Spring Gardening Chores for Your Houseplants

Spring is officially here. Time to wake up your houseplants from their winter naps. Spring is an active time for your indoor garden. As the weather warms, plants will put on new growth. If you have flowering houseplants, they’re likely to bud up.

All this new growth means more watering, fertilizing and general maintenance. Here is an overview of what to do with your houseplants this spring to ensure healthy, abundant growth. (Winter gardening tips are available here, and fall tips here.)

Check for pests and treat, if necessary

Houseplant pests may lie in wait during the winter months waiting for spring’s warmth. Prevent an invasion by checking for pests and treating if you find some.

Look in the crevices of plants, at the soil level and underneath leaves for troublemakers such as mealybugs, spider mites, scale and thrips. Treat as needed. Mealybugs and thrips respond to spraying with isopropyl alcohol and insecticidal soap, while scale and spider mites can be treated with neem oil or horticultural oil.

Bathe your houseplants

A long winter indoors may mean that your houseplants have built up some dust. A good shower or sponge bath will clean the leaves so the plants can transpire and better clean the air for you.

Bathing can also remove any pests. Take your houseplant to the sink or bathtub and gently rinse the leaves. Ensure that the water runs off the leaves down the drain, rather than into the soil.

You can also bathe the houseplant in place, which works best for large indoor plants. To give a houseplant a sponge bath, fill a bucket with warm water and add a tablespoon of insecticidal soap. Using a soft sponge or rag, wipe the top and bottom of each leaf well with the solution.

Groom, prune and stake

Dead or dying foliage is a magnet for pests, so remove all such growth. Also prune plants back to shape or make them smaller. Whenever you cut back, only trim off a maximum of 25 percent of the plant at once. Over-pruning can lead to shock and death.

At this time, also stake houseplants that require some support, as new growth will only make them more unwieldy.

Repot or top-dress

Spring is the ideal time to repot houseplants that need it. You can determine if a plant requires repotting by checking to see if there are roots coming out of the bottom of the pot. Another indication is if water runs quickly through the pot when you water. It’s also a good idea to water if the plant has outgrown its pot.

If you don’t wish to repot a plant, top-dress it. This refers to putting a 2- to 4-inch layer of fresh soil on the surface of the plant. Remove the top inch or so of soil and replace with new soil. This will invigorate the plant.

Fertilize

Give your houseplants a feeding. Apply an organic fertilizer designed for houseplants or leafy plants. From now until late fall, fertilize your houseplants every four to six weeks.

Ensure adequate lighting

The sun’s rays change their trajectory during the spring and summer months. An area of your home that got bright light a month ago, may be dimmer now. Check that all plants are receiving enough light. Move plants when necessary, or use supplemental full-spectrum lighting.

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 12 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.