Indoor Gardens
and caring for plants
During the summer, I grow what I can on my shaded patio and during the winter bring in my plants to keep them from freezing. The plants provide some vibrant green life and keeping them through the winter gives them a great jumpstart in the spring.
Below, is a picture of one of my 2 year old Nacho Jalapeño plants. It’s like a little bonsai that produces peppers all winter long.
But because this pepper receives less light through the window, it grows much more slowly and doesn’t need quite as much water as it does during summer even though the air is very dry.
One trick for watering houseplants is to wait until the top inch of soil is dry to the touch and then give the plant a good amount of water. The water requirements for each plant will be a little different, and so it is best to just keep an eye on your plants.
Last year, my plants experienced an outbreak of
spider mites! These very small arthropods created webbing between leaves and resulted in brown spotty areas on the plant, like you can see in the picture above. I had also neglected to water my pepper plant for a few weeks and the outer edges of the leaves began to turn brown and scorch.
Plants are incredibly resilient and they can bounce back from very heavy infestations of spider mites and mistreatment. To manage the mites, I took a damp cloth and wiped down some of the areas where the mites had built webs, then I rinsed the plant with a light flow of water under a faucet in a bathtub, and lastly I applied insecticidal soap (note* this is different from normal hand soap or dish detergent which can badly harm leaves). More information about managing spider mites can be found in this following link: https://extension.umn.edu/yard-and-garden-insects/spider-mites After that, I just provided water and it bounced back.
Spider Plants (picture below), different from the creepy crawling mites, do especially well in low light conditions. One critical thing to watch out for is a scorch or curling browning tips on the leaves. This brown curling can be a result of under watering or a salt buildup in the leaves. Over fertilizing can make this worse. Keep an eye on these plants, and if similar problems persist while watering regularly, follow the instructions in this link:
https://ucanr.edu/blog/stanislaus-sprout/article/leach-your-houseplants-avoid-salt-problems.
Lastly, I want to mention aphids. Aphids can only just barely be seen with the naked eye. A phone camera can sometimes be used to zoom in to get a better picture of these insects; before management, it is important to identify what the cause of a plant problem might be. I once purchased a heavily discounted Taro root aka. Elephant Ears which became infested with aphids. Leaves started to wilt, there was an odd sticky sap-like substance on the leaf surface and small dusty specks (cast skins from the aphids as they molted). My management for these aphids is very similar to my strategy for the spider mites. I wiped off the leaves with a damp cloth and then applied an insecticidal soap.
More information about caring for houseplants, and identifying common pest and disease problems for houseplants can be found in this last link: http://ipm.ucanr.edu/PMG/PESTNOTES/pn74172.html
I wish you all a warm and comfortable fall and winter season!
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