5 Tips for Keeping Your Plants Healthy

A few weeks ago, we gave a list of some of our top recommendations for houseplants, based on their ability to clean the air in your home (if you missed it, you can read it here: 5 Air-Purifying Plants for Your Home). The next step of having house plants is keeping them alive — and not just barely living, but thriving and offering their optimal air-cleaning benefit.

Thankfully, we have five helpful and trending tips from Pinterest to keep your plants alive.

1. PACKING PEANUTS

Your soil needs proper drainage in order to not drown or rot the plant’s roots. Plus, you need to be able to pick up the planter — or at least move it — without throwing out your back.

The solution: fill the bottom half of your planter with packing peanuts. Then place a layer of fabric on top and fill with soil like normal. It will create better drainage while also dramatically reducing the weight.

2. EGGSHELL WATER

Great for both your house plants and your garden. Ditch the heavy bag of plant fertilizer and boost your plants’ calcium and potassium levels with this homemade fertilizer made by combining eggshells and water in an empty container.

3. PROPER PRUNING

Just like you, your plants need haircuts to stay healthy and look their best. In gardening, this is called pruning. This guide teaches you the proper procedure for pruning your plants for the best results.

4. WATER & LIGHT

You could water your plants every day and think you are a great plant parent… then be totally confused when half of your plants are withering and brown two weeks later. Every type of plant needs a certain amount of water and sunlight, and this helpful guide breaks down the needs of common house plants.

5. COFFEE FILTERS

Coffee filters are an indoor garden game changer. Simply lining the pot with a coffee filter keeps the drainage holes in the bottom free from clogging up — and soil from sneaking out after watering. Coffee filters are also seriously absorbent, so you can skip a watering here and there and not end up with a dried-up disaster. So you are left with no messes, just happy, healthy plants.

Do you have any tips for keeping your house plants healthy and thriving? We would love to hear all about them in the comments below!