I have written extensively showing that plants do not clean the air in your home, and now new studies suggest that they actually produce VOCs that pollute the air. Not only that, but plastic pots and microbes in the soil make the problem even worse.
Should you get rid of your houseplants to have cleaner air in your home and office?
I first came across water culture for orchids about 5 years ago. My immediate reaction was horror. I’ve been growing orchids for over 30 years and the thing that kills more orchids than anything else is overwatering. Now people suggest submersing the roots in water full time – that’s crazy – or is it?
Some people seem to be able to grow them well in water. The picture below is a large glass vessel containing several phalaenopsis orchids in water culture and they seem to be doing well. I am also part of a Facebook group dedicated to orchid water culture and I have personally tried both full and semi-water culture. In this post I will review the pros and cons of the technique and give you my impressions. I will answer the question, is this a good technique for growing orchids?
While creating some videos about potting soil (links below) I reviewed a lot of commercial products, looking at both ingredients and marketing claims. What a mess out there! It’s no wonder gardeners are confused when they go out an buy a potting mix. I created this post to try and bring some clarity to the situation.
I will go through a process of selecting a good product while pointing out the important issues and showing you what marketing gibberish you can ignore. This discussion applies to potting soil for houseplants, outdoor containers and starting seeds.
Growing marginally hardy or non-hardy plants in cold climates usually involves growing them in containers and moving them indoors before winter. Everyone loves to see houseplants flourish when grown outside during warmer months – but no one likes bugs hitchhiking back inside! Fortunately, there are ways to remove unwelcome insects before they enter your home.
There is a lot of information floating around about fertilizing orchids, but much of it is wrong. For example, the whole concept of “orchid fertilizer” is a myth because there is no such thing.
It’s time that orchid growers understand fertilizers better. It will benefit your plants and save you money.
Cactus are very weird plants. They almost never have leaves. They sit there and do nothing for a good part of the year. They don’t flower – or do they? If you are old enough to remember all of the cowboy movies on TV, you are sure to know that you can always stop by a cactus and get a drink.
My first foray into horticulture was a collection of over 100 different cactus, under lights in my bedroom. At that time I went to Europe, in part to see “native cacti”. I’ve grafted them, and even grown them from seed. Fast forward 40 years, and I still have a cactus growing in the garden (zone 5).
For this post I have collected together all of the cactus myths that I could find. Enjoy.
Orchids are one of the most beautiful flowering houseplants you can buy and yet they are just not good enough – according to some people. Commercial growers have found a way to add even more color to them so that you can enjoy blue, orange and even green orchids.
How is it done, and how long does the color last?
Why can’t you trust gardening information on the Internet? As part of my effort to bust gardening myths, I also try to understand how the myths are created in the first place.
I decided to run a test to illustrate why gardening information on the internet can’t be trusted. I hired someone to write an article on how to flower indoor plants more. How accurate will the information be? Will it be suitable for posting on one of my blogs?
There is nothing like flowers in winter time but indoor plants don’t always cooperate and bloom well. Why? What can be done to make them bloom better?
In this post I’ll help you play detective and figure out how to get your houseplants to bloom more.
The popularity of indoor plants has skyrocketed in the last year and so have the myths surrounding them. I have gathered a long list of common houseplant myths to save you the trouble of making mistakes and getting into bad habits. Each myth has a brief description, and where appropriate, a link to a more detailed discussion.
Growing indoor plants is fairly easy if you take some time to research the plant you are growing and follow some basic rules. Don’t get sucked into internet hype about new ways to deal with problems. Experienced gardeners keep things simple.
Indoor plants do better with higher humidity and there are several recommended ways to create this increased humidity. Some of these suggestions, like misting and pebble trays, have been used for many years and are still being recommended today. But do they work? Do they increase humidity and are they good for houseplants?
The heating we use in winter dries the air in our home and this makes it more difficult for plants to grow. The same thing can happen with air conditioning in summer. Tropical houseplants are particularly vulnerable.
What is the best way to increase the humidity around your indoor plants and how high should the humidity level be?
You have probably heard that chlorine in tap water is harmful to plants. Some cities have switched to using chloramine in tap water and that is also a concern for plants because it is much harder to remove before watering indoor plants.
What is the difference between chlorine and chloramine? Will they harm your plants? How can you remove them from tap water? These are all good questions gardeners should be able to answer and in this post, I will help you do just that.
