Tag: temperature

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Repotting Plants.

Now, when it comes to this, it can be a point of contention for most plant owners. Why? When you bring in a new plant, some tend to not repot them, while others wait a while for the plant to acclimate and adjust to its surroundings, to prevent shock.

Some people like myself, I tend to repot them after bringing them in. I may wait an hour or so, but generally these plants are repotted right after they enter my home. The exception would be, if I don’t have the needed tools and accessories to make this happen.

For the plants that I’ve brought into my home, I’ve repotted them pretty much the same way, but with different mediums obviously. I’ve done this with tropical, carnivorous, some succulent types, cacti, and fairly common everyday plants that are easy to maintain.

First thing, I make certain the water used is not too warm if it’s from the tap.

NOTE: I’m sure people will be against this, but if that’s all you have, then what choice do you have, especially if you’re in the middle of the process?

If I choose to have bottled water, such as distilled water, then I’ll make sure it’s room temperature, and not too cool if it’s in a spot stored where it can get cold. Now, when I say bottled water, I don’t simply mean purchased water, but water stored somewhere in the home, for either emergencies, or just to keep room temperature, for drinking or for other purposes. It should be distilled regardless, but I digress.

Next, have your destination ready for potting. The pot should often be bigger than the one you received your plant in, so make certain that you clean it well.

Next, have your other empty pot, roughly the size of the pot which the plant came in, or bigger. This way, the soil transfer will not be too messy.

Next, go check the bottom of the plant pot with the plant in it, to check for roots coming out of the bottom. If you have this issue, trim off those roots, in order to make it easier to remove the plant from that pot, to place it in the new pot.

Next, get your medium ready.

OPTIONAL: Use a few rocks at the bottom of the pot, to cover over the holes at the bottom of the pot, prior to adding your medium. If your medium is sphagnum moss, then this step is not needed. Also, for sphagnum moss, you’ll need to pre-soak it, and squeeze out excess water, prior to adding your plants.

Next, add your medium to your new pot, then mix it with water. You’ll notice, if you add the medium, it will be light, and can pile up into a big mound. That’s fine. Adding water can pull down some of that, and weigh down the soil a bit, so that it will get that moisture.

OPTIONAL: For those that use mosquito bits, or other insecticides, or even fertilizers, you can add them to the medium, prior to repotting the plants.

Next, get your plants ready for repotting. Squeeze the sides of the pot, to loosen the soil. Once it’s loosened enough, then go over to the spare pot, and empty that into there.

NOTE: In some instances, the soil and the roots are packed so tightly, it won’t separate, so you’ll need to put this in water to loosen the soil some more.

Once the soil is loosened enough for the roots to be removed easily, then proceed.

Next, make certain you have lukewarm water, in order to wash out the excess soil and whatever else may be attached to the roots of the plant. For some plants, you can get the leaves wet, while for others, this needs to be avoided. At this point, you should see the roots, clear enough to know if it’s healthy and in need of better care.

Next, go to your destination, and add water to your medium. Then, proceed to make a hole deep enough in your medium, so that you can simply add your plant to it. Once it’s in, pack the soil around it, but just enough that it covers the roots well. You can add more soil if needed, but you’ll need to add more water also.

Depending on the pot you are using, if it doesn’t have holes at the bottom, at least one, then you have to proceed with caution when watering them. This is where you may need something to check the dampness or dryness of the soil, before watering. It may take up to a week or to a month, depending on the variety of plant you are using. Often use a dry bamboo skewer or even a chopstick to see if your soil is dry. The top layer might be, but everything else may be wet, which is why you need to do this.

If you have sphagnum moss, it’s more about a change of color. Often, when it’s wet, sphagnum moss is darker, but when it’s dry, or drying out, it becomes a lighter tanned color, so look out for that. For this, you can just feel it with your fingers to check for any dryness.

For using pots with holes at the bottom, have a saucer or a tray to keep some excess water. The saucer, will keep some excess water, but it will overflow, and it can be messy. With trays, you can bottom water the plants, and still top water the plant, without water overflowing. If you have the tray, top watering isn’t needed, but optional.

After this, it’s a matter of scheduling a time to water your plants. Also, having it in a place to get proper lighting, whether it’s artificial or sunlight, that will determine where you place your plants. Both will help your plants thrive and grow. Some may even push flowers, or keep flowering if they already have flowers.

This has worked for me, but there will always be those outliers, where this isn’t going to work for very long. I explained this with certain plants, but their problems were well beyond the repotting stage.

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Dormancy.

It can be confusing to those that haven’t seen this, and even worse for those that don’t understand what dormancy is. It’s similar to what we know as hibernation, but for plants.
We know this about certain plants, when the colder months arrive, or when they experience that cold snap, and slow down on their growth. This can also result from less sunlight, which occurs during those months.

Most of the time, when looking at certain trees, bushes, and plants, we do know that some will lose their leaves, and there are some that won’t. In many instances, for the ones that don’t, may be seen as the types that don’t go dormant. It doesn’t mean that’s the case, across the board.

As far as house plants, I do have a variety of plants that go through a dormancy period. Much of why this is, often comes with the weather changes, and for some, environmental changes.

A good variety of carnivorous plants go through dormancy periods, but when you purchase them, depending on the vendor or outlet, will be indicated whether or not they should or will go through some kind of dormancy. Other plants will go through dormancy, but it’s not often indicated, nor discussed whether it happens. It may be recommended, depending on how or if you bring it up.

For the most part, if you know the types of plant you have, such as a tropical plant, it should more than likely go into a dormancy period, if it’s in a cold weather environment. It’s even more the case, when there isn’t any natural light sources nearby, to create the photosynthesis known for plants to thrive.

Is there a way to counter dormancy in plants? Yes, and all these steps need to be done to be successful in countering dormancy.

First, get some grow lights. Artificial lighting such as these grow lights, will bring the light sources needed for plants to create that photosynthesis, and it does help on days with less sunlight. It will also help if you have plants that may be near a window or an area that doesn’t get direct or even indirect sunlight.

Second, keep the plant in a warmer area. If you notice the plant is slowing down in some way, check to see if it’s cold in that spot. If it’s near a window, and cold breezes become more frequent, shut the window, or move the plant somewhere else, where it’s warmer. Oh, by the way, make certain that the area you place the plant, isn’t too close to a heat source, like a radiator, so that it doesn’t cook your plant, and dry it out.

Third, keep watering the plant as you normally would. Keep things routine, and you can see continued growth.

Can this work for all plants? No, but there are some that are successful in a process similar to what I just described. Some plants actually need dormancy, so do your research on which ones are said to require dormancy.

As long as the plants feel any indication of cold weather coming on, and less light, they will slow down. They won’t die, but they will appear to be dying. They are not, they are just going into dormancy. As long as you have the tools and information to understand why it happens, and how it can be avoided if this is the path you choose, then you shouldn’t have a problem.

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Temperature/Humidity.

Both temperature and humidity matters, in aiding the growth of plants in any environment. If they are big enough, like trees and bushes both big and small, they will adapt, not because they want to, but because they have to. All of the trees and bushes you see, eventually grew and adapted to the weather changes, and you see this in the city, suburbs, and the countryside.

In places where it snows heavily in winter months, or even has that chill in the air, those trees and bushes wil adapt. Those same trees and bushes will adapt, in extremely hot temperatures also. What may influence lots of their growth is the humidity as well, and much of their adaptation is due to getting rain every now and again. They’ll be in the sun all year, but rain only arrives in short instances; some more than others. When I say short instances, I don’t mean only raining once a month. Some places that might be true, but generally, you will see it rain several times monthly, for certain areas more than others. Seattle is a place known for being somewhat gloomy and rains a lot.

I’ll focus on humidity first, despite the order of the topics in the title. You’ll see why I did it this way, in a moment. I may alternate from time to time, so bear with me.

When looking at indoor plants, you need to keep both in mind, when looking for your plants to grow properly, you need to monitor the humidity. Humidity may be both good, and bad, for plants. I’ll tell you why this is.

Humidity is designated in three or four categories, depending on your applications. If you have pets and plants, you can use the designated labels often found on humidity gauges found in pet stores (see hacks), which are desert, moderate, and tropical. For most people, the humidity gauges found in hardware stores and other outlets, you have designations such as very dry, dry, normal, humid, and very humid. Clearly, you know the equivalents for each, but how the humidity affects you, may affect some of your plants in a similar fashion.

For some plants, unless they are labeled tropical plants, you won’t have too many problems in normal conditions, and they will grow, especially if the temperature is good. In your home, if you can walk around comfortably with little to nothing on, that may be an indication of how comfortable some plants can be also. This isn’t the case for all plants, because some can handle very dry humidity, such as succulents and cacti.

The humidity does affect the temperature, which is why we often see things like, “real feel” temperature, or we would see and/or hear, “but it feels like”, which I personally hate, but there’s a purpose behind it. It does vary, so don’t think that hot temperatures always has high humidity, or cold temperatures always has low humidity. It’s not always the case. Just look at some examples in the United States, with Arizona and Florida, where Arizona, and many areas similar, like some parts of Texas, Nevada, New Mexico, and so on, may have low humidity, but the temperature can reach high in the triple digits at times. This is often referred to as a, “dry heat“. Florida is different, where the humidity can be in very high amounts, along with the temperatures. This is most likely because of the build of that state, where it’s a peninsula, pretty much surrounded more by water. You can look at the Northern areas like the New England areas, and New York state for example, where in the winter months, you will have colder temperatures, but the humidity may not be as low as you would expect. Why? Well, cold weather and low humidity (dry air) seem to go hand-in-hand. That cold weather can still retain quite a bit of moisture, especially when nearest to bodies of water, and intensify precipitations, such as snowfall, and other kinds of storms.

This part is much harder to explain, since I’m mostly referencing conditions indoors with plants.

For my indoor plants, the temperature does matter, because in warmer weather, it can be dry, due to other factors, such as being several floors above ground level. Believe it or not, this can affect your home’s level of humidity. You may have to adjust it for personal comfort, and for the plants’ comfort. In some instances, you will need a humidifier, or something a bit more heavy duty, like an evaporative air cooler. This may be needed, especially if you are in an apartment, where the heating system can be a bit out of your control. I known this, and I experienced some plants drying up, because the heat was so much, it dried the plants out, and the soil it was in. It’s clear from that, the plants could not recover, no matter how hard I or my mother tried to recover them. This happened when me and my mom visited her brother overseas, for two weeks.

Temperature and humidity goes hand in hand, because it can make or break some plants. Some plants can be fickle, and want to be in a perfect setting, where the humidity isn’t too high nor too low, and the temperature is also not too hot nor too cold. I’ve experienced this with many plants, which is unfortunate, but it’s a learning experience like everything else.
If you have the plants in the right environments, open air, or closed, you’ll aid in their growth, along with other factors, such as lighting. All of this helps, but what’s more important, in these scenarios? Lighting? Mediums? Water? Temperature? Humidity? Actually, it’s all of the above, and it’s not the same for all plants either, as most of us that have plants already know this to be true. For this journal, temperature and humidity will matter more here, because it’s the topic of this discussion.

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Water.

Just like sunlight, water is essential for plants to live. You can’t have too much, and you can’t have too little.

What needs to be understood about watering plants, is this: Not all water will work for all types of plants. I’ll explain.

In a general sense, most plants will take whatever water that’s available. Certain plants however, will not last very long, when consuming certain types of water.

Many plants are okay with taking tap water, but as most of us know, tap water is filled with chemicals. Most of it is unacceptable for plants in general. You have chemicals like fluoride and chlorine, neither or which is good for plants. Just imagine, if it’s not very good to put on your plants, then you understand why it’s not good to drink.

When looking at certain plants, plants that prefer chemical and mineral free water, which is basically distilled, rain, or reverse osmosis water, you can look at the carnivorous plants, where they get their needed nutrients through capturing their prey, and absorbing nutrients from their food. Their food being primarily insects. Water with minerals, will be a problem for those plants, because they would prefer not to have them. It can tolerate some nutrients in water, but again, they would prefer not to have them in their water.

Tap water isn’t all that bad for carnivorous plants, as long as it’s parts per million is quite low. Anything from 50 PPM to 140 PPM, is much closer to ideal for carnivorous plants. Having a TDS (Total disolved solids) meter to measure what’s in your water, is essential for your plants water, and your own drinking water.

Spring water may have minerals in them, and generally the TDS readings are in a similar range to tap water, at their lowest readings. I’ve tested some I purchased from my local supermarket, and they measured around 30 PPM, from what I had at the time. Would I use spring water to water my plants? Maybe, but I would refrain from using that on carnivorous plants.

Distilled water would be seen as the best, for pretty much all plants, because there’s just water and no chemicals and no minerals in it. TDS meters will generally read 0 PPM for distilled water. It’s best in my opinion, because no plants will absorb anything other than water. Should anything else be absorbed, that will come from the media the plants are already in.

From what I’ve dealt with when it comes to water, watering and spraying, generally isn’t an issue, especially with the tap water I have available to me. The measured TDS readings go from as low as 50 PPM and as high as 60 PPM, depending on the temperature (I’m not sure why this is, but this is what I’ve observed).

What’s good about watering plants, is that depending on how many plants you have, the more you water, the likelihood of raising the humidity around it will occur. This can occur best when misting or spraying your plants. I’ve seen this firsthand, with humidity gauges nearby to notice the differences. I’ve seen some areas, where the humidity rose from as little as 5%, to as much as 15%. If you have bushy plants, that will be more of an incentive for the humidity to be increased in that area. That increase will also be beneficial towards plants that thrive in tropical climates; albeit minimal, since it’s unlikely it will go nearest to high percentages like 80% or 90%. Stranger things have happened.

I do have a tank that will help some plants, mostly those deemed tropical plants, to have that increase in humidity, to where they can reach as high as 90%; as long as the tank is covered, this will be the result after a good, strong misting.

So yes, water and the types of water used for plants does matter. Your safest bet, if you can capture it, rain water. However, for convenience, have distilled water. There are two ways to get distilled water. Either make it yourself, with a water distiller, or purchase it from the local supermarket. I don’t know much about reverse osmosis water just yet, but when I do, I’ll document what I observe. Tap water is still okay, as long as it measures with the readings mentioned previously. No higher than 150 PPM, but best to be as low or lower that 50 PPM.