Now that students have moved into the dorms, apartments or rent-houses, you might be thinking about adding some homey touches like plants.
Here’s some advice:
Light
If you like to keep your blinds or curtains closed, make sure you choose plants that do well in low light. Pothos will grow with just artificial light. Possibilities: snake plant (sansevieria), spider plant, pothos, ZZ (zanzibar gem), jade plant, African violets.
Water
Don’t overwater. That’s the No. 1 problem in caring for indoor plants. To avoid this, test the soil with your finger. If it is dry, it’s time to water. Make sure you check regularly.
Succulents like aloe vera and cactus can do OK with watering every three-four weeks.
If you tend to ignore your plants, some will remind you they need water because they droop significantly. Peace lilies generally recover if they haven’t been without water too many days. However, this stresses the plants and you will probably lose leaves or stalks. Best advice: water BEFORE the plants droop.
Cuttings
Don’t have money to buy plants? Ask a friend with a fun plant if you can have a cutting. Then try growing the cutting in water, no soil.
You can use a glass vase or jar. Use clear containers so you can see what’s happening in the water. Plants aren’t as fun as goldfish, but it can be pleasant to check how much the roots grow in a day.
When you take a cutting from a plant, such as a vining plant like pothos or wandering jew, make sure you have at least one leaf node (where a leaf grew) near the end of the stem you cut. This is where the root will grow.
Place the cutting in water and watch for roots to appear. You can plant the cutting in soil after roots appear or continue to grow in water. Just make sure you keep the roots covered with water.
If you accidently break off part of a houseplant, don’t throw away that stem. Try rooting it in water. Some will take only a few days to produce roots. Others might take weeks, so be patient.
Possibilities: pothos, lucky bamboo, begonia, wandering jew, spider plant, English ivy, Chinese evergreen, coleus.
—Source: Generative AI
