Archive for the ‘winter’ tag
January is the cruelest month
When I lived in the northeast I’d garden about six months of the year and had a sunroom full of houseplants to tide me through the winter. Now down here in Houston I garden about 10 months of the year. So you would think it wouldn’t be so bad.
But it is. Come January I just can’t stand it anymore. I need more houseplants. It doesn’t matter that the library, master bath, kitchen and one office are full of plants fighting for space at the windows. Not even a little. I need more plants.
But in January the stores have the sorriest looking collection of houseplants. More of the same plants you already own and they are a rather sad looking group anyhow.
No one wants to ship plants in January. I’ve had to beg, bribe, and pay lots extra for over night shipping just to get the plant stores to consider shipping me a new houseplant in January. “But I must have new houseplants now.”, I beg them. I won’t last until spring.
But alas no luck. My favorite nursery will be the one that has a decent houseplant collection for sale in January. But such a nursery does not yet exist.
The biggest killer of house plants is a lack of light
With out sufficient light plants your plants will slowly die of starvation. With out enough light the soil stays sopping wet after waterings and allows bacteria to grow and attack your plant.
In the winter we have far less sunny days and even when the days are sunny, the sun is lower in the sky and not out as long as needed by many plants.
In the winter supply your plants with extra light. A table lamp with a fluorescent bulb works wonders and costs next to nothing to run. Set one up on your desk or a table and rotate your plants under it if there are too many to fit. It doesn’t take much to save those plants from starvation.
If the windows are not too cold for your plants move them closer. If possible, move them to brighter windows for the winter. Plants that sit in in west and east windows can be moved to southern exposures during the winter. Those normally in north facing windows can be placed in east or west facing windows. If you can move back a curtain with out exposing your plant to too much cold, that helps too.
Don’t starve your plants this winter, supplement their diet with extra light.
