Indoor Plants

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Indoor Plants

Indoor plants are not only attractive to look at, but they also filter the air we breathe inside our homes and work environments. One thing to be careful about, however, is that they are not poisonous to animals or humans.

Watering Tips for when you are away:

Place your plants onto a towel on the draining board next to the sink. Fill the sink with water and drape the end of the towel into the water. The plants will soak up water as and when they need it. Make sure the plants are not in direct sunlight and that their drainage holes are not blocked.

Arrange your plants around a bucket full of water. Using cotton string or other absorbent materials, stick one end securely into the potting soil and the other end into the water.
Rubber Plant

First give your plant a good watering and then, using an old clear plastic bag and four wooden skewers, place the plant into the bag and stick the four skewers into the soil. The sticks should reach past the top of the plant and allow the bag to touch the leaves. Pull the bag up and tie it to seal the top. The water will be recycled back to the plant by evaporation from the leaves. This is the survival method used to obtain water when stranded out in the desert.

Place several plants into a waterproof box or planter and fill with moist peat. This is a way of keeping the plants moist, especially in very dry conditions.

Other Handy Hints:

Water is absorbed through the roots via the potting medium, feeding the stem which physically supports the plant and ensures it stands firm and upright. Water is absorbed through the leaves in the form of vapor, also. Humid conditions are critical to many plants, especially plants from tropical regions.

By placing a few pots together, they not only look pleasant, but they help create a better atmosphere for themselves, forming a "micro-climate". Periodically mist those plants with a hand mister - that helps increase the humidity around the leaf area.

A fish tank without mice or fish in it can make a planter for herbs, cactus or a mini garden with statues in it.

An avocado stone planted directly into potting soil will start you off with a hardy indoor plant. Keep well watered.

Cyclamen

- Keep the soil moist but not soggy and put the plant in a cool window. The optimum nighttime temperature for cyclamen is 50F or 10C. To get it to bloom again, remove dead flowers and yellowed foliage. Keep the plant on the dry side in a warm area for a few months until new leaves start to appear. Then repot and return it to a cool, low-light area. An alternative is to simply continue watering and feeding cyclamen, keeping it in a bright window until it blooms again.

Water plants like cyclamens and African violets from the bottom. Place pots in a tray of water, and let the soil naturally soak up the water. However, once the soil is saturated, don't leave the pots in the water. Excessively soaked soil may lead to root rot. Cyclamen crowns and foliage are susceptible to fungal rot if too wet.

Wash your plants and give them a good soak in the bath or the shower. Sprinkle water gently over them. This works really well for hanging baskets that tend to drip water everywhere.

Soak eggshells in water for a day. The drained-off water is excellent for feeding your indoor plants.

Coffee grounds and teal leaves are good fertilisers for indoor plants.

Plastic bottles make excellent plant pots if you cut off the tops. Grow seeds in them and watch the roots spread. Don't forget to punch drainage holes in the bottom of the bottle.

A well-drained, nourishing potting mix and regular fertilizer is essential for root growth and development.

Regular watering of indoor plants is necessary but allow the plant to almost dry out first. This means you will not be over-watering, and different atmospheres and conditions in the house will influence the plants' watering needs. The larger the plant's leaf surface, the more water it will require.

Plants can burn if kept in direct sunlight so make sure they have filtered Ivy Corner

light, especially in summer. Without adequate light, plants often become spindly reaching toward a source of light and may shed leaves, especially older leaves. Variegated plants may revert to solid green. Flowering plants may fail to flower. Ultimately, a lack of light will result in the death of the plant.

If a leaf is completely dead or yellow, remove it. If more than half of the leaf is damaged or discoulored, remove the entire leaf. If only a small area of a leaf is off colour, you can trim off that area to the natural shape of the leaf. For best results use a good pair of sharp scissors.

When you trim, make sure to leave a small edge of brown or yellow tissue. This will provide a barrier to help prevent further damage of healthy tissue. Cutting into healthy green tissue, may encourage further injury of the leaf tissue.

Ferns do best in a moist atmosphere so should be kept away from strong draughts, air conditioning, and sunlight though windows. They grow well in bathrooms where the high humidity levels keep them happy.

Humidity is usually too low in the home for fine, thin-leafed ferns. Double pot your plants to help provide extra moisture. Double pot by placing the main growing container inside a second container lined with moist sphagnum moss. You can also lightly mist ferns occasionally. The humidity level in houses is very low during winter and ferns will need extra attention.

Ferns have a fibrous root system (roots near the surface) which limits their planting to shallow pots, approximately 4 to 6 inches deep except for very large specimens.

If you are going away on holiday, your indoor ferns are the most likely plants to shrivel and die, because they need humidity to survive unscathed. Cover them with a sealed, clear plastic bag to keep them happy. Make sure the plastic is held away from the leaves, by using small sticks.

If you have house cats, add some pine cones to your plants. This will keep them from digging. If you can�t find pine cones, use some cayenne pepper.

If your foliage begins to turn yellow, the real problem may be one of excess soluble salts or fertilizers in the soil. Water the soil heavily to remove toxic salts. A general lightening in colour of the foliage and production of a smaller sized leaf may indicate that you need to start a feeding program. Feed indoor green plants regularly when they are actively growing. This generally coincides with late Spring, Summer and early Autumn. Apply fertilisers Ivy Corner

when the soil is moderately moist otherwise you may easily injure the root system if you fertilise an overly dry soil ball.

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