Plant care

Light first, then water

Nearly every houseplant that dies indoors is either in the wrong light or being watered on a schedule that ignores the season.

Light

How we file them

Every plant is filed by the light it actually needs, not the light it will tolerate for a month before it gives up.

The card in the box says how often, in weeks, for the room you bought it for. No misting rituals.

Filter the shop to what is safe around a cat or a dog. The rest carry a warning on the label.

A rough guide

Spider plant, philodendron

When the top 5 cm is dry, about weekly in summer

Cacti and succulents

Every three to four weeks, none in midwinter

Ferns and fittonia

Keep just moist, never let them dry out

Aloe, echeveria, haworthia

Soak and drain, every three weeks

Every plant, in winter

Roughly half as often as summer

Every second spring

01

Repot when roots show through the drainage holes, not on a calendar. Most plants want it every second spring.

02

12 cm to 17 cm, not 12 cm to 22 cm. A pot too large holds water the roots cannot reach and rots them.

03

Same soil line as before. Burying the stem is the commonest way to lose a plant to a repot.

04

Water it in, then leave it a fortnight before feeding. New compost has everything it needs.

Yellow lower leaves usually mean too much water. Crisp brown edges usually mean air that is too dry. Send us a photograph and we will tell you which.