The cold season is often unpredictable. One day you’re walking your dog wearing a hoodie, and the next day you feel the chills even through your jacket and two layers of clothes. The cold season means you need to be extra careful with what you wear, how you moisturise your skin, and how you care for your house and the indoor and outdoor plants. Both dryness and rain are common during this period of the year, and it can be challenging to adjust from one day to another. Just like cold droplets of rain and excessive dryness and wind affect your skin, and you must protect it and apply moisturiser, your plants also need extra care to survive the fall and winter.
Plants sometimes have a tough time surviving the cold, no matter if we talk about indoor or outdoor plants. Fortunately, you can help them deal with these chilling times if you care for them properly.
Here’s what to pay attention to.
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Keep the plants warm
Most plants are sensitive to cold air, and you should ensure they’re protected from low temperatures during the fall and winter. If you took the planters outdoors during the spring and summer, now it’s the time to bring them back inside the house and seal up the windows and doors to keep the cold air outside. Before placing the plants on the windowsills, check if there are any leaks because they could negatively affect their health during the winter. When the temperatures drop, the chill protruding from outdoors could shock the plants.
Even if plants like warm air, keeping them away from heat sources like heating vents, fireplaces, and radiators is best. Blasts of hot air are as harmful as cold air, so don’t expose your plants to any shock if you want to keep them alive and thriving. The average plant needs a steady temperature between 65-75 degrees F (18 – 24 C).
Reduce watering
Most indoor and outdoor plants go dormant during the cold months regardless of the temperatures they’re exposed to. Because they have less light, they grow slower and need less water and fertiliser. This means you should stop watering the outdoor plants and reduce the amount of water you pour into the inside ones. Check the watering advice for each of the plants; you have to know how often and how much you should water them during the autumn and winter. Make sure you use proper flower pots for each plant because some need transparent planters while others prefer opaque ones. Your plants shouldn’t sit in water because they might fall victim to fungus, rot, mould, or other issues. Reduce the amount of water you pour if you notice mouldy soil or yellow leaves.
Now that the cold season has come, you might want to switch to warm water because it helps them grow healthier and faster. Remember that you must keep plants warm during the cold season, and the water temperature plays a crucial role in achieving this. Most indoor plants require a once-per-week watering, but if you have succulents and cacti, water them even less frequently because some survive without water for weeks or months. Also, reduce the amount of water you provide to each flower by 20-40%.
Dilute or avoid fertiliser
As stated earlier, most plants go dormant during the cold months and require no fertiliser. In fact, pouring fertilising treatment could harm them because it could prove toxic. If your plants are healthy but take a well-deserved rest from flowering, skip fertilising until spring. If you think they need some fertiliser, dilute the amount you usually use to 50% and apply it only in the fall. Once December comes, put the fertiliser away.
Increase the overall house humidity
Not only does your skin need extra moisturising during the cold season, but your plants would also thank you if you created a humid environment so they could thrive. Low humidity during the fall and winter is problematic for both people and plants. The average plant requires a 50% humidity level, so buy a humidifier and keep it running during the winter if you want to enjoy healthy and blooming flowers in the spring. If you don’t have a humidifier, cluster the plants in the most humid room of the house, like the kitchen or bathroom or place them on top of a baking sheet or tray filled with water. However, ensure the pots don’t touch the water because if they’re made from clay, they might absorb the water and facilitate mould and rotting. Put some stones under the pots to keep them elevated.
Clean the plants
Your plants need more than warmth and water to stay healthy during the fall and winter. As you already know, the days are shorter, and the sun is scarce, so you must help them take full advantage of the few sun rays that reach them during this period. Clean their leaves from any dirt and dust every couple of weeks. You could take them to the bathtub to spray them with the shower regularly. However, keep in mind to be gentle with them and use a damp towel to remove the excess water that might remain on the leaves. If the plants are clean, they’re more efficient at photosynthesis and therefore find it easier to grow and bloom.
Ensure they have plenty of light
Plants love light, and you should ensure they have plenty of it even when you bring them indoors. Try to rotate the pots every couple of days, so each plant gets the necessary sunlight. When your house doesn’t get enough natural sunlight, you can use a full-spectrum light bulb to provide your plants with an alternative light source. Check with your local gardening store the options for growing lamps and LED grow lights to provide your plants with all the needed conditions to stay alive and thrive during the cold days of fall and winter.
Now that you are aware of the special conditions your green friends need during the cold season, you can care for them properly.