Garden Planters: Bring the garden indoors, or explore container gardening on your patio

~ Special Care for Indoor Plants ~

When you do finally get your new garden planter filled with plants of all kinds and sorts its time to begin the routine job of taking care of them.  Here are a few sections on the subject of plant care.

Watering

When watering your plant you want to make sure that you thoroughly saturate the soil, don’t just get the surface wet, really soak it.  Properly cut drainage holes will allow excess water to seep out of the bottom of the pots.  If you aren’t sure how often to water your plants a good rule of thumb is to water them whenever the soil is lighter in color and feels dry and crumbly to the touch.

Some indoor gardeners swear by the special shower and soak maneuver.  Every six to eight weeks place all of your potted plants in the shower and run room temperature shower water on them.  It’s just like they are out in the rain.  After the plants are throughly soaked turn off the shower and fill the tub from the faucet until the pots are submerged in water, but not the plants.  Leave them for an hour and then drain.  Put the pots somewhere shady until the plants are dry.  Many believe their plants thrive by this method.

Plant food

Here are three basic guidelines to follow in using plant food.

1. Mix in plant food with the soil when first installing your new potted plants.
2. When your plants are mature you can continue to add plant food every six weeks or so mixed with the water or in a dry form.
3. If you decide to give dry plant food you should water your plants immediately after placing in the soil to prevent burning the roots of your plant with the chemicals in the plant food

 

These simple steps should greatly reduce your plant food concerns.

Cleaning

Plants collect just as much dust as everything else in your home but don’t have the advantage of rain to clean them off.  Use a bulb syringe filled with room temp. water to spritz off leaves and keep the dust off. If you have smoother leaved plants such as the Rubber plant you should wipe off the upper sides of the leaves with a damp cloth when cleaning.  Use a mild detergent or skim milk if the leaves appear to be watermarked, but make sure to rinse them off with water.

If leaves or stems happen to break it may be possible to repair it by tying a small piece of thread around the broken end and anchoring the string around a healthier part of the plant.  Make sure the break matches up and try not to move the plant too much.  The plant may be able to heal itself around the break.

Diseases and Insects

Regular cleaning should keep out insects, but can give your garden planters a regular pest control every month or so to make sure they aren’t a problem.
If you do notice your plants have insects or appear to be diseased remove them from their planter and other plants so the problem doesn’t spread. 

Here are a few types of plant symptoms and possible causes;

• White, gray, yellow or brown spots on leaves are most likely mold, mildew, fungi, bacteria or viruses, too much plant food, over watering or poor light.

• General defoliation suggests gas or a sudden change in temperature, transplant shock, or a change from sunlight to a dark place.
• Dying foliage from the base upward may also be a lack of light, improper watering or high temperature, in addition to gas injury.
• Brown leaf tips suggest improper watering, exposure to drafts, cold air or insects. May also be caused by too much salt in the potting soil.
• Plant rot at the roots is limp foliage that looks as if it needs water.