Spring Indoor Plant Checklist

 

The start of spring means that our houseplants are actively growing. So they may develop, unfold, and bloom to their full potential, it's time to give them some seasonal TLC. 

Let's make them successful since we eagerly anticipate the stunning green foliage and magnificent blooms throughout the year. I'll go through my spring indoor plant to-do list in this post so you can see how I keep my plants happy and healthy during the crucial months of the year. 

Trim, prune the foliage, clean up, repot, fertilize, and reposition.

Trim

I like to cut off any dead plant stuff first. Check your plant to determine if any of the leaves or stems are dead. Take a clean cut with a pair of trimmers at the base of the leaf, stem, etc.  

Tissue burn on leaf margins can be brought on by infrequent watering, water contaminants (such as boron), salt (fertilizer) buildup, and low humidity. 

Trim the dead tissue off, but keep the rest of the leaf uncut. To make your cuts look as natural as possible, incline them towards the leaf margin.

In addition to being aesthetically pleasing, trimming dead material is crucial for the health and growth of plants:

Diseases and pests can spread to healthy tissue by attacking vulnerable tissue.

The plant will focus its energy on developing new growth once harmful tissue has been removed because it no longer needs to support that tissue.

Prune

Pruning benefits a plant's health and appearance. Consider your plant's general shape and condition from a distance. 

Is the desired form available? For instance, I really need to prune my fiddle leaf fig again. When I pruned almost two years ago to encourage branching, it produced two branches and continued to grow. It is currently hiding in my office's corner, standing like a lanky teen. (I am aware because I own three of them.) 

At this point, I'm considering calling my fiddle leaf Mrs. Figg (The Adams Family) instead of Mrs. Figg (the Harry Potter figure). It desperately needs to be shaped by pruning. 

Determine whether your plants require structural shape by evaluating them. You can form any awkward or protruding portions by trimming them. 

Examine whether they might benefit from tip pruning, which stimulates growth. Tip pruning is exactly what it sounds like it involves trimming the tips of branches to encourage new growth farther down the branch. further growth is triggered elsewhere when you prune the ends further. 

Try tip pruning and, if possible, move your plants into more direct light if they are starting to look lanky. 

Read about the science of pruning here to find out more.

Plant Bath Time (or Foliage Wipe Down)

I love giving the houseplants an occasional hose-down. A good time to do it is in the spring. Over time, dust and grime accumulate on the plants, dulling the beauty of the foliage and possibly endangering the health of the plants. 

Dust can damage your plant's health and growth if it accumulates to a point where it blocks stomata and causes chlorophyll breakdown. Chlorophyll, which gives plants their green color and is responsible for absorbing sunlight, is found in the smallest openings or holes in plant tissue known as stomata.

I frequently group several of my plants together in the shower and turn on the overhead spray in what my youngest son calls “the rainforest simulator 3000”.

Additionally, occasionally I take them outside to give them an actual hose-down and some sunshine. Even so, if I do leave them outside, I make sure to do it early in the day and set a timer to ensure that I don't forget and return to find them sunburned (been there, done that).

Large plants cannot be used in the rain forest simulator 3000 or in the wide outdoors, so you should wipe them down thoroughly with a damp cloth and then mist them thoroughly till there is leaf runoff. 

Report

Repotting plants that require it is also best done in the spring. Repotting is best done before they start actively growing, but if you're running late, go ahead and carefully do it if it's just leaves. Wait for the predicted bloom to appear if it is about to do so. 

Choose a pot that you think will last for at least two years before you need to report it. In the botanical conservatory where I formerly worked, such was our goal. 

In general, if you're worried about drainage, use an excellent indoor potting mix and add some perlite to it. Except for orchids and other epiphytes, most indoor plants don't require a very special mix. 

DO NOT place rocks in the pot's bottom. Even though I understand why some individuals might believe it encourages drainage, the idea is false and has been spreading for years. Although it appears to do so, doing so actually increases water saturation, which is akin to drowning your plant. 

See why placing rocks at the bottom of your container worsens drainage by reading about the science of soil.

An instructional YouTube video about repotting Monstera deliciosa is provided here.

It was time to report because my Platycerium suburban, or giant staghorn fern, utterly dwarfed its tiny 4" pot. 

Although I let it dry out quite well between waterings, especially considering staghorn ferns are epiphytes, I'm not concerned that it is over-potted because it grows so quickly. 

Fertilize

The best time to fertilize is during the spring growing season. I've always been a lazy fertilizer, but after talking to Debbie Atwood of Napa Valley Orchids, an expert in orchids and tillandsias, I'm more motivated today. (While she lacks a website, you can view some of her exquisite, award-winning orchids.)

I'm doing what Debbie advises and spritzing my air plants once a week with a half-strength fertilizer during the growing season.

She advised purchasing a straightforward 20-20-20 fertilizer and diluting it by half. Because I was concerned about scorching my air plants, I've always bought tillandsia fertilizer, but I may make my own the next time. 

If you give your non-epiphytes / foliage plants some fertilizer, they'll reward you with more/bigger leaf unfurlings. To avoid accidentally overdoing it, carefully follow the instructions on the container. 

Reposition

Not everyone needs to do this, but during the autumn and winter, I must move some of my more delicate plants away from the windows. This is because, during the winter, the light enters my south-facing windows at an angle rather than directly overhead, burning the vegetation as it bursts through the glass like so many laser beams. 

I can move those plants back close to the windows in the late spring and summer. I have to do this for the majority of them, including begonias, hoyas, ferns, and all aroids (I'm estimating that aroids make up approximately 75% of the market for house plants). Except for my fiddle leaf fig, burgundy rubber plants, succulents, the majority of air plants, and a few others, pretty much everything. 

Therefore, it's probable that anything you notice on your foliage—specifically, in the center of the leaf rather than simply the edge—that looks suspiciously like a burn scar was created by too much sun. Sunlight striking water on foliage can also harm it.

In conclusion, move your plants to a location where they will thrive in the spring and summer. 

I kept my Hoya publicly 'Splash' plant close to a window that faced south and had some burning leaves. Contrast the healthy greenery at the bottom with the charred vegetation. 

Except for the rubber plant, I either keep the shades drawn in my office during the autumn and winter and then raise them again in the spring and summer. 

That concludes my springtime to-do list for indoor plants. What do you do with your indoor plants in the spring and summer? Tell me in the comments section below.