Fall Gardening Chores for Your Houseplants

I often get questions about when to complete certain garden chores for houseplants. While the indoors doesn’t have much in the way of “weather,” there are changes throughout the year that affect your houseplants. That means there are better times than others to do things like repot or fertilize.

For instance, the lighting in your home will change over the course of the year. That, in turn, will affect the growth of your houseplants. Now in fall, the days are shortening. Shorter days mean slower houseplant growth.

Temperatures also fluctuate throughout the year. Heating warms the air and also dries it out. The drier the air, the lower the humidity, which can profoundly affect some houseplants.

To clear things up a bit, here is an overview of what to do this fall. (Winter gardening tips are available here.)

Check for pests and treat, if necessary

When the heater goes on, houseplant pests that have been lurking in small numbers sometimes decide to launch a full-blown attack.

Check for mealybugs in the cracks and crevices of the plants, such as in leaves that have yet to unfurl. Look along plant stems and on the underside of leaves for scale, thrips, spidermites and mealybugs. Treat as needed.

Give plants a shower

Fall is a good time to rinse off plants, which may be harboring pests. It’s also a good idea to clean the foliage well so that the plants can easily clean your indoor air, which tends to be more polluted during the fall and winter months. You’re less likely to have fresh air flowing through your house when it’s cold outside. This is also a good practice if a houseplant “vacationed” outdoors for the summer.

Groom

Remove any dead or dying foliage, as this is a magnet for pests and diseases. Avoid cutting back healthy growth at this time. Pruning back to shape or make a plant smaller is not suggested at this time. Wait until spring.

Humidify, if needed

If you’re growing a houseplant that likes humidity, like maidenhair fern, the plant will probably protest at the dry, heated air. Humidify the houseplant by misting, putting on a humidity tray and grouping with other plants.

Water wisely

Now that the days have shortened and the nights are cold in most areas of the country, take care with watering. While you don’t want your plants to dry out completely, you also don’t want them to stay wet, as this will quickly result in root rot. Since their growth will have slowed down, it’s likely that they won’t need watering as often.

Check for watering readiness by using a moisture meter, your finger or a wooden skewer.

Take advantage of fall rainstorms by collecting rainwater and using it to water your houseplants.

Repot

You can still repot houseplants at this time. Do so up until the end of November. Make certain that you repot in the right size pot.

After repotting, it’s important not to overwater the plant as it acclimates to its new soil. Water well after repotting and then wait until the top inch to two inches of soil has dried before watering again.

Fertilize

Give your houseplants one last shot of organic fertilizer no later than mid-November. This will allow your indoor garden to put on some new growth prior to cold weather and the slower growth that such weather brings. Fertilizing also gives plant root systems nutrients for growth over winter.

Julie Bawden-Davis is a garden writer and master gardener, who since 1985 has written for publications such as Organic Gardening, The American Gardener, Wildflower, Better Homes and Gardens and The Los Angeles Times. She is the author of 10 books, including Reader’s Digest Flower Gardening, Fairy Gardening, The Strawberry Story Series, and Indoor Gardening the Organic Way, and is the founder of HealthyHouseplants.com. Her backyard is a Certified Wildlife Habitat by the National Wildlife Federation