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The
5 big ‘P’s of Plant Care
Plant Type
The specie you select, that
is the type of plant is not only relevant
to its appearance but it will determine
where you can position it and how you take
care of it.
There are seven basic forms
of plant as listed below
For more information on
the various species click here.
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Position
Critical to the plant is
the available light and any draughts that
may affect it especially where accompanied
by changes in temperature.
Each plant specie will have
its own preferred position in terms of light
and temperature and they can be found under
the plant profiles listed under the design
section.
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Pot Size.
The size of the growing
container will not only determine the size
of the plant and therefore where how it
will be displayed but also the amount of
water you give the plant when you water
it.
This is known as ‘flush’
watering as opposed to ‘top up’
watering, which is to be avoided. The size
of the pot determines how much soil there
is which in turn determines how much water
can be held in reserve for the plant in
the soil. It is know as the WHC (water holding
capacity) and in most good soil mixes such
as ‘Enviromix’ is about 23%
of the soil or medium volume.
Take a 250mm pot plant.
The volume is approx 12
Lt. Some 20% of this is plant roots leaving
about 9.5 Lt of medium which would be expected
to hold 2.2 Lt of water in reserve for the
plant. It is important to know that the
last 10% of this will never be available
to the plant because of surface tension
of the medium particles so it has 2 Lt reserve.
The water available to the
plant with which it can respire and live
is both the reserve and the water in the
plant already.
As the plant is 90% water
and it could be expected to be some 9 Lt
in capacity overall which totals 11 Lts.
This then is how ‘flush’
watering works.
The first time you water
the plant it has full capacity of 11 Lt.
Between then and the next
time you check it it has used 1.5Lt in respiration.
leaving a reserve of half a Lt. It’s
still moist so you DON’T water it.
When next you check it it has used 2 Lt
of water, .5 from the reserve and 1.5 Lt
from its own water within the cells of the
plant. You now give it 2 Lt and it immediately
takes up the 1.5 Lt to replace its cells
and has .5 Lt in reserve. When next you
check it it has taken up only .5 of Lt but
as it now feels dry to the touch you water
it giving it another 2 Lt. When you check
it next it has used only another half a
Lt so again it remains moist and you avoid
watering it.
Say you don’t check
it again for some time and now it has used
3 Lt of water, 1.5 from reserves and the
other 1.5 from its cells. That’s still
fine. You find it dry and again give it
the recommended 2Lt. It again takes up the
1.5 Lt immediately and has half a Lt in
reserve.
Now you have a healthy plant
with ample reserve of water and periodic
dry spells to re-oxygenate itself.
If on the other hand you
were to opt for ‘top up’ watering
which means nothing more than watering every
time you think of it you will either waterlog
the plant by giving it more than it uses
or let it fall into an advanced state of
desiccation if you give it too little.
In either case death will
eventually occur, generally sooner rather
than later.
The appropriate water requirements
of the various size plants is:
400mm - 7 Lt
300mm - 3 Lt
250mm - 2 Lt
200mm - 1 Lt
175mm - .7 Lt
140mm - .5 Lt
The measurement used here
is the diameter of the growing container
and is the industry standard.
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Pruning
There are two types of pruning
you will need to know, cultural and remedial.
- Remedial is exactly what
it says, cleaning out dead or dying plant
parts or those affected by pest or disease.
- Cultural pruning is far
more important in keeping your plant compact
and full.
Here we return to the seven
forms of houseplants.
Radical
In the case of radical, prune off the outer
leaves to promote the inner growth, cutting
as close the the base as possible.
Fountain
Tear the leaf down the midrib and pull it
away from the stem. If you have three plants
or heads you can cut off the tallest about
30mm below the others and it will reshoot.
Branching
Regularly tip prune the branches back to
30mm within the canopy of the tree making
the cut close to an emerging leaf.
Soft Stem
Regularly prune off the lower leaves and
occasionally prune back the tallest stem
to some 30mm below the others to promote
regrowth.
Climbing
Regularly cut back the tips to avoid long
runners that sap the core of the plant.
Palmate
Cut out any weak sucker growth and remove
dead fronds as close to base as possible
Suckering
Proceed as above, cutting back to soil level.
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Pests
& Diseases
Generally particular species
will have a susceptibility to one or other
of pests such as mealy bug, mites or scale.
They will occasionally fall foul of some
fungal or soil borne disease.
The pests are usually able
to be controlled by wiping with soapy water
or spraying with Envirosheen.
In the case of diseases
it is probably best to remove the plant.
In most cases, however,
if the plant is in the right position and
watered correctly it will not succumb to
disease and a regular spray with Envirosheen
will keep the insects well away.
With all the above under
your belt how can you do otherwise than
succeed.
We wish you well and we
wish you good health.
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