Getting ready for the new season: spring is just around the corner
March 20 brings the first day of spring in 2022, and it is not just houseplants that are slowly starting to come back to life. If you are already itching to get started too, nervously eyeing your houseplant collection and eager to start repotting right away, we have a few tips on what else will do your plants good in spring.
You surely already follow many of these recommended tips regularly, but at the beginning of spring, plants need slightly more comprehensive care. A new growing season lies ahead of them, they need lots of nutrients and space, and some species will certainly appreciate trimming and shaping so that they keep looking good next year too.
Cleanliness is half the battle
You can start preparing for spring, for example, by getting all your growing and repotting tools ready and giving them a thorough clean. Just as with people, plant diseases and pests spread through contact and poor hygiene. Wash the leftover potting mix off the planters you plan to repot into, which will also remove any pest eggs or larvae. Trimming snips and repotting trowels should be cleaned after every use (especially between individual plants), but if you can never bring yourself to do it, like me (the horror), at least give them a good wash and clean in spring.
Speed dating, or 2 minutes with each houseplant
Have you heard of speed dating? It is a special evening where single people get to know each other within just a few minutes, and then the pairs rotate. Try something similar with your houseplants. Before spring is in full swing and you get stressed that you can’t keep up with repotting them all, enjoy some speed dating with your plants.
“I have to admit that I do speed dating with my plants at least once a week. I look at them from all sides, lift their leaves and yes, I also talk to them and I’m not ashamed of it! There is even a scientific basis for it: they then use the carbon dioxide I breathe out for photosynthesis and growth. Isn’t that great? And it is also a very calming activity that helps me spot pest infestations right at the start.” - Bětka -
Take each one in your hands, look at it closely and check how it coped with winter. Do any of them have unsightly, yellow or dried-up leaves? Are there any pests, even on the underside of the leaves or on the surface of the potting mix? And what about the roots: are they filling the planter? Or are they even growing out of the drainage holes? This way you can sort your plants by the care they will need and then do the more time-consuming steps all at once. You can start light maintenance right away and leave repotting until you have checked all of them and prepared quality potting mix and new, bigger planters to repot into.
Spring trim
Maybe you, too, spent the winter trying in vain to save individual yellowing leaves and counting how many viable ones were still left. In spring, it is the other way around. Find the strength to trim the plants that need it. That way you can propagate more of them or grow new ones from cuttings.
“Personally, I like propagating in water best. I trim the plant, put the cutting in a glass of water with a drop of lignohumate, and that’s it. Then I just watch the little roots form, and once there are enough of them, I plant it back in soil.”- Bětka -
Don’t be afraid to trim your pothos, that is, Epipremnum and Scindapsus; all overgrown philodendrons, syngoniums and monsteras will surely appreciate a trim too.
Also clean the dust off your plants’ leaves with a damp cloth or a mister. Or try special plant leaf wipes, which leave an antistatic coating on the leaves (saving you frequent wiping in the future) and, thanks to the fertilizer they contain, also partly feed the leaves.
If you want to clean your houseplants really thoroughly, put them straight in the shower. But keep in mind that the water will reach the roots too, so watch out for waterlogging. You may prefer to wait until spring is further along and the plant can cope with the excess water.
New energy from fresh potting mix
If you buy plants at our store in Prague 8, you have the advantage of not having to repot them right away. That is because we repot them for you. They will certainly last at least a year like this. But if you are growing older plants, give them a spring repotting if they need it. Once again, you can tell by a planter full of roots, or when roots are even growing out of the drainage holes. For younger plants that are not as heavily rooted, you can just replace the top layer of potting mix in spring.
Get these ready: a planter that is clean and one size bigger (two sizes bigger for very large plants), a suitable potting mix for the type of plant, and material for a drainage layer, for example expanded clay (LECA), which you put at the bottom of the planter to prevent root rot. For plants that like it dry, use succulent potting mix; for plants of the arum family (monsteras, philodendrons, aglaonemas, Epipremnum, Scindapsus…) a special aroid potting mix is great; and for other plants you can use the classic potting mix that we make for you ourselves.
Plenty of water
During the winter months, we warned you in our article to water your plants carefully and less often. That changes with the arrival of spring, once the days start getting longer and the first spring sunshine warms the air. You will see your houseplants start to grow and need more generous watering. Keep respecting the needs of individual plant species and water correctly: for example, water succulents lightly even during the growing season, for Sansevieria, wait until the potting mix dries out, and so on. Every now and then, also add fertilizer to the water so that the plant has enough nutrients. Just don’t fertilize for a few weeks after repotting into fresh potting mix, as potting mixes are usually enriched with fertilizer and, with the best of intentions, you could burn the roots with an excess of nutrients.
A new spot
The plant is washed, trimmed and repotted, so where should it go now? Before you put it back in its original spot, think about whether it will be happy there during the spring and summer months too. You probably moved most of your plants as close to the window as possible before winter so that they could get enough light. But some species cannot stay in such a spot forever. Don’t forget to move shade-loving plants or those that cannot tolerate direct sunlight to another, more suitable spot.
Most houseplants love summering outdoors, so if you have the chance, take them outside. Find them a spot with indirect sun that is sheltered from big swings in the weather, and they will grow before your very eyes. Give the plants enough time to adapt: for roughly the first 14 days, you can bring them back inside for the night. It is not called summering for nothing, so the right time for such a move really is only in the late spring months or almost at the start of summer, when night temperatures don’t drop too low.
So, are you also looking forward to the start of the new growing season? I wish you every success, and not only with your spring plant care.
Have a question? Leave us a comment, and we will be happy to help you not only with getting ready for spring but also with pests.
Author: Ing. Alžběta Lacinová