Getting Houseplants Right: A Guide to Effective Indoor Plant Care

!±8± Getting Houseplants Right: A Guide to Effective Indoor Plant Care

If you enjoy nature, chances are you also enjoy bringing elements of nature into your home. Houseplants can infuse your living space with natural beauty that - if done correctly - can complement the décor and lift your mood.

When it comes to caring for plants, there are several primary needs you should address: potting, soil quality, lighting, temperature, moisture, and maintenance. You can address these in needs with six simple steps.

Step 1:
Choose the right pot. If you are transferring the plant from another pot, be sure to wash thoroughly and spray the pot's surface with a microbial inoculant product as it may harbor harmful bacteria or disease. Be sure to keep your pot size proportionate to the plant it will house. Too large a pot can lead to root disease and too small a pot will prevent the plant from thriving.

Step 2:
Provide the right soil. Simply filling the pot with outdoor soil is not going to cut it as standard soil does not drain properly. Indoor plants require special potting soil that provides additional nutrients as well as proper aeration and drainage. After placing the potting soil in the pot, lightly pack the soil down around the plants root system and then prime the soil with a light misting of microbial innoculant tonic.

Step 3:
Find the right spot. Most houseplants require sunlight to create food via photosynthesis. Depending on the type of plant you are caring for, you will need to make sure the plant is exposed to an adequate amount of sunlight. If possible, place the plant within direct sunlight or move the plant to a windowsill for several hours every day.

Step 4:
Make your home the right environment. Most plants require temperatures between 65 and 75 degrees during daylight hours. If you want to keep plants healthy, your house needs to stay within this temperature zone. Plants also thrive in around 80% humidity. If you live in a drier environment, consider purchasing a humidifier to make the home most hospitable to your plants. (Bonus: The humid air is also beneficial for human lungs, sinuses and skin.)

Step 5:
Get watering right. Most houseplant deaths are water related. The plant either receives too much or too little water. There is no set rule of thumb for watering. You want to water plants when they need it. Rather than having a rigid watering schedule, feel the soil every so often. The plant is ready to be watered when the soil feels dry to the touch. For more effective watering, mix in approximately one quarter tablespoon of a microbial incolulant like EM-1.

Step 6:
Use the right fertilizer and insecticide. Every so often, you will need to enhance the houseplant's soil or combat insects. Unfortunately, many plant fertilizers and insecticides are highly toxic, making them unwelcome products to bring into your home. Only use fertilizers that are organic and natural. Every month spray the plants leaves with a fine mist of effective microorganisms, which will infuse their mini eco-system with a healthy dose of enzymes, trace minerals and various B-complex vitamins. To safely treat plants for the occasional insect, mix one ounce of 3% hydrogen peroxide in 1 quart of water, and mist plants as needed.

Getting Houseplants Right: A Guide to Effective Indoor Plant Care

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How to Do Organic Gardening, Worm Composting: Guide to Making a Worm Bed

!±8± How to Do Organic Gardening, Worm Composting: Guide to Making a Worm Bed

howtowormfarming.com How to Do Organic Gardening, Worm Composting Guide to Making a Worm Bed. Creating a worm farm is not a hassle. All you have to do is just go on in your daily business and let the red worms do the job of giving you the best organic fertilizer there is. Visit our site to learn more how to make compost from worm farming.

How to Do Organic Gardening, Worm Composting: Guide to Making a Worm Bed

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bokashi affirmation in the kitchen

!±8± bokashi affirmation in the kitchen

Use Bokashi to Grow Exceptional Plants. Use Bokashi to reduce landfill waste and toxic conditions. Use Bokashi to minimize greenhouse gases.. Our Bokashi Cyclette System is simple to use. We provide 2 efficient anaerobic fermenters to use in your kitchen with a starter supply of Bokashi culture mix. Your scraps become valuable nutrients for your plants. Ferment your food scraps - save the world.

bokashi affirmation in the kitchen

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Houseplant Soil - Building a Basic Mix

!±8± Houseplant Soil - Building a Basic Mix

There are three basic elements of a soil mixture for indoor plants, each available in different forms, and each needed in varying proportions by different types of plants. The following is a basic recipe that should be varied depending on a plants requirements. For example, for plants that like soil "rich in humus," you would double the quantity of humus. For a "sandy soil mixture," double the amount of sand.

1 part soil - the "base" of most soil mixtures, often called "garden loam." Soil may be acid, neutral, or alkaline; clay-like or on the sandy side; high in humus content, average, or low. If soil is acid, add horticultural lime for plants that need it. If it is heavy with clay, add more sand; if sandy, add more humus. (Your County Agent will tell you how to have your soil tested for acidity or alkalinity, or you can test it with one of the available kits.)

1 part humus - to condition the soil, make it lighter and more porous, help hold moisture. Humus may be prepared and packaged, or scraped up from the forest floor. Peat moss, partially decayed leaf mold or compost, and manures - always well-rotted - are humus materials. Add less humus if soil is highly acid or already humus-rich.

1 part sand or substitute - to improve drainage, aerate soil, separate minute particles so roots have air to breathe. Use coarse builder's sand, not fine-grained or salty seashore types. Or substitute bird gravel, chicken grits, commercial brands of pelletized volcanic rock, coarse or fine vermiculite. Add extra sand to heavy clay soils.

Sift all ingredients through a screen with a mesh at least as small as a half inch, to remove stones and other undesirable foreign matter. Add fertilizers like bone meal or superphosphate according to each plant's needs.

To illustrate the "grain of salt" with which this recipe should be taken - most cacti and other succulents are potted like potting indoor plants in a mixture of three parts coarse sand or finest gravel with one part soil. Some growers add humus, some don't. Many add lime to neutralize acid. But the epiphyllums, orchid cacti, need a good proportion of humus.

Try to know your plants' needs, and suit the soil mixture to them. When plants are growing well, resist the temptation to experiment with some other soil mix, no matter who recommends it. It may be just the thing for your neighbor's plants, completely wrong for yours. When you do change soils, do it temperately and tentatively - try it on one or two pots before you take chances with more.

Houseplant Soil - Building a Basic Mix

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