Houseplants Archives - gardenmyths.com

Should You Use Drainage in Your Pots?

It used to be very common to add drainage material, such as rocks, Leca, or clay pot shards in the bottom of pots for added drainage. Then it was claimed that this is a myth and it does not work. But then some new science this year upsets everything by showing drainage material may actually work.

Should a gardener use drainage material? What kind of material works best?

lady's hand putting leca beads into a pot. — Leca being added to the bottom of a pot of succulents, source: Depositphotos

Key Takeaways

Drainage material reduces the water in the soil.
It is best not to use drainage material in most cases, but it can be useful in the right situation.

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Growing Streptocarpus: Watering

Watering may be the hardest part of growing streptocarpus well. Not because they are difficult to water but because there is a lot of confusion and misinformation about their care. The goal of this post is to describe some watering experiments and provide clarity about watering.

5 or 6 flowers in a cluster, purple color with lots of stripes and spots of dark purple and white — Streptocarpus RP Dreamy Night

Key Takeaways

It’s better to keep streptocarpus wet than dry.
Leaves die back if kept too dry
Provided the potting media is porous, regular watering will not harm the plant.

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Repotting Myths Busted

Gardeners make repotting more complicated than it needs to be and in the process, they have created all kinds of myths about the process. It’s time to simplify repotting and bust the myths around it.

empty pot with a root bound plant laying beside it — Does this plant need repotting?, source: Depositphotos

Key Takeaways

Repotting does less damage to plants than you think and they recover quickly
Don’t listen to so-called experts online – learn to understand the plant and let its natural growth habits direct you.
Many of the repotting rules are myths.

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Growing Streptocarpus: Germinating Seeds

Streptocarpus seeds are some of the tiniest you will ever sow but they are also very easy to germinate if you follow these simple instructions.

top view of a pot showing very tiny green seedlings — Streptocarpus seedlings – 3 weeks after seeding – 4″ pot

Key Takeaways

Surface sow in pots.
Streptocarpus seed needs light to germinate.

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Growing Streptocarpus: Light Conditions

Streptocarpus are becoming popular houseplants and for good reason. They are relatively easy to grow, they don’t need high light and they bloom all year long in the right conditions.

How much light do they need?

Small plant with dozens of purple flowers which have a yellow center. — Streptocarpus RP Sassy Angel, bred by Robert Pavlis

Key Takeaways

Ideal conditions for Streptocarpus are at or above these values:

A DLI of over 7
10,000 lux for 12 hours
1,000 foot-candles for 12 hours

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Best Fertilizer for Indoor Plants and Containers

There are so many types of fertilizer it’s hard to know which one to use. Which NPK ratio is best? Is one brand better than another? Organic vs synthetic. Soluble vs slow release. This all seems so complicated, but in this post I will simplify the whole process of selecting the best fertilizer.

Key Takeaways

The best NPK ratio for most plants is 3-1-2, some like 3-1-3.
There is no such thing as plant specific fertilizer.
Mix fertilizer so nitrogen is at about the 100 ppm level.
Fertilize with every watering, use just water once a month to flush the pot.

Girls watering a plant — Best Fertilizer for Indoor Plants and Containers

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Best Way to Water Indoor Plants

Watering indoor plants seems to be one of the most complicated things for new gardeners to learn, which is surprising since it’s really simple. The problem is that a lot of the information out there makes the subject complicated and it gives new gardeners bad advice.

In this post I am going to give you some simple rules that work for any houseplant and makes watering easy. I’ll help you decide when to water and show you the best way to do it.

Girls water houseplant — Watering Indoor Plants – Watering Houseplants

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Are Poinsettias Poisonous to Cats and Dogs?

Everyone loves poinsettias at Christmas but are they toxic to cats and dogs? What about people? Many websites include the plant on their “toxic Christmas plants list.

cat sitting beside a poinsettia plant — Poinsettias are mildly toxic to cats and dogs, source: Killarney Cat Hospital

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Do Plants Purify the Air in Your Home?

It is winter and time to close up our homes to keep the heat in and the cold winds out. It is also the perfect time to buy some more houseplants because, if you believe all of the headlines, they will purify the air in your home. This is especially important during winter months when we keep the doors and windows shut.

Do plants purify the air in our home?

Google showed almost 4 million hits when I asked this question. The good news is that the top of the list shows my previous blog post – and it answers the question correctly. Almost all of the other 4 million hits give the wrong answer.

In this blog I will review current knowledge and look at some new research. If you don’t want to read all of the details, just read the first two sections, which give a summary of known facts at this point in time.

Do Plants Purify the Air in Your Home?

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Streptocarpus Myths

The first hybrid streptocarpus was released in 1946 and since then hundreds of new cultivars have been developed and yet few people are familiar with them. I predict that will change. Streps are easy to grow house plants that can flower all year long. What other house plant gives you that much star power in a small package? They are even better than orchids because they flower more and are easier to take care of.

However, even this lesser-known houseplant has started to generate some gardening myths. Let’s have a look at some here.

Streptocarpus Myths — Streptocarpus Myths, source: streptocarpus.ca

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An Introduction To Streptocarpus Houseplants

Streptocarpus are not commonly available and most gardeners either have not heard of them or they know very little about them. I was one of these gardeners not that long ago but now that I have some experience with them I can’t believe they aren’t more popular. They grow in fairly low light, are easy to take care of and flower 12 months of the year. They are also available in hundreds of colors and flower shapes including singles, doubles, straight and frilly-edged. Some of the newer hybrids don’t even look like streptocarpus. In this post, I will introduce you to streps, as they are commonly called.

Streptocarpus 'Grape Ice', source: Streptocarpus.ca — Streptocarpus ‘Grape Ice’, source: Streptocarpus.ca

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Flowering Orchids Is Easy If You Know What Triggers Them?

Orchids are one of the most popular houseplants because they are easy to grow and flower – for some of us. But many people struggle to get them to re-bloom a second time. Over the years I have heard a number of myths for reblooming orchids and I have even been guilty of passing some of these on to others. In this post I will separate myth from real science to better understand how best to flower orchids.

Flowering Orchids is Easy if You Know What Triggers Them?

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