Click below to listen to my 2 min Garden Bite radio show: Houseplant heat and humidity
There’s already below zero windchills! Seriously not liking no Autumn this year, but Mother Nature is cranky sometimes…
So, our houseplants are in and the heat is on, which also means the air is already getting dry.
Houseplants, as a rule of thumb, require night temperatures about 10 to 15 degrees cooler than daytime. For average homeowners, the daytime temps usually hang somewhere between 65 to 70 while night time temps are set around 55 to 60 degrees. Try not to create any more extremes than that.
When the real Upper Midwest cold comes rushing in, keep your plants away from outside doors, windows, heat registers, radiators and fireplaces. It’s the extremes that can really do-in our houseplants. Flowering plants including bromeliads.
Humidity levels are tough in the winter too. Our tropical plants need a higher humidity level than we typically feel in the winter. One way to combat this, is to keep your plants sitting on trays of gravel filled with water. Great video below…
Another idea is to group your plants together. They evaporate water and help each other out.Do keep a closer eye on these grouped plants because if one gets a disease or bug, odds are much higher, they all will.
Misting your plants has no effect on the humidity level. But you can sure clean them that way! If you do, put just a drop of dish soap in the water and wipe with a clean cloth.
As for fertilizing, well, that should be on the tag your plant came with. If you don’t have that tag anymore, then ask someone from where you bought the plant. Another bonus to buying locally, you can get information immediately from people who know what they’re talking about.
Besides overwatering, over fertilizing is a proven houseplant killer, as I told you last week, I almost killed the unkillable zee plant with too much fertilizer!
