HousePlantJoy is supported by our audience. When you purchase through one of our links, we may earn a small affiliate commission. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Your cost is not affected.
==================
Growing Houseplant As A New Hobby
What’s the best way to start a new hobby? Why not try growing houseplants as a new hobby?
It is no secret that houseplants are a great addition to any home. These plants can brighten up any space, provide oxygen, and reduce the need for air conditioning. They even help purify the air in your home! But did you know houseplants also make it easier for you to relax?
According to a study, people with house plants are more relaxed and less stressed. The study found that people who had access to nature while growing up were more likely to experience better mental health as adults.
If you plan to have house plants as a pastime, it’s helpful to know which species need less work than others. They can develop normally and robustly without much effort! Below, we’ve provided a list of the most popular houseplants and an estimate of how challenging they are.
Are houseplants a good hobby?
As said before, keeping houseplants as a hobby can have many positive effects. Not only will it help you develop a new interest, but it will also improve both your mental and physical well-being.
The benefits of keeping plants at home are many. First, indoor house plants provide fresh air and beautiful scenery. This also improves your mental health and helps you relax and concentrate better.
Add these growing houseplants to provide a sense of purpose and excitement in your life. It’s something that anyone can do!
What Should Beginner Gardeners Need to Consider Before Starting Indoor Houseplant as Hobby?
It would help if you had a beginner’s guide to indoor gardening before getting your first houseplant. There are many things to consider to keep them safe and healthy. Usually, this includes lighting, temperature, water, and air circulation. It may sound not easy, but if you research and learn how to grow indoor house plants, you can find the right answers.
Because some varieties don’t live as long, it is difficult to determine an accurate way to rank the plants. Besides, they can make a lovely addition to your home, office, or classroom.
What Is The Easiest Indoor Houseplant To Maintain?
If you’re looking for low-maintenance indoor house plants, peace lilies, cactus, and dracaena marginata are what you’re looking for. They can take a variety of light conditions and are easy to care for.
You might also consider adding coneflowers, a jade simulant tree, or some Chinese evergreens to your plant collection. These plants are usually low maintenance and don’t need much water or fertilizer.
.
1. Peace Lillies
The peace lily is a low-maintenance houseplant that requires very little attention. To thrive, peace lilies need exposure to light, which can come from windows or a sunlamp or grow light. They don’t need a lot of fertilizer or water, and they may survive with quite little of either.
Peace lilies are native to Asia and were first brought to the United States in 1838 by Thomas Nuttall. They were often used as growing houseplants because they are so hardy and easy to keep alive. Some people still grow them in their homes today. Because of its long-lasting scent and appearance, it is popular as a gift for special events.
2. Aloe Vera Plant
Aloe vera plant is another low-maintenance houseplant option. The standard, broad-leafed green type does best in a controlled indoor environment. This is because its edges are smooth and not armed with spines. Keep the potted aloe plant in a bright spot, and place the dish on a saucer with adequate drainage holes. Water that can drain away in this way.
Aloe vera needs little water and fertilizer when growing indoors. Watering it regularly during warm weather is a must. This is to prevent wilting and browning of leaves. When the plant starts to flower, only water it when it’s dry to the touch and don’t let it sit in water for long periods.
3. Chinese Evergreen
Chinese evergreens are among the most popular houseplants in the world. This is due to their unique beauty, which includes long needles and a thick, glossy green leaf. But, these plants can also be difficult to care for properly.
Growing chinese evergreens houseplants as a new hobby is quite easy, even for a newbie indoor gardener, even though most houseplants require some work in providing optimal growing conditions (light, temperature, humidity, etc.). Despite its tropical appearance, this leaf plant can thrive in low-light conditions. Even the dry air and brief periods of drought.
4. Zebra Plant
Zebra plants are near impossible to kill and another great plant for beginners. The zebra plant’s foliage looks beautiful when grown indoors. It has light green leaves with light pink veins. This plant won’t take long before it starts growing new shoots. If this happens, you can repot it into its own pot or share it with friends!
5. Snake Plant
In terms of indoor plants, the snake plant is among the most forgiving. This is so because it demands little in the way of your focus. Snake plants need little light and can even grow in dry conditions. Bring some greenery into the workplace without worrying about watering it too often with these plants.
Snake plants as indoor house plants are easy to care for and grow quickly, reaching their full height within a few weeks. But, they need water now and then, so you should keep an eye on your plant when you’re away from home. If you’re not around to water it regularly, it’ll die off due to neglect or lack of water.
6. Pothos Ivy Plant
Another low-maintenance houseplant that thrives in low light is the pothos ivy. Maintain a consistent moisture level in the soil around these plants to maximize their growth. The leaves will turn yellow if they do not get enough water. But it’s a low-maintenance houseplant! You can add this growing houseplant as a new hobby!
The pothos ivy is an evergreen plant with smooth, oval-shaped leaves that grows up to about 3 feet tall and wide. The leaves of this plant have a glossy appearance and are green or variegated in color with darker green streaks throughout the leaf.
7. English Ivy
The English ivy plant is another low-maintenance houseplant. Because of its resilience, it is also suitable for novices. It doesn’t matter to them if the lights are on or off. Nonetheless, they choose indirect light over direct sunshine. Plants of the English ivy species can develop at a rapid rate. As a result, they must be trimmed frequently to prevent them from taking over the room.
It is important to note that this houseplant is unsuitable for anyone with asthma or breathing problems. Because it releases an unpleasant smell when you cut it down too much.
8. Ponytail Palm Tree
The ponytail palm tree is an excellent indoor house plant for homes in temperate regions. It’s easy to grow, but it does need some maintenance. Ponytail palms are very popular in tropical regions. Because of their ability to withstand hot temperatures, they can also be grown indoors. Ponytail palms are a type of cactus and come in wide different varieties. Some varieties have yellow or red stems with green leaves, and others have white stems with purple leaves.
The most common variety of ponytail palms is the Mexican hair palm, used for bonsai trees. Other varieties include the African hair palm and church palm.
Cacti
One of the best ways to add a splash of color to your home is by growing cacti. Cacti are an easy-to-care-for alternative to more traditional house plants and can grow in almost any indoor space.
These large, easy-to-care-for cacti are a terrific addition to any indoor space. It’s possible to grow several different kinds of cacti with only a few hours of sunlight and a few drops of water per week.
Spider Plant
The spider plant is a low-maintenance houseplant and has several species that exist. They are perfect for placing in hanging baskets or tabletops. This is so uncluttered that it won’t clutter the house.
A filtered window is ideal for these plants. This allows for simple installation in any location receiving diffuse sunlight. This plant requires little water. And you should lessen the amount you water the plant if certain parts begin to lose leaves.
Allow some time for your indoor house plant before repotting your spider plants. When planting them in small containers, it’s important to ensure they have enough room to grow. Make sure that it is not crowded.
Tools When Growing Houseplants
You will need the following houseplant tools and an understanding of their functions in to cultivate houseplants and care for them properly.
1. Watering can or pitcher
You’ll need a container to hold water as you pour it into the soil of your houseplant. As long as water can be easily poured into the planter, you can use any watering can or pitcher you like. Ensure your watering container is large enough to hold all the plants you intend to cultivate indoors.
2. Potting Soil
Almost without exception, indoor plants need potting soil designed for that purpose. The reason is that it spends much of its time in the pots. Another perk of this type of soil is that it includes fertilizers. They are devoid of the “weeds” that populate typical gardening soil. This could harm the houseplant.
A good rule of thumb. Buy a bag of potting soil and add fertilizer until about an inch of the granules are on top of the soil. Then you can use that as a base for your next batch. If your plant looks unhappy and its leaves have shrivelled up, you may need more fertilizer. Or a different kind of fertilizer than what’s already there!
3. Trowel
Using a trowel, you can easily scoop up potting soil. Put it in the pots when repotting or potting up new plants. With this, you can prevent the formation of clumps and dry areas in the soil following watering.
These instruments are distinguished by one sharp end. While the other side of it is flat and can be used as a scraper.
There are two types of trowels: one-sided and two-sided. A one-sided trowel has a sharp end and a flat end. It is easy to use on plants because you can scoop up some potting soil. But when it comes time for repotting or planting new plants, you have to be careful not to create clumps or dry areas in your pots.
4. Pruning shears
Pruning shears are useful for reducing the height of houseplants with unwieldy stems. You should do this if the plant’s growth is out of control or has dried out from a lack of water. These should be available at any decent garden centre.
However, different varieties are optimal for certain plants. For instance, if you have several tall cacti and succulents that need regular cutting, you may wish to get anvil pruners.
You can also use these tools to prune out dead/old leaves on your indoor plants and cut back flowering stems that are getting too long or heavy for their own good.
5. Rake
When first getting into houseplants, you’ll likely have wide varieties in various containers. Some houseplants, like those of the vine variety, need continuous pinching back of new growth to keep them contained. Common tools for this task include garden rakes. This is because the metal twigs can withstand repeated rubbing against tough stems. The bond will also hold up well over time.
If you don’t have a rake or want something with a bit more finesse and durability, try using your fingers instead. This technique works best from the tips down. You’ll need to apply pressure and avoid damaging tender tips or leaves.
You can also use plant pots as an alternative to rakes when pinching back vines on plants like ivy. It often stretches to several feet in length from the bottom of their branches.
Importance of Having Indoor Plant Kits
Gardening is a fun and rewarding hobby. Without the proper equipment, tending an indoor garden may be a challenge. Indoor houseplants need different requirements. The proper tools are required to care for houseplants.
The right equipment makes it simple to care for a greenhouse. It would help if you got a tool kit outfitted with the standard equipment to do any job. If you plan to grow indoor houseplants, you need something lightweight and compact. So that the plants can move from one room to another. It would help if you also had something that has a strong construction. So that it does not break during use or when transported from one place to another.
Tips On Taking Care of Indoor Plants
Once you understand their demands, houseplants are easy to care for.
- Identify a thirsty plant. Wilting leaves suggest a plant needs water. Two inches of soil removes guessing. If it’s dry, water. Lifting and weighting the plant container may also indicate dry soil. When the plant gets adequate water, the container will feel heavier after watering and lighter as the soil dries out.
- Underwatering trumps overwatering. Most houseplants prefer to be dry and not soggy, while overwatering causes root rot. Irrigation keeps soil wet, not soggy. Place a tray or saucer under potted plants before watering to capture excess water. In the winter, plants only need watering once or twice a week.
- Assess your home’s natural light. Different houseplants need different light. Direct-light plants need full sun and should live near a south-facing window or on a sunny windowsill. Bright-light plants can grow in an east- or west-facing window or a south-facing window if positioned several feet away from the glass. North-facing windows shade low-light plants. If your home lacks enough light for your plants, you can get an LED or fluorescent grow light.
- Regulate the home temperature. Most houseplants thrive in 65 to 75°F daytime temps and 10°F nighttime temperatures. If your home is warm at night, open a window to give your plants cold air.
- Control ventilation and humidity. Many houseplants thrive in humid conditions like their native home. If the air is dry, mist your plants or use a humidifier.
How do you aerate a houseplant?
If you take these simple measures, you’ll have much healthier and happier houseplants in no time:
- Grab a pair of chopsticks.
- Carefully poke holes through the soil’s surface (you may hit a root or two; this is normal).
- Water the plant deeply around its perimeter and in the center, letting the excess water drain out of the nursery pot’s bottom.
- Place your plant in its new pot, gently patting down the soil around it so it sits flat against its roots. If you notice that your plant needs more water, add it as needed until it wets the entire surface area of the soil (don’t be afraid to get your fingers wet!).
Conclusion
Ultimately, there are nearly endless options of plants to get started with. The focus here is on the ones that do best in an indoor environment, which excludes certain trees, palms and succulents (though by no means all of these). Regardless of where you decide to start in your houseplant hobby, enjoy the journey and always be sure to consult an expert when you’re not sure how to care for a particular plant.
Read More:
