Indoor Plant Care - How to Houseplant Care

How to Prune Your Umbrella - Plant  Schefflera Arboricola, Umbrella Plant Schefflera Arboricola I recently received an email from a visitor to my website asking how to prune her Umbrella Plant. She sent along the picture to the right. Here is her email and my answer: Hello, I'm just wondering how to prune an umbrella plant. My plant is getting out of control, growing upwards and I can't seem to get it to grow like a bush. I'm afraid to cut it to shape cause I might kill it. I've had this plant for over 10 years and from the picture I sent you can see it's still growing good. I just want to trim it down but I want to do it properly. Thanks! Hi Julia When pruning an Arboricola (umbrella plant), cut just above a leaf stem or node. I usually cut the tallest stem back into the center of the plant, leaving some leaf nodes for new growth to start. Doing this every once in awhile keeps the plant fuller and shorter. You can cut the really ta...

House Plants - You Have Questions, I Have Answers, But... Rhapis Excelsa Palm on My Model Home Account Hi Plant People, hope you all had a nice October. Hard to believe it is already November 2016. Just realized that since I started working as an interior landscape technician in 1986 and it is now 2016, I have been taking care of, installing, warehousing, replacing, selling or unloading indoor tropical plants and flowers for just about 30 years. Most of that was direct, day to day care of different types of tropical plants in many different locations, from the west coast to the east coast. There has been a break here or there for a year or two but for most of the past 30 years I have been involved in all aspects of the interior landscape industry. That's a lot of plants! On my website, I offer simple, straight forward advice on caring for your indoor plants. As you can tell from the first few paragraphs, I have had lots of experience to work from. ...

How to Combat Those Little Flying Bugs - GNATS! Although fungus gnats can be a problem with indoor plants at anytime of year, they can be a bigger problem during the warmer months as they are also outside in greater numbers and, no doubt, plotting an invasion of your home...  :) Not a Fungus Gnat-Just One of My Plants Here is a little information about fungus gnats: Fungus gnats are small flies, about 1/8" long, black or dark colored. Adult females may lay up to a few hundred eggs in a 7-10 day period. And they will lay them in the moist topsoil of your indoor plants, if they get a chance. Fungus gnat eggs hatch in about six days, producing small, white maggots. Larvae will grow to about 1/4" in two weeks and then form pupae. Then adults will emerge from plant media in a week or less. And the cycle begins again! While adult fungus gnats do not damage your indoor plants, they can be very annoying. You may see numbers of them about your plants, if they are...

Plant Care for Dracaena Marginata Potted Dracaena Marginata Plant My last post was about the Mother-In-Law Tongue plant, the most searched and researched indoor plant and its care, at least on my website. This post is about Dracaena marginata, the second most searched for indoor plant. The dracaena marginata is sometimes called Dragon Tree. We just call her Marginata or Marg...  Marginata is my favorite Dracaena, I just love the thinner, long, delicate and arching leaves of the marginata. If your Marginata has been growing in really good light in a nursery, the leaves may be thicker and stiff. As it grows in new foliage acclimated to the lower light in your home (or office), the leaves will thin and become more graceful and arching. That is the way I like them best! Dracaenas in general are really easy to care for once you get them settled in and learn how to water them properly. Many of the plants that we use in our interior landscapes are dracaena varieti...

Plant Care for Mother-In-Law Tongue Mother-In-Laws Tongue Plant The most searched for plant care information on my indoor plant care website is for the Sansevieria plant. You may know it as Mother-in-Law Tongue or Snake Plant as those are common names for sansevieria trifasciata. The Mother-In-Law Tongue is one of the easiest indoor plants to care for and is quite forgiving if you forget to water it every once in a while. As with any indoor, potted plant, providing your plant with bright light and proper watering is going to reward you with the best growth. Light is essential for plant growth so always provide the best light you have available for your houseplants. Although you can place Mother-In-Law Tongue in low light, you are going to have a plant that becomes thin, leggy and weak over time. One important thing to note when caring for your Mother-In-Law Tongue and other houseplants is that the light your plant receives will be a major factor in the watering...