Taking care of house plants may not seem like a big task and certainly, there are some species of plants which require very little attention. However, if you’ve got a plant in your home that’s not doing too well and looks a bit brownish and could use some extra attention, there are a few things you can do for it to keep it from losing its battle.
If you’ve gone on holiday and forgotten about your plants needing to be watered, only to come home to a wilted and dying plant, there is still hope! I recently had the same experience with a peace lily my mother gave me to brighten my room. She was a great little plant and I called her Sophie, though I thought very little of her and kept her mainly as an ornament. Later that year I went on holiday for two weeks but it was extended to four or five, I can’t remember. Anyhow, when I returned, my beautiful Sophie was brown and wilted and just generally a mess. All the flowers had fallen off and the tips of her leaves were curled. I watered her out of guilt and went to bed that night.
The next morning when I woke up, it was as if a miracle had happened! Sophie still had her brown tips and the flowers were still gone, but the leaves looked much livelier and healthier, and as I continued to water and take care of her, removing some of the brown spots, she sprung back anew. I was so happy to have her looking like her self once again.
The second mishap I had with Sophie was when I moved out of my mum’s and I was unable to take her with me right away. When I finally got around to picking her up, she looked much the same as she had before, so I hoped the watering would do the trick again. I watered her for several days to no avail, but as I was moving things around, I accidentally knocked her over and spilled nearly half of her soil. I felt extremely guilty and decided to re-pot her using fresh soil and a special blend of compost tea. Two weeks later, I was simply amazed by the improvement I’d seen in her! I had five whole leaves instead of the two and a half I had before the incident, and today I have nine, with another healthy four leaved lily sprouted from the same roots.
This experience of mine has taught me that no matter how bad a house plant looks, it’s always important to try different types of recovery before giving up on them completely. If I’d simply given up on Sophie instead of taking care of her like I did, I wouldn’t have the gorgeous lily which I have today.
Aside from watering and replanting, often times its good to help a house plant along with a little plant food. This food is chock full of minerals and vitamins which are good for a plant’s growth. This method of feeding when coupled with proper watering and lighting will surely bring back any house plant which has seen better days. If all of these methods combined seem to have no effect, the plant may have actually outgrown the original pot and the roots could be stifled. If this is the case, you’ll need to re-pot the plant in a larger pot while providing it with food and water and adequate sunlight as it adjusts to its new habitat. Re-potting is just as shocking for plants as surgery is for us, so be sure and give your special plant extra attention as you watch it spring back to life.
