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Fertilizing During Winter and the Perks of Being a Click & Grow Plant
Houseplants, like us, need proper nutrition to live their best lives. Unfortunately, too many of us tend to overlook the importance of fertilizing them. We have to keep in mind that, in nature, plants are more self-sufficient in this regard. They can find their way to nutrients by sending roots deeper. Indoor plants, however, are limited with the soil and nutrients we provide them in their small pot-homes. With houseplants, we really have to think of fertilizers as the second half of potting soil.
Things get trickier during winter
Plants are busy with growing during spring and summer. They are hungrier and require additional plant food every 2 to 12 weeks, depending on the specifics of each plant. During winter, however, houseplants are barely growing and don’t need extra feeding. There are some exceptions.
Photo: Mygardenlife
If the houseplant lives in a tropical climate, it’ll be happy to stay on its normal summertime feeding schedule. If it lives in a slightly colder climate (but still somewhere without winter frost), it’s best to maintain a fertilizer schedule that’s half the strength and half the frequency of what it had during its active growing season. Similar exceptions apply to plants that are kept under special grow-lights during winter.
When houseplants are overfed during the dormant period, they might experience fertilizer burn. The plant doesn’t need that many nutrients as it is not actively growing. If they’re still added, the concentration of fertilizer salts in the soil increases and starts interfering with normal function of the roots. The first indicator of over fertilizing is browning leaf tips or whole leaves turning yellow.
A good way to know when your houseplants require extra fertilizer in the spring is by looking for signs of new growth. Another handy way is to wait for the greenness of the existing parts to perk up again.
With Click & Grow, you don’t have to worry
Over the years, we’ve gone deep into plant research at Click & Grow to take the guesswork out of growing. Simply put, we’ve applied all of this hard work into designing our Smart Soil plant pods and smart indoor gardens so you won’t have to worry about fertilizing, lighting, or different seasons when growing with Click & Grow.
The Smart Soil plant pods that are used with our indoor gardens have a unique composition for each and every plant we provide. The nutrients inside the plant pods are designed to be released in sync with the specific needs of each plant during their stages of growth.
You also don’t have to worry about slower growth during wintertime as the LED lamps of the gardens provide the right amount of light, even during periods when other houseplants stay dormant. You can rest assured - when growing with Click & Grow, your plants always have the best environment to thrive all year round.
This also means that plants grown with Click & Grow indoor gardens using our Smart Soil plant pods don’t need additional fertilizing or monitoring of pH levels. After each plant’s ‘lasts up to’ date has passed, the nutrients in the plant pod run out. We don’t suggest keeping them alive longer with added nutrients as their properties will start changing.
Some plants, like leafy greens, have shorter lifetimes of around 2 months. After that, they start developing a bitter taste and rigid structure. Some herbs, like rosemary, grow for a longer period of up to 21 weeks. Make sure to follow the “last up to” information on the plant pod packs or from our website under each plant.
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