Easy Tips On HOw To Care For Your Houseplants

Easy Tips On How To Care For Your Plants
By Nicky Pilkington

Many people worry a lot when it comes to caring for their plants. When talking about house plants, there is no need to worry. There are just a few things you need to consider.
1. Watering
Overwatering kills most houseplants. Looks can be deceptive, so to see if your soil is dry enough to water, try the finger test. Insert your index finger up to the first joint into the soil. If the soil is damp, don't water it.
2. Feeding
Foliage plants usually have high nitrogen needs, while flowering plants, K2O is needed. Slow release fertilizers can be mixed with the compost. However, certain plants like cacti and orchids need special fertilizer. Feed plants during their most active growth period.
3. Lighting
Plants like Sanseveria and Aspidistra require no sun. They can be placed away from a window. Spider plants need semi-shade. You can put plants like these near a window that does or does not get sunlight. Check the label to see what your plant needs.
4. Temperature
Houseplants can survive in cool or warm temperatures, but drastic fluctuations of temperature may not be good for them. One thing that most plants cannot survive is gas heating. If you have a plant that likes warm conditions, don't put it near an air conditioner in the summer.
5. Humidity
Some houseplants require a humid environment. One tip to maximize humidity is to put the pot inside a larger pot and fill in the gaps with stones or compost to keep in the moisture. Grouping plants together often creates a microclimate that they will benefit from. If you want, you can spray them with water once or twice a day depending on the temperature.
6. Re-potting
Some plants require re-potting for optimum growth but there are others that resent having their roots disturbed. Or their roots system may be small enough that they don't require re-potting. One way to check if your plant needs re-potting is to turn it upside down. Tap the pot to release the plant and check its roots. If roots are all you see, then re-pot. Sometimes the roots will come out of the pot. You should either cut them off or re-pot the plant.
You just need to have a little care for your plants and in turn, you'll reap the benefits. Indoor plants not only add to the beauty of your décor, but also give much pleasure to the indoor gardener.

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Article Source: http://www.ArticlesBase.com

Find more about gardening and some useful gardening tips at About Gardening

Tips For Growing House Plants

Tips For Growing Beautiful House Plants Even If You’re A Beginner

By Mary Hanna

If you are new to live house plants, you may not have noticed the popularity of some of the tropical plants. Many thought for years that those tropical plants would not survive the dry hot atmosphere inside the house. Naturally some do better than others and you should look for thick leathery foliage, for placing in your home. Their ability to survive and to thrive is because the leaves are tough in texture and some are constructed so that minimum amount of moisture loss is slowed down. The Christmas Cactus is a typical example.

On the other hand plants like the maidenhair fern have thin leaves allowing for quick evaporation and do not fair well in dry hot rooms. However, you could hang a Maidenhead Fern in a bathroom where steam form the shower or bath would help it retain its moisture. If you added moisture to any other of your rooms, say with a humidifier, it may be detrimental to your furnishings or art work.

There are steps to take when decorating with house plants. Try to buy your plants after the need for heat is over. This will give the plant time to get use to the atmosphere with plenty of fresh air, and allow the foliage to harden while preparing the plant for the unfavorable conditions of heated rooms. It is always important to keep the leaves free of dust so as not to clog their pores.

Watering is always a delicate balance. Rule of thumb is that a plant in active growth will always need more water that those that are dormant. During the growing season, April to October, plants will use more water then in other times of the year. To be really safe buy an inexpensive water meter from your Nursery Garden Supply store. Generally, potted plants should be watered when moderately dry. Be sure to give a good soak right down to the drainage hole. A few sprinkles of water a few times a week will do nothing for the feeding roots that are situated at the bottom of the pot.

There is a tip for checking if the plant is dry at the bottom. Tap the plant half way down the pot with your knuckles, if a hallow sound is heard it needs water. If you heard a dull noise, it does not require water. Always water the plant with water that is at room temperature so as not to shock the roots. One sure sign that the plant is over watered is sickly yellow leaves. Stop watering immediately. Use a pointed stick to aerate the soil around the plant and do not water again until the soil is quite dry.

Inspect your plants daily since some pots retain water while others do not. If using unglazed pots do not place them directly on a table or you will get damage from water seepage.

You must feed the plants to keep them healthy and happy. Plants that are well rooted and thriving need more feeding. Be diligent from May to August. Use a fertilizer like Miracle Grow for easy nourishment.

Article Source: www.ArticlesBase.com

Visit Mary Hanna’s websites at: GardeningHerb, CruiseTravelDirectory and ContainerGardeningSecrets

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Planting and Caring for Flower Bulbs by Michael J. McGroarty

There is nothing quite as welcome as those beautiful spring flowers that seem to emerge from nowhere to welcome the arrival of spring. Bulb type flowers are really unique plants, because they spend most of their days resting quietly beneath the surface of the soil. Then right on schedule, up they come, full of bloom and vigor, and then almost as fast as they came, they go. Except for the green leafy part of the plant that tends to linger longer than we would like them to.

Despite their short bloom time and unattractive foliage after the blooms are gone, they are still a wonderful addition to any landscape. But how should you care for them? First let’s talk about how to use them in your landscape. Flowers of all kinds are best when planted in groupings. Many people buy 25 or 50 bulbs and just go around the yard planting helter skelter. That’s fine if that’s what you want, but when planted that way they tend to blend in with the landscape and really don’t show up well at all. When you plant them in large groups they are a breathtaking showpiece.

In the early spring start thinking about where you would like to create a bed for flower bulbs. Prepare the bed by raising it with good rich topsoil, and if at all possible add some well composted cow manure. Do this in the spring while you are in the gardening mood, you may not be in the fall. Over the summer fill the bed with annual flowers to keep the weeds down, and to pretty up your yard for the summer. Come fall all you have to do is pull out the annuals and plant your bulbs to the depth recommended on the package.

If you think you could have a problem with squirrels digging up the bulbs and eating them, you can also wrap the bulbs in steel wool, leaving just the tip of the bulb exposed so it can grow out of the little wire cage you’ve created. Or you can just plant the bulbs and then cover the bed with chicken wire or plastic fencing until the bulbs start to grow in the spring.

When the bulbs come up in the spring and start blooming, you should clip off the blooms as they start to wither. This keeps the bulb from producing seeds, which requires a lot of energy, and you want the bulb to use all of its available energy to store food in preparation of the bulb’s resting period. Once the bulbs are completely done blooming you don’t want to cut off the tops until they are withered and die back. The million dollar question is how to treat the tops until that happens.

Many people bend them over and slip a rubber band over them, or in the case of bulbs like Daffodils tie them with one of the long leaves. This seems to work because it is a very common practice among many experienced gardeners. However, Mike is about to rain on the parade.
I strongly disagree with this theory because back about 6th grade we learned about photosynthesis in science class. To recap what we learned, and without going into the boring details, photosynthesis is the process of the plant using the sun’s rays to make food for itself. The rays from the sun are absorbed by the foliage and the food making process begins. In the case of a flower bulb this food is transported to the bulb beneath the ground and stored for later use.

So basically the leaves of the plant are like little solar panels. Their job is to absorb the rays from the sun to begin the process known as photosynthesis. If we fold them over and handcuff them with their hands behind their back, they are not going to be able to do their job. It’s like throwing a tarpaulin over 80% of a solar panel.

In order for the leaves to absorb the rays from the sun, the surface of the foliage has to be exposed to the sun. On top of that, when you bend the foliage over, you are restricting the flow of nutrients to the bulb. The veins in the leaves and the stem are a lot like our blood vessels. If you restrict them the flow stops.

You decide. I’ve presented my case. Bending them over seems to work, but I’ve spent a lot of money on my bulbs. I want them running at full speed. What I do is clip the blooms off once they are spent, and just leave the tops alone until they are yellow and wilted. If they are still not wilted when it’s time to plant my annual flowers, I just plant the annuals in between the bulbs. As the bulbs die back the annuals tend to grow and conceal them. If one shows through I clip it off. It seems to work well for me.
Michael J. McGroarty is the author of this article. Visit his most interesting website, http://freeplants.com

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