Easy Indoor Plants for Busy Persons!

The biggest killer of indoor plants is over watering. Busy people somehow seem to neglect the water until all of a sudden they remember, and flood the plants for a few days, and bingo! poor plant!

Indoor plants need to be watered regularly, misted frequently in hot weather, and trimmed and fertilised every six months or so. They need to be watched for insect infestation, and have their leaves wiped with a damp cloth occasionally.

Because indoor plants do need maintenance and that’s why many indoor plants don’t survive, because many people think they can dump them in corner and forget about them. There are many ways you can reduce the need to spend lots of time on maintenance. Grab a few minutes while the jug is boiling, while you are waiting for the floor to dry, or in between any household task.

There are three things to consider when choosing indoor plants, choosing plants which are tolerant of variable conditions, giving them the optimum growing conditions your house will allow, and adopting simple strategies which will make it easy for you to maintain them.

Just by buying the right plants, your maintenance time can be dramatically reduced. There are thousands of varieties of indoor plants. Most have been grown successfully indoors for many years.

Generally speaking plants with large green leaves like less light, and more water. Think about where the plants came from. If they are jungle foliage plants, they like a warm wet humid atmosphere. One way to get around this humidity problem is to place a bowl or dish of water next to the plants. You can grow a small water plant in the water if you like, or let a floating candle drift around.

Another trick is to have a nice attractive tray with river pebbles and water in it, and sit the houseplants on the pebbles. Place the plants so they are not in the water, but sitting on the pebbles. It’s also good to rotate plants into the bathroom occasionally, where the humidity will boost them along. And of course, when it rains, if you can move them outside for a few hours, they will really appreciate it.

Others like the spider plant, jade plant, cactus, and others, in Nature grow in less fertile areas, and are more hardy. These sorts of plants usually require more light, and less water.

Don’t forget the pot you use! You can use almost any sort of container for indoor plants. The plants must be placed on a container so they don’t leak water onto the carpet, but sometimes they are also placed inside a basket, or exterior container as well.

You don’t have to pay lots of money for an expensive pot. One of the most attractive pots I’ve ever seen was a porous pottery one, which had used postage stamps pasted all over it, and then sprayed with clear varnish. It looked great!

I have an old china teapot with sentimental value, it leaks a bit, so I drilled a hole in the bottom with a masonry drill for drainage, and I grow a herb in it. A chipped coffee mug makes a good plant pot. Another trick I have seen is a plastic pot, sprayed with clear varnish, and then rolled in dry white sand before the vernish dries. Looked great too, and what about black sand? Or red sand?

Lots of containers can be recycled into unique and attractive pots. Even an ordinary plastic pot can be hidden in a basket. To find out how to make your own baskets, visit our basket page.

If one is on tight budget, (who isn't!)even the plants can be obtained for very little cost. Pineapple tops, which really are a bromeliad anyway, can be planted and grown in pot. Sweet potato can be planted in a pot, or even in a hanging basket, and makes an attractive plant.

If you have climbing vine in your garden, and if the first 4 or 5 inches of a new tip will bend without cracking, it can be taken as a cutting, dipped in a root hormone powder or gel, and planted in pot. It will grow, and can be trained up an attractive stick. These softwood cuttings may need a clear plastic bag over them to keep them warm initially.

Many large soft leaves can be scored across the thick stem under the leaf, sprinkled with hormone powder, placed face down on some potting soil, pinned there with a couple of toothpicks and left to grow into several new plants. These plants include begonias, African violets, succulents, and similar soft, large-leafed plants.

An avocado seed with a toothpick stuck in each side of it, and suspended in a glass of water with the bottom half submerged, will send out roots in a month or so. After it has started to shoot from the top, plant into a pot. A young avocado tree makes a very attractive houseplant.

If your houseplant starts to wilt, its usually temperature wrong, too wet or too dry, or may have accumulated too many salts from fertiliser. Leach the salts out by repotting or flooding the plant with water, and allowing to drain.

If it collapses, it could be from draughts or salt problems. If the leaves fall off, from under or over watering, poor light, or draughts. If leaf tips turn brown, all or some of the above. If the leaves turn yellow, all or some of the above. Tall stalky growth, not enough light.

Calathea prefers good light, but can handle low light, and not too much water. Dwarf capsicums and chillies make very attractive houseplants, especially when they have fruit on them. They like good light and not too much water. Philodendron enjoy occasional misting, low light, and good drainage. Orchids are a bit fiddly, especially if you want them to flower. They are not a good choice for anyone who doesn’t have much time to look after them.

Pelagoniums, palms, hoyas, fuchias, figs, dracaena, cyclamens, coleus, are all reasonably easy to look after. There are many more species suitable for houseplants. Experiment, and if the plant is not going too well in the house, put it in the garden!

Happy houseplants, Patrick

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