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All plants require adequate light! However, not all plants require the same kind of light, and the light in your home changes with all kinds of factors like the direction the windows face, whether there are trees or buildings outside the window blocking the light, and whether your blinds or curtains are filtering or blocking light completely. All houseplants are categorized into specific ideal lighting requirements. This section is all about how to interpret the light requirements for your plant.

To discover the available light in your room, figure out a) what direction the window(s) face, b) whether there are outdoor obstructions like trees or buildings, c) if you have curtains, blinds, or privacy screens that are in front of the windows, and how often they are used. (For example: I never close the blinds on my main floor, but the blinds in my bedroom are closed until midmorning. Even though these windows face the same direction, the plants in my room are shadier plants to account for the unique lighting situation).

Full or Direct Sun

A handful of houseplants fall under this category – such as succulents, cacti, birds of paradise, and lipstick plants – but only the ones that can withstand the brightness that a full sun location offers. If your plant requires full sun, this means that it generally wants a window that is west- or south-facing, clear of obstructions, and receives somewhere in the neighbourhood of 6 to 8 hours of light per day. Larger windows facing these directions allow you to place the plant further back into the room, but correspondingly smaller windows will mean that the plant has to be closer to the window or supplemented with a grow light if it’s too far into the room.

Bright Indirect Light

Many houseplants fall under this category! That’s a fun fact, because it’s also the hardest to explain. By contrast with direct sun, these plants prefer to be just outside of the sun’s rays (“indirect”) but still located in a very bright location, such as a west- or south-facing room, but across the room or around the corner. You could also hang a fine curtain in front of a west- or south-facing window and lessen the sun’s rays to achieve indirect light; there would have to be enough light filtered through the fabric to allow the plant to benefit from the light. Such a curtain would have to be fairly translucent. East-facing windows of medium to large size might also achieve the same effect, but would have to have few if any indoor or outdoor obstructions.

Partial Shade

What does partial shade even mean?! Well, it means that the plant still requires some sun, but the sun is not direct, the windows may be small, or the direction of the windows might face east or north. Partial shade can also be achieved in sneaky ways: if you have southeast facing windows – which would be bright in the morning but fairly low light in the afternoons – you could have a curtain or blinds to further reduce the light, and introduce shade-tolerant plants to the space. The point is that partial shade plants will dislike bright locations, but also suffer in a lot of darker spaces.

Full Shade

The darkest spaces in your home that still have natural sunlight would be considered full shade. Plants such as snake plants or ZZ plants might be well-suited to these areas, but take care: you still need some sunlight, even for the most shade-loving plants. This means that a windowless bathroom or basement would not be ideal; windowless rooms would require some kind of grow light. Full shade in your home looks like a space with north-facing windows, basement suites, or any wall that is quite far from all windows (as in some apartment buildings, high shelves, or short hallways that open onto rooms with windows).

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Your soil quality is perhaps more important than you might think! And “soil” is a broad term for planting mediums: not all soils are built the same. For instance, your houseplants would not be happy if you used topsoil from your outdoor flowerbeds, because topsoils tend to be heavier, and often with a clay content that is not conducive to houseplant growth. On the other hand, growing our trees and shrubs in moss and perlite would not go well for them, because there would be too much drainage and not enough support. You should think of soil as offering a combination of moisture, drainage, and nutrients which can be adjusted for the needs of the plant. Further, different soil components can offer similar properties, so you can often use substitutions to achieve similar results.

Here’s a useful example to explain how variable your soil can be. When putting together an orchid soil, you could choose to use moss or moss with some soil as a medium for retaining water. You could then add clay or bark to either of those substrates to also provide drainage and large air pockets that is also lightweight enough for the roots to move through. Orchids also tend to want very small amounts of fertilizer, so their media should not be very rich; I would therefore use potting soil sparingly (or not at all) in combination with other media – like perlite – to provide a well-draining soil. And then I would throw in some charcoal for its anti-fungal properties, to further reduce the chance that the moss or soil will produce molds. Orchids require something to hold onto moisture and something to drain the water quickly, so as long as your orchid soil contains media that offers these two important properties, you will have great soil! That’s just one example of how you can create a custom soil medium for a plant with particular needs; if you want to create your own custom soils, find out what your plants need in terms of moisture, drainage, and nutrients, and find materials that best suit those characteristics.

Here are some common soil types:

Sandy Soil

Just as it sounds, this is usually a potting soil that contains some sand. On its own, sand drains very well and holds onto zero nutrients. However, when we refer to “sandy” soil, we are referring to soil that has some sand in it, which is an important distinction! Sand will provide some drainage, and is often added to soils for birds of paradise or cacti. Sand can be heavier than other additives that provide drainage, so plants with very fine or weak roots would prefer another media unless they are very well established.  

Rich Soil

The word “rich” here is going to refer to the organic content of your soil. Houseplants that require rich soils need a lot of nutrients in the form of organic material in the soil, or from fertilizers (see Fertilizer Section). Fiddle Leaf Figs – in my experience – tend to need a lot of nutrients all year long. This does not mean, however, that you can follow those TikTok videos that say put a banana in your houseplants: you just end up with a moldy banana in your soil. Rich soils can be achieved for indoor plants by adding fertilizer to fresh soil media. Houseplant soils don’t have the adequate bacterium (and yes, soil-based worms and insects!) to break down organic components into an ingredient that can be used by plant, so you are better off trusting your compost process to the outdoors: banana peels and egg shells should go in your compost bin, and you can find other more readily-available sources of potassium and calcium that won’t rot in your indoor pots. If you need to add nutrients to your soil, skip the “quick fixes” on the internet (and avoid unhelpful molds in your soils!) and use an organic fertilizer, which are often made with nutrient-dense fish, bone meal, or plant material which has been processed into a form that is usable by the plant. Sidenote: compost, manure, and organic soils would technically add increased nutrition to your soil, but they tend to be too heavy for a delicate root system, and more importantly, might not smell appetizing in your home! Unless they are specifically labelled for use on houseplants, save those for outdoor uses where they can do the most good.

Well-draining Soil

There are lots of ways to achieve well-draining soil. You can add any number of components to make your soil drain better, such as bark, perlite, sand, or charcoal. You can produce a similar effect by putting rocks beneath the soil and above the drainage hole to reduce the chance that water will sit and stagnate in the bottom of the container. Sidenote: it is not helpful to mix the rocks in the soil! Rocks create obstructions for delicate roots, so we want to make sure that rocks used for drainage are beneath the soil.

Moist Soils

Moisture-retaining soils are especially useful for ferns or prayer plants that want just a touch more humidity and tend to suffer if they dry out for too long. They still don’t want to sit in water, so you have to strike a balance between creating moisture versus producing media that will stagnate or produce molds. I tend to add a component listed above from the well-draining soil section to components that hold onto moisture to produce an ideal media which will drain but also provide some localized moisture. Moisture-adding media include: moss, peat moss, and vermiculite. Even some organic soils will tend to hold onto more moisture, but I would hesitate to use those on houseplants unless you were using an alfalfa or compost tea, and only sparingly.

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There are a few factors that contribute to watering! I’m always asked, “how often should I water this plant?” and the response I give must be so unsatisfying, because I say, “well, your house is different from mine, so I don’t like to give an exact ‘weekly’ or ‘bi-weekly’ answer.”

But it’s the truth! All homes have different air flows, windows, and other variables that make it difficult to say to someone, “yes, water that once per week!” when that isn’t totally accurate. What I do say is that you can check your plant weekly; you should put your finger into the soil – up to the second knuckle – and use that method to determine whether you water that week or give it more time. If the tip of your finger feels slightly dry soil, then you can water. Often, the surface of the soil will “look” dry, when it is actually moist underneath. Alternatively, loamier soils will appear darker, which makes them “look” moist when they are actually dry. The bottom line is that for most of us, looking at the soil is not going to be an adequate test compared to feeling the soil itself. Besides that, knowing the type of plant you have can also help you to make your watering tasks go more smoothly.

Drought Tolerant Plants

Some drought-tolerant plants, like cacti, snake plants, and ZZ plants enjoy less water. For all three, I recommend checking these once a month, and then being prepared to water less often in the winter, and increase watering slightly in the summer. Besides that, be prepared for the unique circumstances of your plant! I once had snake plants in a concrete pot that needed extra watering because the concrete pots allowed the water to evaporate quickly. I was shocked at how often I watered these snake plants until I recalled that untreated concrete sucks up water like a sponge. The lesson here is that there is a general rule to most plants, but there are always other variables at work. Good plant care means knowing the rule and then observing your plants.

Humidity

Some plant care labels will say that they require high humidity. This is difficult to achieve in your home if you live in Saskatchewan in the winter, but not impossible. Of course, small humidifiers are more common than ever, and can add a delightful ambiance when located on a plant shelf in a room in your home. Humidity can also be achieved with a spray bottle: I have decorative spray bottles on my plant shelves, and I find it very calming to spray plants every few days and watch the water bead on the leaves. So relaxing! Of course, be sure to do this every couple of days and only in very dry spaces; if spots appear on your leaves, that’s a sign that the moisture is not being absorbed adequately.

In addition, you can use something called a pebble tray to create a microclimate around the plant. Beneath the drainage tray, you can add an additional tray filled with rocks for the plant to sit on. Keep the pebble tray filled with water; what this does is uses natural evaporation to allow water to be near the plant at all times. The pebbles keep the water from dispersing too quickly and keep the plant from sitting in water. This won’t be a complete solution for high-moisture plants like ferns, but many tropicals benefit from nearby moisture.

Signs You Need to Water Your Plant

Some plants will shout at you from the rooftops that they need a drink! Peace lilies are probably the most obvious of these in addition to ferns. Both will wilt and start to droop. Ferns might even look dull in appearance. Maidenhair ferns will progress quickly, as their fine, lacy leaves will start to crisp up quickly. If your peace lily droops and you water it quickly, it should perk right back up. However, a peace lily that dries out for too many days in a row might freeze in that downward looking position. At that point, you can no longer use the peace lily’s appearance as an indicator, because it will remain droopy-looking until the growth is replaced, making it really easy to overwater if you’re only looking at the droopy leaves as a signal. (A good reminder to always check the soil!).  

Perhaps an obvious sign that a plant needs to be watered is if the soil is so dry that the root ball appears to pull away from the sides of the pot. Most plants do not appreciate having bone dry soil before they are watered, so you will need to check your plants slightly more frequently to prevent root stress.

Some people use the colour of the soil to indicate when to water, but I am hesitant to suggest that unless you know your plants really well. It might be a reason to check the soil, but not always a reason to water. Still, once you get to know your plants, this might be a valuable clue if you are certain about the soil colour. I have a Chinese Evergreen that was planted in soil that turns lighter when it needs watering, making that easy for me to assess. On the other hand, I have a False Aralia whose soil is so dark that I cannot use that as an indicator. For me, I just remember that the False Aralia needs to be assessed with my fingertip so that I know I’m not over or under watering it.

Signs You Are Overwatering Your Plant

Overwatered plants have a few potential indicators; the trick is observing the indicator and then eliminating other causes that could also have led to that characteristic.

For example, yellowing leaves are an indicator of overwatering. However, yellow leaves also indicate: not enough light; manganese deficiency; magnesium deficiency. You will want to eliminate those as other potential causes before assuming that you are overwatering, unless there are other indicators of overwatering present.

Another overwatering sign is that stems appear black or mushy. Stems near the soil level will be soft and eventually rot, causing everything above the rot to die. This is a sure sign of overwatering.

A sign of overwatering that is also a pretty obvious indicator is an unappealing smell. Clean soil has an earthy scent that should smell fresh. Rotting soil will smell like an old vegetable crisper. Not that I know what that smells like.

My tried-and-true “did-I-overwater-this” diagnostic test is very simple: I pop the plant out of its pot, and I look at the colour of its roots. If it has bright white roots, it has not been overwatered, so any issues it’s been having must be caused by something else, so I can rule out too much water at that point.

On the other hand, if the root ball has many brown or black roots, that is definitely a sign that it was overwatered. Some plants might have large, thick roots that have turned black or brown, or are even slimy or mushy. These should be removed from the root ball before being placed back in the pot. Hydrogen peroxide works on plants the same way it does on your body: it removes dead tissue (on your skin or in your plants) by oxygenating the area. Oxygen bubbling in the hydrogen peroxide helps to clear away dead cells, leaving the healthy cells behind. Hydrogen peroxide won’t fix your pest problem (wrong again, TikTok!), but it may help to clear the roots and dead organic material after a plant has been overwatered. At that point, assess the remainder of the root ball. If enough healthy roots remain, the plant has a good chance of returning to health. If the plant has lost the majority of its roots, I can sometimes bring it back by repotting it in a smaller pot (that now better reflects the size of the new root ball); this will only work if some roots still remain. If there are no more roots, there is no more plant, and it is time to say goodbye.

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Plants require nutrients that are not found in soils or water. Some potting soils might have some nutrients in them initially, but those nutrients will need to be replenished after about a year (or you can follow the instructions on the packaging; some fertilizers will say to apply every week, every other week, every sixty days, and so on; always follow the instructions on the packaging and don’t use more than it suggests!). Here is some information about how to read fertilizer labels and which fertilizer to choose!

The NPK Label

Fertilizer will typically have three numbers represented on the front label. Each number corresponds with a nutrient on the periodic table that is beneficial for plants. The first number is Nitrogen; the second number is Phosphorous; and the third number is Potassium. (Recently, I’ve seen grass fertilizers with additional numbers, but those should be labelled to indicate which other nutrients they might represent; typically, when you see the three numbers, you should assume that they are Nitrogen, Phosphorous, and Potassium, in that order).

In other parts of the garden, these numbers change according to a ratio to provide the ideal support for the plant. For example, grass fertilizers have really high nitrogen compared to their phosphorous and potassium levels. However, a fall fertilizer for grass has a really high potassium number to force the grass into dormancy for winter. Tomato fertilizers also have a really high potassium content, but for a totally different reason! Tomatoes require more overall health care which potassium provides. Annual flowers have tremendously high phosphorous content to support their live fast, die young approach of producing as many flowers as they possibly can in a short period of time. Finally, trees and shrubs require high nitrogen to support their trunks and leaves. Giving a tomato high nitrogen would reduce the amount of fruit; giving a tree really high phosphorous would leave the trunks and stems weakened. It’s therefore important to know what you are fertilizing so you can choose the ideal fertilizer for your plant.

Nitrogen

Nitrogen is a necessary nutrient for plant growth because it helps aid the green parts: nitrogen helps keep leaves looking green and healthy. Nitrogen is also helpful for the structural growth of plants. Tree trunks and stems require nitrogen in order to be strong and support the structure of the plant. This goes for other plants and vegetables, too: plants need some amount of nitrogen in order to have strong stems or branches that support the plant. Houseplants typically don’t require a high nitrogen fertilizer, but would prefer an NPK rating that is largely balanced across all three.

Phosphorous

Phosphorous helps the “fast-growing” parts of the plant, including flowers and roots. As I wrote above, tropical houseplants prefer a balanced NPK ratio. However, exceptions exist: flowering houseplants could use a small dose of a higher-phosphorous fertilizer during the more intense growth periods.

Potassium

Potassium helps the overall health of a plant. It’s particularly important for vegetables – which tend to be susceptible to pests – but your tropical also benefit from some potassium in the fertilizer. Most houseplant fertilizers with an NPK rating will have the potassium in balance with the other two, because raising one or the other rating tends to have a specific effect that we’re not really looking for with houseplants: we just want general health, so having an equal NPK rating is usually what we’re looking for.

Organic Fertilizers

On the other hand, organic Fertilizers tend to have low or very little NPK ratings. This is because organic fertilizers are achieved with processed plants, bones, or fish, and those tend to have very little Nitrogen, Phosphorous, or Potassium. Organic fertilizers with all three NPK numbers can be a decent substitution for houseplants. I like to use organic fertilizers to supplement the Nitrogen, Phosphorous, and Potassium, because organic fertilizer tends to contain other nutrients that are less frequently available in typical fertilizers, such as calcium, manganese, and magnesium.

Plants that have calcium deficiency might have new growth which appears to be inhibited (the leaves might look malformed or “pinched”). Brown spots might appear at the tips or edges, but this is not to be confused with fungal diseases on plants: fungal spots can be seen on both sides of the leaves, as if the spot goes through the entire leaf. Fungal spots would indicate overwatering or too much humidity.

Magnesium deficiency is sometimes confused with iron deficiency – since the effects look so similar – but the difference is that magnesium deficiency appears on old growth first, while iron deficiency appears on new growth. In both cases, the leaves will start to lose their green colour, but the veins of the plant remain darker green. Chelated iron (sometimes called iron chelate, pronounced “key-late”) can be added to water to fix an iron deficiency, while organic fertilizers with some magnesium should clear up a magnesium deficiency before it spreads to the new growth.

Manganese deficiency is extremely similar to iron deficiency in that it also impacts new growth; the leaves will appear whitish or yellow starting from the edges, while the veins remain green. However, the spaces between the veins might remain greenish, giving it a kind of webbed-looking effect.

For any deficiency, you will notice the positive effects of your treatment on the new growth only. Old growth that shows the original damage will not “heal” the way that your skin heals from scratches and so on; that discoloration on the leaves is permanent. Look at the new growth for signs of health; new growth should come in the correct shade of green and stay that way! Try to leave the old and damaged growth as long as possible so the plant can still use those leaves to support the plant. Remove the damaged leaves (if your aesthetics demand it!) when the plant has enough new growth to support itself.

Fertilizer Burn

Is there such thing as too much of a good thing? Absolutely. With all fertilizers, if you overuse the fertilizer, you run the risk of “burning” the plant. The plant will look a little brown and crispy in wide swatches across the leaves if it receives too much fertilizer. This is also true of using a fertilizer that is not meant for the specific plant. Be sure to always follow the instructions on the label. Mix water soluble fertilizers according to instructions, and add slow-release fertilizer according to the size of the pot. Do not shake water soluble fertilizer onto the soil! Also: be aware of local water sources, and understand that phosphorous causes algae blooms in water when it is overapplied. Algae snuffs the life out of other plants and even some aquatic species, so be sure to apply your fertilizer responsibly. We all have a responsibility to our water tables and wetlands to only use the amount of fertilizer that is recommended for the job that we are doing. Remember that “more is more” is great advice for when you’re adding garlic to your food, and not when adding fertilizer to your plants.

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For repotting your plants, you want to be sure to only re-pot once the plant requires it. Re-potting the plant too early can cause the plant to die because there is too much soil holding onto too much water. Re-potting too early can also cause the plant to become stunted and stop growing. For smaller plants or plants in plastic pots, a relatively easy way to check if a plant needs to be re-potted is to squeeze the pot: if there’s a lot of resistance, or you can feel roots through the pot (like with a snake plant), then it’s time to re-pot it. If you’ve squeezed the pot and you’re still not sure, you can pop the plant out of the pot and take a look at the root ball. If the roots are winding around and around the pot, nearly covering the entire surface, that’s also a good sign to re-pot your plants. If the roots are covering 50% of the soil surface, you can also re-pot at that point. Read on to figure out when you should re-pot your plants.

Why shouldn’t I re-pot my plant?

If you have a plant that you know will one day become enormous, it is often tempting to put it into a large pot immediately. I always recommend that people resist the temptation and be patient; the plant may one day reach that size, but you are going to end up with better longterm results if you let the plants increase its pot size gradually.

There are some signs that you may need to re-pot your plant, but plants only have so many ways of speaking (changing colour, drooping, and so on): be sure to rule out all other possible reasons for the symptom before applying a permanent fix like repotting.

Drying Out Quickly

This might seem obvious, but a plant that has a large root ball has replaced much of the soil that was in the pot. The soil holds onto water until the roots can use it, but if there is no soil, then the plant will seem to require more water more often. The soil might dry out faster than usual, or the plant’s leaves might wilt (depending on the type of plant). This is going to be a great symptom for plants that are well-established that you have owned for a long time. Smaller plants (2”, 4”, and 6” diameter) will take between 1 to 2 years to grow into a larger pot (again, with some exceptions: snake plants and succulents can take twice that long, while bananas and birds of paradise will explode within months). If you have a large plant, about 8” or 10” in diameter and you’re used to watering it every week or two, and it suddenly seems to need a lot more water more often (and it’s not related to the changing weather becoming warmer and drier), that’s a great signal that it might need repotting.

Root Stress

One of the signs that a plant needs to be re-potted is root stress. Unfortunately, root stress is also caused by overwatering or sitting in water, so you will want to eliminate the other diagnoses before deciding that the root stress indicates that the plant needs to be repotted.

Root stress is indicated on the leaves through yellowing or browning edges. Eliminate other causes of yellowing first: too little light and too few nutrients might be causing this. Make sure it’s getting enough of both (again, paying attention to the type of plant you have!) and then re-assess. Leaves at the bottom of a plant (say, a dracaena or an orchid) will eventually turn yellow and drop off of their own accord. This is a sign of the plant’s natural growth, so you won’t need to re-pot those, either. One of the best ways to eliminate root stress as a factor is to take the entire root ball out of the pot and give it a look: eliminate overwatering and underwatering first! And of course, if the entire root ball is covered in roots, that is likely the cause of the stress: time to re-pot.

Visible Roots

If roots are circling the surface of the soil or poking out the holes of the bottom of the pot, this might also be a good sign. Pop the root ball out and take a gander!

Re-potting Directions

Once you have determined that your plant needs re-potting, collect everything you need and get ready to re-pot!

1. Pick out your soil. Take a look at our instructions in another part of this guide for figuring out what soil you will need. (You will need to know what kind of plant you have, too; feel free to take a picture and send it to us for identification! We can also let you know what soil you will need).
2. Choose a pot or container that is one size bigger than the current size. Sizes are determined by the length of the diameter in inches. So if the plant pot diameter is currently 4 inches, the next size up is a 6 inch pot. An 8 inch pot will go up to a 10 inch (and so on). Never go up more than a size unless that plant is bursting at the seams! Choose a pot with good drainage, or recreate drainage. For larger plants, it’s always better to get a pot with a hole and a drainage tray, but small plants will usually handle a season in a pot with rocks at the bottom to mimic drainage. It’s not ideal, but it’s absolutely work-able if you are very careful to not overwater & pay attention to the plant. For most of my plants, I re-pot them in plastic pots, and then use ceramic pots as cover pots. Plastic pots make the drainage easier to see and they make the re-potting process easier (especially as the plant gets bigger!).
3. If the outdoor temperatures are above 15 degrees, feel free to do your re-potting outside! However: do not leave your plants outside for longer than it takes to complete the task to avoid bringing in outdoor pests. But a sunny day outside is a great opportunity to re-pot your plants. This should go without saying, but if the outdoor temperatures are cold – or if there is snow on the ground – your re-potting tasks should take place indoors. I use a fabric drop cloth from the hardware store to lay down on my floor and catch all the mess.
4. Carefully remove the plant from the pot. You may need to loosen the soil slightly by watering the soil slightly or inserting a trowel around the outside edge. (This is why I like a plastic pot inside another cover pot: I lay the plastic pot on its side and give it a firm push. I rotate the pot and then push again. This loosens the root ball without hurting the plants and make the root ball pop out pretty seamlessly).
5. Inspect the root ball. Look for rotten or broken roots; you can safely cut these off with clean garden scissors. If there’s a chance of transferring fungal spores, you dip the scissors in a mild bleach solution between cuts. Loosen the roots gently with your fingers to encourage them to grow outwards. Think about it this way: they don’t have eyes, so they don’t “know” when they are given more space, and will continue to circle instead of spreading into the new space offered by the larger pot. Gently break apart roots so they change directions. If you need to cut off old growth, you won’t hurt the rest of the plant! If it has a healthy root system, removing old or dying roots can actually refresh the plant and cause it to be happier.
6. Place the new plant in the pot (put soil down first if you need to). Make sure that the original surface of the root ball is level with the new surface. That is, don’t bury your plant too deeply nor have it stick up too far, either. You don’t want to drown your new plant by having the crown disappear below the surface of the soil. If it’s too high up, the water will drain away from the plant and into the new soil, where it won’t do any good.
7. Stake large plants with tall stakes or moss poles to prevent them from falling, breaking, or causing damage. Moss poles can cause philodendrons to grow faster and produce larger leaves with more fenestrations, so a moss pole is not just an aesthetic: it also helps your philodendrons (like monsteras) to grow big and healthy!
8. Monitor your new plant for water more carefully for the first few weeks; it may use water more slowly, since the new soil should be more absorbent. Be sure to check the soil before watering until the plant gets accustomed to its new pot.

Repotting Propagations

Propagations started from cuttings require a few extra thoughts. (Most of your houseplants are started from propagations and not seeds, so that’s what we’ll focus on here!).

Some houseplants are very simple to start from cuttings, like pothos, snake plants, philodendron, and peperomia. The water in your cuttings should be changed every three days (don’t just add water!), and the propagations will be ready to plant once the roots are well established. A bushy set of new roots will create a strong plant! Keep in mind that it may take a month or two for pothos to be ready, while a snake plant might take six months, depending on how often the water is changed, the sunlight, and some other factors.

Re-pot your propagations into pot that are barely bigger than the new root ball. That will be a very small pot, but that’s ok; you don’t want the roots to be swimming in the soil. New propagations might seem very thirsty for the first two weeks as they get used to having less water, but that’s ok; keep the soil evenly moist for two weeks, and then resume watering your new plant babies as normal!

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Plant pests are one of the many joys of plant care; no healthy plant system is perfectly sterile, so we sometimes have pests. The best way to deal with them is to be prepared! Here are some ways to prepare for and deal with pests.

1. Clean all new plants. Regardless of where you purchase your plants – and some places are more reputable than others – it is good practice to give your new plants a quick wipe with a clean cloth. If you have existing plants, feel free to spay with insecticidal soap or End-All and leave them alone for a week before introducing your new plant to its family.
2. Keep an eye out! Check your plants periodically for signs of distress. I’m just nearsighted enough that a plant on a high shelf might get a lot of spider mites before I notice; I have to check my plants every couple of weeks or more often to catch pests before they get started.
3. Check for the signs. Plants that look suddenly dull or leeched of colour might have spider mites; look closely – use a magnifying glass if necessary! – and see if the leaves are losing colour in a faint spray paint pattern. You may also be able to see the mites or their “webbing” on the leaves. PSA: spider mites are NOT spiders; spiders in your plants are doing you a favour, so let them be if you can handle it. The webbing of a spider mite clings to the leaves and is cottony, while actual spiders have stringier webs that don’t form cotton unless they are old and starting to fall. Always get a second opinion from us before you treat for any pest; it’s easy to overuse pesticides, so be sure to take a sample, place it in a zip loc plastic bag, and then bring it in within an hour of taking the sample. (Old samples are often hard to read; we like to be as accurate as possible! So take your sample right before you come to Dutch Growers). Another sign to look for is small, white bugs called “mealy” or their cottony eggs. They cluster in the hard-to-reach parts of plants: inside new growth that is yet to uncurl, inside rough stems, and in the crevices of plants. Again, take pictures or a sample and bring to Dutch Growers for confirmation of mealy. Click here for a link to our blog on how to treat Mealy bug.
4. If there was a Bingo Card for “Houseplant Ailments” in the fall and winter, at least half the squares would say “fungus gnats,” and it would be the fastest game of Bingo: we get a dozen daily calls about fungus gnats. There’s a simple reason for that; fungus gnats lie dormant in most soils and become active when the water is so wet that roots start to grow fungus (hence the name “fungus” gnat). The bugs lay their eggs, and the larvae eat up the fungus on the roots. The adults crawl out of the soil, and the process begins again. The simple solution here is to reduce your watering as soon as fall starts, to prevent the fungus from growing in the first place. But that’s hard for most of us to remember, so you can also use Nematodes to treat fungus gnats without chemicals.
5. Aphids are unlikely, but blooming plants offer a haven for aphids: check new growth and buds for clusters of little bugs (which can be bright green, brown, or black, depending on what they eat!), and pay special attention to jasmine, citrus, hibiscus, and oleander for these sweet-loving bugs.

The key for pests is to keep an eye out and then get assistance as soon as possible!‍

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Here are some other tips and tricks for keeping your houseplants healthy and happy!

1. Wipe dust off the leaves of plants every month or so. This helps keep your plants photosynthesizing properly, but it also gives you an opportunity to monitor your plants for pests or nutrient deficiencies before they get out of control.
2. Houseplants hate drafts of any temperature. Plants should not go near any cold or warm vents, and windows with drafty edges in the winter should be covered or fixed to prevent damage to plants. A plant near a door to the outside world during the winter is going to be resounding “No.” (You might think that plants like warm air, but the warm air from your furnace is too dry and too hot – and too much of a fast temperature change! – for the plant to enjoy it). Redirect vents with directional covers, or place plants in another space so that they plant will not be harmed by drafts.
3. Fun fact: aloe vera are in the succulent family, but they don’t like direct sun; they will turn rusty brown if they receive too much light. That’s not the fun fact, however: their fun fact is that, if you reduce the lighting, aloe vera will return to its original colour, giving the appearance of “healing” the damage. Cool, hey?!
4. Another fun fact: (which may be a rumour, but it’s worked so far for me!) pothos cuttings release an enzyme into the water that encourages roots to grow faster. That means you can add a pothos cutting to other propagation cuttings to encourage them to grow faster, too! (Just be sure to detangle them before they get too big!)
5. Try not to re-pot orchids – and other flowering houseplants – when they are flowering. Some things are sturdier than others (like African violets), but orchids will tend to lose their flowers if they are too disturbed during a transplant. A blooming orchid is a happy orchid; feel free to wait until it is done blooming before you transplant it.
6. You can plant groups of similar tropicals together! A fun new trend in houseplants is to place a few like-minded plants in the same pot. As long as their lighting and watering schedules are similar, try putting a few things together to take advantage of the differences in colours and textures!