Plant Care 101: From a Reformed Plant Murderer
Its PLANT WEEK!!!!!!!! Do you even know how exciting this is?!? Its like Shark Week but WAYYYYY better and with a lot less fear (mostly). Every day this week I have got an amazing project for you that will make the love in your plant-lovin heart swell to massive proportions.
Before we dive into DIY thought I thought it would be a really fantastic idea to talk about how not to kill your plants.
Trust me when I tell you that this post has been a long time coming and has been built upon the backs of hundreds of plants that I have unintentionally murdered. Do you guys remember Elmyra from Tiny Toons? Yes. That was me but with succulents.
Now I am no expert in this field but here is what I have learned.
Tip #1: Buy your plants at The Home Depot! They have a 1 year guarantee on them, so while it is a little bit embarrassing, you can take in your dead cacti (just make sure that they have a container and receipt) and they will give you a refund or a new plant. I don’t return small guys, but I have returned a Fiddle Leaf Fig that was $80 and it was no problem at all. I opted to exchange it for a few smaller houseplants and as I was leaving the cute door greeter wished them luck. It was hilarious.
Tip #2: Plants need sunlight. So I get that this one might not be that revolutionary but hear me out. I for the life of me couldn’t figure out why every succulent that I bought was dying. I didn’t over or under water them, they were repotted correctly but they still died. Until I realized that they need direct sunlight at least part of the day and they weren’t getting it sitting on my coffee table or bookcase. Once I started moving them to the windows (at least a few times a week) EVERYTHING changed. When I had one that was dying, it took an extended hospital stay on the kitchen table (where there is direct sunlight for 1/2 the day) and guess what?? Instead of dying they started getting better!!
That super long guy growing out of the blue planter used to look like this (after unintentionally being frozen solid…)
Tip #3: Find the watering groove. Every type of plant is different and I only have a few that require up close and personal care (you’ll meet them this week, its so worth it!!) I feel like people never know how much to water a cactus. A good rule of thumb is to water cactus next to never. The thinner the cactus, the more frequently it needs water. This little guy is seriously thin and gets watered about once every 10 days, when I don’t water it you can tell its drying out too much because it looks like this:
See how it just looks not right?
For cacti with a thicker trunk or leaves they need less water. Ones like this only get watered about once every 2-3 months.
If anything I tend to underwater…my sister on the other hand has an overwatering problem. When my plants start to die they get crispy, hers get really droopy and even the dead leaves are still soft and pliable. There is a very different look between plants that are under watered and over watered. Does it look thirsty or like its drowning?
Tip #4: The right way to divide a plant. One of the real life struggles of plant hoarding is not being patient enough to wait for a teeny plant to grow. I have killed many a plant trying to shove it into a smaller container so that it looks fuller or because the container is what the focus is on, not the plant. I’ve learned however that they don’t make Spanx for plants and they actually hate being squished with all of your might into a spot of your choosing. Without getting too technical about plant species, I’ve learned that plants that have more than one growth point from the roots (rhizomes) can be easily divided and therefore fit into smaller containers. Common examples are Snake Grass (MIL’s Tongue), some ferns, some succulents and cacti.
Basically if it looks like this (with multiple growths separately coming out of the soil) you are in luck!
Start by watering your plant a day beforehand if you can. This will soften the soil and make the roots prepped for movement.
Remove the planter.
Find a clear path for splitting (like parting your hair)
Some plants will come apart at the roots just by doing that, if it doesn’t, use a sharp knife to cut through the soil.
Keep dividing as much as you need to until your root ball is a little smaller than your container!
This aloe plant that I divided has really thick roots that I could untangle instead of cutting through.
Tip #5: Replanting. Almost all plants hate “wet feet” which is when their roots sit in water for an extended period of time. Drainage is a super necessary part to a happy plant. If you can find a container with a drainage hole you are in luck, if you want to plant in something that doesn’t have one, you’re still in luck, you just need some small rocks. (Target has some great little planters on clearance right now that have holes with plugs in them)
When the bottom is taken care of (with rocks or a hole) put some fresh soil into the planter and then your plant.
Fill in the sides with soil, water it and put it in the sun.
I’m sure that there are a million other techniques and steps for replanting (depending on the type of plant) but just adding rocks to the bottom of a planter for better drainage was a huge game changer for me.
Tip #6: Start with something easy to keep alive. Everyone loves Fiddle Leaf Fig plants but those suckers are fin-ic-ky. I’ve killed at least a dozen in the last 3 years. If you are a novice or a murderer, don’t start there. Get a Snake Grass or a palm, they are SO much easier to keep alive!
Tip #7: Plants act differently in different environments (face palm. Duh Mandi) Sorry if I am captain obvious, but this is really stuff I didn’t know! In February I bought 2 Peruvian Apple Cacti. One lives in my living room and the other one lives on my front porch.
Though they are sisters, they could not act more different.
The one in my house has this arm that is growing like CRAZY. It’s grown 18” in the last 4 months (you can see the new growth because its a little skinnier and lighter green)
You can see what it looked like a few months ago in the picture below, its the little guy sticking up behind the pillow on the couch.
The one outside has only grown this little arm.
But the one outside had 17 blossoms on it (they are beautiful and so fragrant but only lasted one night, by the time I got out in the morning to take pictures of them they were already closed and dying. Its like on Dennis the Menace!)
The cactus inside hasn’t bloomed at all.
Crazy right!?
Tip #8 Succulent Propagation takes a long time. In February I tried my hand a succulent propagation (you can find a gorgeous how to here). 5 months later this is what I have to show for it.
Teeeeeny baby succulents.
They aren’t dead but man they take a while. So I guess this tip is to not give up if your propagation is feeling a little bit um…stunted? Maybe by plant week next year I’ll have an actual full sized succulent to show you!
Ok now this is where you guys get to chime in with all of your plant tips, tricks, favorites, horror stories, must have products, really anything plant related is welcome.
See you tomorrow!!!
