3 secrets for indoor plant care, you can grow any flower

Indoor plants are becoming more and more popular these days. They not only beautify the environment, but also add vitality to the home, purify the air, improve your health, and relieve stress. What kind of environment do indoor plants like?

1. The secrets of watering

1. Keep the potting soil moist but not wet

Soil that is too dry or frequent watering will damage the root system (except for particularly drought-tolerant and waterlogging-tolerant plants). Plants with delicate leaves, such as pothos and nerve plant, need more water, while plants with leathery, waxy leaves, such as snake plant and rubber tree, cannot be watered much.

Moist soil means the soil can be pressed into a ball; wet means the ball will fall apart when pressed and water can be squeezed out. You need to understand whether the plant likes slightly moist potting soil, or likes to stay slightly dry.

2. How do you tell whether the soil is dry enough?

Stick your finger into the soil, so you can directly feel whether the soil is dry. A small bamboo stick inserted in also works.

Overwatering easily leads to root rot, and the leaves and root stems rot easily too. If a plant is dehydrated, the leaves droop, the leaf tips dry out, and the lower leaves turn yellow and curl.

3.Use room-temperature water

The best temperature for watering is room temperature, not too cold or too hot. Better water quality is of course more beneficial to plant growth. Let tap water sit for three days before use, and rainwater is the best choice.

Water that is too hot will burn the roots, send the plant into shock, and easily kill it; water that is too cold will affect the plant's dormancy and cause cold damage.

4. Choose a container with good drainage

Choosing a container with good drainage is especially important for plant growth. If you occasionally give too much water, it can flow out from the bottom of the pot (the bottom must of course have holes), so you must also make sure the drainage holes at the bottom are not blocked.

It is best to line the bottom of the pot with a drainage layer such as gravel, pebbles, broken tiles or clay pellets.

2. Taboos in caring for indoor plants

1. Give plants appropriate light

Plant growth requires photosynthesis, and the intensity of light affects plant growth. Plants that are kept well are all kept in a fixed spot. Of course, you first need to know whether the plant can take direct light.

If your plant cannot take direct sunlight, fluorescent lamps are a good substitute for sunlight. Give flowering plants 12 to 16 hours of artificial light per day. Give foliage plants 10 to 16 hours of artificial light per day.

2. Don't move the plants around you

Plants adapt to a new environment very slowly, so don't move the plants around you; keep them in a stable, adapted environment.

Moving a plant suddenly from a dark place to a sunny spot will sunburn and kill it. Plants kept in long-term bright sun are also not suited to being suddenly moved to a place without light. There needs to be a transition period, adapting slowly.

3. Mist with water or use a humidifier

Apart from plants like cacti that like dry air, most indoor plants like a certain higher level of ambient humidity, especially tropical plants. Frequently misting the greenery is a good choice.

Water should not always remain on plant leaves, so you can only spray around the plant to increase ambient humidity, which keeps the plant lush and green.

If you see the plant's leaves becoming wilted, the leaves turning brown, or the flower buds not growing well, then lower the ambient humidity and stop spraying.

Note: do not spray water onto flowers or flower buds.

4. Notes on fertilizing

Indoor plants generally just need a balanced fertilizer, that is, a fertilizer with an N-P-K ratio of 10:10:10. On standard fertilizer packaging there are three number ratios: the first number represents nitrogen, and the second and third numbers are phosphorus and potassium respectively.

Don't use fertilizer carelessly. If you are growing a flowering plant, you can buy a fertilizer with higher potassium. If it is a foliage plant, use a fertilizer with higher nitrogen.

5. Prune plants regularly

Some plants need regular pruning to grow better. When repotting, cut off dead roots and old roots as appropriate. Pruning not only promotes branching and benefits flowering, but also keeps the plant shapely and helps it avoid pests and diseases.

However, do not prune in the three months before the plant flowers, otherwise it will affect flowering. Many plants are pruned before spring budding, and also pruned appropriately after flowering, which can promote reblooming.

6. Don't use tea dregs, coffee grounds and rice-washing water carelessly

Tea dregs and coffee grounds cannot be poured directly into the potting soil, and cannot touch the root stems, otherwise these dregs will release heat as they decompose, burning the roots and also breeding bugs. (They must be fermented before use.)

The same goes for rice-washing water. If it has not been fermented, pouring it directly into the soil is not quite suitable either. Those hobbyists who have no problems are fine because the environment is well ventilated, and the water in the rice-washing water evaporates quickly. If you water with it on cloudy and rainy days, it easily breeds fungus gnats.

3. Understand your plants

1. Learn the classification of plants

It is very important to understand what kind of environment a plant needs to grow, so you can care for it better, such as the sunlight and water it needs to grow. For different indoor plants, asking a little about the plant's care will make growing plants much easier for you.

2. Determine whether your plant is a foliage plant or a flowering plant

Flowering plants and foliage plants need different fertilizer, sunlight and water, and you also need to know the plant's flowering season, so you won't prune carelessly.

3. Choose plants that suit you

If you are a diligent person, you can grow plants that like watering, such as arrowroot, nerve plant and umbrella plant.

If you want to grow some plants that don't need much care, you can grow plants like geranium, pothos and parlor palm.

If you often forget to water, you can choose plants such as snake plant, aloe, dragon tree and spider plant.