soil – Green Gardens

Did You Know Your Plants Dying Because Of Water.

Watering the plants are the most important that we have to do during taking care of a plant. But many of us who are beginners here don’t know that they have to water the plants( not joking some peoples have asked me does they really have to water their plants). But apart from that many who are regular gardeners also sometime misconcept about watering. They overwater or underwater which results in plants death. So for those of you I have decided to write this, and give you some knowledge about how to water your plants properly.

Myths in Watering:

Water your plants everyday.
Water your plants until it oozes out.
Water in day, not at night.
Don’t water in summer afternoon.
Don’t water over the plants.
Water less in winter.
Use fresh water for the plants.

How to Water My Plant?

In case of watering everyone should be flexible that is you must have to look upon your plants and understand them and water them only when they are required to, not more not less. There are some plants those require a lot of water whereas some could not tolerate a very less water. So it is also necessary to know about the water requirements of the plants. Again according to the situation watering should be changed in hot summers we need to water regularly than in rains or during transplantation there should a sufficient amount of water such that it does not wilt.

Are the Myths Correct?

Some are correct, but all are not. Listening to anyone else without doing a homework about the matter is foolish. I would suggest to know your plant and about your plant and you will be self sufficient about what to do and when.

How to check that a plant need water?

It is really hard for many of us to know whether a plant needs water or not, for this a simple trick is finger dip method. In this method you can dip your finger into the soil up to half a inch and see whether it is wet inside or not then you can easily avoid overwatering or underwatering. This will help you to grow a very good experience about the matter.

How to know you have Overwatered or Underwatered your plants?

Both overwatering or underwatering for a long period is deadly for the plant. So the first thing to do is to regularly check the soil. A wet soil is dark in colour and it must be loose and clayey. But on the other hand dry soil will be of lighter shade and hard. On the plant you could also see the effect, in overwatering the plant will be rotting specially the leaves and lower part of the shoot. Whereas in case of underwatering plants will firstly wilt, then the leaves will be yellow and shed the leaves and the shoots will be dried out towards the tip(away from the base). A fact is that in case of overwatering it affects the bottom part of the shoot (radical) whereas the underwatering affects tips of stems.

What are the remedial measures of Over or Underwatering?

For overwatering, first stop watering and keep your plant in place with plenty of sunlight. And if rot has started apply fungicides on and around the rot.

In case of underwatering give it a sufficient amount of water and place it in a moist and cool area away from sunlight for some days.

Bougainvillea: The Beauty of Your Garden

This tropical plant is one of the common and best easy growing bonsai plants which looks tantalizing when it has a full tree bloom. It will just give your garden royal touch. Here underneath you could know everything about your bougainvillea. if you are a beginner this is a jewel and if an expert, there is for you too.

Climate: This plant could thrive well in temperate as well as tropical regions. It blooms at a low temperature so in the temperate region it blooms throughout the year but in the tropical regions it flowers around the winter season.

Temperature: Though this plant is cold loving plant it could grow in a long range of temperatures. About 5 to 45 ⁰C.

Soil: This plant loves an acidic type of soli. But it could not tolerate staged water so the soil must be well drained.

Species: More than 80 species of different colours are there of bougainvillea.

Sunlight: This plant could be grown over a long range of temperature regions so the sunlight requirements are different according to regions. In low temperature regions providing of full sunlight is better but in the high temperature regions providing a partial sunlight prevents wilting. In blooming season, it requires at least 5-8 hours of direct sunlight.

Watering: Water should be provided regularly but overwatering should not be done. During the flowering the watering should be lowered or it flower less and grow more. (except in high temperature region where there is a risk of wilting)

Terrain: Always loosen the soil around the trunk to make the soil airy, whether it is in ground or in a container pot. This also helps preventing water lodging problem in soil.

Pruning: bougainvillea is a hard wood type variety. So, it can be grown as a long tree structure as well as in bonsai form. For long structures pruning is only necessary for keeping the plant in a desired shape. But for bonsai both shoot and root pruning are necessary to control the shape and size of the plant.

This plant mostly requires a hard pruning after every flowering and a little once a month. Moreover, it should be taken care that the main root of the tap root system be pruned before planting in a pot and should be repoted once in 2-3 years according to the size of the pot.

Fertilizer: each and every plant require Nitrogen Phosphorus Potassium to grow and flower and this is also same. Other than this some micronutrients are required from time to time according to the plant conditions. For knowing the basic fertilizer click here.

Other than this sometimes there arises a problem of Growth Retardation for which the best is gibberellic acid which could be found inorganic in market or in water in which cow dung cakes are drowned for at least 7 days.

During repotting a mixture of vermicompost 40%, used tea/coffee leaf 20%, neem cake 20%, bone meal10%, horn meal 5%, egg shell5% could also provide a good result for long time. Here I will recommend to reduce the use of inorganic fertilizers as in the long run it will harm your plants and the unused remaining, by the plant in the soil, will harm the nature.

Pesticides: there is a benefit that this plant seldom attacked by pests and if attacked then it can be easily get rid of by spraying neem oil or providing neem cake in the soil. For Fungus attack you can use any antifungal spray or powder available in the market.

For any further query about your bougainvillea plant comment here.

7 Important Tips To Grow Indoor Plants Easily

In today’s world we are running with an ultra-high speed of technological development. And some where we are forgetting about the nature. So it’s high time now that we think about it and start planting trees. But most of us have a very restricted place to do so. For them indoor plants will be an ideal one.

Benefits

Now a days planting small plants indoor have become a trend. This not only give you a feeling of in-between the nature but also keep the indoors fresh and full of oxygen. For those who lives in regions with high pollution level, must have plants indoor.

What types of plants do you choose?

In case of choosing plants for indoors, you must have some criteria.

Shade Lovers: Collect plants that could be grown under shades easily. But for almost every indoor plants you need to provide them partial sunlight once a week.
Oxygen level: Some plants like Aloe Vera or types of snake plants provide a little amount of oxygen even during night time. So choosing that type of plants are good choices.
Toxicity: If you have pets or have your children at home then you must have special care as some plants maybe toxic if swollen or eaten. Like money plant or spider plant or some types of succulents.

Best Indoor Plants to grow

According to NASA Report this plants ranks best as indoor plants;

Bamboo palm
Chinese evergreen
English ivy
Ficus
Gerbera daisy
Janet Craig
Marginata
Mass cane/Corn cane
Mother-in-law’s tongue
Peace lily
Pot mum
Warneckei

For more indoor plants to know about see my other article 38 Indoor Plants To Grow.

How to grow them easily.

1. Soil: For indoor plants it is been referred to use mixture of coco peat and compost.

2. Watering: Watering plants doesn’t only mean to pour water in the soil. For indoors watering is proposed to be done by spray.

3. Sunlight: Keep the plants where they could get at least 1 hour of partial sunlight. If not possible keep it outdoors in partial sunlight once a week.

4. Pots: Use plastic pots to avoid messing the room. And should look over the water level in it.

Medicines

Normally indoor plants are less affected by insects. In case insects’ attacks it can be removed by any insecticide neem oil is mostly preferred.

But the most infected diseases are root rot or fungal attack. For that anti-fungal should be used and kept in sunlight (partial or direct as per requirements).

For further information on indoor plants comment here.

Are you doing this to your Plants (Bonsai)?

Bonsai is one of the oldest art form of humankind. Though it simply means the art of growing ornamental, artificially dwarf variety of trees and shrubs in pots. But it’s not so easy to grow a bonsai from beginning. After reading this it will be easy for you to make a cool bonsai plant.

Choosing a plant

For making a beautiful bonsai your first work is to choose a plant. For which there are some criteria, such as

The Climate you live in: Climate is the most important factor. You can’t grow a deciduous plant in very hot temperature, or can’t grow an evergreen in extreme cold.
Variety of Plants: For beginners it is better to choose dwarf variety plants. But obviously bonsai made with tall variety plants looks gorgeous.
Leaves: If you can choose a small leaf variety plant it will look better later. Though you can reduce the leaf size of your plant afterwards.
Sunlight: Those plants that require a low sunlight will be difficult to grow in high sunlight areas.
Pots: Flat pots are best to grow bonsai. It gives a vintage look.

There are much more but for starters it’s necessary.

How should you care your plant?

“Time and patience are the only thing you need for transforming your regular plant into a bonsai. “

Different plants have different ways to take care about. You should have proper knowledge about your plant you are trying to grow.

Soil: For most of the beginners soil is the most difficult things to choose. Now it depends on what type of plant you are growing. But as a common there should be well drainage. You may use the mixture of approximately 40%compost, 10% vermicompost, (20-30)%sand, 5%small stone chips ( under 10 mm), and (15-25)% garden soil.
Drainage: Usually we grow our bonsai in small pots so there should be a well drainage system such that the roots doesn’t rot. For which you have to make holes (as per your pot size) and keep some stone chips on it to make sure it doesn’t cloak.
Sunlight: Now sunlight is a big deal for shade lovers you need to grow them not under direct sunlight obviously. But for some plants for which you want to reduce leaf size, you should leave it under direct sunlight such that it could be able to create its required form in small part of its leaf and will not increase its length.
Watering: For less rainfall months you need to water regularly. But don’t overwater them. Rather water them twice. And for high rainfall months you should water them when it requires. And sometimes dry up the soil to avoid root rot.

Advanced care

Fertilizers: You need to study about your plants what they require. But for bonsai you need to give less fertilizers so as it get stout not grow fast. Sometimes you may use slow fertilizers like bone dust, horn dust or egg shell You should avoid nitrogen base fertilizer and use carbon or potassium based ones. But don’t overfeed them.
Root Pruning: You are growing your plants in a pot so you do loosen roots by dig the soil once a month. And in the middle of rainy season you pluck the plant with soil. Trim the roots or rearrange it and again plant it. Don’t disturb the roots too much. You may repot them during this time. And keep watering it daily after this for some days.
Shoot Pruning: There are different designs to make with your plants. And for this pruning your stems are important. So whenever you prune keeping mind that cut just over a node or internode, such that it will grow its stem from there. And look that you should cut over a node which is facing the direction in which you want to let it go.
Wiring: Sometimes we require to further design our plants. In that case use 6mm aluminium or copper wire but not iron. It is greatly recommended that do the wiring with hand so that you can know the rigidity and strength of the stem, such that it doesn’t break.

Medicines

Pesticides are more or less required to all plants and as per requirements use it over your plants. But what I do is, I have made some neem tree bonsai and kept it in my bonsai collection and for that reason insects are less attracted. Other than neem you may plant any such types of medicinal plants.

And lastly you should have patience and love for your plants and work you are doing for your plants.

Now it’s very difficult to elaborate everything in one article so to know more follow my website Green Gardens and comments if you have any questions about your bonsai.

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