A wonderfully cheering and vibrant addition to any home, indoor houseplants don’t just look great; they can also make you feel great, and purify the air. But while they are so great, in so many ways, they do require a little maintenance to ensure that they flourish and remain a vibrant addition to your home.
How can you tell if your houseplants are happy?
Plants may not be able to speak, but they have certain ways of telling you how happy they are, that are very easy to spot. For example, if their leaves are wilting, they aren’t bright green in color, or they’re slowly turning brown, they are definitely telling you that they’re not happy, and you should address these issues immediately.
For more detailed guidance on sick houseplants, call in to your local gardening center, but for basic ways to keep your plants healthy at home, read on:
Keeping your plants healthy
In essence, a happy plant doesn’t just need water, light and nutrients to survive; it needs to be kept clean, too.
Over time, dust and small particles of dirt typically collect on the leaves of houseplants, which when left, can stop the plant from being able to absorb sunlight for the process of photosynthesis. Essential for enabling plants to thrive, once sunlight is blocked (or restricted) and photosynthesis can’t take place, plants will quickly begin to wilt and die. Dirt on a plants leaves can also block its pores, making it hard for the plant to breathe carbon dioxide in, and breathe oxygen out.
With this in mind, it’s a good idea to clean your plants regularly.
Cleaning houseplants
While a lot will depend on the type and size of your houseplant’s leaves, and the amount of dirt present, you can still use the information below as a guide for cleaning indoor plants:
- Use a duster for smooth-leaved plants with light dust or dirt
- Use a soft, damp cloth and warm water for larger-leaved plants or smaller leaves with lots of dirt
- Use a soft brush, such as a paintbrush, to gently clean furry leaves
- Use compressed air to clean plants without leaves, such as cacti, or for plants with a waxy coating on their leaves, like succulents, taking care not to spray them for too long as this might damage them
- Use a sink bath for smaller indoor plants with a lot of leaves and a lot of dust and dirt. Dunk them into some lukewarm water and swirl them around a bit, taking care not to spill soil by dampening it first, or covering it with plastic wrap. Remember to gently dry the leaves afterwards.
- Use the shower to rinse off larger plants, and then pat the leaves gently dry with a paper towel or soft cloth
Try to ensure that you clean the whole leaf, as their underside is where pests typically like to nest, and the stems and stalks should be included in your cleaning regime, too.
Plants sitting near air vents, windows or the ceiling, tend to get grubbier a lot quicker, and you many need to clean them every couple of weeks or so.
The more often you clean your home, the healthier and happier your houseplants will be too, as there will be less debris floating around in the air, waiting to settle on them and inhibit their growth.
