January is a good time
to take a close look at your house plants. Days begin to lengthen, plants
start to send out new growth and, in the process, use more water. Maybe
some plants were neglected over the holidays; over or under watered or
placed too far away from the windows.
Plants that are over
watered look the same as plants that are too dry. Pick up the plant, pot
and all. Does it feel light? Is the soil dry to the touch? When you water
the plant does water run directly out the bottom of the pot without soaking
in? Has the soil shrunk away from the sides of the pot? Spread out some
newspapers and take the plant out of the pot. Is there a solid mass of
roots? If the answer to these questions is yes, your plant is pot bound
and unable to take up water.. Place the plant in a bucket of lukewarm water
until the roots and soil are saturated (no more air bubbles rise from the
soil). Remove from the water and allow to drain. Repot using a pot that
is 2” larger in diameter than the root ball of the plant. If you wish to
keep the plant in the same pot, take a sharp knife and cut one inch off
the root ball, all around the plant. Place back in the pot and fill with
fresh soil.(You get what you pay for when purchasing potting soil. I have
listened to reports of fungus gnats time and time again rising in clouds
from “bargain” potting soil.)
On the other hand, your
plant may be too wet. One of the main causes of failures with house plants
is poor drainage. A pot without a drain hole is nice, you don’t have to
worry about water on the floor, however, you can’t tell what’s going on
at the bottom of the pot. Take it out of the pot and look at the soil and
the roots. Healthy roots are plump and white. Dead roots are shriveled
and mushy. Plants can lose half their roots before you notice that there
is a problem. Remove the dead roots and place the plant in a smaller pot
with drain holes in the bottom. There should be one inch of space between
the rootball and the sides of the pot. It is important to match the size
of the rootball to the size of the pot. A bigger pot does not necessarily
make a plant grow faster. Over potted plants having roots with too much
soil around them can become water logged. The plant simply can’t take up
the water fast enough; as a result, the roots suffocate.
If you tend to over
water your plants use clay pots. They are porous and allow water to evaporate.
Plastic pots are good for folks like me that let plants dry out.
Plants that aren’t getting
proper light often look stressed. I like to rotate my plants every so often,
turning them so another side is toward the window or even moving them from
one part of the house to another.
A slightly warm shower
(90 degrees), at least once a month, will be appreciated by most plants.
Never use cold water in the winter. A cold shower feels just as bad to
them as it does to us.
Happy gardening