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Insiders' Plant Information |
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Horticultural Help
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Why the Plant Experts Are Wrong
Repot your new plant. Mist your plants every
day. Fertilize plants monthly. Move them outside in the summertime. This
is part of the conventional wisdom that is frequently offered in many
plant books. Unfortunately, this information is misleading at best and
a prescription for plant failure at worst. So why would the experts
pass along this defective information? And who am I to know better?
The indoor plant experts – the plant book authors and horticultural researchers – have spent their careers working with plants in their native habitats and in greenhouses. Their research and writings reflect their experiences in the field and in the lab or greenhouse. If you have walked into a greenhouse filled with tropical plants, you know immediately that the environment feels vastly different than that of your home or office. It feels and smells like a tropical rainforest – light and warm and damp. Professional greenhouse managers can control the greenhouse environment to duplicate the environment of the tropical rainforest or of the desert. They have just the right amount of light, temperature, and humidity to make their plants feel right at home.
Needless to say, greenhouse plants thrive in
these near perfect conditions. They grow rapidly, become large specimens,
and bloom profusely. We marvel at their beauty and abundance. Here the
experts observe that the plants use lots of water, require frequent
fertilizing, and regularly outgrow their pots. This information is then
passed along in their writings to the public.
Unfortunately, most of us don’t get to
keep our indoor plants in a climate-controlled greenhouse.
We put our plants in dim corners, inside our desert-dry homes and offices
that are heated in the winter and air-conditioned in the summer. These
conditions are far removed from the ideal conditions of the tropical
rainforest and the greenhouse. So what happens to the plants? In most
cases their growth rate begins to decline, particularly if they now
receive less than the optimal amount of light. When plant growth
diminishes, the cultural requirements change.
This is where I enter the picture. I have spent the last 20 years providing professional care for thousands of plants every week in the most inhospitable environments. My plants are not in greenhouses. They are in homes, offices, restaurants, atriums, shopping malls, building lobbies, and department stores in the middle of New York City. Many of them never see any natural sunlight or artificial grow lights. Some are in dark corners. All of them are in very dry air year round. Many are exposed to widely fluctuating temperatures. Coffee, soda, chewing gum, and paper clips make regular appearances in the soil. I have learned how the needs of plants can change in these adverse conditions. I have learned that many plants can survive and maintain an attractive appearance in these unfavorable conditions. I have learned how to alter my watering, pruning, and fertilizing regimens to accommodate plants in less than optimal conditions. I have learned to cope with pest problems without exposing my clients to hazardous chemicals.
I am not the only person who has figured this out. There are many people who work in the indoor landscaping industry, as I do, who share this knowledge among themselves. Unfortunately, this collective wisdom has never been disseminated widely to the general public. I find myself answering the same plant care questions over and over again. And I find many people sharing the same misinformation and making the same mistakes over and over again.
If you have a specific question about the care of your plants, you can contact me directly at Info@HorticulturalHelp.com.
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