Provided by the Western Massachusetts Master Gardener Association
www.wmassmastergardeners.org.

March 2002 - Sprucing Up Your Houseplants

by Valerie A. Loiko, Master Gardener

It's March and if you are like me, you are getting very anxious to get outdoors and start the gardening season. With the mild winter we've enjoyed and all the seed catalogs arriving daily, it's hard to contain our gardening urges. Let's put some of that creative energy to good use and spruce up those indoor plants and get them ready for their growing season.

The best time to repot is now, unless you monitor your houseplants on a regular basis and repot as needed (every 2 years is rule of thumb - green thumb that is!). To repot, tap the plant out of the pot and tap the roots of the plant with your hands to remove old soil and medium. Using a sharp knife or scissors, trim any dead or mushy roots. If the roots are growing in a circle resembling the pot, they should be pulled apart and clipped if necessary. Have ready a pot one size larger than the current pot and be sure it has been cleaned with warm soapy water to which a bit of bleach has been added.

Be aware of the potting medium that your plant needs to grow in. Some grow in a more sandy
mix, some grow in bark nuggets and some in a soilless mixture. A general medium that I make
up myself is:

1 part peat moss (or coco peat-coconut fibers)
1 part vermiculite
1 part Perlite

Put some of the plant medium into the pot. Use enough so that the plant will sit at about the same level that it was before. Place the plant in the pot and fill in with more medium, water and add more medium as needed.

Regarding fertilizing or feeding your plants, it's a good idea to fertilize either weakly weekly or to follow the instructions for the fertilizer that you are using and alternate every other week (one week plain water, one week fertilizer). When watering/fertilizing your plants, water until the water runs out the bottom of the pot to be sure that it has been watered thoroughly (and the week using plain water will help to wash the salts that collect from fertilizer, out). Do not let the plants sit in water.

Prune dead leaves, stems, etc. Prune to shape, clean up and encourage new growth. It's great to rinse the foliage either in the shower, with a sprayer or by tipping the plant upside down in warm soapy water in a sink and swishing, then rinsing off with plain water. This will clean dust off of the leaves and can help get rid of any pests that may have visited during the winter.

Pests can be a problem to get rid of. If the soapy water doesn't solve the problem, an insecticidal
soap can be used (purchased at a garden center) or you can make up a solution: to 1 gallon of
water, add 1 tablespoon of canola or corn oil and 1 tablespoon of dish detergent. Mix and use in
a spray bottle. There is also a product that I have used called NEEM oil (usually it's sold as a solution and can be found at garden centers). Aphids, spider mites and white fly usually can be taken care of with either of the above methods. For mealy bugs, I use a Q-tip dipped in alcohol and dab each white cottony area with it then spray it with the insecticidal soap. For scale, I go over the plant and scrape each hard shelled insect off with my fingernail and then spray it with either of the above methods.

Be aware of light requirements as the sun gets stronger and lasts longer. Plants may need to be rotated more often or relocated.

Now, I can just do routine maintenance and enjoy my plants until they are ready to go outdoors for the summer. Yes, I put most of my houseplants out under a tree so that they get dappled sun/shade, lots of air circulation and for some I actually plant the pot in the ground and dig it up and repot in the fall. When putting plants outdoors, it's a good time to take cuttings to root new plants.

If you are like me with lots of greenery indoors, you will have a lot to keep you busy until it's time to get your hands outside in the warm spring earth. Plants are simply delightful.

A few tips:
* A couple of plants that are really lovely and easy to grow, especially for beginner indoor gardeners, are the oak leaf ivy and the grape leaf ivy.
* Afican violets do well grown in an East or Northeast window. They do not like to have their
leaves wet, so I use a dry, very soft paint brush and gently sweep each leaf to remove dust.
* Clivia is practically a maintenance free plant. To get the plant to bloom, withhold watering
from October until the beginning of March, then start to water and fertilize on a regular basis.
* To ensure that your Christmas cactus will bloom, put it outdoor under a tree for the summer,
monitor watering during dry summer, bring it in in the fall before frost and tiny buds will start to
form and should flower between November and January (some even up to Easter).