If you are looking for a quick and easy way to brighten up your home, indoor plants are an excellent choice. There are so many great plants you can use around the home (check out this list to get your collection started) and they instantly make the place look more inviting. They’re good for your health too as being in close proximity to greenery reduces stress, and plants clean the air too.
Unfortunately, many people struggle with indoor plants because they just can’t keep them alive. They go through an endless cycle of buying plants, only to throw them away after a few weeks because they don’t survive. But before you throw them away, you should try to bring them back to life. Plants are surprisingly resilient and if you treat them in the right way, they will flourish again and you don’t need to keep replacing them. If your indoor plants have seen better days, here are some simple ways to revive them.
Research the Care Needs of Your Plants
The biggest mistake people make is treating all plants the same. The thing is, every plant has different needs in terms of how much water it needs and what kind of sunlight it likes. Some plants need to be watered every few days while others, like succulents, only need water once they are completely dried out. Similarly, some like full sunlight while others will burn unless they are in the shade. So, research the care needs of all of your plants and you should get an idea of where you are going wrong. There are some great plant identification apps you can use to find out about your plants.
Change Lighting Conditions
Often, plants die because they’re getting too much or too little sunlight. Simply by moving them around you can make them a lot healthier. Research their sunlight needs and then try putting them in different places to see if that makes a difference. You could even use specialist lighting to bring back sun-hungry plants that are not getting enough light. Search for hydroponics near me and you will be able to find somewhere that sells lighting rigs. You can use these lights to give your plants a boost and bring them back to life before placing them somewhere new. They’re also great for getting seedlings of new plants started.
Change Watering Habits
People always assume that plants die because they don’t have enough water but, in most cases, the opposite is true. People water them too much and the roots start rotting. If you leave the soil to fully dry out, and then look at the roots, you will see if any are rotting. Remove these roots and then continue watering, but not as often, and you might be able to save them. On the other hand, if you keep forgetting to water them, it’s likely that the plant is dehydrated. Soak it in a bucket of water for 15 minutes or so to hydrate it, and then make sure to water it more regularly in the future.
Change To A Bigger Pot
As plants grow and their root systems get bigger, they need more space to flourish. If you take it out and there are a lot of compacted roots, it needs a bigger pot. Try to separate the compacted roots, being careful not to break them, and then put it into a bigger pot with more soil. You should notice that it starts to flourish after just a few days.
In some cases, the plant will be too far gone to bring back. However, you can usually rescue them if you follow these steps.
Main image credit: Photo by Véronique Trudel on Unsplash