House Plant Care Guide
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House Plant Care and How to Water Plants
How much water do I give my plants? Follow this plant care guide to find out. Proper plant care requires the knowledge of knowing how much to water and feed your plants and when to feed your house plants. To get the best results from house plants also requires a one-to-one relationship with each plant you own. To achieve proper plant care you must consider all of the variables; type of plant, type of plant container, amount and kind of light your houseplant is to receive, ideal potting mixes and plant foods, the seasons to grow your plants, the ideal temperature for your plants to thrive, and the right amount of humidity your plants should receive. Most importantly, to get the ultimate growth from your house plants, you need to know how much to water and how much to feed your plants. I'll show the best stores online to buy plant care books, plant food, organic plant food, houseplant gifts, and even the coolest water cans. Learn how to successfully keep your house plants thriving, even a bonsai tree, by following the house plant care guide provided.
How to Water Plants
When to Water Your Plants
Don't set up a regular schedule for watering your plants, but do set up a regular schedule for checking on them.
Plants generally need watering more often when:
Making active growth
In clay pots and other porous containers
On bright days
In small pots
When roots fill pot
Plants generally need watering less often when:
Resting or dormant
Newly potted or repotted
In nonporoous pots, such as plastic
On cloudy days
In large pots
Learn the general water requirements for each of the plants you own. These requirements fall into three categories:
Plants that like to be on the moist side. Never allow these to dry out completely. Keep evenly moist - not soggy, but never dry. Some ferns, for example, like an evenly moist soil.
Plants that like to dry out between waterings. Most houseplants will fall into this category. Water these plants thoroughly; then do not water again until the soil feels dry to the touch.
Plants that like to go bone-dry between waterings. Many cacti and succulents fall into this group. Water thoroughly; then let soil go dusty dry to the touch. Dig your finger in beneath the soil surface to feel for traces of moisture before watering again.
Provide for humidity, especially in the winter, and especially if you have a forced hot air heating system, which draws moisture out of the air like a blotter. Enough humidity can make the difference between thriving and struggling plants. You can also do your health and complexion a favor by putting moisture back into the air. Ways to do so:
Install a humidifier.
Lower your thermostat in winter. A 68 degree setting may put you in a sweater, but yours fuel bills and your plants will be better off with lower temperatures.
Mist your plants regularly and often.
Place plants on trays or saucers that are filled with pebbles so that water can drain off but remain to add moisture to the air.
Houseplant Gift
This dazzling dish garden is a houseplant gift of stylish beauty for any occasion that's also extremely easy to care for! Dish garden arrives beautiful and blooming with vibrant greens and bright blooms. Blooming plant may be a Kalanchoe or an Anthurium. Eastern-style bamboo planter with a sage green screen; measures 3.75"H x 9"D. Measures overall approximately 16"H.
Make their gift even more unforgettable with:
* A festive Mylar balloon, available for an additional $3.99; choose from Happy Birthday or Get Well
What's The Story?
Depending on its components, dish gardens are also called foliage gardens, European gardens or cactus gardens. Another type of dish garden, perhaps the ultimate definition of one, is the terrarium.
Purchase this lovely houseplant gift at: Blooming Dish Garden
Do You Know How to Water Plants?
Have you ever had a plant die due to under watering or over watering it?
Easy Indoor Gardening with AeroGardens
How to Water Plants
Always saturate the soil when you water plants, even for plants that like things on the dry side. All plants, if properly potted in soil that drains well, will be better off with a good soaking when they need water than if they get only enough water to tease the roots.
Try not to let your plants reach the wilting stage before watering them. When plants are allowed to go too dry, the newest growth is usually damaged first. Young foliage wilts, browns, and dies. Some plants suffer if they go dry for only a day too long.
Your sense of touch is important in knowing when potted plants need water. Touch the leaves as well as the soil. Learn the feel of leaves that are either papery dry or limp from lack of water. Leaves of a healthy, properly watered plant have a certain springiness to them, and you will recognize this feeling only by experience. Touch the leaves of your plants as you care for them; it's a bit like taking their pulse.
Do not apply water too rapidly to plants, especially those that like to dry out between waterings. If you dump water on all at once, it will straight through the pot, too fast for the soil to soak it up. You, in turn, seeing the water exiting from the drainage hole, will not only stop watering but will probably empty the saucer as well because you know that plants shouldn't stand in water. Result: The plant winds up with too little water, even though you may have applied a lot. Water slowly. Apply alittle water, wait for it to soak in, and then apply more, letting it slowly make its way through the pot. If you are watering from the bottom of the pot, pour the water into the saucer or tray in which the plant stands; then let the water remain for at least a half hour so that the plant can soak up what it needs. Then pour off the excess.
If you follow the above recommended advice on how to feed and water your plants, you are sure to have happy healthy plants. To find more gardening tips go to Garden Pros.
House Plant Gifts
House Plants For Gifts
Books on Houseplant Care
Gardening Tips and Products
Best Online Gardening Shop:
Garden Pros
Watering Cans
Watering Your Plants While Away
Cool Watering Cans
Bonsai
Indoor Beginner's Bonsai - Mini Aromatic & Herbal Bonsai Tree - for Home or Office Tabletop Display
Amazon Price: $18.50 (as of 02/18/2012)
This is a very unique indoor bonsai listing; in fact this is the most highly recommended first bonsai tree for those who want to jumpstart your bonsai hobby journey. This tiny-narrow-leaf, somewhat reddish woody trunk evergreen bonsai is one of the very few herbal plants that would spice up your kitchen. Some people have used its leaves to add flavor in tea and cooking; while others may use its small berries (that follow the creamy white flowers) to add flavor in marinade meats. Albeit small in size, this miniature tree is quite visible; it has captured many features of a mature tree in nature. Its overall impression is that of a lone tree with a single or multiple upright trunks complimented by its tiny narrow leaves and healthy roots. This "splendor tree-like" styled bonsai has been trained with efforts and time; the result is the labor of love, and will surely catch the eyes of many. It is a cool looking tree that you will be proud to display one in your kitchen or any other confined area in your room or apartment. It is finished with rock, fresh green moss and/or ground cover to enhance its detailed layout.
Organic Plant Food
Great Plant Food
Houseplant
Indoor Gardening
Indoor Gardening the Organic Way: How to Create a Natural and Sustaining Environment for Your Houseplants
Amazon Price: $2.99 (as of 02/18/2012)
Gardening organically outdoors is prevalent in most horticultural circles today, but what about gardening indoors? Indoor Gardening the Organic Way is a definitive guide to growing houseplants organically. From the dirt on mulch to eco-friendly ways to handle plant pests, Davis has provided this essential resource for novice and experienced gardeners alike.
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Best Gardening Links
- Tips For Growing Tomatoes
- You would like to grow juicy sweet tasting tomatoes in your homes garden or backyard and don't have a clue on how to begin.
- How To Plant Vegetables Indoors
- Learn how to plant vegetables indoors if you want the taste and benefits from eating fresh vegetables, but don't have the outdoor garden space to grow them. Let me tell you how easy it is to plant vegetables, indoors! You can grow fresh tomatoes, lettuce, or radishes right from your own kitchen.
- Dangerous Plants In Your Home and Garden
- Households that have pets or small children that have plants indoors or in the garden should be aware of the varieties of plants that can be harmful to humans and pets.
- Weathervanes and Windsocks
- Weathervanes and windsocks are devices for showing the direction of the wind. Although somewhat functional, weather vanes are generally used for decorative purposes.
- Garden Fountains
- Browse our large selection of outdoor garden fountains. We have garden fountains that will fit just about every individuals needs.
- Garden Ponds and Accessories
- The addition of a pond along with pond lighting, waterfalls, fountains and other pond accessories are a great way to make ordinary outdoor living spaces look truly unique and relaxing.
- Aquatic Plants For Your Garden Pond
- Live pond plants provide beauty for your pond or water garden while oxygenating water and removing naturally occurring organics keeping your pond stable and clear.
Did You Find This Lens Helpful?
Kindly say a few words before you go.
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Reply
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MadHaps
Dec 20, 2011 @ 11:08 pm | delete
- I grow Orchids and over watering is what most people do that causes the plant to die. See my lens "Orchids of the Americas"
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Andrew
Jun 10, 2011 @ 2:05 am | delete
- It's truly important to water a plant properly like giving only what a certain plant can take. Just like a cypress bonsai which only need a small amount of water in a scheduled time. Good job on making this informative lens.
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miaponzo
Mar 21, 2011 @ 12:28 am | delete
- Yes! One of the reasons that I don't keep houseplants any more is because I can't seem to get the watering right!
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TheWhistler
Mar 5, 2010 @ 2:33 pm | delete
- Well most of us will be needing this advice soon. Only hope the summer is better than last, it rained, rained, rained. Thank you for the lens.
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mulberry
Jun 29, 2009 @ 7:43 pm | delete
- I've done pretty well with house plants with the exception of a bonsai tree I had. Thanks for the tips!
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