There is a rule in breeding houseplants - it is easier to prevent than to correct. Mistakes happen to everyone - both professional flower growers and beginners. Sometimes it is generally impossible to determine what the plant is suffering from, but there are conditions that should be observed, but not everyone takes them seriously. Therefore, I would like to give the following advice:
- If you have purchased a plant, try to find out as much as possible about it, what temperature, humidity, watering, etc. it needs. Of course, it is better to know about it in advance, before buying a plant, but, unfortunately, often we acquire a plant, succumbing to temptation, fascinated by its beauty and not knowing much about it.
- If you have several or many plants, even an avid flower grower sometimes forgets which plant needs what. Therefore, you can make cards or have a small notebook where you can allocate your page to each plant you have. There you can briefly write when to transplant it, how to water it, when to fertilize, i.e. that information that is important, but often forgotten.
- Try to ensure the plant has a permanent place in the house, as most plants do not like to be moved from place to place.
- Almost all plants require watering with well-settled, soft water. If there are a lot of plants, you can prepare a bucket where water will settle for a day - two. If there are not many plants, you can use polyethylene bottles made of lemonade, which are not covered with a lid, allowing chlorine to disappear from the water. There are some plants that do not tolerate hard water at all, they not only get sick from this, but can also die.
- If you are going to transplant a plant, then it is better to use a purchased soil mixture for a specific plant (s). Often in the literature, as well as on our website, the composition of soil mixtures for each plant is given, but not everyone can or knows where to get turf or peat land. In this case, for most plants, you can use ordinary garden or greenhouse land, to which well-washed river sand is added. Before use, it is advisable to disinfect the ground - spill well with a weak solution of manganese (this will also help remove earthworms), or steam in the microwave for several minutes.
- The main reason plants suffer in apartments is central heating. Since the batteries are located near the window, it is not possible to place plants away from the batteries. Try to moisturize the air around the plants in winter. (see. Temperature regime)
- Fresh air is almost a prerequisite for good plant development. Cacti, for example, may not bloom just because they lack fresh air. But none of the plants tolerate cold drafts.
- If you see that the plant is sick, acquire a magnifying glass and carefully examine the leaves on both sides, stems, flowers in search of pests, which, by the way, may not be. Some wonder where the pests come from if they weren't there before. Most of them are carried by insects (flies and flies with Drosophila), some in the form of larvae persist in the ground and wait for favorable conditions, some plants are infected upon purchase, but become noticeable only after a while.
Currently, any large city has such a large number of flower shops, nurseries or botanical gardens where you can buy a wide variety of plants that your eyes run up. But, alas, many choose the wrong plants that suit their home conditions or office climate. For example, they put tender senpoli under the scorching rays of the southern window, and after a couple of days they look at the spots on the leaves with bewilderment, not realizing that these are burns; or place a light-loving passionflower deep in the living room, and observe its slow extinction, while blaming the sellers or some unknown pest.
If you, for example, forget to water the plants all the time, or are forced to often go on business trips, then get yourself succulents. The most drought-tolerant plant is milkweed mile and hoya carnosa. Hydroponic culture is also suitable for those who want to reduce watering worries.