The post Air Cleaning Plants – Philodendron appeared first on House Plants for You.
]]>They are native to the Tropics of the Americas and the West Indies. Philodendrons live in swamps, on rocks, or along rivers. They grow long vines with heart-shaped, green leaves. Their flowers are rare, but large and white like a lily.
Philodendrons require a frost free environment. If you can provide this, they can grow in the shade outside. They thrive best in 60F-70F, but watch both night and day temperatures to satisfy this need. Night temperatures can vary widely from daytime temperatures in some locations. Indoor philodendrons can tolerate even lower temperatures, since they do not suffer frost.
Indirect, bright light is ideal for philodendrons. Keep them from direct or intense light and they will flourish. Direct sunlight will burn the leaves and the plant’s growth will be stunted. Low light conditions will force the leaves to grow farther apart and smaller.
The soil should be evenly moist most of the time. Avoid over watering, though, which is indicated by standing water. It is best to let the soil dry out a bit in between waterings. If they are over watered they become vulnerable to disease. Winter is a good time to reduce the water to your Philodendron.
While they can get by in low humidity for a time, Philodendrons prefer high humidity. Misting your Philodendron can help keep the leaves clean, while providing some of the moisture it needs.
Philodendrons prefer heavily organic matter as a growth medium. That is why you may find them often growing in the bark of large trees. The soil should contain rocks in the bottom and then sand mixed with the organic material in order to drain well.
Philodendrons can grow quite fast. Do not count on any flowers if you are growing your Philodendron indoors.
Many Philodendrons are climbers, but not all. You must know the species you are dealing with. In general, if it has waxy green, heart-shaped leaves, then it is a climber. Some send out aerial roots that can be trimmed when they look ugly or redirected to grow back into the soil.
As your Philodendron is still young and growing like a weed, you should re-pot it every Spring. You can simply replace some of the top soil for older Philodendrons.
The leaves accumulate dust. Clean them as often as you notice them getting dirty.
If it is the start of the growing season, you will want to employ slow release pellets. During the rest of Spring and throughout the Summer, feed it half strength liquid fertilizer weekly.
Take a cutting with two or more joints and many leaves. Make sure you get a clean cut. If you ask nicely, your local store may allow you to take your own cutting without charge.
Keep the leaves above the water and the rest submerged. Use a little root hormone if you would like a better chance of succeeding. Within five weeks your Philodendron will have its own roots.
Plant these 1” deep in a pot of soil and next to it place a long piece of wood for it to climb as it grows. Water it carefully for the first month or more, to keep the roots from drying out.
Yellow leaves can be a sign of over watering or too little light. Brown leaves that fall off is an indicator of under watering or too much heat. Curling brown leaves is telling you that you are using too much fertilizer. Pale leaves reveal that your Philodendron is not getting enough fertilizer. Brown areas indicate damage from sunburn, while black spots that the temperature has been too low.
However, Philodendrons are not prone to diseases. They are quite hardy plants.
They are occasionally infested with pests. Aphids, scales, mealybugs, and spider mites all love Philodendrons.
If your plant has root rot, it is most likely due to soil that does not drain well enough. Add more rocks to the bottom of the pot and sand to the mixture.
Do not let pets or children eat the leaves of the Philodendron, since they contain a toxin.
Philodendrons are nice looking plants that go where other plants cannot, as they climb everything they touch. Anyone can grow them and everyone will enjoy them.
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]]>The post Air Cleaning Plants – Broadleaf Lady Palm appeared first on House Plants for You.
]]>Lady Palms come from China and are some of the easiest palms to grow. They attract many kinds of tropical butterflies and can make a home to nesting birds if planted outside. Rhapis excelsa has been cultivated in Europe as far back as 1774, in America in the 1850’s. They were first grown by Japanese upper class 500 years ago.
Two versions of Rhapis excelsa exist. There is a miniature version that are cultivated by Japanese specialists. The most common, however, is a large palm with broad palm fronds, grown from either seeds or division.
Lady Palms grow slowly, at 8 to 12 inches annually under 80% shade and subjected to subtropical temperatures. This reduces as it is grown indoors. They can reach as high as 14 feet and have palm fronds from 6 to 12 inches across. Keep the plant thinned by removing any leaves that have become discolored or dried out. This will aid in ventilation.
If new growth is brown or dead, then the entire plant should be cut back to the soil. The whole plant has become rotted. Everything after that will come out rotten. If only the tips are browned, trim the tips off. Black tips indicate you have gone way too far with either water or fertilizer. Cut the tips off and adjust your watering or fertilizing.
It can thrive in any kind of light from shade to full sunlight. The best results will likely be found in full, but indirect sunlight. The more in shade it grows, the darker green the leaves. If you move it into fuller sunlight, the leaves may turn yellow and their tips might burn. That will go away as the plant acclimates.
As long as the soil drains well, it can be clay, loam, or sand. Try to keep it slightly acidic. Add some organic material to it as well so it will hold some of the moisture, while allowing for good drainage.
Do not over water. Standing water in the soil will only promote root rot. It can tolerate dry periods, but keep them short. Remember that misting it will keep the fronds clean from dust.
This is one of those rare plants that should hardly ever be fertilized.
Lady Palms require both sexed plants in order to achieve successful pollination. However, if you are set on propagating from seed, they are prepared commercially. Other species of Rhapis do not even have male and female plants and must be propagated by division.
Lady Palms produce so many roots that dividing the rhizomes is not that much of a problem. You should wait to divide it until the root system has either grown to break its clay pot or has simply become root bound. Divide the roots without worry about harming the plant, since the Broadleaf Lady Palm is a hardy plant.
Pests that attack the Broadleaf Lady Palm are the scales and spider mites. Take care of them much as you would on any other houseplant. Pick off the scales and spray leaves with insecticidal soap. Use a cotton swap dipped in alcohol to kill mites.
There is a seedling sport that involves finding and cultivating variegated specimens from seeds. Taking a random sampling of about 10,000 seeds, about 5 may come up with leaves bearing stripes. Only 1 of these will be a sturdy enough plant to keep its stripes. It is extremely rare for the plant to give rise to young who bear the same striping. When they do, they are given names. Otherwise, the striping appears random from plant to offspring. When the offspring do bear the same striping it is that of the leaf above it where it sprouted.
Perhaps the most popular variegated Rhapis excelsa is the Zuikonishiki. It is straight forward to grow and gives rise to many sprouts. Still, only about 40% of these sprouts are good enough to propagate. The rest tend toward either too much green or too much white. When the Rhapis excelsa tends toward white leaves, the effect is a golden color, called “golden chlorophyll”. These variegated types should be grown in cooler temperatures and average lighting. Too intense of light will burn the leaves. While increasing the fertilizer can mask the stripes, it cannot eradicate them. Keep to average fertilizing in order to bring out the correct colors.
The Broadleaf Lady Palm is very easy to grow and quite resilient against pests. It cleans your air and improves your health. It is clearly a top choice for your next household plant.
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]]>The post Air Cleaning Plants – Peace Lily appeared first on House Plants for You.
]]>Peace Lilies grow best with strong, but indirect sunlight. About 6 to 8 feet from a window that does not allow direct sun in will do best. It is rumored that Peace Lilies can be grown under florescent light and even in a room without windows.
Peace Lilies should be grown between 68F and 80F. Do not let any drafts blow on the plant. If the temperature drops to less than 45F the plant will die.
A 20-20-20 fertilizer made for houseplants can help the Peace Lily bloom, but it must be administered at half strength and only during the Spring and Summer. During the rest of the year you should not fertilize.
The best indicator to know when the Peace Lily is thirsty is when the leaves droop. On average, you should water your plant once per week during growing season. During Winter it requires much less water.
Mist the plant regularly and if you forget to water it, do not worry. Even if you come home one day to find its leaves collapsed over the edge of the pot, try watering it and misting it. A miracle just might happen.
Chlorine in the tap water can poison your Peace Lily. So either use bottled water without chlorine or let your tap water stand overnight. The chlorine will work its way out.
You can expect your plant to grow as much as 2 to 4 feet. There is no dormant season for your Peace Lily. Instead, it stops blooming in the Winter and requires less water.
The Peace Lily blooms in the Spring and the Fall. Its blossoms last two months. If your plant is not flowering, give it more light and make sure you are feeding it fertilizer.
The pollen from the stamen will get on everything. It is not impossible to get out of clothing, but not so easy either.
As one blossom starts to droop, save the energy of the plant by pruning that blossom off. The energy will automatically be sent to help grow the roots and the leaves.
If your Peace Lily is absorbing all of the water you pour on it, within only a couple of days, then it may be root bound and in need of re-potting. Other signs of being root bound include crowded roots showing through the bottom of the pot and the stalks crowding the pot. You should re-pot it at least every 1 to 2 years.
The fact that Peace Lilies clean your air means that you should propagate as many of them as possible. Jam them into your dwelling space and give the extras to all of your friends and family.
Use the new crowns of your plant to start a new plant. Crowns are where new groups of leaves are growing separately from the rest of the plant. To do this you have to take the whole plant out of its pot. Then determine which parts of the root mass belong to the crown that you are going to separate. Do not worry about breaking some roots. It is inevitable. Once you pot the crown in its own pot, it might wilt. It will bounce back in 1 to 2 weeks. Do not fertilize the new plant for three months. The roots are quite sensitive to burning. The full-sized plant has delicate roots and even more so for young plants.
Yellow leaves indicate too much light, but brown spots are burned areas where direct sunlight hit the leaves.
Rumor has it that Peace Lilies are poisonous for cats and dogs. While this rumor contains some truth, the Peace Lily is not deadly for your pets. In fact, the plant contains oxalates that will upset the animal’s stomach and drive them to quit eating the plant after only one bite.
Getting the oxalate from a Peace Lily on your hand could irritate the skin. This come right off when washed well with soap and hot water.
If your blossoms are green, then you have given your Peace Lily too much fertilizer. Reduce it so next season the flowers turn out white.
Keep pests off by cleaning the leaves regularly. The two that you might get are aphids and mealy bugs. The first is evidenced by sticky slime covering the plant. Use a strong spray of water to get them to fall off, followed by insecticidal soap. For mealy bugs, apply isopropyl alcohol with a cotton ball. If this fails, use insecticidal soap as well.
The Peace Lily has won the award as the easiest plant to care for indoors because of three reasons. First, it can be grown under low light conditions. Secondly, it shows clear feedback to low water levels. Thirdly, it kicks back easily, even from infestations.
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]]>The post Air Cleaning Plants – Rubber Tree Plant appeared first on House Plants for You.
]]>The sap used to be harvested in the 20th century to produce rubber. While the plants do live hundreds of years and the sappling is too immature for 7 years to be harvested, the Rubber Tree gives over 30 years of useful production for manufacturing rubber.
Rubber Trees do not require much light, but they flourish when there is bright, indirect light. Many people put their Rubber Trees near a window where the light is filtered through a pair of sheer curtains. Less light, during the growing of leaves, will yield larger leaves. However, do not move it from a cool to a warm room or the other way around. Also, Never place it in a draft or near a source of heat. Rubber Trees do not take well to change.
How much water you give your Rubber Tree will directly affect its health. While it is in its growing season, you should keep the soil moist. Water it deep. Although the dormant season requires you keep the Rubber Tree drier, it is possible to underwater it. Make sure you clean the leaves of your Rubber Plant to allow it to breathe easier. You should mist them occasionally.
The container for your Rubber Tree should be large enough to grow a 4-foot tall tree. Make sure there are drainage holes in the bottom. Place a layer of small 1-inch rocks in the bottom to aid in drainage. Add equal parts of peat moss, sand, and garden loam. This will avoid the wet, soggy conditions that Rubber Trees despise. The soil will drain quickly enough for the Rubber Tree to feel right at home.
Fertilize your Rubber Tree during the Spring and early Summer, but not when it is dormant in the Winter. Half-strength houseplant fertilizer will do.
The best approach to propagating a Rubber Tree is air layering. It is straight forward and always works well.
Find a healthy, leafing part of a branch. Make a cut on the stem below that. Cut half way into the stem. Then use a toothpick soaked in root hormone solution to spear the cut sideways and hold it open. Wrap the cut in thoroughly wet sphagnum peat moss. Wrap the peat in plastic, but loosely. Make it only tight enough to keep the peat on the cut. Watch for a few weeks and you will have roots growing in the moss. Finally, cut off that stem below these roots. Plant this in a pot and you have your new tree.
Cut below the thinner parts, just above the thick part of the branches. Cut right above leaf nodes. Try to prune the over all size of the plant. Everywhere you prune, new branches will spring up. Think of it as giving your Rubber Tree a haircut. Always keep one set of leaves, at least, so it can continue to make food for itself and re-grow.
If the leaves turn yellow and brown, then fall off, you know you are giving it way too much water.
You could also have root rot, if the leaves are yellow. Remove the plant from its pot. Knock off the soil. Trim off the damaged parts of the roots and re-pot.
If the leaves droop, without falling off, you know you are under watering your Rubber Tree. Increase the watering until the leaves perk up again.
If any leaves fall off, you can make a nick (not deep) with a clean knife just above the node and the new leaf will grow back faster. However, be aware that the leaves at the bottom fall off naturally. Do not freak out.
There is a chance that if you do not mist your Rubber Tree and its leaves become dry too long, that you might get mites or thrips. If misting again does not drive them off, try an insecticide designed for indoor plants.
If your Rubber Tree gets hit with scale insects, either pick them off one-by-one or touch them with a swab soaked in alcohol. They will easily die, but they usually come in droves.
The Rubber Tree is best grown from a sapling, rather than a mature tree. The sapling will adapt to its new environment much better than a mature plant. However, it is not so difficult to propagate from air layering. The Rubber Tree is quite sensitive to light and water, so getting these right is a must for health, but with a bit of care, you will have a beautiful specimen in your house.
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]]>The post Coco Coir for Growing Plants appeared first on House Plants for You.
]]>Coco peat is an environmentally friendly alternative to peat moss mining in environmentally sensitive swamps. It performs better than traditional peat and is 100% biodegradable. Plants grown with coco coir develop larger roots, blooms, and stems and coco peat does not become compacted like ordinary soil. Coco coir provides better aeration for the root systems, resulting in better growth. Soils that are degraded can be rehabilitated with coco coir. Lignin is the magic component that encourages better microbes and healthier roots. Trichoderma is one bacteria that comes with coco coir. They thrive among healthy roots and they kill fungus. Using reverse osmosis water (RO) instead of tap water targets harmful bacteria, while protecting good microbes. RO removes many impurities from tap water, including phosphate, minerals, nitrate, and heavy metals.
Coco coir also maintains an ideal pH level. Use coco peat as an additive to your plant’s soil or as a substrate in the foundation. Coco coir cannot easily be compacted, because of the coarse fibers that are so tough. This spacing allows for more oxygen to the roots. Other soil mixtures do eventually settle, which coco coir does not ever suffer from.
When you purchase any coco peat you should clean it and fluff it. Place the coco in many gallons of water. To speed up the process don some gloves and peel the outer parts off while in the water. Do this again once it has absorbed the water. Be sure there are no clumps left in the coco. You will need to make a strainer from some large Rubbermaid garbage container, by drilling holes in the bottom. Pour the coco into the tub and rinse three times with hot water. This will wash out the salt. Coco releases high levels of potassium (K) and phosphorous (P) quickly, but calcium (Ca) and magnesium (Mg) should be added. Coco coir takes up both Ca and Mg and holds onto them.
Coco coir can be over watered, contrary to popular opinion. The fact that coco coir retains water means that it may look dry on the surface, but if you monitor it beneath the surface you will see whether or not it needs watering. Adapting to the difference in water retention is one of the biggest hurdles to face when starting with coco coir.
Coco coir reduces the occurrences of disease, lowers the maintenance requirements, increases water retention, and oxygenates roots. It requires a new way of thinking about growing plants, but if used with forethought, coco coir can provide great benefits to your plants. Plant growth is optimized by coco coir holding onto nutrients and releasing them over a longer period of time.
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]]>The post Air Cleaning Plants – Spider Plant appeared first on House Plants for You.
]]>The Spider Plant (Chlorophytum comosum) takes the styrene, carbon monoxide, benzene, nicotine, and formaldehyde out of any 200 square foot space. Once the Spider Plant is established it is easy to maintain this natural air cleaner with little care. We can thank South Africa for the gift of the Spider Plant, a native to that country.
Spider Plants can be plain green, green with white edges, or the same with a central white stripe. One of the best ways to display Spider Plants is by hanging them in a pot. Their leaves will sprawl over the edge with their variegated green and white patterns. While they may bloom from time to time, their tiny white flowers often go unnoticed.
Place them in indirect light somewhere close to a window. Keep the temperature above 60F and avoid drafts on your Spider Plant.
The small stalks that pop up can be planted to grow new Spider Plants. As the baby plants form on these stalks, pin them down against soil in a small pot. You can use a toothpick. The roots will begin to grow, which is the time to cut the babies free. If you are having troubles getting the babies to live, try a little Rootone to encourage root growth. As for soil, use a quick draining soil that is aerated quite well.
Make sure you water your Spider Plant weekly, but never leave it soaked through and through. These are the kinds of plants that you never have to worry about missing a watering. They really do not mind going dry for a while.
To maintain proper humidity, try misting it many times a week and even bringing it into the bathroom while you are showering.
It is true that some cats adore eating Spider Plants. Evidently, there is good reason for their popularity among felines. They act as a hallucinogenic in a similar way to catnip. Keep them away from the cats by hanging them high and away from other objects.
Occasionally, the tips of the leaves might brown. This is typically due to either too much sunlight or insufficient humidity. It could also be due to chemicals in the water. Try switching to distilled water and this should solve the problem. Cut off the brown tips as they appear and adjust the light, humidity, or water quality.
Starting with the growing season you should fertilize a Spider Plant weekly to twice weekly with half strength house fertilizer. Quit the fertilizer as Winter begins. It is easy to underfeed or underwater a Spider Plant during its growing season. Spider Plants love filling their pots with roots. So you never have to worry about Spider Plants becoming root-bound.
There are two complimentary sets of requirements that must be observed to grow your Spider Plant to its maximum health. Keep it out of direct sunlight but keep it in bright light. Keep the soil dry, but give the plant a lot of humidity.
Spider mites can be attracted to Spider Plants when the air is warm and dry. To rid your plants of these pests use insecticidal soap or horticultural oil. Repeat this after 3 or 4 days. In order to keep them at bay you might repeat a third time.
Greenflies are known to chomp on the edges of the leaves. Apply insecticidal soap or pyrethrum, then do it again a couple of weeks later. Clip the leaves off at the soil, that show this damage.
When a variegated version begins to turn a solid color, it simply requires a bit more sunlight. The variegation will return.
Cold will turn the leaves transparent and soft. Assuming the roots have not frozen, you can clip off the damaged leaves and let it regrow.
Spider Plants really are quite simple to grow. Follow the few guidelines explained here and you will have cleaner air. Since propagation is so simple you can turn one plant into an army of Spider Plants and clean the air for your whole house.
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]]>The post Grow English Ivy in Your Living Room appeared first on House Plants for You.
]]>You can grow English ivy in pots or baskets as long as you have a structure for them to climb along. The supporting structure does not even have to be vertical. You can train your English ivy to grow in any direction with a little coaxing. Tie their vines to whatever structure you want them to follow and they will soon take it over, growing even up to 50 feet or longer. You must be patient, though. The first year will see very slow growth. The second year will yield more visible results. The third year the plant will grow so fast it may be hard to manage.
Where other plants may fail in the house, English ivy thrives. Place it in doorways and around cooler windows, since it tolerates the cold far better than your other houseplants might. You might have an ugly wall to hide or some other blemish in your house, or on the outside, that could use the friendly covering of English ivy. You might also choose to lean on English ivy as a ground covering in places where other plants refuse to grow, but it really does look much better sprawling up the walls of buildings.
English ivies love to be re-potted annually, but do it in the early Spring. Also, remember to prune them at the same time. Remove weakened parts anytime you see them.
Growing English ivy is only difficult because they do not like the warmed air of a house, which can be quite dry. Keep their soil moist while they are establishing themselves. While they do love moist conditions, they can put up with dry periods. You can also over water them. Yellowing leaves is a sure indicator of over watering. Try to keep the soil moist from Spring through Fall.
Mist your English ivy and it will love you back with lush growth. Misting an ivy will also eliminate spider mites. Aside from misting, you can raise the humidity for the English ivy by placing the pot on a tray of soaked pebbles.
It is unlikely you will ever need fertilizer. If on the off chance you do, make sure to dilute it to half strength and use a fertilizer high in nitrogen. You can feed your English ivy as often as once a month from March through September.
Plant your English ivy in soil that is rich in organics. If you must, add compost to make up for what it lacks. Mix equal parts of peat moss and perlite for a well draining soil.
They love very bright, indirect light in both the Summer and the Winter. If your variegated ivy turns solid green, you will need to expose your plant to brighter light and prune the greener parts.
You can propagate a new English ivy from a cutting about 4 inches long. Start the cutting in Spring. Start rooting the shoot in water and then moist soil.
DO NOT EAT the English ivy, since it has poisonous leaves. They can also cause irritation of the skin. Wear gloves if you experience problems.
If you can give your English ivy cool nights and a moist environment, it will love you back. During the Winter do not forget to mist your English ivy or place it in the bathroom right after you shower, closing the door. Your English Ivy is difficult to kill. With just the right small actions of care it will fill your home with green.
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]]>The post 3 Begonias Brighten Up Your Life appeared first on House Plants for You.
]]>There are more than 1,500 species of begonias, not to mention the thousands and thousands of hybrids that have been created. Begonias cross fertilize quite easily, so you can have fun with these, year after year. Although Begonias are native to the tropics and grow as understory plants, they have been adapted to other climates by hybridization. The downside of this is that they are not typically grown from seeds, but from rhizome division and leaf cuttings.
You will find these Begonias everywhere. They are so hardy and keep blooming. Wax Begonias can be grown in the garden or indoors.
They love sunlight, just keep them away from drafts and absolutely away from freezing temperatures (as you might expect of any Begonia). Temperatures over 60F are perfect.
Water your Wax Begonia only after the top 1/2” of the soil has dried out. Keep the humidity low and water through and through, allowing the water to drain. They prefer soil that drains quickly. Liquid fertilizer should be applied weekly at ¼ the full strength and 1 out of 3 or 4 times a phosphorous rich fertilizer should be used.
Planting Wax Begonia seeds takes much longer than growing from a cutting. It propagates best from leaf-cuttings. Choose cuttings without blooms and with more than two nodes, about 6 inches long. Cut just beneath a node. Remove the leaves from the last two inches. Place the cutting into a small jar with enough water to cover the cutting. The more water you add, the less concentrated will be the root hormone that the cutting produces and the slower and less dense the roots will grow. You can even put many cuttings in one jar. Once the roots grow to a minimum of ½ inch, plant the cuttings. Add fertilizer once per each growing season.
Angel Wing Begonias are almost as easy to grow as Wax Begonias. Their flowers are some of the most beautiful among Begonias, drooping in clusters.
They enjoy indirect sunlight mostly, but bright areas. Their ability to thrive in sunlight lies between that of Wax Begonias and Rex Begonias.
Angel Wing Begonias should be watered after the top 1/2” of soil dries out. Water it through and through, keeping the humidity high. Liquid fertilizer, at ¼ strength, should be feed to it weekly. When the plant is in bloom late in Winter or Spring, apply a fertilizer rich in phosphorous.
Angel Wing Begonias can be propagated much the same way as Wax Begonias, with some slight variations. Take a cutting, a minimum length of 3 inches. There must be at least 3 healthy leaves on one end. The best cuttings are those taken the day after watering. Clean a small jar or plant container. Rinse any bleach or soap off thoroughly. Take any additional leaves off the stem, leaving only the three on the one end. Place the cutting into the water so the three leaves are above the water and the rest is submersed. Place the jar in a sunny place and in only 7-14 days you will see roots. When they are well formed, transplant your Angel Wing Begonias to soil in a pot.
Strawberry Begonias throw out runners that crawl along the ground and end in a splash of leaves. Snip these off and give them as gifts to your neighbors so they can plant their own Strawberry Begonias.
Give them very bright sunlight without subjecting them to direct sunlight. These guys really dislike heat, so guard them against it by locating them somewhere facing East or West.
When they are growing you will want to water them generously. If you spill water on their hairy leaves you should immediately dry them with a paper towel. Otherwise, you risk fungal infection of the leaves. When Winter sets in, reduce the amount of water. The Strawberry Begonia will slow its growth almost to a standstill, so do not be shocked. As for fertilizing, you have two choices. Either you can apply a weak liquid fertilizer supported by micro-nutrients weekly, or fall back onto pellets that allow for a more controlled release of nutrients.
Propagating Strawberry Begonias works very differently from either Wax Begonias or Angel Wing Begonias, because they send out their runners. These runners can be used to create the starts of new plants. Simply place a runner across planting pots and secure each with a small tent spike with the bent head. In only 3-4 weeks they will each grow roots. Cut them from the main plant and you have new Strawberry Begonias.
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]]>The post Indoor Cactus Garden – Bring the Beauty of the Desert Home appeared first on House Plants for You.
]]>Cacti belong to a larger group of plants called succulents. Not only do most cacti bear spines, but many also have hair to protect against the evaporation of their moisture in the hot desert Sun. All of them bear waxy skin that locks water into the cactus.
The hardest aspect of growing cacti indoors that many gardeners have to face is that they grow very slowly. Moving your cactus outside can sunburn it if you do it too quickly. First place it in the shade and gradually move it into the full sunlight. Watch in particular for either light green or tan tinting on the plant itself. This indicates a sunburn. Return it to the shade and start again.
You can over water your cactus quite easily, rotting the roots. You can acquire the same effects by potting a cactus in too large of a container. Besides the overall size, the height of a cactus pot can stunt its growth by stressing the roots, when the pot is too deep. This occurs because cacti have laterally reaching roots.
You can prepare a cactus pot by layering rough gravel in the bottom. Add soil that drains very well, since you will want to allow the soil to dry out completely before watering. Your cacti will appreciate alkaline soil that is quite porous. Forget the idea of dropping them into a pile of sand. That is not their true habitat and they do not thrive in pure sand. Do-it-yourself soil mixture is not so difficult. Put together equal parts builder’s sand and regular potting soil, then add in some pulverized limestone or bone meal.
If you are transplanting a cactus, you will want to take care not to put them through the shock too many times. For a cactus, which grows so slowly, moving their home is a huge shock.
Use a folded newspaper to hold large cacti and tongs for smaller specimens. In either case, cactus spines will easily spear your hands through gloves. When you do transplant a cactus make sure to gently remove all of the old soil from the roots before re-potting. Avoid watering your cactus in its new pot for a few days.
Cacti, and their flowers even more so, are sensitive to nitrogen. They require a special balance of nutrients in their plant food. Too much nitrogen can burn the plant. Try a 7-40-6 ratio of nitrogen, phosphorous, and potash. While you are at it, do not neglect the macro- and micro-nutrients. These include iron, magnesium, calcium, sulfur, manganese, copper, and zinc. In order to coax a cactus to flower you must control their environmental conditions. Lower the temperature at night, if not also during the day. Shorten their length of day to less than 12 hours. Finally, feed them a well diversified plant food mixture.
One sure way to keep your cacti thriving indoors is to set up artificial lighting. In fact, this will be necessary if you want flowers. 150 Watts for every square meter is ideal. Place fluorescent lights slightly more than a foot above your plants. Be careful how many growing lights you have employed, though. The police might suspect you of growing pot if your electric bill is too high.
The length of day that you simulate for your cacti should mimic that of their natural habitat, which is between 12 and 18 hours. You will also want to rotate the pots bi-weekly and set up reflectors to concentrate the energy of the lights. Pay attention to the kind of spectrum your lights emit. Anything toward either the red or the blue end will act like poison on the cactus. Growing lights or especially metal halide lamps will yield top results. Halide lamps generate huge amounts of both UV and heat, which will make your cacti want to kiss you, just watch the spines if you let them.
As far as diseases are concerned, cacti are quite impermeable. The most common disease is mold, which may infect almost any part of the cactus. You can also watch for Coccoidea, a type of scale insects, and nematodes. Although a certain scale insect’s eggs are collected from the opuntia cactus and used to produce a red dye, you can kill scale critters with a combination of alcohol and nicotine in a spray solution. Nematodes require a bit of surgery on the roots and re-potting in clean soil. Burn the infected soil.
Cacti do require unique care compared to other house plants. With a bit of practice, though, you will have the beauty of the desert flourishing in a window of your own home.
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]]>Choosing tulip bulbs in early Autumn, you should select those without blemishes, bruises, or soft spots. Remember that large flowers are produced by large bulbs. Some species can grow quite tall, requiring staking to keep them upright. If you want shorter species, try Tulipa batalinii and Tulipa humilis at only about 6 inches tall. If you want tulips indoors that put out a large blossom and come in many colors, then you should turn to Triumph tulips. They are quite easy to grow inside.
Your Tulip bulbs should be stored in a dark, cool location, approximately 35-45F, for 3-4 months. Ideally, you should keep them cooler for the first 4 weeks and then warmer for the last few weeks. Try putting them in the crisper in your fridge or an unheated shed. Do not keep them near either fruits or vegetables that might be ripening, since there will be ethylene gasses. Ethylene will destroy your Tulip bulbs.
Once your bulbs are ready, find a container that will allow for adequate drainage. Choose flower pots, wooden boxes, baskets, but not clay pots. Clay containers will suck the water out of the soil too thoroughly, drying the bulb out. The pot should have drainage holes. The ideal size is about 8 inches deep and 10 inches in diameter. Three bulbs can be planted together in this size of pot.
Remember that the better the drainage, the better you will avoid rot. Yet, you do not want your bulb to dry out. So choose a soil that drains well, but avoid the ceramic pots that sap water from your soil too quickly. Your soil should be a combination of potting soil, compost or manure, and sand, in three equal parts. Fill your container up with the mixture, leaving only 3 or 4 inches to the top. Lay the bulbs on top of the soil with the pointy side up and not touching each other at all. Be careful not to press the bulbs down. The roots must be able to easily penetrate the mixture as they grow. Turning the flat side toward the outside of the pot, the first leaves will end up growing out and over the edge. Fill the pot to the rim with more soil mixture, so the bulbs are covered and you can only see the tips peeping through.
The pots need to be kept in a cool, dark place. You can put them in your basement or garage, but make sure it is dark enough and cool enough (approximately 40-45F). Water very little, weekly, discarding any water in the bottom drainage tray.
As the leaves begin to show, in the form of young shoots of about 2 inches (in about 10-12 weeks), haul the pots out to a place with low light. The temperature should be a bit warmer than 50F, even as warm as 60F. Move the pots a little at a time toward a window with very bright sunlight, but not direct sun. If you will rotate the pots as you move them, the growth of the stems will be quite even. You should start to see the flowers after only 2 or 3 weeks.
Caring for forced tulips is quite similar to caring for any other indoor plants. Feel the soil to see if it is dry. Then water it. Tulips use a significant amount of water, so check the soil often. Keep your Tulips out of direct sunlight and away from any kinds of drafts. However, keep them as cool as you can in order to extend their time of blooming.
As far as humidity is concerned, Tulips require normal levels. Add fertilizer biweekly, diluted to half the potency. Maintain a pH between 6.0-7.0. Once the flowers of your Tulips are spent, you should not allow the foliage to die down into the soil. This will poison the bulb. So remove the bulbs before this happens. Allow them to dry on their own. Store them in a cool and airy place for planting the following season.
Growing tulips indoors brightens your days with the sunlight glowing through the petals of the tulip blossoms. Try growing a spectrum of colors to adorn your window sill in your kitchen. Then when you have breakfast every morning, you will start your day out with an uplifted outlook on life.
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