Category Archives: Garden Yourself
Beginner’s Garden Guide
All that you need to know to begin parenting a Plant.
1. Plant Watering Guide
First, check the moisture in the soil by following below steps
a. Poke your finger or plain small stick in the soil
b. Check the moisture that you feel on a finger or on the stick
- If soil is muddy: No water required. Check moisture after 2-3 days.
- If the soil feels a little moist: No water required. Check moisture the next day.
- If soil is completely dry: Apply water thoroughly till the water comes out of drainage holes. Make sure that the water is not standing in the pot. Soil should be well drained.
Tips:
- As a rule of thumb, plants need more water in the summer season and less water in winter and rainy seasons.
2. Plant Light Requirement Guide:
- Direct Sunlight: Area with as much direct sunlight as possible.
- Indirect light with some direct sunlight: Brightly lit, with some sunlight falling on the leaves during the day (Especially the morning direct sunlight)
- Indirect Bright Light: Brightly lit but not with direct sunlight falling on the leaves. It is the light near a window or door. Many foliage house plants will flourish in this light.
- Low light: Moderately lit, with no direct sunlight falling on the leaves. A person can read a book in this light.
- Very low light: Poorly lit, a person will not be able to read a book in this light.
Tips:
- Lighting is not just about providing the brightness to the plant. It is the duration of light and its intensity that decides the growth of the plant.
- There should be 12-14 hours of required light that may be natural or artificial in order to maintain active plant growth whereas the light intensity varies greatly from plant to plant.
- When using artificial lights; try to use LED lights or fluorescent tubes to minimize the effect of heat on the plants. The ideal distance between an artificial light source and plant is 1 ft.
How to Repot a Plant
1. Choose a slightly larger pot.
- If you’re repotting your plant into a new pot, choose a pot that is 1 to 2 inches larger in diameter and 1 to 2 inches deeper than the plant’s current pot.
- If you choose a pot that has dimensions larger than this, the roots will need to grow into the pot before the plant itself can begin to grow.
2. Choose a pot with drainage holes.
- When you’re selecting a new pot, make sure it has drainage holes to allow excess water to drain. Even if you select a pot that is the correct size, you still don’t want water sitting in the bottom of it and causing root rot.
3. Soak the new pot.
- If you decide to use a terra cotta pot for repotting, make sure you soak the pot in water for a few hours before you begin the repotting process. Terra cotta is pretty porous, which means it soaks up water easily. You don’t want your pot stealing your plant’s water.
4. Cover the drainage holes.
- It’s important to have a pot with drainage holes, but you also want to make sure soil can’t escape through them. Cover the drainage holes with something that will allow water to pass through, like paper towel or small-sized stone.
5. Put a few inches of soil in the new pot.
- You’ll need a base of soil under the plant so the roots have something to grow into.
- Don’t overfill the pot before you put the new plant in – the roots need something to grow into, but you also want them to be down far enough into the pot that they don’t stick out of the top.
6. Remove the plant from its current pot.
- Place your hand over the top of the pot, and place your thumb and index finger around the plant’s stem. Then turn the pot on its side and gently work the plant back and forth until it comes out.
- If the plant won’t come out after several tries, you can use a knife to cut around the edge of the soil and try again.
7. Prune the root ball.
- To make sure your plant takes to its new pot, you’ll want to remove some of the old rootball to expose fresher roots to the new soil in the new pot.
8. Place the plant in a new pot.
- As you place the plant into its new pot, center it by looking down on it from above and making sure it’s not closer to any one side of the pot than the others.
- You also want to make sure it’s sitting upright. While looking at the plant from the side, spin the pot and make sure the plant isn’t tilted in any one direction.
9. Fill the pot with soil.
- Once you’ve placed the plant in the new pot, you’ll want to put soil into the pot around the rootball. Don’t overfill the pot – the soil line should be about 1” below the top of the pot.
10. Water the plant.
- Once your plant is in its new pot and you’ve filled the pot with soil, water the plant. It will help the plant’s roots soak up the nutrients from the soil and ensure that the plant takes to the new pot.