Spring has sprung! In line with the astronomical calendar, within the northern hemisphere March twentieth marks the primary day of Spring. The Spring equinox, or vernal equinox because it’s additionally recognized, celebrates the seasonal shift in the direction of lighter days and hotter temperatures. For nature lovers, the Spring equinox inherently brings with it a lot optimism for brand new life and progress. For these of us nurturing crops at residence too, the beginning of Spring can really feel equally as thrilling.
After their winter relaxation or dormancy interval, a few of my houseplants are beginning to stir right here at Home Plant Home. Winter windowsill propagations ready patiently. A brand new leaf right here, some roots rising out of the drainage holes there. With that in thoughts, in the present day’s put up is the primary Repotting Diaries of the yr – Spring equinox version.
Welcoming the Spring equinox
As a manner of welcoming the Spring equinox, I’ve just a few plant-y plans lined up for this weekend. To kick issues off, I’m carving out an hour or two between renovating to have a meander round my houseplants. Nothing fancy or sophisticated, only a walk-round with a cuppa. With any seasonal shift it’s helpful to note if any crops want transferring to a brand new location, which is what I might be contemplating right here. There may be some crops that have to be moved additional again from the window as the times are brighter for longer, and the suns rays might be incrementally rising in depth. Conversely, a few of your crops which were dormant or resting in a cooler/darker place would possibly wish to transfer nearer to the sunshine.
Following that, I’m going to deal with figuring out those that want repotting. I usually like to begin with the smaller crops, which is what you will notice on this put up. There are additionally just a few of my bigger pots that basically want an improve, however I must psych myself up for that! I’ve some fairly large plans for my Monstera gang which requires some logistical planning first…
Outdoors I’ve discovered a pot massive sufficient for a little bit cherry tree I received given on my birthday final month so I’ll be potting it up. It’s nonetheless a constructing website on the market however not less than one pot is considerably moveable! It does really feel unusual not tending to out of doors crops this time of yr. Hopefully they’ll materialise subsequent yr. rubble will not be fairly the identical…!
Hopefully this put up will function a little bit reminder to spend a while along with your crops should you can. I encourage you to take a better have a look at your pots this weekend too if this can be a job you’ve been neglecting. Take your time and revel in it! Lastly, I’m going to go outdoors and have a stroll. There’s a explicit place close by I’ve a hankering to discover this Sunday as I do know the crocuses are in full bloom now!
Repotting Diaries…
First up, keep in mind that you don’t must routinely re-pot your crops in the event that they don’t want it. I’ve received a particular put up about Spring plant care right here. For in the present day’s put up, these are crops which have actually wanted some consideration in current months. I like to attend till I see indicators of energetic progress earlier than commencing my repotting periods. Simply because it’s the Spring equinox, it doesn’t imply every thing simply springs to life! There are just a few crops like my Ficus that are nonetheless resting, so it’ll most likely be April till I deal with these pots.
It actually does really feel nice to be getting my arms soiled with some repotting once more… (I’ll hyperlink my potting combine I prefer to make up right here for reference) So let’s get into it!
Tradescantia fluminensis tricolour propagations
It’s that point of yr once more – tidying up the Tradescantia fluminensis tricolour all the time makes me really feel like Spring is right here! After winter, these crops can notoriously look a little bit bedraggled. For ease, I needed to amalgamate a few bunches of cuttings I’ve been water and soil propagating over the previous couple of months into one pot.
While these crops generally tend to look fairly tousled after they first get repotted, they do loosen up a bit after just a few weeks. I choose to not disturb the roots an excessive amount of in the course of the planting up course of so depart them do their very own factor as they modify to their new pot. When it comes to pots, I prefer to preserve them pretty small in dimension and do quite a lot of re-pots all through the rising season. I plant quite a lot of stems collectively in a single pot like I’ve on this occasion. This appears to maintain the plant wanting good and full!
In case you are new right here, I’ve written a devoted put up on this course of which you’ll be able to learn right here: The best way to make a brand new Tradescantia plant from cuttings. You may additionally wish to try How I cease my Tradescantia fluminensis tricolour from wanting like a crispy mess!
Chlorophytum comosum / Spider plant rescue
This poor spider plant was within the nook of an area with the constructing supplies for too lengthy and appeared positively gray. When chlorophytum are excessively dry, their foliage can de-saturate which might be fairly alarming to see! However after some water remedy, every week later, this little plant perked up once more and was now able to plant. With this one, I selected to take away it from it’s previous planter because the potting combine was very dry and compacted. It hadn’t been repotted in ages both. So I rinsed off the roots and popped the plant in a jam jar of water for just a few days. Then I potted it up!
As you possibly can see, there’s a runner with two tiny plantlets connected so I used to be further cautious to not knock these. Spider crops will usually produce runners because of a interval of stress. The plant can expertise stress by being root certain, or being starved of water, gentle or vitamins. By withholding these parts, the plant will produce offshoots as a survival mechanism. There’s an in depth blogpost on Success with spider crops right here.
Marble queen pothos / Epipremnum aureum propagations
I shared the photograph beneath of my beloved plant shelf from my previous residence on Instagram the opposite day. And it received me enthusiastic about how a lot I’m wanting ahead to designing my new area with crops. After just a few years of dwelling in limbo and attempting to maintain the crops alive, I’m so able to settle right into a (hopefully!) extra everlasting area. Anyway, this beast of a Marble Queen Pothos took centre stage on my Ikea Hyllis shelf! It survived within the cottage and was getting so massive I took some cuttings once we moved to propagate.
These crops began life as particular person leaves and as soon as these had rooted, I planted them up into just a few pots. Quick ahead just a few months, they’ve now grown just a few new leaves of their very own. I’m actually favouring planting smaller pots of cuttings up into one bigger pot in the intervening time so I believe it’s time to pot them up collectively now…
It nonetheless seems a little bit wonky however I didn’t wish to disturb issues an excessive amount of as there are new leaves on the way in which:
I all the time prefer to have just a few pots of marble queen round – it’s one in all my favorite trailing houseplants and it’ll hopefully get rising as we get into Spring. The variegation of this one is admittedly fairly too. True, it’d take some time to path however for now it’s a cute desk prime plant!
Planting up my Echinocacus grusonii / Golden barrel cacti from seed
It’s taken a lengthy time to get to this stage! You might need seen on this put up that I thrifted this beautiful bonsai planter on my birthday again in February. I knew straightaway that 1) it might look actually good on the south going through kitchen windowsill and a pair of) it might be the right improve to plant the cacti. They’ve lived in my previous lunchbox for over 2 years as a result of it’s a very good makeshift propagator! However it’s not fairly and these cacti have outgrown their area and had been prepared for potting up. I grew these from seed on this container so it seems like fairly a second to do that!
It’s exhausting to point out within the photographs, however the primary space these cacti had been fighting was their roots simply didn’t have sufficient depth to anchor down within the tray. Compared, the bonsai pot is greater than double the depth of the tray. So while there isn’t a lot of a change when it comes to area across the particular person crops, all of them have loads of area for his or her roots to settle into their new pot. In time, I’ll most likely take two of those crops to make up some particular person pots. However for now, these might be high-quality right here. Their progress is so gradual I most likely gained’t must do something till subsequent yr!
I made a video of the method too for my Pinterest:
A few Pilea peperomioides
It wouldn’t be a Repotting Diaries with out a Pilea plantlet or two now would it not! These two had been in with the primary mom plant and I simply felt prefer it was time to provide them a planter of their very own. I left three of the opposite plantlets in with the primary plant for good measure, and I’m going to provide these two an area in some good little planters.
I don’t know if it’s simply me, however as my plant assortment matures, I’m discovering I’ve fewer crops to go in a number of the extra diminutive planters. So I’m going to make extra of an effort this yr to dig out (no pun supposed) a few of my favorite little pots and plant some little propagation experiments in them. Crops this dimension make for glorious shelf crops too… simply guarantee you might be giving them sufficient gentle and don’t neglect to water them!
Strelitzia/ Fowl of Paradise repotting
Right here’s my BoP from my Strelitzia care information I revealed the opposite week. It was wanting a little bit one thing just like the leaning tower of Pisa over winter and I wanted to do one thing about it! The roots had grown so large across the backside of pot, they had been encircling it and pushing the plant up and inflicting it to tilt. It was a messy job, however my plant already seems so much happier standing up tall. Let’s see how lengthy earlier than a brand new leaf begins to seem.
Snake plant/ dracaena/sansevieria trifasciata laurentii propagations
In the event you’re an everyday reader of Home Plant Home, you would possibly recall some snake plant propagation experiments I used to be finishing up final yr. These are just a few dracaena/sansevieria trifasciata laurentii leaves I needed to plant up collectively. You’ll be able to discover how the latest leaf to develop will not be variegated as a result of it was propagated by a leaf slicing and never division. The variegated leaves are the ‘authentic’ leaves that I propagated. Subsequently, the brand new plant might be a mixture of strong inexperienced (new) leaves and the yellow-edged variegated leaves. In time although, the older variegated leaves can typically die off, like you possibly can see within the small plant beneath left:
Take a look at my Snake Plant Propagation Strategies or Snake Plant Care Information should you’d prefer to see extra on this. I’ll additionally share a video I made on the time:
Conclusion
Thanks for studying and Comfortable Spring Equinox should you have a good time it. I hope which you can spend a while in nature or along with your crops this weekend. I’ll pop a hyperlink to my Repotting Diaries sequence right here if you wish to get within the temper for some plant care and hopefully in the present day’s put up has provided some repotting inspiration to welcome within the rising season too. There are additionally a number of posts on this over on my Instagram and Pinterest if you wish to see extra.
There are additionally another associated posts you would possibly get pleasure from, just a few of which I’ll hyperlink right here for additional studying:
Right here you’ll discover some pins to avoid wasting or share with somebody who would possibly get pleasure from this Repotting Diaries: Spring equinox version: