep in mind, your plants are sure to thrive healthily while you enjoy a lush indoor scene.
