As winter settles, reduced daylight hours can pose a hurdle for growing larger and healthier houseplants.
Even plants located in optimal locations can struggle with reduced daylight hours, warranting extra care from their owners.
By adopting the right winter care habits, plant owners can help their indoor greenery thrive despite seasonal challenges, said a gardening enthusiast named Claire.
According to the YouTuber, who divulges advice on the Jungle Haven channel, proper winter care consists primarily of creating the right lighting conditions.
Claire stresses the importance of keeping plant leaves clean
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A second, and often overlooked aspect of winter plant care is keeping foliage free from dust particles and dirt, she explained.
“I’ve got a lot of very big plants, most of which I grew from very small plants,” the content creator explained.
“For example my monstera deliciosa here, I grew it from a one-leaf cutting and I managed to get her to size up and mature pretty quickly.
“Although all plants have their individual and specific care needs, there are some things I do that I’m certain helped to get mine to size up quicker.
“I brought it up to the conservatory and that’s when I started noticing the most insane amount of growth with this plant.”
Claire explained that although keeping foliage clean may seem essential for plant health, it is also the key to imperative for rapid growth.
“Going into the dark winter months becomes even more important because having a layer of dust of dirt on your plant’s leaves acts like a curtain hanging over them,” the gardener noted.
“It means that they’re not able to get all the light they need to effectively photosynthesise. They’re not going to be giving you as much lovely growth.
“It also means they’re going to become a lot more susceptible to pests as well, which is not something you want to be dealing with when you’re trying to achieve big growth in your plants.”
To help maximise light absorption during winter, keeping windows clean is just as important as maintaining dust-free plants.
That’s because dust particles on windows significantly reduce the amount of natural light reaching indoor plants.
“During the winter months, the hours of light are much shorter, so even if your plants are in a really good position, if they’re only getting six or seven hours a day it may not be enough for them to continue pushing out growth,” noted Claire.
Regular window cleaning will ensure the limited available light effectively reaches plants for photosynthesis.
