Are your houseplants not looking their best? If your indoor beauties are showing signs of yellowing leaves, less new growth, smaller new growth (when it comes) and are failing to bloom when they’re supposed to, they might just need a little boost of fertilizer.
Keep your houseplants properly well-fed during the growing season, and you’ll be rewarded with healthy growth and gorgeous living décor!
Photo Credit: ©2002 Dolezal Publishing/John M. Rickard
Always completely read and follow fertilizer package instructions exactly when mixing plant food for your houseplants. Not only is this a safety issue for you, too much nitrogen can burn foliage, and too weak a mixture can cause your plants to lose vigor.
Photo Credit: ©2002 Dolezal Publishing/John M. Rickard
Although plants make their own food from sunlight, air and soil nutrients, they still require dissolved minerals to start this complex chemical process. You can help your houseplants by supplying them with the extra plant food they need.
Plants need at least three macronutrients to survive: nitrogen (N), which helps create new growth and leads to the production of chlorophyll; phosphorus (P), which enables a plant to have healthy roots and buds and allows a plant’s fruit and seeds to ripen; and potassium (K), which plays an important role in photosynthesis and water management, as well as strengthens plants against pests and disease. The N-P-K ratio by weight is shown numerically on fertilizer packages (5-10-10, for instance). The best houseplant food also contains important micro- and trace nutrients, which are essential to complete plant health.
Houseplants generally need the most fertilizing in spring and summer, when they’re likely to be growing rapidly. That said, the needs of houseplants vary widely – some may require monthly, quarterly or annual feedings, while others should receive a dilute solution of liquid fertilizer with every watering. Whatever the recommended timing for your particular houseplant, it’s always important to avoid overfertilizing. Too much fertilizer can lead to leaf-tip burn and fallen brown leaves (also warning signs of too-low humidity).
So obviously, feeding correctly is important to houseplant health. Start by buying a fertilizer that’s designed for houseplants – especially your specific species. Fertilizers come in many forms: liquids, spikes, powders, tablets, granules and foliar sprays. Liquid fertilizers are easy to apply and spread more evenly. For extra-quick results, try foliar feeding – spraying fertilizer directly onto leaves (making sure that the fertilizer is specifically formulated for such use). A wide variety of synthetic fertilizers also exists on the market, or you can try organic plant food, like worm castings, bat and bird guano, fish emulsion or sea kelp.
Many factors affect the uptake of nutrients into plants, including the pH of the soil and water – the degree of its acidity or alkalinity. Many houseplants do best in acidic conditions. If the soil becomes very alkaline, your plant may develop a mineral deficiency condition such as chlorosis – an inability to take up iron – causing new leaves to be stunted and yellow. If you see such symptoms after fertilizing, test the soil pH with a test kit or meter and adjust your care as the instrument or kit instructions recommend.
Because houseplants are planted in containers with little soil, fertilizing is a necessary part of their care. It’s best to feed your plants on a regular schedule, tailoring specific fertilizer to the specific plant. (Some houseplant species require acidic fertilizers, for example, while most do not.) The two most popular methods of fertilizing houseplants are applying granular fertilizer or foliar fertilizer (which is absorbed directly into the plant through its leaves and stems). Choose either method shown in the following pictures and as described in their captions.
