Tips to Protect Your Prized Plants From Pests | National Indoor Plant Week
What better time than National Indoor Plant Week to share tips and tricks for choosing the best indoor plants for your home?
Houseplants have many benefits, including livening up your indoor space, which inspires creativity and elevates a good mood for many. There are a few things to consider when picking a plant for your space. Here’s our approach to plant picking for every type of plant owner.
Is Your Plant Living Its Best Indoor Life?
Plant care is not one-size-fits-all for the many species of plants you can buy. Providing the right conditions for your specific plant’s individual needs is critical.
To fulfill these needs for your precious indoor plans, you need to consider factors such as the following:
Humidity
Alabama is known for its humid subtropical environment, which often carries humidity indoors. Most indoor plants benefit from this because it helps them retain moisture, aiding growth and development; examples include pothos, philodendron, and ferns.
However, with high humidity comes high moisture content in your plants’ soil, which can quickly attract fungus gnats. Learn more about how to prevent fungus gnats from invading your soil by reading the “Gnat Prevention” section of this recent post here on our blog.
Different species of plants have different needs for moisture levels and can vary in how they “tell you” when they need more or less of it. It is critical to do your research.
Lighting
Every plant is different and requires a different amount of light. Remember to consider this next time you go plant shopping. A peace lily is an excellent option for indirect sunlight, while aloe vera will soak up all the sun you can give it.
Lighting is also essential for regulating the moisture content of soil. As we mentioned in the “humidity” section, high moisture content isn’t always good for plants and can attract pests that kill them.
If you overwater your plant, give it a little extra time in brighter light than usual, then return it to its previous level of shade. Still, remember that brighter light is not the same as more direct sunlight, because many plants will still sunburn in direct light even if they have waterlogged soil.
Soil Type
To reiterate, plant care is not one-size-fits-all, which applies to the medium you put your plant in. Some plants simply need to sit in a vase of water, and that’s it. Most others need soil, but the soil type varies from plant to plant.
Orchids, for example, are high-maintenance and require a mix of mostly orchid bark and perlite with just a bit of traditional indoor potting mix. Succulents need a gritty soil mix; a combination of a high-drainage substrate, like sand or perlite, as the larger portion, and traditional potting mix as the smaller portion.
Pothos do well in conventional potting mix and can thrive in low and bright light, making them great for beginners.
Embrace National Indoor Plant Week and Bring Home the Plant You’ve Been Eyeing!
If you’ve been tempted to invest in an indoor plant, let National Indoor Plant Week be the time you do it. Houseplants add life, color, and personality to indoor spaces, and some, such as aloe vera, offer health benefits. A common myth is that houseplants are the leading cause of indoor pests, which often deters people from bringing plants into their spaces.
However, you can do a few things to keep bugs out of houseplants. Pests often hitch a ride onto your plants to make their way indoors, or they sneak into your home through small openings and use your indoor plant as their newest feeding ground. Check out this blog for more advice.
So, if you have indoor pest problems, call our pest experts at Vulcan Termite and Pest Control Inc.—we know we can solve them! Contact us online or call today at (205)-663-4200.
If you have indoor plants, we know how to avoid harming them while we banish the bugs from your home; just let our team know where they are! You can even ask our technicians for specific advice if you have plant pests, and we’ll gladly help you troubleshoot.