Tricks to Keep Indoor Plants Healthy, Growing and Blooming

In the modern households of today, nurturing and growing a full-fledged garden is but a distant dream. Even though the availability of space is less, it rarely does curb our love for plants. Don’t we all love to keep at least one indoor plant in our homes?

Not only do these marvellous little creations add a touch of nature to our humble abode, but they also have many health benefits. But just purchasing a pretty little plant and placing it one corner of your room or your balcony won’t do much good. These indoor plants, however small they may be, need and deserve a lot of attention and care to be fully healthy and grow well all through the year. Thus, you need to know the art of taking care of houseplants.

How to Maintain Indoor Plants in Your House

Maintaining indoor plants in their prime health and glory is not a tough job. There are some pretty simple tricks and tips which you can follow to get superb results. Mentioned below are our top favourites.

1. Plant Selection

Choosing an indoor plant for your house is not an easy task, because there are important pointers that you need to keep in mind while making your choice. Here are the main dos and don’ts you should keep in mind.

Here are the main dos and don’ts.

Dos

• Always match the plant with the amount of space you have available.
• See how much light is available in your home and then decide on a plant.

Don’ts

• Don’t choose a plant which needs a lot of sunlight, if your house doesn’t meet the requirement.
• Don’t choose a plant which doesn’t match your house ambience and ends up looking out of place.

2. Placement of the Plant

Do you remember those biology classes in school when you were taught how plants need sunlight the same way we need oxygen to survive? Indoor plants are not any different from other plants and demand sunlight to survive. Of course, the fact remains that indoor plants need a little less sunlight than those that grow into trees.

Here are the main dos and don’ts.

Dos

• Keep the plant in a partly shaded corner of the room.
• Keep the plant somewhere, where the temperature is predominantly warmer than the rest of the house.

Don’ts

• Don’t expose the plant directly to sunlight over extended periods of time.
• Don’t leave it out in the open for many days.

3. Water

Before leaving on a holiday, take all your plants and place them on an outdoor sink so that they have enough sunlight. Once done, place a plush towel on the soil of your indoor plants, and wrap it around so that it doesn’t fall off. Ever so slightly turn on the tap and wait until a drop of water falls on the towel and then leave it like that.

This will help your plants in two ways. First, the water from the tap will get soaked by the towel which will further get soaked in by the plant through the soil and second, you won’t have to worry about your plants getting watered too much as the towel will act as a natural filter.

Here are the main dos and don’ts.

Dos

• Use a plush towel as it will have low water retention and make sure your plants will get enough water.
• Leave the tap open ever so slightly, so that one drop falls at a time.

Don’ts

• Don’t use a cheap towel, as it will soak all the water and your plant will not be left with anything.
• Don’t fully leave the tap open else you risk overwatering your plants.

Neither under watering nor overwatering is advised for indoor plants, so always keep this in mind.

4. Soil

A pot holds a sacred place in an indoor plant’s life. Not only does the indoor plant grow in it from the very first day of its existence but it also stays in it for the rest of its life. It draws important nutrients from the soil the pot holds and also grows its roots into it. With all this said, you can truly understand how much of a difference choosing the right pot can make to your indoor plants’ health.

Here are the main dos and don’ts.

Dos

• Choose a type of soil having a higher water retention capacity.
• Always choose clay pots over other materials.
• Make sure your pot, has drainage holes for excess water to seep out.

Don’ts

• Don’t choose soil which has very less water retention capacity.
• Don’t use cheap pots like those made of plastic.

5. Fertilizer

Just like humans, food plays a very important role in a plant’s overall health and growth. Of course, the soil it grows has a lot of important nutrients and your local gardener might say that’s enough, but experts from around the world have a different opinion on this matter. Plants, like all other living beings on the Earth, need a little bit of extra nutrition here and there. This extra nutrition not only helps to catalyse and speed up their growth process, but also helps them be healthy round the year and blossom better.

Here are the main dos and don’ts.

Dos

• Place dried up tea leaves on and around the soil in the pot.
• Use the water left over from boiling eggs to provide extra nutrition.

Don’ts

• Don’t place hot tea leaves on the soil as they will create more damage than good.
• Don’t pour hot leftover water from boiling eggs onto them.

6. Temperature

We all love those movie scenes where every leaf on the screen has dew on it, portraying a vibrant and soothing look. But keeping your indoor plants moist throughout the day has more benefits for their health than you are likely to think.

Keeping the leaves and the overall plant moist at all times will one, help you make them look fresh and clean and two, moistening is a good way to provide much-needed water to new growing buds and roots. The main logic behind this is that watering directly will create an overload of water while not watering at all will make the plant go dry. Moistening it, on the other hand, is a sweet spot where there is always the perfect amount of water present.

Here are the main dos and don’ts.

Dos

• Use a bottle spray and nozzle to keep them moist.
• Use clean drinking water.

Don’ts

• Don’t directly pour the water on to the leaves without using a spray nozzle.
• Don’t use hard water as it might block the pores on the leaves.

Indoor plants won’t survive for long in a humid environment, so make sure you add moisture to your plants according to the level of humidity around.

7. Lustre

Are your indoor plant leaves looking dull and boring? Take a bowl and create a half and half mixture of water and milk. Take a small piece of sponge, dip it and gently rub them on the leaf surface. This will create an everlasting shine without the side effect of blocking your leaf pores.

Another trick you can use is to take a paper napkin and rub a little bit of mayonnaise on the surface of your leaves. In some cases, this trick has proved to be much more effective than the one we mentioned earlier, with the shine lasting for several weeks and in some cases even months.

Here are the main dos and don’ts.

Dos

• Use pasteurized milk as it has less density and will not block the pores on the leaf surface.
• Use vegetable mayonnaise only.

Don’ts

• Don’t use unpasteurized milk as you will risk blocking the pores on the leaves’ surface.
• Don’t use egg-based mayonnaise for the treatment.

8. Repotting

Repotting in gardening is a procedure where one changes the existing soil of their indoor plants. But just doing it one random day won’t help. The best time to repot, according to experts in gardening, is to begin just before your plant’s new growth starts. This way, it can get used to the new soil and thus lead a healthy and secure life in the future, without further repotting being needed.

Here are the main dos and don’ts.

Dos

• Use fresh soil purchased from a plant nursery.
• Use fresh fertilizers to add nutrients to the soil.

Don’ts

• Don’t use old or damp soil.
• Don’t use expired or very old fertilizers.

FAQs

1. How Do I Prune My Indoor Plant?

Pruning an indoor plant isn’t a regular affair but, once in a while, it can be done. To prune your indoor plant, take a small pair of scissors or plant pruners and just cut away the excess parts which you feel are not necessary.

2. Why Is My Plant Becoming Brown or Yellow at the Tip of Its Leaves?

Your plant can change colour because of a number of reasons. Two of the most common are, not getting enough water or having unsuitable soil. Changing either of these will definitely improve their condition.

3. Should I Move My Indoor Plant after Certain Intervals of Time?

Yes, you should; because they are not meant to be kept at constant exposure to sunlight and this might cause much more harm than good.

Gardening is an art that is learned over many years of experience and hard work. But for indoor plants, the few tricks and tips we shared above should do the job. Just remember to make a  schedule and follow the tricks outlined above with sincerity and commitment. These will not only help your plants grow well throughout their life but also keep them healthy and blossoming.

Also Read:

Indoor Plants That Can Clean & Purify the Air in Your Home
Best Flowering Plants to Brighten Up Your Home