Preparing Houseplants For Spring: You've Survived Winter. Now What?
Ahh, Spring is right around the corner and you know what that means! Your houseplants are going to be bustling and active. Let's learn how to get your houseplants ready for warmer months!
Dust and Clean
A lot of plants accumulate dust and grim during the winter. Which is a breeding ground for insects and pests. This also allows your plants to photosynthesize easier which means more growth! So get a wet micro cloth and wipe those leaves off or put your houseplants in the tub and give them a good shower!
Trim The Old To Make Room For The New
If you weren't doing this already, go around your plants and trim off any dead or yellow leaves. This allows the plant to shed its old leaves and focus on the new growth that is to come.
Hot Tip: If you have a succulent or cactus use tweezers to get in the nooks and crannies.
Increasing Your Watering
The air will be warmer and the sun hotter, which means your soil will dry faster. That means you are going to be watering your plants more. To avoid overwatering be sure to increase water frequency gradually. You don't want to drown your plant. They need to slowly get into their groove again.
During this time just watch how your plant reacts to more water. If the plant's leaves tend to curl or wrinkle faster, water more. If the soil stays extremely moist or wet for 2 or more days, water less. If you have plants that enjoy humidity, try to group them together. This will create a micro-climate for them. Or layer sand or rocks on the top of the soil to trap moisture in.
Light Her Up
As the spring and summer months come around, the sun moves around your home differently. It's important to note how the sun moves throughout the day. Then rearrange your plants to a better position.
The sun is stronger and hotter in the spring and summer, so you might have to move your plants back from the windows so you don't accidentally damage your plants. I would take the first couple of weeks to really figure out how your plants are feeling with the change of warmth and sunlight.
You can even move some of your plants outside. I would note that some plants like Aloe Vera like to be slowly acclimated to new light situations. So keep that in mind when moving plants out to the sun!
Give Those Plant Babies Some Room
Spring is the PERFECT time to repot your houseplants if they need it. I always wait for the spring/summer months to repot. This is because rehoming your plants stresses them out (I know change is hard). In the winter the plants are dormant and really just chilling so repotting them then stresses them out even more. That is why I try to repot in the warmer months.
If your plant is super root bound then go ahead and repot, but I try to wait till the spring to give them some time to breathe.
Hot Tip: Try to choose a planter that is a little bit bigger than the pot it's already in. You don't want to give them too much room. When they have too much room they usually will focus on growing roots to fill that pot and not on new leaves (especially with plants that like to be a bit root bound like the fiddle leaf fig). Or you could even accidentally overwater and cause root rot.
Your Plants Are Hungry...So Feed Them!
During Spring and Summer (the active growth seasons) it's important to be fertilizing your plant babies. This gives them the nutrients to push our fuller and healthier leaves and in return, you get happier plant babies.
Here is one of my favorite fertilizers:
Dyna-Gro Foliage-Pro Liquid Plant Food
This is probably one of my favorite fertilizers because it is so easy to use and my plants LOVE it.
I get so much new growth with this plant food plus it can be used with most houseplants and gardens.
This fertilizer doesn't burn as much as other plant foods do and if you use a smaller amount you can use it all year round when you water.
Just make sure you are watching your plants and if you see signs they are unhappy do some detective work to figure out what's going on. Intuitive gardening hasn't let me down yet. Trust your plant gut!
Happy planting y'all,
Sav
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