House Plant Care - How to Have Great Looking Plants

Watering for Healthy Plants

Watering Rules, House Plant Care

Working in the interior landscape business for more than 20 years has gotten me lots of questions about how to care for indoor potted plants.

Customers ask about their own plants at home...why does my plant have yellow leaves... what causes brown leaf tips...how come the new growth on my plant is dying...I water my plant everyday but it still isn't doing well...how much should I water my house plant?

It can be hard to diagnose every indoor plant problem when you do not have access to the plant itself. So I generally find myself asking them questions about how they care for their plants. Most often, the problems are solved by changing watering habits. 

In almost every instance, changing the way they look at watering their indoor plants gives them positve results with their houseplants.

I care for indoor plants as my job and I know that there are not many plants that I care for that always use the same amount of water or need watering on a rigid schedule. Many different things influence a plants water use.

Customers turn off the lights, leave the lights on, turn off the air conditioning, turn up the heat, close the blinds, open the blinds. All of these things, and many other things, influence the way you need to water an indoor plant.

There are many things to consider when you are watering your house plants. Read more about watering properly for good results with your indoor house plants... 

Read More

Get Rid of Those Plant Pests!

Mealy Bug Insects (Missouri Botanical Garden)

House Plant and Pesky Insects!

The very best way to be sure you don't have insect problems on your indoor plants is to check for bugs before you buy. Always try to buy your houseplants when they have just arrived at the local retail store from the growers.

The folks that produce your plants at the nursery follow a regimen of treatment to make sure they do not have insects damage their plants. However, once they arrive at the local store, the probability that they are going to end up with some kind of insect problem tends to increase.

I usually walk through the indoor plant section of the local home improvement stores (I won't name any names) whenever I am there to purchase something else. I can't tell you the number of times that I find insect problems starting up on the house plants.

My recommendations for keeping pests from being a problem indoors is to always check plants before you buy or bring home. Once you get them home, isolate from other plants for a week or so, keeping an eye out for any pest problem. Many insects are almost unnoticable at first, so look very closely. Under the leaves, in the leaf axil, even on the soil surface.

Wash them down every few days with a shower of water, making sure to hit the undersides of the leaves. You can add a few drops of mild soap to the water if you use a spray bottle. Mild dish detergent works or you can pick up some Peppermint Castile soap and enjoy the nice smell. You can use Peppermint Castile Soap for just about anything else around the house including bathing your pets! 

A small amount of rubbing alcohol added to the water can also be effective but it doesn't smell as nice! (Not for your pets)

You don't usually do not need any harsh chemicals. Bugs don't like water or soap. I use a mixture of water, a few drops of liquid soap and a few drops of olive oil or vegetable oil while I am caring for customers plants and for my own plants. Works just great!

For your outdoor plants, a daily shower of water from the hose will be quite effective in sending most insects into the neighbors yard to eat their plants! If that doesn't work for you, here is an idea for a do-it-yourself organic insect spray from Jami in Pleasant Hill, Oregon. Homemade stuff is always fun!

If you need some advice or help with your houseplants, PlantAndFlowerInfo.com is always here.

Read More