In winter, indoor plants tend to take a little time off from growing, so their needs for care also change. Here are few tips you can adjust about watering your plants, about light, and fertilizing your plants.
Summary
- Check your watering routine.
- Make sure there’s enough humidity.
- Turn on the grow lights.
- Move your plants towards the light.
- Clean the leaves and windows.
- Give your plants less food.
Watering
Check your watering routine
Your watering routine needs a check up when winter comes. As your plants aren’t actively growing, they need less water to stay hydrated. Also, when it’s cold and dark, water doesn’t evaporate as easily, thus it’s good to be more mindful about watering, as overwatering can lead to root rot and other issues damaging your plant. If you have a tendency to overwater your plants, try to use a hygrometer to help you determine if your plants are in need of water or not.
Make sure there’s enough humidity
If the air in your place gets dry during winter, it might be good to make sure to increase the humidity for the sake of your plants. You can add a humidifier, or mist the leaves of your plants more frequently. Another good tip to increase the humidity around your plants is to place a drying rack with wet clothes near your plants, there you get two jobs done at once!
Lighting
Plants need light to stay healthy and happy. Luckily, there’s a few things you can do to ensure enough light for your plants when it’s getting darker outside.
Turn on grow lights
The most obvious way to provide light for your plants is to turn on the grow lights. Full spectrum LED grow lights are similar to sunlight and help your plants stay healthy and survive the winter. It is also possible that your indoor plants continue to grow during the winter season if it gets enough light. Especially for indoor gardens, a grow light is often crucial, and only with some extra light you can make sure you get fresh herbs and greens all year round.
Move your plants towards the light
To give your plants more natural light, you can relocate them to a brighter spot in your apartment, for example, as close to the south or west facing window as possible. And add a few windowsill clamp trays if you’re running out of space. Just make sure your windows aren’t very drafty and your plants won’t get too cold.
Clean the leaves and windows
Keeping the leaves free from dust allows the plant to absorb more light, so it is good to make leaf cleansing as a part of your plant care routine especially during the winter. You can use a dry wipe, or a wet cloth with a little bit of houseplant leaf cleanser to tackle the dust. Take a look at this older blog post for more info!
Also, make sure your windows are dirt free so that more light can pass through the window to your plants.
Fertilising
Give your plants less food
As the plants aren’t growing so actively during winter, they don’t need as much fertiliser as during the growth season. Reduce the amount of plant food you give your plants, and increase the amount again once you see some new growth in spring.
We wish your plants a lot of strength to get through the winter, spring will be here soon again! 💚