Rubbish at gardening? Try these 7 tricks
Have your far-from-green fingers meant you’ve had to wave goodbye to a ton of houseplants? Fear not! Marie Henze from online plant shop Mary & Plants has some bloom-saving tips for you.
Your Calathea’s died again, your fig trees have more brown leaves than green and your Alocasia’s overrun with pests. If you’re a plant parent, you’re bound to have been in this predicament before. With the help of Marie Henze from online plant shop Mary & Plants (website in German), I recently wrote about needy houseplants plants you’re better off avoiding, as well as available alternatives.
Unfortunately, however, you can also make mistakes with easier-to-care-for plants (yes, I’ve managed to kill cacti before). With this in mind, Marie Henze has seven tips for you to bear in mind when buying and caring for plants:
1. Origin
Marie Henze advises against making impulse buys at the DIY store. The plants there are generally cheap, but they’re neither long-lasting nor healthy. «You can save yourself a lot of bother and disappointment by buying from certified plant stores. The slightly higher prices are worth it,» she says. Before buying any type of plant, you should also consider whether you can give them everything listed below.
2. The right location
Tropical plants like the heat, but unlike cacti and succulents, you should never place them in direct sunlight. After all, under the jungle’s canopy of leaves, they tend to live in shady conditions. That being said, no houseplant can survive being totally deprived of daylight.
3. The right amount of water
It’s better to give your plants too little water than too much. Houseplants prefer drinking lukewarm water that’s as close to limescale-free as possible, making rainwater a very suitable option. Distilled water, on the other hand, doesn’t get quite the same ringing endorsement. Although it’s limescale-free, it also lacks minerals. If using it, you’ll need to use fertiliser to feed your plants with nutrients.
4. The right soil
Cacti and succulents don’t like houseplant soil because it contains too much humus. Use cactus potting soil for them instead.
5. The perfect kind of pot
Houseplants struggle to breathe when they’re in fully sealed, plastic pots. Not only that, but their roots quickly begin to rot if too much water collects in the pot. As a result, it’s best to go with a clay pot with a drainage hole and a saucer underneath.
6. Adequate pot size
Before your plants hit their springtime growth spurt, you should always give them a new pot matching their current size.
7. Regular repotting and fertilising
Ideally, you should repot your houseplants at the beginning of the growth phase from March to October. You should be fertilising your plants during this period too.
Fertiliser
Quantity discount
CHF10.40 per piece for 2 units CHF8.65/1kg
Hauert Houseplant fertilizer
1.26 kg, 1 l
Got any more tips for houseplant rookies? Share them in the comments.
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Darina Schweizer
Senior Editor
Darina.Schweizer@digitecgalaxus.chI like anything that has four legs or roots. The books I enjoy let me peer into the abyss of the human psyche. Unlike those wretched mountains that are forever blocking the view – especially of the sea. Lighthouses are a great place for getting some fresh air too, you know?
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