Give Plants Quality Care They Deserve
Over the past millennium, I have watched houseplants come and go in our home. Because I feel such a need to try to grow anything with leaves, I’ve wound up with quite a menagerie of flora. Some plants are quite lovely, others show wear and tear from insect infestations, the lack of humidity and an occasional drought. (Leaves plastered against the plant stems are a dead giveaway of water deprivation.)
Thank goodness for the cold days of January and February. They offer us the opportunity for spending quality time with our houseplants.
Here are a few hints:
Begin Operation Houseplant by gathering the plants in a comfortable work area with a floor that is easily cleaned and a sink. Give away or discard plants that are no longer interesting to you or look tacky. This may sound harsh, but when plants don’t receive their ideal growing conditions, they can become downright ugly.
The next step is checking them for bugs. Inspect them with a magnifying glass. It’s amazing what it can reveal.
If you don’t have a magnifying glass, hold the plant up to the window on a sunny day. The bright light beaming through the plant’s leaves will often expose very fine webbing - a sure sign of spider mites. Gray, mottled leaves are also a sure sign. Look for clusters of tiny bugs called aphids. If leaves pucker downward, aphids may be the culprit. Tiny bundles of moving cotton are mealybugs. Small brown lumps attached to stems and leaves are not the remnants of flying chocolate cake batter, but rather scale insects.
With diligence, all these insects can be controlled. Washing the plants with warm water or soapy water can eliminate most of the infestations. (Make sure the plant can tolerate soap.) Systemic insecticides formulated for houseplants also help. If the infestation is bad, the plant should be a candidate for the compost pile.
Whether the plants are infested with insects or not, they will probably need a good washing. Houseplants, like all plants, require sunlight on their leaves for manufacturing food. If the leaves are dusty and dirty, photosynthesis is inhibited. Wash the leaves with a soft damp rag or rinse the leaves in a bath of warm water. Soap may be used, but try it on one leaf first, to make sure it isn’t toxic to the plant. Even insecticidal soaps formulated for houseplants cannot be used on all houseplants. If dish soap is used, make sure to rinse the leaves completely. Do not use milk or leaf shine on leaves. These materials can plug plant pores. By the way, the leaves of African violets also need to be cleaned, just make sure the water is warm.
Step three is to reshape the plants. Trim off wild shoots and cut back leggy stems - those with large spaces between groups of leaves. If those pieces trimmed off are healthy, root them for additional plants or add them to the original pot to create more density.
And for that scrawny plant you simply can’t throw out and those dozens of plants sitting around in little green four-inch pots - combine a few of them into one attractive container. A dracaena for height, a croton for color and an ivy for trailing - the three combined make for a lovely accessory to any room.
If you don’t want to bother with repotting, simply cluster plants, making sure your arrangement has height, color and interest. Nestle a little living room ornament near the grouping for a finished touch.
This is the time our plants need as much sunlight as possible. But remember, they are resting and not actively growing so don’t overwater or fertilize. And keep only those plants that make you feel good.
, DataTimes The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = Phyllis Stephens The Spokesman-Review