We have had a lot of warm weather here in WI the last few days. Our beautiful snow has almost all melted and we are left with ugly brown grass. It's not unusual here in Wisconsin to have a January thaw, but it is such a teaser for spring weather. We logically know we have at least 2 more months of winter, but we get so excited for warm temperatures. It confuses they plants as well, for they begin to bud and then are shocked when winter returns. Like today, temperatures have been in the 40's for the last few days, but tonight the wind chill is minus 30 degrees, and tomorrow's high is 2 above zero. Sigh. Spring will come. Eventually.
For now, I am looking for all signs of green things. I turn to my house plants for comfort and hope of the spring season. But then, I realize it's been far too long since I did anything with them and they aren't as good looking as they should be. This is one of two Pothos plants that I have sitting on the top of my rather unsightly book shelves. The Pothos is an easy plant for the non-gardener. I tend to ignore it most of the time, but it has grown despite my lack of care. Time to clean it up and give it a hair cut!
I don't have a lot of house plants, but we do have this great curly bamboo in the corner. It needs a little help too. Some of the leaves have brown tips that need to be trimmed away. Sorry, for this terrible photo!
The other thing we have is my sons' terrarium. It was his botany project a couple of years ago, and is still going strong, but it is lacking blossoms and has old growth that should be trimmed back.
I started with the Pothos plant. The leaves are all dusty from the furnace being on, and although it is very green, it is over grown. Upon further inspection, I noticed some of the vines have leaves only at the very end. Time to trim!
My plant didn't have many yellow leaves or brown leaves, but I did remove a couple of them. Then I cut the vines off just below the joint to the leaf. This will strengthen the roots and encourage new growth at the base of the plant instead of at the ends of the vine.
Pothos are easy plants to root, and if I wanted more plants I could put the cut ends of the vine in water and they would sprout. For now, I don't need them. I also love these cork discs under all my plants. You can find them at Ikea or Home Depot. They are wonderful for saving the wood from moisture rings that normally develop under damp pots on table tops.
I noticed that there is some crusty brown stuff at the base of the pot, this is mineral build up from constant watering. It should be scrubbed off with a bit of bleach and a stiff brush. If you haven't changed the soil in your house plants in over a year, now would be a good time to do that. Constant watering leaches the soil of nutrients. Even if you fertilize regularly, you should re-pot them once a year. I re-potted mine last summer, so it wasn't necessary.
The final treatment is a trip to the shower. I put them in the tub and hose them down, washing the leaves and filling the pot to over flowing several times. This leaches out any salts or mineral build up in the soil. After draining, I added a bit more potting soil to the top of the pot. It should be filled within 1" of the brim.
Cleaning plants is one thing I always forget to do, but now they will look great and thrive through the spring! I gave the same treatment to my bamboo plant and the terrarium. They are looking good!
More green things to come!
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