Winter Care for your Houseplants

Here are a few general tips to keep your houseplants happy during the winter:

Avoid Root Rot.

You might as well throw your watering schedule out the window. Many plants are dormant in the winter months and need much less water. Before watering, check the soil! Even if the surface looks dry, dig down one or two inches. Do not water if the soil is moist. Root rot is a common problem during the winter so if the soil is still moist then wait a couple more days and check again.

Make sure your plants are getting enough light.

Place your plants in south or west facing windows, as long as there isn’t a draft.

Grow lights are a good investment for getting your plants the light they need during these short winter days.

Increase the humidity.

If you don’t have a humidifier, here are a few tricks that can help:

• Group your plants together

• Move plants to the bathroom

• Fill trays with pebbles and water and rest the plants on the pebbles.

Plants don’t like extreme temperatures.

Keep away from cold, drafty doors and windows, fireplaces or radiators.

Keep an eye out for bugs!

When cleaning the leaves, look for signs of aphids, mealybugs or scale. We always have a bottle of Neem oil on hand to battle these pests. Neem oil is a naturally occurring pesticide found in seeds of the neem tree.