6 Super Easy Ways to Keep Your Plants Alive and Thriving This Winter
Happy Sunday, friends! Also, Happy October aka spooky szn. It FINALLY feels like fall and I am over the moon about it. Seriously not sure why I’ve lived in Missouri my whole life when I really dislike the weather the majority of the year. Gotta love affordable living in the ozarks though, right? (Really I just love being so close to my family but I’ll take what I can get).
Fall is my absolute favorite time of the year. The weather gets cool which means it’s time for sweaters, booties, hats and all the best cold weather things. During fall, the leaves change and everything becomes so colorful and beautiful before dying off for winter (which I admit, happens too quickly). I find this is one of the best times to make little changes and freshen things up around the house. I like to find ways of keeping things bright and cheerful before the gloom of winter takes over (hi cold, seasonal depression, and 9 hours of daylight - I’m talking to you).
One of my favorite ways to keep things warm, bright, and feeling less winter-like is having a house full of plants. If I’m being honest here, midwest winters can be dark and cold. We have so much less light during winter and it’s constantly cold and dreary. If you’re like me and you have a ton of house plants, or even if you’re new to the plant parent life and you’re one of the people that went from 0 plants to omgnowwhatdoidowithalltheplantsiboughtduringquarantine, this is for you!
6 super easy ways to keep your houseplants alive and thriving this winter:
Boost humidity. The goal is to mirror the climate they’ve been in the rest of the year so they don’t get shocked during fall/winter when they come inside and when everything changes. For me, where I live in Missouri it’s pretty humid through spring and summer. So some of the plants I’ve had outside that thrive in the warm humidity in summer and spring, will be totally shocked inside this winter unless I provide them with a humidifier. Bundle your thin leaf plants together and put a humidifier in the room with them to keep them happy.
Less water. Honestly what’s best for them during this time is to do less. Do not water them the normal amount. Personally, I prefer under watering versus overwatering anyway because yellow leaves and root rot are no friends of mine. For my plants, I probably cut back watering by about ⅔ of what I do during spring/summer months. Winter is when most plants go dormant so I just let them maintain and mine are good chilling with way less water. There’s less light so they don’t need as much to keep up.
Give them light but avoid drafty windows. It’s important to keep them exposed to as much light as possible, so ideally near windows so they can soak up that gooood good (yes I’m referring to the sun here). You just want to make sure you don’t have drafty windows where they’ll be bombarded by cold air which will shock them. If you do have drafty windows, get a grow light and set up a station under the grow lights away from those drafty windows!! If you do use grow lights, be sure to match natural seasonal light patterns as this is what the plant knows and expects.
Don’t fertilize. Let them chill for a few months. It’s okay that they aren’t putting out new growth. Winter is when they go dormant, so just let them do their thing. Obviously you want to continue to care for them (following the steps I mentioned before of less water, ensuring they’re getting enough light and humidity). But avoid fertilizing them until early spring otherwise you could potentially shock them by trying to force new growth out before they’re ready while they’re resting during off season.
Wait to re-pot your leafy babes until spring. Due to dormancy as I’ve mentioned, there’s no need to do any re-potting until it’s spring. Replanting can be hard on plants (I mean, adjusting to a new home/environment is hard on all of us living creatures) so you don’t want to shock them when they don’t have the energy to push through it.
Prune regularly. This makes for a healthy plant. I used to panic about leaves dying and having to cut them off until I figured out that’s totally natural. They will shed leaves just as they will grow new leaves. It’s important to make sure any yellow/crispy/brown leaves get trimmed off so the plant doesn’t use too much energy attempting to repair a broken leaf (which won’t happen. It’s important to ensure the plants use their energy to maintain the already healthy growth and then to eventually put out new growth).
Those are some of my foolproof recommendations based from my personal experience with a lot of plants living in Missouri where the climates drastically change throughout the year. In my old apartment, we had a ton of drafty windows so some of that I learned the hard way because I just didn’t have experience with plants yet. Now, I know and I want you to know too so you can keep your leafy friends alive and well. Please let me know if you have any questions!!
Wherever you are reading this, I hope you’re doing well friend. I hope you’re making time for yourself and the things you enjoy. We need to make all the time for our mental health as we can now more than ever. At times this year it has felt like we’re stuck in a time warp and things are just so weird. If you need some love or a friend to talk to, don’t hesitate to say hey.
All my love,
xx Elizabeth