There are two kinds of industrial plant that we bring into our home . The more dramatic are the flowering plants , cyclamen , azalea or African violets . Unfortunately their season of attraction is special . All too presently the flowers will fade and the plants then have little attractor . If you have a greenhouse , you may keep the plant going and prepare it for another season , but we usually do not feel prepared to keep it in the firm ; for sure not in a blatant position . The other kind of works is less striking : its beauty is centerd in its foliation rather than in its flower , but it has the advantage that , provided you care for it properly , it will grow for good in your rooms and increase in size and effect from class to year . These plants , get for lasting force , are commonly know as house plants .
Most of us do not live in glass household ; therefore the plant we can grow in our rooms are set in issue . Even a room that appears well lit to us , will seem shady to a industrial plant and , as a result , the majority of houseplants are those that can brook shade . If a works is to be permanently attractive , it should be evergreen . We can visualize exception , such as the bonsai dwarf trees , where the outline of the tree diagram is attractive even when no leaves are seeable , but there are not many of these exceptions to the need for evergreen plants . Again most of us hold out in room of only moderate size and we require plants of restrained dimensions . We also do not require them to grow too apace . Re - potting is a verbose surgical operation for those who subsist in flats or in planetary house without gardens and we do not desire to have to undertake it more than once a class at the most . Although plain green foliage are attractive enough , particularly if they have interesting shapes , go out that contain some color are usually regarded as more attractive . colouring material in leaves occurs in two grade . Some leaves are course color ; for illustration those of rex begonia andCordyline terminalis , but there are other industrial plant which produce colored course of their normally green leaves . These are described as variegated and the variegation may be due to a number of wide-ranging causes , from a computer virus transmission to a periclinal chimaera .
Whatever the cause , the effect is that some part of the leafage lacks chlorophyll , the substance that make leaf unripe . If the chlorophyll is whole absent , the domain come out snowy , while , if there is very little present , the area appears favorable or yellow . Although some industrial plant appear naturally variegated , near any plant can on occasion get a motley form . Variegation is an exceptional occurrence and the works can be perpetuated only by vegetative multiplication , normally by rout cut or level . Seeds are very unlikely to transmit the diversification . By no means all people encounter variegated parting attractive , but very many do and , as a resultant , many plants are pop because of their motley leave that would otherwise be little regarded . The popular vary form ofTradescantia fluviatilisandChlorophytum capensemay be name as examples . With half or more of the chlorophyll lacking , the leaves of variegated plants can only do half the work of normal greenish leaves and so variegated plants tend to grow more slowly than the unvariegated forms . This is not unexpected ; a more surprising result of diversification , though it is not always the case , is that the flora are often more tender than the normal forms . There seems to be no very obvious account for this .
We can now summarize the quality that we require for a sign of the zodiac plant . It must be compact in riding habit of increase , broad of tad and evergreen . The folio should be attractive , either by reason of their shape or their vividness : if we can have attractive flowers as well , so much the better , but with the emphasis to be laid on the permanence of the attraction , accordant blossom are obviously a fillip . In fact the combination of handsome blossom and handsome leaves is somewhat rare in any subdivision of gardening . Among the family plants many of the bromeliads provide an exclusion to this rule , but even with these plant the showiest part of the inflorescence is due to the colored bracts that environ the flowers , and these are really modified leaf .
Temperate climate produce few plant with the characteristics that we take . The various ivies form an important exception to this assertion , but , even so , the keen majority of house plants come from the tropics . Plants are infinitely adaptable , as a general rule ( there are , of class , exceptions and these are generally reckon as ‘ unmanageable ’ plants ) and most tropical plant will adapt themselves to temperate conditions and even to the fluctuating distance of daylight , which , even more than the alteration in temperature , pit the main difference between tropical and temperate climates .
There are certain temperature , varying from plant to plant , below which flora growth ceases . The works may outlive dead well , but it will neither produce fresh rootage nor fresh leaves , until the temperature is raised . It is , evidently , more difficult to produce high temperature when the international temperature is very low and so it is most commodious to make our winter the equivalent of the tropical plant ’s dry season . The ironic season in the tropics is mostly very blistering , but , owe to the lack of piss , the industrial plant makes no ontogeny and stay in a hibernating condition . This is one of the reasons why all menage works agriculturalist are recommended to keep their plants as dry as possible during the wintertime . How dry you could keep them , will count on the eccentric of plant you are growing and on how warm you keep your rooms .
The eccentric of heating system that you apply and the temperatures you uphold in your various rooms during the winter will touch on the type of flora you’re able to grow . Some plants , notably begonias , are very intolerant of gun fumes , so that if your rooms are heated by accelerator pedal , you will not be capable to produce begonias satisfactorily . If you have really ardent room , maintain , perhaps , an median temperature of 70 ° F ( 21 ° C ) , they will be far too warm for such plants as English ivy or xFatshedera lizei . With mellow temperatures such as these , the plants will continue turn during the wintertime and more water will be required . The winter growth may not be very ornamental , as the lack of lighting will preclude the shaping of sound sized leaves .
Many house works are ‘ stopped ’ in the spring : that is to say that the tips of the various shoot are squeeze out , so as to make the formation of junior-grade shoot that will give the plant a nice bushy appearance , and where this is done the weak wintertime growth can be absent . However , there are plants , such as most of the genus Ficus , that are not stop and , where these are concerned , it might be better to move them to coolheaded positions in the wintertime . However most of us , alas , can not open these gamey temperature and it is more a question of keeping the way warm enough for our plants and ourselves . In any natural climate the high temperature are around midday , but many sitting rooms are kept dusty during the day , when people are out at employment , tender in the eventide , when everyone is at household , but cool down off during the late evening and the early daybreak after people have gone to bed .
Such a contradiction of innate rhythm is sufficient to agitate any plant and it is easy to see that keeping plants in in effect condition in the wintertime is less simple in the mansion than in a greenhouse . If you have some system of unconstipated key heating , the trouble is comparatively simple , but for rooms with only sporadic warmth , the matter is less straight . However , there are menage industrial plant to suit all conditions . It is as well to know what the average temperature of your room is during the winter , otherwise the problem can be resolve only by a organization of trial run and error , during which you might well lose the plants that you most prize . It is pretty good to say that no plant will tolerate the conditions that are to be found on a mantelpiece above a coal flame . The atmosphere is far too dry and the alternations of cold and roasting heat are too much for all plants , except the tough succulent . Even if the temperature is equable , plants that are put too near the window risk being chill , or even frosted , when the weather condition is very cold and they should be moved further into the room during these periods .
Even when the temperature is satisfactory , the dry atmosphere that we like in our room is not good to plant . This , however , can well be overcome , by placing the plenty in a larger container and filling this container with some moisture - retentive material . Peat is most frequently used , but moss or mica pulverisation does equally well . Some people get perfectly satisfactory outcome with moist paper , which is topped with moss to look more elegant . By these means we can maintain a moist ambience in the immediate environs of the plant without either affecting the atmosphere of our rooms or the correct state of moisture of the soil ball . With this we come to the most important matter in the successful refinement of planetary house plant .
More house plant are killed by over tearing than by other cause . Like human beings , plant can not live without water , but , again like human being , they can be drowned . However , this doctrine of analogy can not be press too far . Human beings need pee at steady intervals , but plants want water most when they are making increase . This is usually during the spring and summer . There is a correlation between the ontogeny of the aerial portion of the plant , the portion we can see , and the growth of the roots which we ca n’t see . If the works is make new leaves and stems , we can be fairly certain that it is also making new roots . regrettably , the ascendent growth is liable to precede the production of new leave of absence and so these latter may be prevent from developing if the soil is too dry at the appropriate menses . On the other hand , if the grease is too wet , the roots can not breathe and , far from developing , are liable to rot and , unless this operation can be stopped instantly , the plant itself will buckle under . We can guard against this to some extent by strictly forcible agency . If we have an open soil mixture that run out rapidly and well , the jeopardy of the grease becoming sodden and sullen is reduced , although not , of course of instruction , stave off altogether . When to give water is only satisfactory learned by experience , but the follow hard and truehearted rules are generally acceptable .
When weewee is applied , it should be in sufficient quantity to moisten the whole of the grime ball . The water should be at room temperature . Rain water is preferable but not essential .
The grime should be provide to dry out between watering . This is not too easy to interpret . We do not want the stain to become dust dry , but on the other hand , we want to avoid saturation . A utilitarian rule of thumb with clay pots and soil mix , is to come to the side of the pot with your knuckle joint . If the concomitant sound is dull , lacrimation is not needed , but if it is a ringing sound , water should be applied . With peat mixture the weight of the stack is a more reliable indication . If it feel light , water is wanted , but not if it feels toilsome . The same give , but to a lesser extent , with soil concoction in plastic pots . These are much the most difficult to approximate .
During cold weather plant make little or no growth and so necessitate little water . Growth is also slowed down when there is little light . It is safe , therefore , during the winter to keep all watering down to a lower limit , even though the room may be hold at quite a high temperature . by nature plants in warm rooms will involve more than those in cool surroundings .
From about mid - April it is probable that growth will begin and so more water may be required . Be conservative , nevertheless , until you see unexampled leaves appear . It is possible to knock the plant out of its pot to see if new roots ( qualify by their whitened tips ) are forming and to replace the soil ball without disturbance . When growth is vigorous water will be want more frequently . ‘ Stopping ’ checks growth temporarily and lacrimation should be on a reduced shell until a resumption of growth is seen .
By the destruction of August it is advisable to discourage much further increase and encourage the industrial plant to mature its new growing . This is done by keeping the plant as dry as possible .
The type of leaf will give some indicant of the plant ’s necessary . Plants with stocky leave or with succulent leaves ( such as the vauntingly - leaved ficus and bowstring hemp ) can digest longer periods without water than slight - leaved plants . These latter will probably droop when they become too teetotal and they should be watered at once . The thicker - leave plant will not wilt and so should be inspected oftentimes . Drought , unless acute , will not kill them but may cause subsequent leaf drop .
If leaves turn yellow and fall off , it usually bespeak over - watering . However some plants , such asFicus benjamina , will naturally shed their twelvemonth - old leaves in the autumn and most plants shed a few leave in the line of the year . extravagant defoliation is almost sure enough due to faulty lachrymation ; although it can be due to under - lachrymation as well as by over - watering . If the plant life becomes unfirm in the pot , this is in the main due to root - rot triggered by exuberant water and is very difficult to arrest . Some leave of absence will wilt in the summertime if they are in direct hot sunlight . If the soil is likely satisfactorily moist , a syringeing of the leaves with piddle will more often than not mend them to their normal flatulence , and in any cause , they will summarize their normal appearance as shortly as the sunlight goes .
Once the doubtfulness of watering has been dominate , there are few other problems . Rooms are very stale which spoil the visual aspect of the leaves of house plant and also prevents them from functioning properly . It is advisable , therefore , to cleanse the folio every two or four hebdomad . This is best done with cotton woollen and tepid water and the leaves should be sponged on both sides . New leave are soft and easily damaged and should be left until they are old . Some citizenry apply Milk River , or crude , or flat beer to give the foliage a more glossy coming into court , but these mixtures do not do the leaf any goodness .
During the summertime , when growth is most vigorous , the plants may be fed . A liquid feed is most easily applied and should be give according to the instructions on the bottle . lilliputian and often is constantly better than doses in overindulgence of those recommended . Unless the plant is really well - rooted , feed should not be implement and is not necessary for plants that have been repot . Repotting is done in the early summer . For the majority of theater plants theJohn Innes pot compostNo 2 is the unspoilt . Plants are usually potted on into a pot one sizing large . industrial plant from 13 centimeter ( 5 in ) pots are put into 16 cm ( 6 in ) pots and so on . The only exclusion is that the 10 cm ( 4 in ) peck is very rarely used and plants are moved from 7 atomic number 96 ( 3 in ) to 13 curium ( 5 in ) potty . flora with very slender roots such as begonias and peperomia do well in a admixture of 2 parts of leafmould to 1 part of sharp grit , while epiphytic plant , such as the bromeliads , are usually given a mixture of peat , leafmould and sharp sand . However , it is only seldom that epiphytes require any potting on , as they employ the soil as an anchorage only . After being potted on the plant should be kept on the juiceless side until the roots have penetrated the new soil . It is salutary to move plants from 5 cm ( 2 in ) grass to 13 cm ( 5 in ) slew after a yr , as the 7 curium ( 3 in ) pots dry out out so cursorily , but after that most business firm works will involve repotting only every other class . The 2nd year the industrial plant will need feeding .
The epiphytic bromeliads ( aechmea , neoregelia , nidularium , guzmania , tillandsia and vriesia ) require rather different handling from most house plants . They have a stem canker of shoulder strap - influence leaves which form the so - called ‘ vase ’ . This must be keep full of water , preferably rain water . The mixture in which they are potted may be kept moist , but this is of minor grandness , as the roots process short purpose except anchorage and it is from the leaves that nourishment is absorbed . During the summertime the simple shadow of melted provender may be added to the water in the vase , but this must be done with gravid discernment .
Most house works are easily propagated if you have a greenhouse , although some , such as the boastfully - give ficus , cordylines and dracaenas , involve a good deal of heat energy to get them to settle down . There are a few that can easy be propagated in the home base . The various tradescantias and zebrinas will steady down easily in water supply and so willCissus antarcticaandRhoicissus rhomboidea . Shoots of succulents , such asSedum sieboldiiand aichryson will rout easy , either in average soil or in a mixture of equal parts of peat and sharp sand , which is an ideal mixture for most cuttings . Shoots of the various ivies , taken when they are half advanced , that is neither too young nor too woody , will rootle easily although rather slowly . The peperomias , with exclusive leaves rising from the radix , can be rooted from leaf stalk cuttings . The leafage with its radical is pulled off and sneak in in the peat and George Sand concoction when a new plant will organise at the al-Qa’ida of the leafage stalk . Sansevierias will bring out fresh leaves on rhizomes , but they do not root until a year has elapsed and should not , therefore , be severed from the chief industrial plant before this time . If , however , you may find the new rootstalk without disturbing the plant and disregard half - way through it , it will hasten the formation of ascendant at the base of the new leafage . Many of the climbing arum produce aery roots and these can be get to originate in soil . These climbing arum ( philodendron , genus Syngonium and scindapsus ) , will produce more luxuriantly if they are given a cylinder of telegram stuffed with moss up which they can maturate . However , the moss must be stay fresh dampish and this is not easy in the home . They can also be trained on blocks of cork bark .
