Plant Care Guides: Tips & Tricks
If you have more specific plant care questions, we are happy to assist, just reach out for help!
Succulents & Cactus
- Watering – Succulents and Cactus prefer the “Soak and drought” method of watering. When the soil is completely dry, give them a good watering until the soil is saturated and draining. Wait until the soil completely dries out again before watering.
- Use a moisture meter to determine if your succulent or cactus really needs water.
- In Spring/Summer/Fall plan to water at least once per week depending on the size container your plant is in. In Winter you can plan to water 2 times per month. If your succulent is indoors, use drip trays under pots with holes to catch any excess water and protect your home and furniture from water damage.
- Use caution when dealing with succulents in potted arrangements without drain holes, watering needs to be more closely monitored as it will take longer to dry in between waterings.
- Temperature & Humidity – Succulents generally do not like humidity or cold temperatures.
- The ideal succulent temperatures are between 60-80F degrees.
- Blushing will occur when temperatures reach around and over 90F degrees. Be sure to protect your succulent from direct sunlight exposure in the heat as it may burn the leaves.
- Be sure to protect your succulents from freezing temperatures, either bring them inside the house, or if too big to bring inside, cover them with an insulating blanket to protect them from frost/snow.
- We use humidity/temperature readers to monitor the room for us, which makes it easy to have an at-a-glance view of what’s going on.
- The ideal succulent temperatures are between 60-80F degrees.
- Light – Succulents thrive with bright indirect light and as much as they can get. Certain varieties prefer more shady environments and others can easily sunburn in afternoon direct sunlight.
- If your succulent is not receiving enough light it will tell you by beginning to stretch- or become etiolated. Since you cannot undo this stretch, you can get your plant to more light and let it grow on, rotating it every week or so for even growth, or you could cut the top off and replant the succulent head and try again.
- Food – Fertilize succulents in early spring and mid-summer with a ½ strength fertilizer.
- We use our homegrown worm castings with all of our plants which provide slow-release food to the plant over a few months. To use: Apply worm castings directly to the top of the soil and water normally.
Houseplants (non-specific)
- Water – Houseplants is such a large category of plants that it’s hard to generalize watering care for them all, however, most houseplants prefer moist soil with much higher humidity levels, especially compared to succulents & cactus.
- Never allow houseplants to sit in water or have excessively moist soil. The roots need to breathe to grow; allowing for the soil to dry a little between waterings is generally preferred by most plant types.
- We use drip trays under pots with holes to catch any excess water and protect your home and furniture from water damage.
- Temperature & Humidity – Most plants like to be grown between 60-75F degrees with 50-60% humidity.
- In Winter, caution of the changes your home experiences- heater vents may blow air on your plants drying them out faster than normal, or plants on window sills freeze behind closed curtains.
- To raise humidity: Mist plants with room temperature water, or use pebble trays under the plant pot with water in them.
- We use humidity/temperature readers to monitor the room for us, which makes it easy to have an at-a-glance view of what’s going on.
- Light – As with watering, houseplants enjoy a variety of light levels depending on the species. Find the place in your home that best provides the light requirement for your specific plant.
- Whether you set up a lighting system or use your window space and natural lighting from your home, most plants generally need 8 hours of light a day to survive.
- Most plants will experience leaf burn if they are left in direct sunlight. Be cautious of leaving plants in window areas in the Spring & Summer months.
- Food – Most houseplants enjoy fertilizing once every month to once a quarter.
- We use our homegrown worm castings with all of our plants which provide slow release food to the plant over a few months. To use: Apply worm castings directly to the top of the soil and water normally.
Tillandsia- Air Plants
- Water – Do not use distilled or filtered water as there are few nutrients or minerals in these water sources; use rainwater or spring/creek water instead.
- For cone-based air plants & Xerographicas: soak in room temperature water for 30 minutes to an hour. Be sure to shake out excess water and allow it to fully dry before returning it to its home.
- For bulbous-based air plants: soak in room-temperature water for 30 minutes once per week. Only soak the leaf-ends and leave the base/root-end sticking out of the water. Any water that gets into and is left in the base of these plants causes them to rot very easily. Allow them to fully dry before returning them to their home.
- Air Plants should be dry within 3 hours of soaking them. If they are not, be sure to place your plant in a drier location with circulating air.
- Temperature & Humidity – Air plants prefer to live in temperatures of 65-85F degrees with humidity levels around 65%.
- We use humidity/temperature readers to monitor the room for us, which makes it easy to have an at-a-glance view of what’s going on.
- Light – Air Plants love bright, filtered light and lots of it. Minimum 8 hours of light per day or more to stimulate growth.
- Food – Tillandsia plants don’t require fertilizer to grow as they are receiving minerals in their water baths, however, you can.
- At the beginning of spring and mid-summer is the best time to feed them with a ¼ strength fertilizer diluted in the soaking water.
- We use our homegrown worm castings with all of our air plants. To use: depending on how much water you are using; soak ½ tablespoon for every ½ gallon.
- Pro tip – Schedule out “long soaks” for your plants that extend beyond the normal 30 minutes to hour range- typically 1-2 hours is fine for small tillandsias and 4-8 for large. Do this process once a month in the Spring & Summer.
