Our 5 top tips for keeping your babies happy
- Watering: Indoor plants require less water than you think, especially as the weather cools. Be sure to use your finger as a water gauge, only watering if the potting mix is dry beyond your first knuckle. Increase humidity with an atomiser and if you’re going to water your plants in the shower, make sure the water is tepid.
- Cleaning, tidying up and pruning plants: Just like plants in the garden, indoor plants also need pruning. Remove dead foliage, use a moistened cloth to remove any dust from leaves and polish larger leaves like Monstera and Philodendrons. The occasional use of The Plant Runner Neem oil natural leaf shine will give your leaves extra lustre.
- Repotting: Signs your plant needs repotting include wilting, leaf discolouration and obvious roots girdling at the top or coming through the bottom of your pot. Make sure you use a premium potting mix that’s formulated especially for the job. E.g. Orchids - orchid mix, and succulents - cacti and succulent mix. Gently tease out roots and cut off any thick mat of roots that may have developed at the base of the root ball. After you have finished repotting, give your plants a good drink, and then a light application of seaweed solution that will help them resettle.
- Positioning (light, temperature, humidity, acclimatising): As a rough rule of thumb, plants with large leaves cope with darker positions than others, but they all prefer a well-lit room rather than a dark corner! Bathrooms, which can become quite humid, are not a bad spot for ferns as long as the light levels are high. Try rotating plants around so that they don’t grow evenly.
- Pests and Diseases: Indoor plants can be attacked by mealy bugs, aphids, scales, red spider (also known as mites) and white flies. Most of these can be controlled using Eco oil.