Flower and Plant Care
Top Tips For Cut Flower & Plant Care
Cut Flower
- Make sure vases are very clean
- Use fresh lukewarm water with commercial cut flower food added.
- Strip all leaves below the water level.
- Take at least 3cm (1") off all stems, making a slanted cut with a sharp knife or very sharp scissors.
- Avoid direct sunlight, heat, or droughts which can shorten flowers' lives.
- Keep flowers away from fruit and remove faded flowers as they occur.
- Top up the water regularly and add flower food in proportion.
Flowering Plants
- Light: Flowering plants need all the sunshine that can be provided in your home, particularly in winter. Place them near an east or south window.
- Temperature: Most flowering plants grow best at night temperatures of 50 to 60 F, and day temperatures of 65 to 70 F. Do not place them over radiators. Keep them out of drafts.
- Humidity: Keep room humidity as high as possible. Increase humidity around the plant by placing it in a plant box or jardiniere filled with moist peat moss.
- Watering: Inspect soil daily and add water when the soil feels dry to the touch. When watering, wet the soil all the way down.
- Fertilizing: If you keep flowering plants longer than six to eight weeks,
some plant food should be added. Follow directions on the fertilizer
package.
Foliage Plants
- Light: Place foliage plants in or near a window where they receive good light during part of the day. Most plants do not like the intensely bright sunshine of mid-summer. They thrive near a south or east window during the fall, winter and spring months. If you cannot place them near a window, use artificial lights over them.
- Watering: Keep the soil moist. Examine it once a week. When the soil feels dry to the touch, add enough water to wet the soil all the way to the bottom of the pot. Be sure that any excess water is drained off.
- Temperature: Most foliage plants thrive best at night temperatures of 60
to
65 F, and day temperatures of 70 to 80 F. - Fertilizing: Since the amount of soil and nutrients available in a small
pot is limited, small quantities of plant food are desirable at
three-to-four-week intervals, used according to the directions on the
package.
