Growing indoor plants is a delightful and fulfilling activity that can cater to everyone’s preferences. Plants that require a low amount of light and water to thrive are typically known as indoor plants. If you’re interested in cultivating indoor plants, I can assist you with some vital factors to consider when growing plants indoor.
1. Picking Plants
- Indoor plants are a great way to enhance the beauty of your home or workspace. Some of the most popular indoor plants include Dracaena, Hedera Helix, Sansevieria, Zeylanica, and Superba.
- In addition to these, there are other common indoor plants such as Aglaonema, Ferns, Philodendrons, Palms, Pothos, Spathiphyllum, and Succulents.
- If you want to decorate your indoor space with some greenery, you can consider these easy-to-care-for plants: Sansevieria, Philodendron, Succulents, Pothos, and ZZ plant.
2. Lighting
- Indoor plants are those that require minimal light and water to survive. When selecting a plant, it’s important to think about the amount of light in your space.
- Different plants require different amounts of light, so it’s essential to narrow down your choices based on your space’s light conditions.
- It’s important to place your plant near a source of light, whether it’s natural or artificial. This will help your plant grow and thrive.
3. Watering
- Water is an essential component for the survival of plants. Even desert plants such as cacti and succulents require watering at some point.
- In winter, houseplants can survive for a week or two without water if the room is cool but above the minimum temperature they can tolerate.
- When watering your plants, avoid routine watering and only water when the surface of the compost is dry.
- Additionally, take into consideration the temperature of the room the plants are in as this may affect how often they need watering.
- Make sure to water the pot until water flows out of the drainage hole.
4. Caring
- Plants can be grouped and covered with polythene to control water loss.
- Placing plants onto a tray with capillary matting for water absorption.
- To water your plant effectively, you can use a capillary matting strip as a wick. Insert one end of the wick into the base of your plant container and the other end into a larger container filled with water. This allows your plant to absorb the water it needs, ensuring it stays hydrated.
5. Feeding
- Liquid fertilizer can be applied every month at full strength, or at a quarter strength at every watering during the growing season.
- Alternatively, you can apply granular fertilizer to the soil surface once or twice per season.
- Foliage plants thrive with high-nitrogen fertilizers (N).
- It is recommended to use fertilizers that are high in phosphorous (P) and potassium (K) for flowering plants.
Caution
- It is important to bring water to room temperature before using it on plants, especially in winter, as cold water can harm or kill plants.
- It is important to allow tap water to stand in an open container for a minimum of 24 hours to let the chlorine dissipate as it can be toxic to plants.
- It is important to keep the potting soil moist, but not too wet or too dry.
- Please make sure that the plant pot you are using has drainage holes at the bottom. This will help to prevent water from getting stagnant and causing harm to the plant’s roots.
- It is important not to apply fertilizer to dry soil, as this can damage your plant’s roots.
