During the early parts of the fall months, our plants are getting ready to transition into a state of dormancy. Right now, your plants may be putting out their final push to fruit, flower, or grow. However, soon our plants will be in a state of dormancy - which means less growing. There are a few plant essentials that you can have in your tool kit to set both your plant and yourself up for success.
As we make our slow transition into the fall and winter, now is the time to evaluate where your plants are at. You’ll want to evaluate if your plants need fertilizing, an increased pot size, some pruning, and if your plants are in the line of fire of any drastic temperature swings.
Here are the tools that will help you and their significance:
- Fertilizer - fertilizing regularly through fall and winter will help your plants get through their dormancy uncompromised. It will also help them wake up ready to fruit and flower once spring finally rolls around.
- Pots - Chances are your plants have done a good deal of growing this summer. Now is the time to make sure they aren’t root bound. This is beneficial because the wrong size pot increases the likelihood of root stress and root stress in dormancy can leave plants vulnerable to things like cold shock. Also, plants that are bound up right now and stay that way through winter likely won’t reach their full growing and flowering potential come spring.
- Grow lights - Generally, it’s a good idea to have grow lights! It’s even better to have them in winter time when natural light is scarce. It will help encourage a little growth during the winter and most tropics tend to get fussy if there isn’t enough natural light even in dormancy.
- Shears - Now is a great time to prune back any unwanted growth for the overall shape of your plant. It’s also a great idea to have a pair of sturdy plant shears for when you need to trim any dead or yellowing foliage you may see in the winter time.
- Neem oil - We all know neem is a great organic pesticide and sometimes we still see pests even in the fall and winter. Now is the time to spray your plants with neem if you haven’t done your quarterly treatment.
- Leaf polish - Leaf polish is a great addition to your toolkit this time of year since our windows will be closed more often, which means more dust will collect on your plants’ leaves. Leaf polish keeps them shining!
- Heat mat - The purpose of a heat mat for our plants in the fall and winter is to keep the soil temperature consistent. That way, if we have plants on a windowsill or accidentally in the way of a chilly breeze, the cold temperatures will not reach the roots. Even if the foliage is damaged the roots likely won’t be and the plant can recover better and faster from cold shock.
