How to give your indoor plants a winter refresh
Brrr, winter is on its way!
Now that the colder months are finally here, we are so excited to start taking on some brand new projects here on The Acre!
It was a long, hot summer here, and we ended up moving many of our houseplants outside to soak up some sun (with supervision, of course).
But now that we are moving things indoors, we are giving them a winter refresh to help them thrive inside again. This includes giving them a rinse off, and giving the existing plants a bit of a trim.
So this is how we prepare our indoor/outdoor plants for winter, so they can stay healthy all year long.
Here are some other houseplants that can be moved outside during the warmer months! https://platthillnursery.com/tropical-houseplants-you-can-move-outdoors-summer/
A tip that may help is to plan on taking a few days to complete this project, so that you can take the necessary care of each of your plants to ensure their health and success during this transition.
Cleaning
This season is an ideal time to give your plants a good cleaning!
Even if they haven’t been outside soaking up the summer, there’s a good chance they have accumulated a bit of dust or dirt on the leaves. This buildup can inhibit their ability to absorb light and hinder the photosynthesis process, leading to dull plants with stunted growth.
There's nothing like a cool shower to make you feel refreshed and rejuvenated!
Your hardy plants, such as spiders, pothos, lilies and grape ivy, can be rinsed off in the shower. We make sure to use a gentle shower head and cool water during this process. We don’t want to shock them, but they’ve also been watered with a gentle hose outside all summer, so we are confident they will be just fine.
We stick them in the tub and start rinsing off all that dust and dirt that accumulated through the summer.
Tip: Make sure to use cool or cold water.
Anything too fragile to put in the shower can be sprayed with a bottle of water instead.
This might include smaller plants or starts in a more delicate and vulnerable state.
We often notice that our hanging plants do much better when they get to spend the summer outdoors, but when we bring them back inside, we can no longer set them down because they have become too big (yay)!
So, we found that having an extra towel rod in the shower is an excellent option because you can hang your plants in the shower and they can finish dripping and then return to their new place.
The Dusting
After you’ve given all your plants a thorough cleaning, we make sure to follow up throughout the winter months with regular dusting.
Not only does the buildup of dust make your plants look dull, but it can also block sunlight and reduce the plant's ability to take in sunlight (which can be hard enough during the winter months) and photosynthesize, which is essential for the plant's growth.
It's not a bad idea to make dusting your plants part of your regular cleaning routine.
After we dust the plants, we like to use a leaf shine spray to give them a little extra protection. It makes them shiny and helps keep the dust from accumulating.
The product we use is very gentle on plants, and there are many different brands and types to choose from!
Time for a haircut
Once your plants are shiny and fresh, it’t time to give them a haircut if you think they need it!
Sometimes we find that our plants have done a little rearranging of their own while they’ve been on summer vacation.
This year, I ended up finding spider plants growing in the pathos!
But we never worry too much about this. As Bob Ross says, they’re “happy accidents.” We just clean out the stragglers and give them their own space to grow!
Propagating
Here’s a helpful guide to propagating any baby starts you want to keep after the haircut! https://cityfloralgreenhouse.com/2020/09/houseplant-101-how-to-propagate-houseplants-easily/#:~:text=Start%20by%20cutting%20the%20leaf,plant%20into%20fresh%20potting%20soil.
Happy Plants all year round
By taking time to give your plants a little TLC, you’re ensuring they will be happy and healthy throughout the year!
