Healthy Houseplants

Who wants to know a thing or two about houseplants? These helpful tips are for the non-fanatic gardener, including tips for potting, when and how to properly water, correct light conditions, proper drainage, hangings baskets, insecticides, when to repot a plant, keeping it healthy, diagnosing the sickies and much more.

More Water

Houseplants need MORE water if:

• The pot is clay.

• The light is bright and sunny and the temperature is above 65 degrees F.

• The stems are thin and woody and leaves are thin and large.

• The pot is filled with roots.

• The plant is mature.

Less Water

Houseplants tend to need LESS water if:

• The pot is plastic.

• The light is dim and temperature is below 65 degrees F.

• The stems are thick and have thick, succulent leaves.

• The houseplant has been recently transplanted.

• The houseplant is immature.

Hanging House Plants

If your hanging houseplant has no saucer, put a plastic shower cap across the bottom of the basket while watering it. It looks silly but it will catch the extra water and save drips on the floor.

Drainage

If you want a lightweight drainage layer in the bottom of hanging planters, use the styrofoam leftover from meat trays and packing boxes instead of the usual gravel.

House Plants in Plastic Pots

House plants in plastic pots need less fertilizer than those in clay pots. Green scum on the pots and white crust on top of the soil means the plants are receiving too much food.

New House Plants

True houseplant lovers say you should isolate a new house plant from others for a couple of weeks to make sure it is insect and disease free.

Spray Bath

An easy way to give your houseplants a refreshing spray bath is to put them all in the bathtub and spray water.

Increasing Humidity

Some houseplants, among them coleus, ficus, Christmas Cactus and bromeliads, prefer a humidity of about 70 percent. In most homes in the winter months it is usually down to 25-40 percent. You can increase humidity by putting plants over the kitchen sink or in the bathroom. Grouping them together also helps because the air is usually more humid around several plants. Set them on top of a tray of gravel, sand or peat moss that is kept wet.

While you're on Vacation

Here's the best trick yet for keeping houseplants alive and well while you're away. Water the house plant well, then enclose it completely in a clear plastic bag from the cleaners or a clear painting drop cloth to cover a table of plants. Place in normal light and tie the bag securely top and bottom with string or a twist tie. You don't even have to take down your hanging baskets. Moisture collects and keeps the plant healthy for a month, we know for sure, and possibly longer. Warning: When you come home don't rip off the plastic bag abruptly or the houseplants will suffer from shock. Untie the top gradually let the houseplants adjust to the outside air for a day before removing the covering entirely.

• Another way to care for houseplants while you are on vacation, is to place the plants on bricks in a bathtub filled with 1/4 inch water. Cover the tub with a large plastic sheet or drop cloth and seal the edges.

Re-potting Houseplants

When do you re-pot? Those roots will intertwine until they strangle themselves and kill the plant unless you know the danger signs:

• Roots poking through the drainage hole.

• Slight wilt after you water.

• Lower leaves are sickly yellow.

• Leaf size gets smaller.

Getting Potted

• Take a piece of broken clay pot and put it over each drain exit in the pot you are using. Place it with the curved outside "up" to allow water to drain under and out.

• If you wish to set a pot with drainage holes in a decorative, glazed pot without a hole, add a one-inch layer of pebbles inside the larger pot to stand the smaller one on. Besides good drainage and being able to see if your plant is standing in water, it makes watering easy. You never have to worry about rings on the table.

• If you plant directly into a pot without a drainage hole, begin with a layer of broken crocking pieces and pebbles. Then add a half-inch layer of pea-sized charcoal and a pad of sphagnum moss or something similar. These layers should bring the level up to about one-third of the pot depth before adding soil.

• When you buy a plant, the greenhouse it came from may not have crocked it. If it hasn't been done, you should do so when you re-pot.

• Whatever kind of container you are potting or crocking in, be sure it's clean. Use steel wool and warm water to wash out the remains of a previous plant. Dry the pot well before putting in a new plant.

Before You Get the Insecticide Try These Steps

• Examine cut flowers and new plants brought into the house to be sure they are free of pests.

• Use sterilized soil for potting.

• Some insects may be washed from a plant with a lukewarm spray of water or a solution of 2 teaspoons mild detergent to a gallon of water.

• If only one or two plants are involved, you can handpick some insects off the plant or use a cotton swab dipped in alcohol.

"Homey" Treatments for Your Potted Plants

• Put several empty egg shells into a quart of water and let them stand for a day. Water your sick plants with this mixture.

• To revive tired ferns, water them with 1/2 cup of salt added to six pints of lukewarm water.

• Cold tea makes a good fertilizer for house plants and act as an insecticide, as well.

• If worms have infested your ferns, stick matches into the soil, sulphur end down. Four to six should do it, depending on the size of the pot.

Diagnosing the "Sickies"

• General Defoliation: Sudden change in temperature or light, transplanting shock or over watering is usually the cause.

• Browning of leaf tips: Probably due to over watering or under watering, but this also results in excessive fertilizing.

• Spotted foliage: Over watering is again the culprit in most instances, but also check that the plant has not been burned from direct sunlight.

• Leaves drop shoots are dwarfed and branch repeatedly; also, new leaves are small: This usually means the plant has been injured by unburned cooking gas in the atmosphere.

• No blossoms; Look for insufficient light, too high temperature at night, over watering, poor drainage, lack of food, or compacted soil.

• Wilting: A general drooping can be caused by the pot standing in water or from not enough moisture. Perhaps the plant was in the sun or a warm place too long.

• Hard, lifeless, sour looking soil: Scrape away the top inch or two of soil and work around the roots with a small spoon. Apply a light top dressing of new soil or mix, the same depth as that removed.

Moderation

Keep your head in this whole house plant rage; you have your own life to live, too. If you look at houseplants as attractive decorative accessories but aren't interested in more than routine tending, buy full-grown plants that are the right size for the spots you plan to put them. Water and fertilize them as necessary and when they become unattractive, replace them with new houseplants. Do not feel guilty.

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