Herself's Houseplants

So your house plant is taking over your desk and it is time to beat it back. Or your houseplant is growing up a storm but only on one stem and you’d like the plant to be bushier.

Most house plants are easily trimmed except cactus.

Vines can be pinched off with your fingers near the end of the vine. Or be brave and cut the vine much further back. Almost every vine will then grow a few new branches where you made the cut. If you don’t cut back far enough, the plant will be scraggly near the pot, then full at the edges so be brave.

Shrub like plants; jades, rubber trees, fittonias, etc are best trimmed by cutting some of the branches back to where they branch off from the main. Take your time, rotate your plant after each cut. You can’t stick it back on afterwards so go slowly. You want to thin the plant so that all the leaves receive light. Especially those deep inside the plant. Then make the cuts you want to make the plant less scraggly. Most will branch from the bottom if you keep pinching back the newest growth on the main stems at the top.

Orchids, Mother-in-Law’s tongues, spathes and plants of that nature must be divided. Wait till you are ready to repot the plant. Remove the dirt from the roots, washing it in the kitchen sink works well unless the plant has gotten too large. Using a sharp knife divide the plant giving each section leaves and roots. Pot up each section in a different pot.

Orchids are about the easiest flowering house plants to grow you’ll find.

If you read the house plant forums you’d think that every orchid needed its own private special micro environment. But that just isn’t true.

The orchids you are most likely to find for sale as house plants include: Cattelya, Dendrobium, Oncidium, Paphiopedilum, Phalaenopsis, and Phragmipedium.

Cattelya, Dendrobium, Oncidium and Paphiopedilum are epiphytic and should be grown in sphagnum moss or wood chips. But any planting medium that allows air to reach the roots will do just fine.

Paphiopedilum, Phalaenopsis and Phragmipedium orchids are terrestrial and should be planted in dirt.

Cattelya and Oncidiums need the most sun, Phalaenopsis the least. None of these want to be in a bright sunny window. You want east and west windows for most orchids. Phalaenopsis can also do well in a north window.

If your orchids leaves become darker, or it doesn’t re-flower for you move it to a sunnier window.  If the newer leaves are longer and narrower than the previous set of leaves it needs more light.

If the leaves get white and bleached or lighten in color, move it to a less sunny window.

Orchids do not like to be dry, but will quickly rot if left standing in water. So check them often. I find mine need watering every 7-14 days depending on the time of year. If the leaves split, wrinkle or fold you are not watering them enough.  If you have your plants planted in moss and they are not drying out every 7-10 days you should plant them in bark instead.  If you plant them in bark you will need to water them 1-3 times a week depending on how humid your home is.  Put a finger in the bark or mulch.  If it is dry water, if not don’t.  Some growers keep a wooden skewer in the potting medium. Then you can just pull the skewer out to see how dry or wet things are deep in the medium.

Do not get water in the folds of the leaves of the Phalaenopsis, it will rot in as little as one day if water is left sitting there.

Common problems with orchids usually involve bugs, scale being the most common problem. If your plants are sticky you’ve likely got an insect problem. Put the plant in the sink, gently remove any bugs or reside and wash the plant with a little dish soap and water. If it is still sticky a little rubbing alcohol will remove the stickiness. Usually that is all you need to do. But you might have to do this a couple of times to totally be free of bugs.

If the orchid has no roots, it will still usually do fine for you. Plant it in sphagnum moss, give it a little fertilizer and it will likely grow a new set of roots.

Orchids planted in bark do not do well in dry households. They may grow that way in the wild but unless your home is as humid as a jungle and it rains in there several times a day your orchid will quickly dry out.  If you plant your home orchids in bark, be sure to check them every other day to see if they need water.

A lack of sufficient light is the largest reason your orchid might not do well.  Lucky for us they love fluorescent lights.  So just place a table lamp with a fluorescent bulb near your orchid during those grey winter months to keep it happy.

Window sills make orchids happy.  They love the temperature drop near the window, and love the humid air that leaks in from outside along the window seams.

Under watering kills more orchids than over watering, keep an eye on them especially in the dry months of winter when the heat is running. Orchid containers should have lots of large holes to let the water drain quickly.  They want frequent waterings but not to sit in water.

Fungus, bacteria and viruses all attack orchids.  Fungus is easy to treat, copper based fungicides are available at more plant stores.  Bacteria is usually not treatable, sometimes you can save the plant by amputating infected areas. Viruses are not curable, the plant should be destroyed immediately to keep the virus from spreading.

Most pests that attack orchids in the house can be washed off the plant with some soapy water, then spray the plant with an insecticidial oil to keep them away till you’ve wiped out the population.

See also:
Use sphagnum moss to make your plants easier to care for

And I recently stumbled across Culture index – extensive list of basic orchid culture which I found looking for more unusual species care.

All of these plants are easy to find and to grow.

Anthurium
Pitcher plants, Venus fly traps
Orchids
Voodoo bulbs
Prayer plants

Anthruim has a bright red one petaled flower with a spike. It will grow just about anywhere that is humid. Bathrooms and kitchens work best. I have one that is growing on volcanic rock.

Pitcher plants and Venus fly traps are bog plants that catch and eat bugs. It doesn’t get any stranger than that. They are easy to grow. Put the plant pot in a saucer of water and place it in a not too bright window.

Orchids are amazing plants. They are easy to find now and quite inexpensive. The flowers are all colored and shaped like various bugs. This attracts the bugs that eat those bugs or mate with those bugs to the flowers to pollenate them.

Voodoo bulbs have a petal that wraps itself around a very large stamen. It is pollenated in the wild by trash flies so one day during its blooming cycle it gives off a smell like rotting meat. This bulb will bloom even with out soil.

Prayer plants have large oval leaves. The leaves fold up against each other in the evening making it appear the plant is praying.

In no particular order:

Dieffenbachia ( Dumb Cane )
Chlorophytum comosum ( Spider Plant )
Chinese Evergreen
Aspidistra elatior ( Cast Iron Plant )
Spathiphyllum ( Peace lily )
Mother in Law’s Tongue ( Sansevieria )
Devil’s Ivy ( Scindapsus )
Pothos ( Epipremnum )
Jade Plant ( Crassula argentea )
Lucky Bamboo ( Dracaena sanderian )

All of these plants will forgive you if you forget to water them occasionally. Most won’t even mind if you stick them in a dark corner.