Seven Tips To Help Your Indoor Plants Grow Better

by Kelvin Ho

Indoor plants are a very popular part of our modern landscape, as they add gardening beauty and extra oxygen into our homes, offices or other areas of living. Yet, often many shy away from growing them exclaiming, I just do not have a green thumb and they always seem to die! Certainly, anyone can learn to take care of houseplants in a proper manner if they have the desire to do so, but many just do not know how to care for them correctly. Let us now explore some ways that we can care for our houseplants and even increase their growth.

Gardening Is Not Just For The Garden

Just as gardeners must learn the basics of gardening, those who want to have houseplants indoors must learn the proper way in which to care for them as well.

Tip #1
Keep your plants clean. Indoor plants tend to become dusty over time, accumulating and filmy layer that makes them look dull and unattractive. When the leaves of the plant are cleaned, they will grow more favorably. You do not need an expensive solution to clean them, just take a damp cloth and gently rub the surface of the leaf.

Tip #2
Fertilizing plants is essential, yet indoor plants do not require as much as outdoor. During the spring and summer months, fertilizer should be applied more frequently that when the plant enters a resting stage in the winter months.

Tip#3
When fertilizing indoor plants, using a complete fertilizer is preferred, as it contains nitrogen, phosphorous, and potassium, which the plant needs. Gardening your indoor plants is easier with these types of fertilizers that contain all necessary nutrients.

Tip #4
Choose an appropriate size container for your plants. When the containers are too small or large for the plants, they do not look balanced and they do not grow as well. There should be adequate room for the soil and roots, however.

Tip #5
Clay potted plants require more frequent watering than do nonporous containers. Nonporous containers do not allow water to evaporate, thus reducing the need for watering as much.

Tip #6
Adequate lighting is an important and vital gardening aspect in the growth our indoor plants. Plants vary in their light requirements, so care should be taken to choose those plants that most suit your home lighting environment, whether low, medium, high, or very high.

Tip #7
Artificial lighting may be beneficial for gardening your indoor plants, in order to replace the natural light, especially for plants that require more than the low light standard.

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Indoor plant gardening can bring an added dimension of beauty into your home or office by following a few simple steps to help keep your plants vibrant and alive.

Kelvin Ho is the webmaster of "TheGreenFingers.com". He enjoys gardening since young. Nothing pleases him more than to see his plants grow well. Visit his site at http://www.thegreenfingers.com to get more gardening and lawn care tips.

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