Houseplant Care

Choosing and buying, watering and feeding, potting and propagating houseplants are the fundamentals of growing plants indoors

Growing plants in small pots indoors is not easy. When planted in the ground outdoors, the cycle of the seasons determines the growth of plants. However, when plants are grown indoors they are expected to grow without problems because of the constant temperature and manual watering.

Often plants are selected because they have caught the eye of the buyer -- not always because of the growing conditions of the room that they will be in. It is better to look at the type of light and temperatures in a room and then select the plants that are more suited to those conditions.

Displaying houseplants in decorative ways is nearly as important as growing them successfully. They can be displayed singly or in groups, in hanging baskets or in bottles and terrariums.

It is not uncommon for plants to grow much slower indoors than they would outdoors. Many plants are known to stop growing or showing sign of development or change from fall to winter.

Indoor plants have different needs compared to outdoor plants and this means that they should not be “killed with kindness” either.

It is necessary to control the temperature indoors for the plants to thrive. It is recommended to keep the temperature between 60 degrees to 70 degrees F during the daytime and 55 to 65 degrees during the night.

It is advisable to keep the plants away from a drafty location as this could lead to the plants drying. Instead of keeping your plants in direct sunlight, it will do them good to keep them in a place that gets adequate light but not directly from the sun.

The varying changes in the day and night temperature will only damage the plants.

In the winter, the indoor environment gets a lot drier than the summer. This adversely affects the plants. Therefore it is advised to ‘spray bathe’ the plants twice a week to keep them healthy.

Finally, a word about watering the plants: Tap water from your home is not good for your plants. You should store the water in a container and use it for watering the plants after keeping it for a day or two. This will help dissipate the Chlorine which damages the plant.