Episode 189: moving houseplants outside for a summer holiday
Transcript
Episode 189
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Jane: Hello and welcome to On The Ledge podcast, I am your host, Jane Perrone, high priestess of houseplants. Okay, that's rubbish! I'm not the high priestess of houseplants but it sounds good, right? Well, welcome to the show! This is not the episode I was expecting to bring you, but sometimes life takes a strange turn. I am currently self-isolating with my family after a confirmed Covid case. Don't worry, I'm fine. I'm double-jabbed, so hopefully all will be well, but this episode is not going to be what I was planning to put out because with two children now off school, I have had a bit of a telescoped working week. So, what are we going to be talking about this week? I am going to bring you my thoughts, a monologue, dare I say, about taking your plants outside for a holiday because it's holiday season and despite the fact that for many of us that might be a staycation, how do you give your houseplants a great staycation? That's the topic of this week's show and I'll also be answering a question about moss poles, some of which are not made of moss, and we'll hear the first Meet the Listener with my new set of questions!
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Jane:Many thanks to Harmonite, from the US, for leaving a very kind review for On The Ledge on Apple Podcasts and if you haven't ever left a review for this here podcast, please do consider doing it. You can express yourself any way you like and I love to read the inventive ways that you talk about the show in your reviews. I do read them all and I'm very glad of all of them, so please, if you can, do a review! I know Apple Podcast can make life hard when you're trying to do a review. Nonetheless, if you can beat Apple Podcast's system, then you can give yourself a big pat on the back and I too will be very grateful.
I have been doing lots of houseplant Zoom consultations. This is one of the rewards for my Legends of the Leaf book and it's been really, really exciting to see inside some of your homes. I've had tours, I've had Powerpoint presentations, I've answered lots of questions and it's been enormous fun already. So if you have one of those consultations lined up, you are in for a treat. It's been great, great, great fun!
One thing that I wanted to mention, was a tip from the lovely Ray, who you will have heard in Meet the Listener. He is an American living in South Korea and he gave me an awesome tip which I wanted to share with you and that was about wick watering. If you've ever wondered about where you can get wick from and what the wick can be, Ray has a great answer. Just to roll back a moment, wick watering, this is where you have your plain, old houseplant pot and you take a piece of cord, about 10 cm long, and you push it through the holes in the bottom of the pot so it's touching the compost - you can have several wicks if you like going through different holes - and then that runs down to a reservoir below of water. Now that could be in an outer cachepot, it could be in a deli cup, a lidded container, a hummus pot with a hole in it, whatever you choose to use, but what do you make that wick out of? I've always suggested using the handles of gift bags which have that nylon cord, which is ideal. You can also buy it in haberdashery shops. You basically want a cord that isn't made of natural materials because man-made materials will not degrade over time and you won't get any problems with fungus growing on them and things like that.
Now Ray's suggestion was masterful. If you have been getting through quite a few masks of late, those PPE items we've all been wearing a lot of, Ray has come up with a solution that I love. He cuts the ear loops off his masks once used and uses those as wicks. They're the right length, they're made of man-made materials and they work really well, so thank you to Ray for suggesting that! It does a few different things; it means that wildlife aren't going to get caught up in those masks, also, it's a little bit of reuse, which is excellent given how much single-use plastic we've been getting through in this pandemic, so thanks very much for that suggestion Ray!
Don't forget there is still time to pledge your support for my book, Legends of the Leaf. You can pre-order your copy now: visit janeperrone.com and you can click through and there's plenty of time to pre-order. I am writing as we speak and it's a fascinating process! I can't wait to bring you the book, so please do support me if you can.
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Jane: When it comes to putting your plants out into the outside world, there are many advantages but also many pitfalls. Here are my top tips, the first of which is check the old weather forecast, so even if you've got really warm temperatures and sunny skies during the day, depending on your climate, night-time temperatures can drop alarmingly low and that's what you're really looking out for. What is the minimum temperature that's going to be reached because night time temperatures will affect the plant just as much as daytime. So, here in the UK, I wouldn't be putting my houseplants out full-time until the night time temperatures around 13C/14C/15C, which would be 54F-61F. That means that your plant won't get stressed by cold temperatures. Obviously, some houseplants can cope with lower temperatures, but anything that comes from a subtropical/tropical climate will probably start suffering if you go much below about 55F which is about 12C or 13C. Ideally you want it a little bit higher.
You can, of course, put houseplants out for a little break during the day and lots of people do do this. In fact, it's a great way of hardening off your houseplants, ready to give them that summer holiday. What does hardening off mean? Well, it just means... Hello Wolfie! Wolfie maybe feeling a bit sad because he's not going to be getting many walks in the next 10 days because we can't walk the dog - that's part of the isolation. So he may be feeling a little bit gloomy right now. I'm not sure if he's realised yet. Anyway, sorry! That was a little Wolfie collar jink there, for you!
So, yes, hardening off your plants: this is basically getting them adapted. So, if you imagine you have been out of the sun for six months, you don't just go suddenly and sit outside on a blazing hot patio for twelve hours because you know you would get heat stroke and sunburn. So it's the same with plants. You need to gradually acclimatise them to being outside, giving them more and more time out there and starting them off somewhere quite shady to get them ready for the outside world. If you don't do this, what happens is you get burned leaves. What do burned leaves look like? Well, it can be a number of things. They can go black. I've seen a few black Monsteras recently, where people have put them outside and they have just burned like billy-o. You can get strawy-coloured leaves: this particularly with orchids and things, if they go straw-coloured, often that's an indication that they've been sunburned. Cacti and succulents just tend to go straw-coloured, or brown. Every year when I put my cacti and succulents out into my greenhouse, having been inside, in relatively low light conditions, I will get one that burns. This year it's my Plover Eggs - what a great name for a succulent! Latin name, Adromischus cooperi and, unfortunately, that one has got burned. It'll be okay, but half the plant is just brown because it managed to slip under the net curtain that I'd used to cover the plants up while they were adapting to the sunnier conditions. Every year it happens with one plant or another, but you want to try to avoid that.
So that's what I do. I slip a net curtain over them and that allows them to gradually get used to the sun and then that's taken off for longer and longer periods until they are ready to cope with full sun. You can move them if you want to, if that's preferable, so you can start them in shade and gradually move them into sun. If you've got horticultural fleece, you could also use that. An old net curtain is just as good, which you can pick up at a junk store or thrift store: as you know, I like to keep things simple and sustainable.
Second tip - I only put outside the bigger houseplants, in bigger, heavier pots because, unless you live in the most sheltered garden, you will find that the smaller pots... Hang on, I'm just going to take Wolfie's collar off. Just hold on a sec, Wolfie. We've got to take that collar off, darling. Come here, come here, darling. Good boy - lift your head up a sec, good boy. Well done! There we go. Then you won't be jingling all the way! Sorry about that, put headphones on! What was I saying?
Oh yes, so small pots, there's two problems - a small gust of wind and they're blown off the stand that they're on ,or they're knocked over, you've got a mess, it's annoying. Also, small pots, the surface area to volume ratio, which I'm sure you're familiar with from your science lessons, means that really small pots evaporate a heck of a lot of moisture quickly, so they dry out really quickly outside, particularly when there's breezes and things, which will be helping to evaporate water, so they're a bit of a pain to have outside, I find. So I only tend to put bigger specimens outside, that aren't going to be affected by those two factors. So that's narrowed it down somewhat.
So what plants do I put outside? Well, right now, I've got my Thai Constellation, one of my Thai Constellations, sitting outside. It's in a big, heavy pot, it's a big plant, it's loving a little bit of light rain on the leaves and it's doing very nicely. Any of those big architectural plants will be absolutely fine. Cacti and succulents will be absolutely fine if they're bigger specimens, so, for example, my Euphorbia trigona rubra, the lovely red form of that succulent Euphorbia - oftentimes called a cactus but it isn't - that's doing really well outside. When you take them outside, just make sure that you're not leaving them in a cache pot, or on a saucer, because what tends to happen then, like often happens in the UK, you get rain, you end up with water collecting in the bottom of the pot and unless you're very, very speedy and alert to that, you'll find that your plant will be sitting in water, which it will not like.
So you've got your plant outside and you've gradually adapted it to the conditions, what else can go wrong? Well, you need to be on the alert for pests. Now, it's not a pest in the slightest, but you will find that earthworms will make their way into your houseplant compost. Are you bothered by this? Well, I love earthworms, I'm a huge fan, I think they're fantastic creatures, but this morning I was doing the washing up and looking at my houseplants, my Oxalis, which sits on the window ledge just in front of the sink, and, as I watched, an earthworm poked its head - was it its head? Do earthworms have heads? - well, poked one end over the top of the pot and started to bungee down, which was a little bit alarming, so it was very swiftly removed outside, but if you are at all squeamish about earthworms, you will probably find them in your pots. They're not going to do any harm, they're going to just subsist in the pot, you might find that they end up pushing quite a lot of soil out the bottom of the pot which can get messy. That may be something that you wish to avoid in terms of putting plants outside. Earthworms will find their way into pots. It's magical! They just do it! That's one reason I guess to put a saucer underneath them, but I suspect that, even with a saucer, worms will find their way in, so do bear that in mind. They're really the least of your worries though. You can have problems with slugs and snails that can wander up to your houseplants and start munching. Flying insects can also set up home, aphids being a great example. Although, to be honest, you know aphids can fly inside your home and get on your plants anyway. I don't know about you, but I've had a lot of aphids this spring, so whether it's a particularly bad year for aphids, I don't know. I do bring in a lot of cut flowers from my garden, so that's an obvious source for those. So do keep a close eye on your houseplants when they're outside, just as you would when they're inside. It's easy to forget things and long-term listeners might remember my story of my Staghorn Fern, which I managed to kill by forgetting about it and leaving it out in the frost. Tears were shed.
That said, putting plants outside can actually help with pest infestations because the leaves will generally be getting rained on, which can help clear off pests. Also, humidity is often higher outside, which can help with pests like spider mite, in particular, which tend to thrive in hot dry environments that we find in greenhouses and in homes. I found that scale infestations seemed to be easier to clear when the plants were outside. I presume that's for the same reason as the red spider mites. It's just much easier, when plants are outside, to give them a really good soaking with the hose which will spray off a lot of pests and allow you to wipe the leaves. It's much, much easier to do that or you just wait until it rains and then you can just wipe things down afterwards.
One other pest that you might find taking up residence, which you don't normally find inside, is the vine weevil. This is actually a really horrible pest for plants. They have particular plants they like outside, things like Heucheras are often very good meals for the larvae of the vine weevil, which is a little, beetle-like insect, about a centimetre long. It's kind of brown and it's got a kind of a weevil like face. I'll put a link in the show notes so you can see what it looks like. It's the larvae - they're c-shaped and cream and, again, about a centimetre long - that cause the damage on plants and they just eat plants' roots. So it's quite possible that an adult vine weevil will lay its eggs and you'll end up with a vine weevil infestation if you leave plants outside for a long time.
How can you deal with vine weevils? Well, an old-school solution is just de-potting the plant and shaking out the compost and just finding those c-shaped grubs and removing them, leave them out for the birds or squish them as you choose - just make sure you get them all. If you want to use a biological control, there is a microscopic nematode worm you can use to treat vine weevil that's very effective, provided you follow the instructions on the label, as I always say with biological controls. So, when your houseplants are outside, you cannot let your guard down in regard to creatures that might want to come and eat them. There's just as much risk as there is inside, although the risks may be a bit different.
One benefit of putting your plants outside is that it gives you a chance to regroup inside, have a bit of a deep-clean, possibly. I've just moved a load of houseplants and realised there's just a thick layer of dust where they were sitting. So you can have a clean 'round, assess your collection and maybe even think about whether you want to thin out a few plants, if you feel like your collection is just too big. As I always say, you can have too many houseplants, contrary to what people often say on houseplant memes, and it's a good chance to assess which ones you maybe can live without and which ones you absolutely love and want to continue to enjoy. So be honest with yourself and see how it feels when you've thinned out the collection indoors and, if it makes you feel better, then certainly do offload a few houseplants to some new homes.
What about watering? Well, it depends very much on the weather forecast. Again, if your plant is maybe undergoing some rainy days, as houseplants outside will do here in the UK, it is worth considering that, when you test them. Just as you would when they're inside, make sure you're having a good feel to see if they really do need watering before you are watering them. Pick up the pot. Is it light or heavy? Stick your finger in, use a wooden lolly stick and stick that in and assess the water situation. With any luck, if your plant is in the right potting mix, then heavy showers of rain shouldn't provide any problem and, indeed, can help with flushing out any extra mineral salts that have accumulated in your soil, which is another reason to put them outside if you are mainly watering with tap water.
If you're thinking about where to put them, mine go under the eaves of my house unless they're cacti and succulents, like my Agaves and that Euphorbia I was telling you about, which go on the sunny patio. The eaves of the house are good because they are somewhat protected and sheltered from heavy rain, they're kind of out of the way, they're not going to get knocked by anything going past. If you put your plants up against a brick wall, or a concrete wall, that material will basically hold onto heat that's generated during the day. So as the sunlight comes on those stones, they heat up and then release that heat during the night time, so that's great in that it'll keep the temperature a little bit locally higher for those plants and they'll benefit from that too.
Finally, when should you bring your houseplants indoors? Well, better to go sooner rather than later in terms of your plants. You do not want your plants to start getting chilled by temperatures as they decline at the end of summer. What I've said about night time temperatures, that obviously still applies. What you want to avoid is having bought a load of houseplants during the summer and put them indoors and then realised that you've then got to bring in all the plants that you left outside and you've got nowhere to put them. And don't say you haven't been there because, if you're like me, you probably have! Again, another good moment to assess and cull plants that you are no longer feeling the joy with. When you do bring them in, give them a really thorough check-over, before you let them back in the house, for any pests, above ground, on the leaves, backs of the leaves, growing points where aphids love to go and also those nooks and crannies, for things like spider mite and scale. If you don't know what you're looking for, check out some photos online and get yourselves a hand lens. I'm sounding like a broken record now, but a magnifying glass, or a hand lens, jeweller's loupe, all of which will allow you to see. If you're anything like me and your eyesight's going a bit, it's essential you can really see what's going on. Give the plant a really thorough check-over, take it out the pot if you have the time and make sure that all is well before you're bringing it inside. If it's been in greater light, then do expect there to be a bit of a reaction to coming back indoors where light levels are going to be a bit lower. You may get some leaf drop, that's just the plant saying: "I don't need as much photosynthetic power as I had before, so I'm going to drop some leaves," this will probably happen, it's not the end of the world, that's your plant adapting to the changing seasons.
That's my guide to houseplant staycations, but can I hear you crying, "Jane, I don't have any outdoor space! How am I supposed to give my houseplants a staycation?" Well, great sympathies, that is obviously an issue for some of you listening. You could do very, very simple things to give your houseplants that's staycation feeling. If you have windows that open, and I know from speaking to some people on the houseplant consultations on Zoom that not all of you who live in apartments have this option, but if you do have windows that open, get those windows open, get some fresh air flowing through your house, it'll benefit you and it will benefit your plants. Obviously not in a freezing cold draught but somewhere where they can get a bit of a breeze will not do them any harm.
You can also take your houseplants to the bathroom for a little bit of a spa day. They can go in the bottom of the shower tray or the bath and that's your opportunity to give them a good spray down, run water through the soil and all the mess will be contained into your bath area. Just make sure you clean it up before your housemates try to have their bath, otherwise you may get some complaints. If you have very hard water in your area, you may find that when you rinse off the leaves with that tap water that you get mineral deposits left behind. So if that is you, then you might want to think about treating your plants to some distilled water or asking around to see if anyone you know with a garden could supply you with a bit of rain water to do that rinse off because that will solve the problem of those hard silvery deposits that are caused by the hard tap water. Do just remember when you take them out of the bath or shower, let them have a good drain off before you put them back in their normal places because there will be water that gets stuck in the soil. So they will need time to drain off, stick them on an old towel or in an old washing up bowl, my favourite piece of houseplant equipment, just to drain off before you put them back where they belong.
Now it's time for Meet the Listener and I'm joined by Sophie from Wales.
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Sophie: Hi Jane, my name is Sophie. I'm 36 years old and I live in South Wales.
Jane: When did you get into houseplants and why?
Sophie: About 20 years ago, when I first left home, I knew I wanted to decorate with plants. I bought ferns and succulents from the florist ... and slowly killed all of them! I feel like indoor gardening was sneered at by the more old-school gardeners. There wasn't much advice on growing houseplants, at least not in the Valleys, which made me more determined to have an indoor jungle. So I checked out a library book and learned that they don't like to be watered every day and stopped murdering firms and that's how my obsession began.
Jane: What's the latest addition to your houseplant collection?
Sophie: Senecio mikanioides. I got it from Blasus Succulent Emporium, one of Cardiff's incredible, dedicated houseplant shops.
Jane: Complete the sentence: "I love my houseplants because..."
Sophie: They make a space feel like home. It's really grounding to share your living space with plants and seeing them thrive is so rewarding. I especially love sharing cuttings with friends, especially when they send you messages about how much they've grown! It's really nice to share that and get other people excited about growing plants in their homes too.
Jane: Who is your houseplant hero?
Sophie: My houseplant hero is Summer Rayne Oakes. I love watching her videos. I find her really inspirational and informative, especially her garden tours and because she's an environmental scientist, I know that that's information I can trust. I also really appreciate her activism, tackling fair trade and sustainability in the fashion industry.
Jane: Name your 'plantagonist' - the plant you simply cannot get along with?!
Sophie: Oh my god - String of Pearls! I do not know what this plant wants from me, so I've just come to accept that I can only admire it from afar because if I so much as look at it the wrong way, it'll shrivel up and die!
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Jane: Thank you to Sophie and I do hope you like the new questions and if you'd like to answer these questions on the show, get in touch: ontheledgepodcast@gmail.com Don't feel shy, don't hold back, we want to hear from you! We'd love to have you on the show, so do step forward. I particularly want to hear from people whose locations have not featured in the show before.
Right, Question of the Week is upon us and it comes from Janet. Janet writes, "I'm buying my first moss pole and think that sphagnum moss is better than coir, but some have spikes and some don't. I can see that burying some of the moss in the compost would keep the moss moist, but I don't know. To spike, or not to spike? That is the question! What do you think?" Great question, Janet! Moss poles are a cause of considerable trauma for me. I'm over exaggerating here! I find the subject of moss poles a rather tricksy one. Lots of moss poles, in fact I'm looking at one right now which is probably the most disappointing moss pole in history, is a piece of black, I guess, UPVC piping, about 2 cm/3 cm across, that is meant to be wreathed in coir, but the coir stops about a good few centimetres from the top and it just looks extremely ugly. The plant doesn't cling to it particularly well because it's not moist and it just looks really, really ugly. Moss poles that are made from moss, as in some kind of wire cage with moss packed inside, tend to work much better, for obvious reasons. The aerial roots of plants that might need a moss pole can actually penetrate into that moist moss layer and establish themselves and anchor themselves as they would do in nature if they were climbing through a tree canopy or around shrubs. They'll be looking for something to cling to and a moist bit of moss would be absolutely ideal.
How do you keep that moss moist? Well, back in the day, I think I've mentioned this on the show before, there's a thing called a dew pot and this was just a little, small pot, usually terracotta, that went in the top of the moss pole and was filled with water, kept filled with water, and that would allow water to trickle down into the moss. Genius. But you just never see these anywhere. If you Google dew pot moss pole... let me just try that now, let's see, if it's changed. Until very recently, if you Google 'dew pot' and 'moss pole', which I'm doing now, or rather, Ecosia, because I try to use Ecosia where possible... let's have a look if we get any results whatsoever. Well, the only time I can find a reference to 'dew pot' is on On The Ledge podcast! How funny is that? So yes, it's not something that you'll see online, but things exist that aren't on the internet as, hopefully, you well know! I'm just looking at another listing for a moss pole and wondering... This is a listing on eBay for a moss pole, but it doesn't have a dew pot in the top. You're just supposed to pour the water in the top, but the idea of the dew pot is just controlling the moisture. So, you can buy moss poles that are filled with moss, you can make your own - there are loads of DIY videos out there - you just need some plastic or metal mesh which you can attach together into a cylinder, some people use cable ties and things like that and then stuff with moss.
The reasons not to do moss poles? Well, sphagnum moss is a resource that is being used at a rapacious rate by the horticulture industry and it's a precious resource. If you can grow your own, then that's absolutely cool. I'm not saying I haven't bought moss - I have certainly bought it - but I try to limit my use of it as much as possible. I'm going to suggest, this is a total guess, but it might just work, that you could stuff your moss pole with something alternative. I don't know if you've ever seen those cool insulation packs that contain wool? I have wondered whether you could stuff a moss pole with that and use that. Would it get smelly and stinky if it was wet all the time? I don't know, but it's certainly worth experimenting with, as an alternative for the resource of sphagnum. If you are buying sphagnum, do make lots of due diligence checks and try to confirm that the person that's supplying it is collecting it in as sustainable a manner as possible.
So in answer to your question, Janet, I think the coir poles are pretty useless. They don't really have any way of maintaining moisture. I don't think roots like going into that kind of coir anyway, that very harsh, but coarse, coir. They're not that much use.
You also asked about spikes, so I should address that issue. Yes, some moss poles do come with spikes, generally the ones that are actually the coir. I've also seen coir wrapped around what looks like a broomstick with a sharpened end. So is the spike useful or not? I have found, whenever I've been dealing with moss poles, that to get them to stand up and stay up and not be really wobbly in anything other than a very large pot it's actually quite difficult and I know that other growers have had the same problem. What can you do about it? Well, there's loads of different suggestions of ways of stabilising your moss pole. If you are using the technique of a mesh moss pole with moss inside it, what you can do is put the moss pole right at the bottom of your empty pot and then cable tie it to the bottom of the empty pot, or use wire if you prefer metal wire or plastic wrap wire would be ideal, that way you're securing it and it should mean that it won't fall over. So you're going through the bottom holes of the pot and then up into the bottom of the moss pole and securing that very firmly, that's one way of doing it.
I've also heard of people hot glue gunning moss poles without a spike to the bottom of the pot, that could also work. There's another thing I've seen, where people have put a dowel across the bottom of the moss pole and through the sides of the plastic pot as another way of stabilising it. There are lots of options. If you've got a spike, none of those options are really available to you because you've got this pointy end at the bottom. So, generally, I'd say avoid the spike unless you've got a really, really huge pot, in which case, just pushing it into the soil of the huge pot should be enough to keep it stable but bear in mind, once you've got a plant growing up that moss pole, that's going to put extra weight and pressure on it. So you really want to do everything you can to make sure it is secure. So I would go no spike and moss, with a caveat, would be the answer to your question. Maybe, if you can make your own moss pole, the beauty is then that you can adapt it as you like and try different techniques, put your own little dew pot in the top and so on.
There's a lot of advantages to a moss pole in terms of adding some humidity, trying to mimic the natural environment of lots of those plants, such as Aroids, that you might be growing that way where a moist tree trunk is exactly what they're looking for to climb up. So there's a lot to be said for it, but it does require some thought. I do hope that helps, Janet, and if anyone else has a question for On The Ledge, please drop me a line and if you've got a cool moss pole set-up that you want to show me, do send me the pictures. I want to see your moss pole solutions!
That is all for this week's show. I do hope that your week hasn't been as strange and discombobulating as mine. What I do know, is heading out into my greenhouse to do some repotting later today will help me set myself to rights and bring me great joy and that's what it is all about!
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Jane: The music you heard in this episode was Roll Jordan Roll by The Joy Drops, Chiefs by Jahzzar and Whistle by Benjamin Banger. All tracks are licensed under Creative Commons. Visit the show notes for details.
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Want to give your houseplants a staycation outside? Here are my top tips on what you can put outside, what to watch for and what to do if you don’t have any outside space. Plus I answer a question about moss poles and we hear from listener Sophie from Wales.
Check out these notes as you listen…
Check the weather forecast before you put plants outside 24/7. Only put them out full time when the minimum nighttime temperature is about 54-61F, roughly 12-15C.
Harden off plants before they get fully turfed outside. This means gradually acclimatising them to the conditions outdoors by increasing their exposure over time. Pick a mild day when there’s not a lot of wind or bright sunshine: start plants off in the shade and gradually move them into lighter areas over a period of days. If you have to put plants straight in their final spot, you can cover them with horticultural fleece or an old net curtain. If you don’t do this leaves can burn - they may turn black or straw coloured.
Don’t put teeny tiny pots outside: they are prone to drying out really quickly and they are also likely to topple over in the slightest breeze.
Remove plants from their cache pots and saucers/drip trays as these will collect rainwater and you may end up with a waterlogged plant.
Watch out for earthworms which will set up home in your pots. Plant pests such as aphids will also target plants: they tend to favour the tender new growth. That said, the higher humidity outside can help to ease a case of spider mite or scale.
While plants are outside, take the opportunity to spray the plant down to help dislodge pests and also rinse through the substrate to remove excess mineral salts.
Watch out for vine weevils! Their c-shaped creamy grubs arrive when the adults lay eggs on the soil. The larvae will eat the roots of your houseplants and the adults make notch-shaped cuts in the leaves. You can find them in the substrate and squish them, or you can use a biological control: a species of microscopic nematode worm. More on vine weevils from the RHS here.
Use the chance to reassess your houseplant collection. If you are enjoying the extra space that comes from moving some plants inside, consider whether it’s time to give your collection a cull!
Placing plants close to a brick wall or concrete wall can help them stay warm at night as stone and brick tend to absorb heat by day and give it out at nighttime.
Make sure you bring plants in well before the first frosts. This is another good mention to assess your plants: give them a check over for pests above ground on the leaves and in the soil. Pay special attention to the backs of leaves (for white grainy stuff that indicates spider mites), tender new growth (which is loved by aphids) and nooks and crannies (the usual location of mealy bugs. Check out all my pest control episodes here.
If you don’t have outside space, throw open your windows if you can on mild days so your plants get some air flow around the foliage. You can take plants to the bathroom and place in the shower tray or bath to hose them down, running lots of water through the soil and letting it drain away. If you have very hard water, try to get hold of some rainwater or distilled water to use instead, so you can avoid chalky marks on the leaves as they dry.
QUESTION OF THE WEEK
Janet wants to know the skinny on moss poles. I find the coir -covered ones pretty useless: they are impossible to moisten properly and plants don’t like to cling to them. Moss poles which are made from plastic or metal netting filled with sphagnum moss tend to work better as roots can cling to them and they can increase moisture around plants. As I have said before in the show, if you make your own you can add a ‘dew pot’ to the top of the moss pole to slowly release water.
If you buy sphagnum moss, try to make sure it comes from as sustainable a source as possible, or you can grow your own. if your moss pole doesn’t have a spike, you can use a dowel to hold it in place that goes through the side of a plastic pot, hot glue it to the base of the pot, or use cable ties to secure it by tying them through the holes in the base of the pot. If you have a spike, none of these options will work, so these are best if you have a really big pot that you can plunge the pole into. On the whole I find flat-based poles are easy to deal with.
Want to ask me a question? Email ontheledgepodcast@gmail.com. The more information you can include, the better - pictures of your plant, details of your location and how long you have had the plant are always useful to help solve your issue!
THIS WEEK’S SPONSOR
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HOW TO SUPPORT ON THE LEDGE
Contributions from On The Ledge listeners help to pay for all the things that have made the show possible over the last few years: equipment, travel expenses, editing, admin support and transcription.
Want to make a one-off donation? You can do that through my ko-fi.com page, or via Paypal.
Want to make a regular donation? Join the On The Ledge community on Patreon! Whether you can only spare a dollar or a pound, or want to make a bigger commitment, there’s something for you: see all the tiers and sign up for Patreon here.
The Crazy Plant Person tier just gives you a warm fuzzy feeling of supporting the show you love.
The Ledge End tier gives you access to two extra episodes a month, known as An Extra Leaf, as well as ad-free versions of the main podcast on weeks where there’s a paid advertising spot, and access to occasional patron-only Zoom sessions.
My Superfan tier earns you a personal greeting from me in the mail including a limited edition postcard, as well as ad-free episodes.
If you like the idea of supporting On The Ledge on a regular basis but don't know what Patreon's all about, check out the FAQ here: if you still have questions, leave a comment or email me - ontheledgepodcast@gmail.com. If you're already supporting others via Patreon, just click here to set up your rewards!
If you prefer to support the show in other ways, please do go and rate and review On The Ledge on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher or wherever you listen. It's lovely to read your kind comments, and it really helps new listeners to find the show. You can also tweet or post about the show on social media - use #OnTheLedgePodcast so I’ll pick up on it!
CREDITS
This week's show featured the tracks Roll Jordan Roll by the Joy Drops, Chiefs by Jahzzar. and Whistle by BenJamin Banger (@benjaminbanger on Insta; website benjaminbanger.com).. The ad music was Dill Pickles and by the Heftone Banjo Orchestra. All tracks licensed under Creative Commons.