Top tips for maintaining healthy peat free houseplants

Maintaining houseplants can seem like an uphill task for some new plant parents. When do I water my plants? How much water do they need? Is the pot the correct size? How do I know when to fertilise my plants? These are all common questions all plant parents ask themselves.

We’ve put together our top tips for maintaining healthy peat free houseplants to help save you stress, time and make sure your plants are thriving this year. Plus, we’ve included a guide on how to troubleshoot and solve common issues plant parents encounter such as yellowing leaves, withering leaves and many others. Read on to become a plant guru.

Key Takeaways

• Learn to read the signals that your houseplant gives you to know when it needs watering. Yellow leaves may be caused by overwatering, lack of nutrients, or not enough light.
• Use a balanced fertilizer regularly during the growing months of Spring and Summer.
• Place your plants in bright, indirect light to avoid scorching.
• Rotate your plants for balanced growth.
• Dust the leaves to maximize photosynthesis.
• Soil fungus is most likely caused by overwatering and should be treated by removing the fungus and repotting with fresh peat-free compost.

 

5 Tips for maintaining healthy peat free plants

1. Watering

Learn to read the signals that your houseplant gives you to know when it needs watering from curling leaves to wilting stems, your plants really will “talk” to you

Overwatering is the most common reason for killing houseplants.  The key is if in doubt, don’t.  It’s far easier to revive a thirsty plant than it is an overwatered one.

2. Fertilise

In the growing months of Spring and Summer, be sure to regularly use a balanced fertiliser to provide the nutrients that your houseplant needs for lush, healthy growth.  Your plant is solely dependent on what is in the soil, and as a plant parent it is your job to nourish you plant baby.

3. Correct positioning

The majority of plants will thrive in bright, indirect light.  Indirect is key, if they have the sun’s rays hitting them directly they are likely to experience scorching, where their leaves will burn and have brown or yellow spots on them

4. Turn your plants

Don’t forget to rotate your plants for balanced growth

5. Dust those leaves

To maximise photosynthesis ensure that the leaves are dust free by cleaning them with a damp cloth.

 

Troubleshooting common issues

Brown leaf tips

Browning leaf tips is often an early sign that something is wrong with your plants.  It is very common and can be down to a number of reasons.  Unfortunately once the tip has gone brown there is no saving it.  The best approach is to cut the tip off, following the shape of the leaf, so that your plant doesn’t waste any energy on this area.

Reasons

• Lack of humidity: the leaves are drying out
• Move to a more humid room, such as the bathroom
• Group plants together to increase humidity levels
• Fertiliser imbalance
• If you are regularly fertilising your plant, it may be getting too many nutrients, so ease back for a while
• If you aren’t regularly fertilising your plants, start so that nutrients in the soil are replenished
• Irregular watering: your plant is experiencing shock
• Check the moisture of your soil before watering

Yellow leaves

Again, there are many reasons that the leaves on our houseplant may turn yellow, one of which, is that it is a natural process for old leaves to change colour before dropping off.  However, if you feel that this is happening too regularly it could be due to one of the below reasons.  To determine which one it can sometimes be a process of elimination.

Reasons

• Overwatering
• Always check the moisture levels in the soil before watering and then let the pot drain before returning your plant to its decorative pot
• Lack of nutrients
• Use of balanced fertiliser in the growing months of Spring and Summer
• Not enough light
• Move your plant to a brighter spot

Curling leaves & wilting stems

The most common cause of curling leaves and wilting stems is because your houseplant needs a good drink.  Give you plant a thorough water, and allow to drain before returning it to its decorative pot.

 

Leaf Spots

These tend to start as small brown or yellow spots on the leaves which grow overtime.

Reasons

• Leaf burn: your houseplant is in bright, direct sunlight or is next to a hot radiator
• Cut off the burnt area and move your plant into a cooler spot
• Fertiliser imbalance
• If you are regularly fertilising your plant, it may be getting too many nutrients, so ease back for a while
• If you aren’t regularly fertilising your plants, start so that nutrients in the soil are replenished

 

Soil Fungus

This is most likely to be caused by overwatering.  The bet approach is to remove the fungus from the soil and repot with fresh peat free compost.