The readjustment period 

So you just bought your new houseplant? When bringing a houseplant home for the first time, you need to consider what is called the 'readjustment period' that houseplants will go through. This period your houseplant will start to adapt to living in your home.

When plants are grown in nurseries, they are grown in the most ideal conditions for them. However, when you move them to your home these conditions change, and can somewhat differ from their nursery originate. This period is where the greatest number of issues can occur, i.e. yellowing of the leaves or leaf shedding. To help with the transition, keep in as close conditions to where you had bought it and read the label. As well as this, keep an eye out for early signs of stress.

Don't forget to dust your houseplant

Leaves like anything else in your home can accumulate dust. To remove gently wipe the leaves using a damp cloth or cotton pad. A dry duster will also work but ensure it hasn't been used alongside polishes or other chemicals. You can also use a paint brush to remove debris or dead materials from small plants. 

Avoid using sprays near your houseplant

Do you like reed diffusers? Do you use air 'fresheners' or polish in your home? If so then you'll need to keep their spray away from your houseplants as the chemicals contained within them can harm your plants. A reed diffuser that can of course be used in a home with plants but remember to keep it clear of them. The chemicals in these products, and others can burn the leaves.

Best medium to grow your houseplant

 As houseplants are typically confined within a small container, they require additional care compared to their outdoor counterparts. One particular thing to watch out for is watering. As outdoor plants are, well outside they can take a lot of watering where the water filters through various layers of soil. However, with inside plants they have a very limited amount of soil before the water starts to build up, starving the roots of oxygen. Yes, plants do indeed need oxygen like us to ‘breathe’.

 So here comes some special material called vermiculite, which is typically made of aluminium, iron and/or magnesium silicates. Or perlite that is made of expanded volcanic glass, which has been heated to 1000°c until it pops like popcorn, greatly expanding its original volume (simar texture to Styrofoam). These materials are essentially made of little soft light rocks aids with the drainage of a plant. The worse issue that houseplants can suffer form is a soggy bottom. One of the best potting mixtures for houseplants is 1 part vermiculite/perlite to 2 parts peat free compost.

Please do note that desert growing plants i.e., cacti and succulents would require a sandy medium rather than a compost one due to it holding onto less water. 

How to reduce water loss

To reduce the amount of evaporation on your houseplant's medium try using horticultural grit (2-3 mm). This grit is a great method of retaining moisture in the soil, plus it can reduce chances of insect infestations in the soil and it looks pretty. Typically, this grit is used for succulents and cacti bit can be used with larger plants. Additionally, you can get all sorts of colours, sizes and shapes.

Steps to take if you need to leave your houseplants

Are you going on holiday or a short get-a-way? Can’t find a suitable plant sitter? Well here are some tips to keep your houseplants alive without you. Please bear in mind that these tips can keep your houseplants alive for up to two weeks in summer conditions. 

First of all your biggest problem will be running out of water.  

• Identify which houseplants need the most amount of water and where the most sunniest areas are.

• Move plants away from the most sunniest areas to indirect sunlight areas or by partially closing blinds, this will keep plants in survival mode and reduced water levels.

• Hours before you leave, water your plants to the maximum ensuring water has fully drained. For houseplants that use the most amount of water, keep a little in the bottom of the pot or saucer. You can also use water globes to extend the water levels. You could also encircle your houseplants on the floor or table with a bucket of water in the centre. Place one end of the absorbent ropes into the bucket and then the other end into the pot of each houseplant. Another more expensive method would be to use a slow drip watering system.

• If not already clumped, bring your houseplants together to help maintain humidity levels.

• If you have very young plantlings or seedlings, cover them with plastic to help keep water from escaping. Please bear in mind too much humidity will encourage rot. 

Living houseplants come with imperfections

Have you ever noticed that your houseplant has some yellowing or brown spots of their leaves? Well, these are just sometimes imperfections that won't harm your plant.

Houseplants are living things and sometimes they may have yellowing leaves, brown patches, slightly wonky growth and other imperfections. This is a part of the deal with keeping living houseplants.

Sometimes we put these plants on such a pedestal due to them being in our homes. Whereas, we are more forgiving with outdoor plants, as we expect them to include imperfections due to the weather. Just remember these little imperfections cannot be helped, just like with people as they age.

When growing houseplants and cuttings in water

Standard cuttings

Do you have one of your houseplants growing in water as a part of a display? If so remember to regularly change the water, weekly to fortnightly with fresh rain or filtered water. Plant roots require oxygen to 'breath' and old unchanged water can become stale, loosing oxygen. Carbon dioxide from the air dissolves into the water increasing its pH. Additionally, microorganisms in the air and start to grow in the water causing it to become cloudy in appearance.

Cuttings to fill out your pot

Do you have a plant that looks tired or is becoming rather thinned out? You can bolster your plant by taking cuttings. 

This method is particular useful and easy for houseplants such as the Wandering Jews (Tradescantia zebrina) or Devil's Ivy (Epipremnum aureum). Many houseplants especially for trailing ones are actually made of several smaller plants grown together to fill out the pot. Additionally, trimming your houseplants will encourage bushier sturdier growth.

To take cuttings:

1. Cut approximately 15/20 cm from the tip, cutting just above a node (bumps; imaged).  

2.  Remove the lower leaves.

3. Place into rain or filtered water.

4. Leave for a week and watch the roots grow.

5. After a substantial amount of root growth (about 5cm long) you’re ready to plant back into pot.

6. Using a small stick, seed dipper or chopping stick, make a small hole to plant your new cutting.

7. Gently pack soil around cutting and water.

Best method to support your climbing houseplants

Well, totem poles, which are made from recycled coconut coir are recommended as they are highly dynamic; meaning that you can use pins to hold up the stems of your houseplants at any position. Additionally, totem poles can be bought in modules so that you can continually enlarge them if needed. You can also encourage aerial root growth by adding in water from the top.

Pins, specifically moss or florist pins can also be used to propagate plantlets of trailing houseplants. As well as producing more plants, this method can be used to fill out a plant's pot if you have a bear patch of soil.

Additionally, there are different methods used to tie up your houseplant. For hardener wooden stems you can use plastic or metal clips. For softer stems you'll need to use natural twine. Remember not to tie too tightly as you can chafe the stem resulting in open wounds making the plant open to attack from insects and disease. 

If you do use totems, whether made of moss or coir (as pictured) keep them damp to encourage new root growth particularly for Swiss Cheese Plants (Monstera), Philodendron and Devil’s Ivy (Epipremnum). When these plants produce aerial roots, they’re able to consume more recourses required for more, stronger growth. An issue commonly faced when using these totems is then they dry out and then aerial roots die back to only support the plant.

Pruning your houseplant

Deal with weedy growth

Have you noticed that your houseplant is starting to become too tall? Or has it become top heavy? Or even looks a bit weedy? Well the vast majority of plants respond well to some pruning, which encourages them to produce more bushier outgrowths. To prune effectively, make a slanted cut just above the internode, i.e. about 1 cm above a leaf stalk (imaged). We cut with a slant as a standard to prevent water from seeping into the wound that would culture fungi and bacterial infections. You could also cover cut with non-scented wax to seal it.

From the material that have you pruned, you can also produce cuttings with instead of composting. To make baby plants, cut just below the leaf stem at an angle and place into fresh rainwater or filtered water. Within a week or two your cuttings will start to make roots.

Tidy your houseplant

Have you noticed that some of your plants have a few dead stems, leaves or branches? It's a good idea to remove that dead material by pruning it off. This keeps any material from rotting the base or core of the plant away.

First of all, you'll need to check if the targeted stem, stalk or branch isn't just dormant. You can do so by slightly bending the affected area. If brittle it is dead if flexible it is more turn likely a live. To further check, you can make a small cut on the area. If green or whitish-yellow then it's a live, if brown is dead. Once you have confirmed the affect area is dead then cut at the base of the plant (as imaged) or at the junction where the next living areas are. Make a slanted cut to ensure water flows off the cut and does not accumulate, where fungi and bacteria can take hold.

When to cut down your plants

Have you ever noticed new growth developing on the base of your plants, especially for herbaceous perennials in autumn? This is an indication that you need to cut down your plants to rejuvenate their growth before winter.

Before you start cutting down, please ensure that there is a substantial amount of new leafy growth at the base. When ready to cut down, don't be afraid and cut all material just above the new growth. After cutting down new growth will start to growth faster due to having more light to use.

Key maintenance on your gardening tools

If not you do not keep up with maintenance you could be causing your plants harm when pruning or repotting them. 

What to generally look out for:

• Keep all tools free of dirt or old soil as this can transfer pest or disease from one plant to another.

• Ensure that any cutting tools are sharp for clean cuts. Use an angled fill to sharpen, like a kitchen knife.

• Ensure rust is removed from any cutting instrument. Again fill off rust on blades or use various chemicals (even vinegar + water can help) to remove them from blades.

• Oil any hinges. Various oil sprays (used for bikes and cars) are available to ensure clean cuts.

• Thoroughly clean tools that hold water i.e. watering cans and misters to prevent bacterial or fungal growth.

• Tools should be kept in a dry and well-ventilated place.

How to deal with root and soil compaction

Aerating your houseplants

Do you know that your houseplants can suffer from root compaction? As plants grow they require more space to grow which can be limited within plant pots.

To help you can either embrace the problem or avoid i.e. pot up into a larger pot or keep in same pot if you don't have room. To keep within the same sized pot, you can help reduce compaction by poking a stick into the soil. As well as reducing compaction this technique can aid with aeration, roots need air to 'breathe'. Another method to use is to remove the plant from the pot and take small chunks out of the root ball (root-soil clump); don't be too cautious. After removing small chunks you can tweeze of some of the outer roots to encourage new growth. Then replant the houseplant using new compost. Please note this method is not appropriate for tuberous or bulbous houseplants as they can be damage.

When to transplant your houseplant

Furthermore, a distorted plastic plant pot also an indication that this plants needs to be either planted into a new, larger plant pot or to tease out the roots in order to trim them. This will cause some stress to the plants but will keep the plant at a similar size.

A key indication of root boundness is that the roots are starting to grow through the bottom of your pot. You can check if your plant is root bound by gently lifting the plant out of its pot to see if the roots are wrap around themselves. If plants become too root bound they will strangle themselves and die. When planting up tease out majority of roots, don't be afraid if some break. 

Re-topping the soil that your houseplants grow in

When transplanting is too much you can re-top the soil, adding in additional nutrients from the new compost without disturbing the whole plant during a transplant. You can undertake this by removing the top fifth of the soil in the pot and replacing in with new fresh houseplant compost. 

White growth in your plant pot

Have you ever noticed a white powdery substance growing on your houseplant's soil? This substance is a type of powdery mildew, possibly saprophytic fungus. This fungus is totally harmless to both people and plants, and is a direct result of exposed soil where fungal spores can land on and grow.

Although white powdery mildew on soil is totally harmless it can look unsightly. To prevent this from happening you can cover the soil with a mulch such as pebbles or a fine horticultural grit. If you don't want to cover the soil, then you can simply rub your fingers across the surface of the soil to remove.

Houseplant bending towards the light

This is your plant's natural phototrophic response to maximise its access to sunlight. Essentially a plant's leaf is like a solar panel, it is where plants generate their energy. To fix blending houseplants, regularly rotate your plants so that their growth becomes more even. Move the bend away from the light source. Be aware that some plants will bend more rapidly than others.

Supplementary lighting for your houseplant

In the dark winter days, houseplants don’t receive as much light as they require particularly if they are originally from the tropics. You may have seen several adverts or posts on social media covering supplementary LED lighting, which have a purple hue. Though giving our houseplants additional lighting through the winter does indeed benefit them, it doesn’t benefit them as much as you may think.

 These lights must give off special wavelengths that plants used to grow (red and blue) so they won’t benefit from your standard desk lamp. Instead, you need to purchase ‘LED growth lights’ (available on many online retailers), which emit the correct wavelengths that plants need to grow. Two to three of hours a day will help get your botanical children through the winter. Think as these lights as a sort of life support, they will keep your plants alive but they won’t flourish. These lights must also be fairly close to the leaves of your houseplants (within 20 cm) in order to give them sufficient light. Additionally, as many people have commented from my video calls these lights give off a colour retro purple tinge.

Variegated foliage fading

Have your noticed that the variegated foliage on some of your plants has started to fade? If one of your variegated houseplants has started to loose its appeal then it is in an area that is too shady. Houseplants and outdoor plants with variegation require more light than their non-variegated counterparts as they don't contain as much chlorophyll needed for their growth. Move your variegated plant into a more sunnier position and within a few weeks it will return.

Here we have an example of a 'dead head' or a flower that has naturally finished its self cycle, either it has been pollinated or not. To encourage your plants to produce more flowers, particularly with bedding plants remove them at the point where the flower stalk meets the stem.

Pulling dead heads off may damage your plants and make them vulnerable to various diseases. Removing dead heads tricks plants (thinking that they are under insect attack) into producing more flowers as they want to produce seed. Another method to increase flower growth is to encourage competition amongst plants by planting your plants close to each other, which works really well for bedding plants.

Plants get sunburnt 

Yes, plants can get sun burn or 'scorching' from too much exposure to ultraviolet light. This scorching presents itself as dried out brown blotches on the leaves. To prevent, move plants to more of a shady area of your home. Scorched areas will not recover but you can prevent it from spreading.

Make your own organic fertiliser for your houseplant

Do you want to avoid non-organic fertilisers for your plants? If so then have you considered using the leaves of the Comfrey plants (Symphytum officinale)?

This unassuming woodland plant is a hardy fast growing squat bunch of leaves, which is accumulate lots of nutrients from deep within the soil. Once taken up, these nutrients (vital for plant growth) are stored in the leaves.

To gain the nutrients from the leaves, you can then remove the leaves and rot them in some water – until the water turns a shade of brown and has an aroma. This leaches out the nutrients and forms what is known as a ‘green manure’. There are also many other fantastic examples that can be used as a green manure such as:

• Alfalfa (Medicago sativa)

• Buckwheat (Fagopyrum esculentum)

• Red clover (Trifolium pratense)

• White clover (Trifolium repens)

•  Fenugreek (Trigonella foenum-graecum)

•  Broad beans (Vicia faba)

• Italian ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum)

• Mustard greens (Brassica juncea)

Dealing with greenfly

Have you ever experienced the wrath of green flies, otherwise known as aphids? These critters not only are an annoyance to gardeners but cause major losses to world crop production. There are a range of methods to use to get rid of these pests.

Of course chemical sprays will do the job but there are more easier and organic methods to employ. If your infestation is fairly minor, then you can simply run your fingers across the infected area to squash them. Please bear in mind that then aphids sense movement they will drop to the ground (a survival strategy). If worse than you can use a low concentrated washing up liquid solution - 1 L of water to 5 mL washing up liquid to get rid of them. Oil-based solutions to the above are also effective. Another more biological method to rid yourself of these aphids is to encourage their natural predators such as ladybirds.

Dealing with Powdery Mildew

This is an example of White Powdery Mildew or Erysiphe alphitoides, which is a common foliar fungi that infects a wide range of plants. The fungi proliferates on new growth and in damp conditions. The best treatment is to remove all majorly affect leaves and to spray using an organic fungicide that contains sulphur once a week. White discolouration will not be reversed until next year's growth.

Make your own organic compost

One great way of reducing the environmental impact from your houseplants is to create your very own compost. Don’t worry it’s very straight forward. All you need is a small area in your garden and to collect certain food scraps (listed below). As a broad guide you can follow the below steps to create a nutrient rich compost for your non-desert loving plants:

Find a quite area of your garden and ensure the compost heap is on bare soil to encourage soil dwelling life to help break down your food scraps into compost. Typically, a compost heap is surrounded by a wooden structure (slatted fence) to hold it together. After you have built your heap:

1. Find a quite area of your garden and ensure the compost heap on bare soil to encourage soil dwelling life to help rot your waste

2. Place straw or twigs at the bottom for drainage.

3. Add compost materials in ‘wet’ (food scarps and tea bags) and ‘dry’ (grass clippings and straw) layers.

4. Add green manure and ensure pile is kept damp. The use of a lid or cover helps retain moisture.

5. Finally, turn your compost layer, using a fork every couple of weeks to ensure air gets into the mix, which helps with the decomposing process. At this stage you can add in your waste at the top of the pile and give it a quick mix.

Within months (up to 6 months) you’ll have lovely dark brown fluffy compost ready for your plants. 

Items to make compost

• Fruit and vegetable scarps

• Flowers and leaves

• Coffee grounds or tea bags

• Grass clippings

•  Straw or hay from pets

Items not to include

• Meat or bones

• Pet manure

•  Perennial weeds

• Banana or citrus peels

• Hard woody plant material

Brown tips on your Spider Plant

If you've noticed that your spider plant (Chlorophytum comosum) has dry brown tips that crumple when touched? Then this indicates that your watering regime is stressing your plant out. Additionally, this could indicate that you've placed your plant in an area where it gets regularly disturbed.

To check which problem is causing the browning, check if soil is bone dry. If so water, if flooded drain water and leave to dry for several days. Ensure when checking that you fully remove plant out of a hanger or pot to check. If caused by disturbance, newer growth will not have any browning. If older growth is displaying browning at the tips move to a quiet corner. Other houseplants can display the same symptoms.

Browing Aloe vera leaves

If you start to see indented brown leaves on your Aloe (Aloe vera), this indicates either over- or under-watering. If you start to notice this, check how wet the soil is. If soaking, then your Aloe needs drying out. Place on a thick layer of paper towels and leave to drain. If bone dry give water from the bottom using rain or filtered water. Aloes are sensitive to too much water.

Rubber plant outgrowths

What you noticed that you rubber plant (Ficus elastica) has started to produce these outgrowths? If so don't worry. These outgrowths are actually aerial roots. 

In the wild these plants grow in the rainforest and require extra support, and these aerial roots offer that. Seeking other stronger plants, these aerial latch onto them. No need to cut them off, they're perfectly natural to your rubber plant. 

Yellow leaves on your Dragon tree

Have you noticed yellowing leaves at the bottom of your dragon tree (Dracaena marginata)? These are just simply old leaves. You can pull them off by grabbing them at their base, and they will fall off. You can also leave them on although they may make your houseplant look a bit messy.