How to Grow Plants Indoors: A Beginner’s Guide To Houseplants

So maybe somebody gives you a plant, maybe you are thinking about buying some plants or you already have quite a few of these and you don’t know where to start. Today I am going to share with you a complete beginner guide on how to grow plants indoor. Whether you’re new to plants or you already have quite a few these tips should help you get them to thrive.

Growing plants indoor is a great idea because plants add such an amazing vibe to our space but they’re also incredibly beneficial. A lot of plants are air purifying. So if you do live in a city that has a lot of pollution, they can be really great for purifying the air. They give us oxygen and they just make your house feel happy.

Choose Your Plants According to Your Place & Light

If you don’t have plants currently, the very first thing you need to do is think about your light. So what sort of light do you have in your apartment? Because different plants need a different amount of light.

Do you not have a lot of natural light? So that means you’re looking for low light plants. If you have some direct light but it’s not like the full sun all the time, that’s called medium or indirect light and then there are other lighting situations where you might have like full blasting sun and that is called full direct light or like high light or bright light, you get it. 

But thinking about the direction that your apartment/house faces, and then thinking about how much can you get inside of your apartment, that’s a great place to start and then you can start to kind of find plants that work in those lighting conditions.

Read the labels of the plants that you’re picking up. If you pick up a plant that has no label and you don’t even know what it is, you should go to the plant merchant and ask for information. what I do when I don’t know what the plant is or when I don’t know the exact requirements, I research it. I go on Google and then look it up and if I can’t find that exact species I kind of get the family, I get the family to genus and generally it’s pretty much the same requirements. So do your research because that really does help.

Choose an Easy to Care Plant First in Your Plant Journey

The next thing to do is to think about the ease of taking care of plants. Usually, low-light plants are pretty easy to take care of, they don’t usually need that much attention. They kind of just like to sit in the corner and like, as long as they’re watered onto their watering schedule, then like they should be fine.

So I recommend that you start with the easiest ones that don’t need a lot of care, don’t need a lot of sun, just kind of chill and be in a corner and just thrive without you giving a lot of energy. And then from there, you can kind of expand your plant family.

Use Room Temperature Water When Watering

Let’s talk about watering indoor plants. Now you might not think about it too much but the temperature of the water that you’re using on your plants actually does matter. So try to use room temperature water or even slightly warm water rather than just cold water straight out of the tap or some really hot water. The plants can actually get shocked and damaged by really cold or really hot water temperatures. Their roots just don’t like it and I mean think about our house plants a lot of them are tropical plants. So they definitely wouldn’t be used to having really cold water on their roots. so keep at room temperature.

Keep a Consistent Watering Schedule

Do your best to make and keep a consistent watering schedule. My advice is to just pick a day of the week where you’re going to water all of your plants. So that’s going to be your watering day. At least it’s going to be your bulk watering day because some of your plants of course are going to be watered only every other week and then you might have some plants that need to be watered twice a week but make sure that you have that bulk consistent watering. Creating a spreadsheet could be a really helpful thing for keeping track of what all of your plants need. You can create a Google doc for scheduling.

Check Your Soil Before Watering

Another thing to consider with watering is that plants can be sensitive to over or under watering.

So just because a plant might feel dry on the surface of the pot, doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s ready to be watered. Some plants like to dry out fully before they get water, some like to be watered a little bit more regularly, like to have their roots be kind of wet. So you just have to kind of keep in mind what each plant wants. 

You can use a moisture meter and check all the way down at the bottom of the pot and see what level the moisture is. Another way that you can check if your plant needs water is with your finger. You put your finger inside the soil until the second knuckle or until the end of your finger. And once you feel that the soil is dry, then you can water them. If it tends to be just like dry on the surface but then I still feel like the soil below the surface is wet so I don’t usually water.

Drainage 

Make sure that you have drainage holes at the bottom of your pot. So that water can flow freely out of it. It’s important to remember that most house plants really don’t like to have wet feet and what that means is that there’s no excess water hanging out at the bottom of the roots.

Your plant might be extremely unhappy if you sit them in water. Probably some of the best advice that i could possibly give somebody who wants to get into house plants or get better at it is to understand the biggest killer of house plants is over watering.

Most of us love to care for our plants we’re plant people, we’re nurturers. We want to go around with our little watering cans and give them some love. But the truth is sometimes we need to reign in the love a little bit. Sometimes we need to understand that most of our plants like to have their soils dry out or at least a little bit dried out before they’re watered again. If you’re finding that you’re killing a lot of easy to care houseplants it’s probably because you’re just giving it too much love.

Another thing to think about and kind of pay attention to is how your plant reacts if it needs water. Some plants will actually show you in their leaves that they are thirsty and you’ll kind of know that if their leaves are starting to curl or maybe they get a little bit crunchy or maybe they’re starting to brown a little bit on the edges, that can be an indicator that your plant needs water. So, those are all kinds of things to keep in mind.

Temperature Requirements

Most indoor plants come from the Tropical tropical and subtropical areas of the world. They prefer temperatures between 70-80°F during the day and about 65-70 degrees at night. For many indoor plants, temperatures below 50°F can cause many problems. They will not flourish when too hot or too cold. Stunted growth can occur if you place your plant near an air conditioning vent if the temperature drops below 45°F.

Too much heat may cause wilting leaves, flowers can fade rapidly, constantly needing water, edges of leaves dry up and become crispy.

Humidity for Indoor Plants

Most of our houseplants originate from humid jungle environments so moisture in the air is vital to keep them lush and healthy. Generally, indoor plants prefer 40-60% humidity. Common signs that your plant need humidity are Leaves develop brown edges,  Foliage becomes crispy, Plants begin to wilt and Leaves begin to yellow

To increase the humidity you can take some actions like you can put all your tropical plants together because they helps each other, you can mish them, you can place them in more humid rooms, you can take them a bath, you can use a pebble tray or you may invest in a humidifier.

Fertilizing Indoor Plants

So we all know that indoor plants need good light, water and soil in order to thrive. But one thing that can commonly be missed is the fertilizer, where plants get their nutrition. And every plant is different but in the spring and summer, usually the plants need to be fed every two to four weeks because it’s their growing season. I usually fed them every two weeks but in the winter it’s in its rest period. So usually they don’t need any feeding at all during the winter.

Check for Insects or Bugs

Make sure to check your plants regularly for pests. I like to do this every time I water and I bulk water once a week so at least once a week I’m doing a really good look over of all of my plants under the leaves making sure there’s no spider mites, thrips, mealy bugs and aphids anything like that.

If there’s any signs of any bugs or insects and if there are you want to deal with these right away. You might notice little  insects or webs that look like fruit flies or these bugs that look like they’re covered in cotton and if you don’t know what it is, You can take a picture into your local nursery for some help or search it up online. For a lot of the different kinds of pests what I do, I usually just spray the leaves with a bit of water and soap solution and then wipe it clean using a damp cloth. You might need to repeat this a couple of times, but it really works.

Pruning 

Insects and bugs love dead and decaying foliage so always remove any rotting or dying leaves that are just sitting on top of the soil. And whenever I see the plant leaves that are visibly about to die, I just prune the plant by cutting these off so they don’t steal essential nutrients from the leaves that are continuing to thrive.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the easiest indoor plant to grow?

These plants are considered as the easiest plants to grow:

• Snake Plant.
• Ribbon plant. 
• Bromeliads.
• Chinese Evergreen.
• ZZ Plant.
• Chinese Money Plant.
• Jade Plant.
• Pothos.
• Rabbit’s Ear.

How much sunlight should indoor plants get?

Different indoor plants do well in different types of light. Plants exposed to too much light may become  bleached, scorched and limp. Most of our indoor plants are from tropical zones so they best grow in bright but indirect light. But they can thrive in medium to low light conditions.

Which plant is lucky for home?

These plants help to  brighten up our day, freshen up our moods,purify filthy air and nature’s best decoratives:

• Pachira Money Tree
• Lucky Bamboo
• Money Plant
• Palm Plant
• Snake Plant
• Jade Plant

Do Indoor plants clean the air?

They convert the carbon dioxide we exhale into fresh oxygen through photosynthesis and they can also remove toxins from the air we breathe. In 1989 NASA published one famous experiment and they found that indoor plants can scrub the air of cancer-causing volatile organic compounds like benzene and formaldehyde.

What is the best indoor plant to clean the air?

• English Ivy.
• Snake Plant or Mother-in-Law’s Tongue.
• Chinese Evergreen.
• Chrysanthemum.
• Aloe Vera.
• Broad Lady Palm.
• Red-edged Dracaena or Dragon Tree.
• Weeping Fig.

What is indirect sunlight for indoor plants?

Bright Indirect light is when the sun’s rays don’t travel directly from the sun to your plant but passes through a medium, a window shade or the leaves of a tree or reflects off another surface before reaching. Bright indirect light is approximately 800-2000 foot candles.

How often should you water indoor plants?

It depends on the plant to plant. Most indoor plants need to be watered every one to three weeks. Frequency of watering will depend on several factors like temperature, humidity, the size and type of plant, size and type of pot and rate of growth. But always check your soil before watering. You can use a moisture meter.

When should I fertilize my indoor plants?

Spring is the best time to fertilize indoor plants because that’s when they grow faster. You can fertilize them twice a week or even when you water them.

Do indoor plants need saucers?

Saucers are shallow dishes under the plant’s pot which are used to catch excess water that drains from a container planting. Standing water can promote excess soil moisture and cause plant roots to rot.

How long do indoor plants typically live?

On average, indoor house plants last about 2-5 years. After that, they stop thriving and it’s better to invest in another plant.

So these are all about beginner guide on how to grow plants indoor. Are you growing plants indoor or you are planning to grow, let me know.