How to Care for Indoor Plants During the Winter

Indoor plants are one of the most used indoor decorations. They give special additional beauty to one's home. The colors help to bring out the beauty of the home. What else could make a perfect indoor decoration? But not all indoor plants find it easy to survive during the wintertime. 

Wintertime is the most dangerous season of the year for indoor plants. With lighting dropping, colder temperatures, and dry air, causes more harm to houseplants. Here are things that can be done to help indoor plants survive the winter season:

Allow for better lighting:

During wintertime, the light intensity dropped to around 50%. Plants need light to survive. When plants are moved to the window, it allows for better light. Clean windows frequently for better results. In addition to this, the dust of the plants so they can get better light. You can also add artificial lights as bulbs. Place them around 4-12 inches away from the plants for better results.

Warm up the temperature:

Any temperature less than 50°F is dangerous for most plants. Most indoor plants adapt to a temperature between 65-75°F.  Adjust your thermostat to A more suitable level. Avoid placing your plants in areas that are most likely to give a cooler temperature such as exterior windows or cold drafts. If Windows frost at night, move the plants away before night.

Change the watering schedule:

One of the most common problems faced by indoor plants is overwatering. Most plants do not need to be watered until their soil is almost dried. You know when your plant needs water by putting your hand deep through the soil to around 2 inches. If the soil is dry, then water is needed. Or you can raise your plant's pot to check the weight. It is usually lighter when dry than when wet. Then you will know if your plant needs water. If your room is humidified, plants would not need water. 

Improve humidity:

Homes during winter offer 5% to 10% of humidity. Plants however need 40% to 50% humidity. When they don't get the right humidity, they might end up getting brown leaves. Improve humidity to a more suitable position for your plants.

Take note of pests:

Pests such as mealybugs, spider mites, fungus gnats, and likes tend to appear more as a result of lack of sunlight. Try to always check out for them and do not hesitate to get rid of them as soon as possible.

Having indoor plants is beautiful. We always enjoy the beauty that comes along with it. It is often used to beautify the home. However, taking care of it is a different task. It is easier to do so in other seasons that support the atmosphere of their habitat. However, it becomes more difficult to be taken care of in winter. Following the above procedures, it would help taking care of the plants in the winter season easier with better effects.

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Photo by Scott Webb from Pexels

Indoor Plants: Wick and Grow (How Does It Work?)

You could decide to go on vacation and leave your plants behind while you are away on your trip. But how will they stay watered so they don’t die? There is a new “invention” called Wick & Grow, which is a type of planter and plant set-up that allows the plant to slowly seep up water from a reservoir below inside its own planter pot, so it stays hydrated.

What is Wick & Grow?

With the use of cotton strips planted in the soil of each plant, they slowly wick moisture and water components up through the soil to the roots of the plant. During this process, the root zone remains moist without being soaked. Creating such a setup is quite easy and it is not as expensive as getting someone to stay in your apartment while you go on a vacation.

You might want to drop your plants under a tray of water, so they would keep getting water, but this is a bad idea because continuous watering in your absence would drown the roots in no time.

The roots are fans of oxygen, so if you sop wet soil, it could easily rot, catch an infection or mold too. Making use of a simple wicking system would allow the right amount of moisture to get to the dirt to keep your plants alive.

How to Wick & Grow:

Items Needed:

The things you need to create your own indoor wick and grow planter includes the following:

A house plant, cotton fabric, scissors, a large bowl of water taller than the container of the plant, and a small bowl of water.

Directions:

You should prepare the wicks by cutting the cotton fabric into strips of about 1″ wide by 12″ long. Then you just lay an end of the strip into the soil. Gently wrap it around the base of the stem of the plant, loosely. Then you use one of your fingers to dig into the ground without touching the roots. Gently bury the end of the strip into the soil.

From here you get the tall bowl with water and put it close to the plant. Get the other end of the strip into this large bowl of water. Make sure the cotton strip is taller than the plant bowl. Then the water would slowly wick from the tall bowl into the ground. Making use of the cotton strip.

Or, you could first tie the wick around the stem of the plant not tightly like the previous method and then bury the stem in the ground.

Then get the free end of the wick into a bowl of water which is smaller than that of the plant pot’s width.

Get the pot of the plant and put it into a bowl of water. The aim here is for the plant to rest inside the bowl and a huge amount of water under it. Then the water would wick up through the cotton strip from the little pot under the plant.

You can also find premade wick and grow plants and planters at your local gardening center, such as at Lowe’s or Home Depot from brands such as Costa Farms. Happy planting!

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Photo by Glenn Theunissen on Unsplash