7 Tips for Being an Amazing Indoor Gardener

Hello and welcome to HealthyHouseplants.com, where we teach you all about gardening in the great indoors. If you’d like to support our show, please use our Amazon affiliate link below. Today, I’m going to talk about seven tips for being an amazing indoor gardener. If you follow these seven really important things to do, you will find yourself with an incredible indoor garden. The first tip is correct watering. The number one cause of house plant death is under or overwatering; both will do a lot of harm to your house plants. Before watering your house plants, you want to make sure that the plant is ready for watering. Just because you watered last Tuesday doesn’t mean your house plant needs water again this Tuesday. The most important thing to do is to check the plants for water readiness. You can use something like a moisture meter to check that. For most house plants, you want to water when it shows four, which is next to the three, which indicates dry. I actually have two videos on using the moisture meter effectively, so proper watering is crucial. Don’t forget your house plants; forgetting to water them will lead to dried-out soil and subsequently dried-out plants. While some plants, such as peace lilies, will recover even when they’ve gotten very dry, others will die once the soil has dried out completely. So be very careful with correct watering. Additionally, always water with warm or tepid water. Very cold water can produce dieback on plant roots, leading to root rot and poor growth. The second tip for being an amazing indoor gardener is correct lighting. This is critical to house plant growth. House plants grow because of the light they receive; they grow when they photosynthesize, and they can only photosynthesize when they receive light. This does not mean dim light—most houseplants need medium light. While there are some houseplants that will do okay in dim light, no houseplants will grow in really dim light. If you don’t have good lighting coming from your windows, you want to get full-spectrum lighting. It’s easy to find full-spectrum lighting today, which mimics daylight. There are bulbs that can fit into just about any lighting fixture and special lamps with octopus arms that you can move around to light up plants. I have videos on lighting as well, and I’ll put the link below. As mentioned, plants need proper lighting to grow, so keep an eye on that. The third tip for having an incredible indoor garden is fertilizing. Remember, as I always say, you are father or mother nature. The plant only has access to the soil in its pot and cannot send its roots around in the ground to find more nutrients when it needs them. It’s waiting for you to feed the soil, which will then feed the roots and feed the plant. It’s very important that you give your plants fertilizer. Many houseplants don’t need constant fertilization, but I would say try to aim for every three to four months at least with most house plants. Some plants, like African violets, which flower, will need more regular fertilizing. When you do fertilize, use an organic fertilizer. I have videos on why that’s important, and I do have an organic fertilizer product as well, so remember that nutrients are important. The fourth tip for having a great indoor garden is controlling pests and diseases. Keep an eye out for pests and diseases. Things like mealybugs and scale can take over very quickly and turn a once-healthy plant into an ailing one. To keep that from happening, check your house plants for any signs of pests or diseases when you water them. You can use a jeweler’s loop; I have a video on that as well, and it’s a good way to look closely at the leaves to see if there are any signs of pests or diseases. When you do see any signs, make sure to deal with them right away. I have a pest series playlist that I will link below. There are many things you can do to keep pests under control. Remember, the sooner you find the pests and deal with them, the better. Once you get an infestation, it’s very hard to control it after that, and many plants just won’t survive if it’s too far gone. The fifth tip for having a great indoor garden is repotting. As mentioned, you are mother or father nature. Soil does break down over time and can become full of salts from fertilizing and watering. These salts can break down roots and cause root rot, preventing a plant from thriving and causing it to die back. You should repot most house plants every two to three years, sometimes more frequently if the plant is growing significantly. When you do repot, use a high-quality organic potting soil; Pro Mix BX is one of my favorites, and Happy Frog also has some good soils. I’ll put a link below for those. It’s good to repot to keep your garden healthy. The time of year for repotting is also important. It’s generally best not to repot during the winter months, especially if you live in a climate that gets very cold. It’s better to wait until late winter or early spring, as this is a great time for plants to start growing. When you give them some nice new soil, they are going to grow well for you. The sixth tip is providing sufficient humidity. Insufficient humidity will not necessarily kill most house plants, but some, like African violets and maidenhair ferns, require high humidity. I have videos on how to provide more humidity for your plants. The best way to get more humidity for your plants is to get more house plants, as they humidify each other. There are other ways to increase humidity as well, and there are links below. Signs of insufficient humidity include brown leaf tips, crispy edges, and leaf loss. If you start to see these signs, especially during winter when the air is drier, or if you live in a dry climate, keep in mind that these symptoms could also indicate overwatering or root rot. You’ll need to investigate to determine if it’s a lack of humidity. The last tip is to have faith in yourself and your houseplants. When you lose faith, you tend to lose interest, and when you lose interest, you stop watering and giving enough light, which leads to plant decline. If you have faith in your plants and in yourself as an indoor gardener, you’ll have happy, healthy plants, and you’ll feel good about it too, since plants help clean the air. I have a video on how plants do that; see the link below. Keep in mind that you may experience failures, but you can’t have successes without them. Thank you for stopping by today! Please leave any comments about any indoor gardening tutorials you’d like to see. 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