6 Tips be More Successful with Your House Plants

A beginner’s guide to caring for house plants to keep them happy and healthy and growing for years to come.

I’ve had a few house plants, here and there, over the years, but I didn’t get serious with them until about four years ago.

I saw the gorgeous pictures of plant-laden, designer, bohemian rooms on Pinterest and liked the natural, lively aesthetic that it added.

So, I went to Home Depot, picked up a few plants that were on clearance, and started creating my own suburban jungle.

Table of Contents

• How to Keep Your House Plants Alive
• 1. The amount of sunlight that a house plant gets really does matter
• 2. Don’t water your house plants too much or too little
• 3. Use Plant Pots with Drainage Holes
• 4. Repot your house plants
• 5. Use the Correct Soil for the Plant
• 6. Listen to Your House Plant

How to Keep Your House Plants Alive

1. The amount of sunlight that a house plant gets really does matter

One of the biggest game changers for me has been paying attention to the amount of light a plant is receiving.

I had always taken notice of the plant’s sun light directions on the tag when I bought it. But I never really knew what it meant until I started observing closely how my plants were behaving when I moved them to brighter or darker areas in my home.

Have you ever noticed how much sun light each part of your house receives throughout the year?

I never did.

But over the past year I have been paying more attention. Now I can tell you that, in the summer, my house gets blasted with sun on one side all morning and reblasted with sun on the other side in the afternoon. And in the winter, when the sun is lower in the sky, my house gets most of its sun before noon in a few windows on the front but doesn’t get much direct sun light the rest of the day.

Full sun plants, like many succulents, really do like a lot of direct sun.

If they don’t get enough direct sun light they will grow tall and lanky to reach for the sun. So, I have learned to put my succulents in the sunniest part of my home.

And partial sun plants really do like partial indirect sun, so I put my money plant in the corner of a sunny room, but not in the window.

Moving my plants around to areas of my house that have the amount of sun that they prefer has really improved their health and amount they grow.

2. Don’t water your house plants too much or too little

I know what you are thinking right now, “Jill, that is the most revolutionary plant advice I have ever gotten!” Haha, but it’s true.

I’ve read quite a bit, searching for the holy grail that would tell me exactly how much to water my house plants. I thought I really had it one time when I read about using a ratio of water to how many cups of soil was in the plant’s pot, but that didn’t work for me; my plants thought it was too wet.

Each week or two I stick my finger into my plant’s soil to see how moist it is.

If the soil is wet and sticks to my finger, I do not water. If the soil is dry and does not stick to my finger, I water.

I use a measuring cup so I know how much water I am giving each plant and I give smaller planters less water (a small 4 inch pot I would give about a cup) and larger planters more water (a larger 10 inch pot I would give about 2 cups).

3. Use Plant Pots with Drainage Holes

When I first started my suburban jungle I would buy pretty containers to plant my plants in. But a lot of pretty containers, even ones marketed as planters don’t have drainage holes.

Drainage holes are in plant pots for a reason. They keep plants healthy by allowing excess water to drain out of the bottom of the planter so that the roots don’t sit in water.

It’s difficult to give a plant the correct amount of water it needs in a planting container without a hole in the bottom without overwatering it.

You water a plant, the extra water follows gravity to the bottom of the pot, and the roots sit in water. When the plant roots are submerged in water, they are not able to exchange oxygen and carbon dioxide with the air like they usually would. It’s like trying to breath under water.

So, I learned how to transform any container into a plant pot by adding drainage holes to the bottom of any container that I liked.

4. Repot your house plants

Most of the time when you bring your plants home from the store, they should be repotted right away.

From my experience, a disposable planter is not meant to be the plant’s long-term home.

Plants have usually already outgrown the container they are sold in, and they need new fresh soil, the correct soil for the environment that they grow best in, and one that meets their water drainage needs.

Which brings me to my next point…use the appropriate soil for your specific plant.

5. Use the Correct Soil for the Plant

Some plants like soil that drains water better and some plants like soil that holds onto moisture.

I’ve also read a fair amount about the best soil to use for my plants, but the advice hasn’t quite worked for my indoor gardening.

I see a lot of people use straight cactus and succulent soil for their succulents. But I use about 2/3 cactus soil and 1/3 regular potting soil for most of my succulents and it works well for me. In fact, I use that ratio cactus/regular soil for most of my house plants.

Of course, there are many factors that play into the moisture of your soil, like how often you water. That’s just works well for me.

6. Listen to Your House Plant

You have to watch how a plant is behaving and translate that into what it might need or not need.

Think of a plant like a baby. A baby can’t speak to you, but it can show signs that it’s not happy or needs something from you.

Pay attention and learn to read the signs of your house plants.

If your plant seems to have plateaued and doesn’t seem to be growing much or blooming when it is supposed to, try moving it to a lighter or darker area of your home; maybe it needs more or less light.

If a plant gets droopy or starts growing roots above the soil, it needs more water, or maybe different soil that holds onto moisture better.

Most importantly, enjoy your plants and spend a little time with them.

It’s good for you and them. If you don’t find yourself enjoying taking care of your house plants, maybe gardening isn’t your thing.

Just because it looks good on Pinterest doesn’t mean it’s right for you. This is real life. Get some faux plants if you want to add greenery to your home.

There are some very realistic faux plants for sale these days – no judgement.

Thanks for reading. I hope this helps you keep your house plants growing and healthy. What have you learned by slowing down and observing the world around you more closely?

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