Keeping plants inside your Spartanburg home all winter doesn’t mean they aren’t affected by the change in seasons. If you keep your houseplants by a window, they’ll still react to the quantity and quality of light, whether it’s direct or indirect. Since your home is not airtight, it’ll also be affected by the humidity. Cold air outside dries out the air in your home, and that also affects your plants. Because of this, houseplants can stop growing during the winter. Some even die back. But when spring comes and houseplants start to perk up, what can you do to help them take advantage of the season?
Give your houseplants a good soaking
One way to revive your houseplants after winter is to give them a good soaking. You can water them from above with a watering can, but if you really want to make sure water reaches the roots and no nutrients leach out, simply soak the pot in a container holding a couple of inches of fresh water. If the container is large enough, like a metal fire ring from Mountain Time on Main Street that’s not in use, you can soak more than one plant at a time. If you need even more space, you can use your bathtub. Place the plant, and leave it in the water for a couple of hours.
Air your plants out
Another way to help houseplants welcome spring is to set them outside. Your potted plants can become part of your spring and summer landscaping among permanent bushes, shrubs, trees, and flowers. But there are right and wrong ways to do this. When you grow vegetables and start them indoors, there’s a practice called “hardening off.” This means that when the risk of frost is gone but it’s still a little cool out, you put your seedlings outside for a short period of time, bring them back in, then put them outside for a bit longer. Increase the time they’re outside until they can stay out permanently.
The same thing applies to houseplants that have become used to the light, temperature, and humidity inside your house. Putting them outside and just leaving them there all day and all night will shock them. Putting a houseplant in direct outdoor sunlight right away risks burning the leaves, even on a day that seems coolish to you. So harden your plants off, then add them to your landscape. Not only will the addition of houseplants beautify your garden, but it will also save you money since you won’t have to run to the local nursery and buy new plants every year.
When you take your houseplants outside, make sure to put them in the right places. Some houseplants thrive in full sunlight, while others need partial sunlight or even shade. Make sure to bring them back in before the next frost. To learn more about preparing your houseplants for warmer weather, visit The HomeMag’s pages on Facebook and Instagram.
