Spring is all about energy, pent-up and renewed...
The days are longer and warmer and, like the plants around us, we have stored up some extra energy. With energy comes motivation, all of which will help go from winter blues to spring greens. Time for us to do a bit of growing ourselves.
Even indoors, everything is suddenly growing and hopefully you’re feeling a mirrored resurgence of energy. Which you’ll need if you want to make the most of the spring season, which is already underway.
Margaret Atwood once suggested, “In the spring, at the end of the day, you should smell like dirt.” So let’s have a look, without getting too buried in the details, at just how dirty we want to get.
Tidying up is the best place to start, for the simple reason that it will bring you back in touch with your plants. During winter we often drift away from the leafy things because they’re relatively dormant. So renewing your intimacy with them will recharge the meaning they can bring into our lives.
Tidying up means giving them all a once-over, so once time allows, get a few tools in hand. If you have rainwater, use it to prepare a damp but not wet cloth to wipe the foliage off. Grab your choice of pruning tools and, if possible, shift the plants — one or a few at a time — to somewhere where the light is good and a bit of a mess can be made. Not to state the obvious, but shutting the plants about will help you see them afresh, in isolation from the others.
Sometimes a tidy up and a shift in location can make a older plant seem like a new family member.
If it’s autumn where you’re reading this, much of this tidying up will still apply. We need to prepare plants for the winter much as we do for the summer.
Like everything else in a house or apartment, things that don’t move become static — akin to wallpaper, hiding in the background. Spring is a good time to re-organise, so this shifting of plants is part of a good plan as well. If a spring cleaning is underway, fold this plant-work into the larger clean-up and clear-out. You might even consider taking the plants outside for a good spray with the hose (followed up, if appropriate, with a spray of bug oil onto the wet leaves, then wiped; this offers protection and shine). It beats using the shower. Just don’t leave them outside for long, to burn in the spring sunshine.
As you reconnect with each plant, you can assess deeper questions, like the health of the plant or whether the specimen might need repotting. Yellow or brown leaves are obvious signs to attend to, but look closer in to assess overall plant health. Look for rot, dying stems, and for dead foliage at the soil base.
Also look slowly about to see if any pests are around, including mealybug or spider mite. Aphids too — how they love the taste of new spring growth!
With all this spring activity underway, it might be an occasion to consider whether a plant is thriving in its current location — or might benefit from a new placement in the house
It also can’t hurt to feel the weight of the plant (if housed in plastic). This is the best way to judge how much water is in the soil. Is it what you’d expect given its last watering. Dig down into the soil to see what’s up (compacted? bone dry? soggy?). No point working on the superficial issues if the plant’s floundering in boggy soil. Spring and summer growth will be left behind if a good soil medium is overlooked (check out this cool video on soil mixes).
If the plant’s in a plastic pot, you can squeeze the bottom sides firmly to see if it compresses; if it’s rock solid, it might be pot-bound. When the plant has a solid trunk to hold on to, I often try to pop the container off by giving the pot’s rim a sudden knock with the side of my knuckle or fist; off it goes. This won’t work if roots are leaking out the bottom, though.
A root-bound plant may just need the bottom third or fourth of the soil-root mass removed with a handsaw. This may even allow it to be potted back into the same pot with fresh soil. Last week I repotted two, 40-year-old camellia bonsais, which were housed in 60 litre plastic pots. Even on this scale I was able to knock the pots off by leaning the tree over and, while pulling on the trunk, kicking the pots’ rim downward. Off they went.
When getting a plastic pot off, do what you got to do — sometimes it’s heavy shears to cut down the sides of the pot (never to be used again), or worse, the angle grinder.
Keep your eye out for future Dirt Wise articles on soil and repotting, but for now just keep a few things to keep in mind. When repotting big leaf plants like philodendrons and monstera deliciosa, look at the orientation of the plant. Has it shifted? They often grow towards the light, and monsteras have a tendency to grow off-centre. If needing to re-orient them upright and centred, some roots may need removing to get them back in the same pot. Consider removing some older leaves too.
Most indoor plants, generally, will benefit from a snip here and there, and you’ll have to think about whether you want to cut back leggy, trailing plants and maybe do some propagation — spring is here, tis the season for making babies. There might also be a few specimens that just aren’t cutting it, whether because they refuse to thrive year after year, or because you’ve never really taken to them. Give them away or make compost…
Meanwhile, look over each plant and assess whether you like its overall shape. If not, prune at will. This is especially true for any indoor plants that branch, like ficus or umbrella trees. Nothing wrong with removing perfectly good parts of a plant if they’ve grown leggy, out of shape, or getting too tall (just don’t cut the top off your palm). I find some plant lovers hesitant to prune. The truth is, generally speaking, plants respond to pruning as a kind of loving care.
Especially when curating bonsais, I’ve seen how a larger plant is not necessarily a more handsome plant. Sometimes smaller is better.
So… with everything getting worked on, you can finish up the seasonal work by addressing any ‘feed needs.’ After a long, dormant winter, it’s probably the best time to use fertiliser. This is a huge endeavor at Monstera’s bonsai nursery, for example, where maximising growth is a vital practice. With indoor plants, however, I feel feeding is more a matter of personal preference.
Liquid fertilisers can be added in regular but very weak concentrations via your watering can during the growing season, including fish and seaweed emulsions. I’m often asked about plant food for indoor plants and here are two things to keep in mind. First, don’t feed a monster. If you’re not looking for dramatic new growth, why worry about extra food? Moreover, if a plant is not healthy, food isn’t gonna be the solution. Fertilisers promote growth, so if there’s no growth, ask what else might be holding the plant back.
I hope this cursory, DIrt Wise overview has motivated you. Getting dirty with your houseplants should give you confidence in how they’re doing and what your goals might be for them in the new season.
Remember, the things your plants love most — the sun’s warmth, hydration, your attention — also pose hazards …
If you have repositioned your plants, make sure that, as the days grow longer, no direct sun will find its way onto the tender foliage
Make sure to water your plants more as the indoors warm up, unless (!) of course you’re already overwatering them
Attend to your plants, but don’t obsess over them; that would not be dirt wise