How to Care for Potted Plants: Wrapping Your Plant for Winter
Potted plants are a great way to add some greenery to your home all year round. Especially if you live in an apartment or have little outdoor space. When fall rolls around and the temperatures drop. You may be wondering what kind of care your potted plant needs during winter. Wrapped potted plant
Luckily, it’s not difficult to keep a potted plant alive over the cold months. You can make it even easier by taking a few extra steps. Now to ensure your plant has a long and happy life as soon as it comes back outside again in spring.
Wrapped potted plant
What to Do Before the Freeze
Before the freeze hits, it’s best to do a bit of maintenance on your plants. It’s easier to make sure your plants don’t freeze when they’re healthy and strong. This gives you more time to acclimate the plant to cooler temperatures and helps prevent freezing at a smaller size. Be sure to: wrap a plant
- Water your plant thoroughly. This gives the plant a bit of a boost of water while the soil is still warm, so the water won’t evaporate as quickly.
- If necessary, cut back the plant. Some plants, like ferns, can grow extremely large and out of control if you don’t keep them in check.
- Clean the leaves of your plant. Remove any dirt or leaves that are brown or shriveled.
- Fertilize your plant. This gives your plant some extra nutrients so it can continue to grow strong even in cooler temperatures.
Wrapping Your Potted Plant for Winter
Wrapping your potted plant in a blanket or fleece cover is a great way to protect it from extreme temperatures. When temperatures drop below freezing, the plant will lose water through the leaves and roots. Wrapping the plant in fabric prevents this water loss and helps keep the soil warm. terracotta pot wrap potted gift plants
Fleece is a great fabric to use because it doesn’t trap moisture in the soil like a blanket. If you do use a blanket, be sure to check the soil every few weeks. And also remove any excess water that may build up. Your potted plant will also benefit from being covered if it sits near a drafty window or if you live in a drafty house.
Drafts are very common indoors during the winter, and can quickly cause your plant to wilt or freeze. Covering your plant will prevent this from happening and give your plant the warmth it needs to stay healthy and happy.
Light and Water During the Winter
As the weather cools, the days will become shorter. This means less light for your plants, so you’ll want to keep an eye on the amount of light they are receiving. If you don’t have a window that gets a lot of direct sunlight during the winter, you will probably want to reduce the amount of light your plant is getting.
A general rule of thumb is to reduce light by 50% once the fall equinox hits (around September 22nd). This means if your plant is sitting in a window that gets 10 hours of sunlight a day. You want to reduce it to 5 hours. You can do this by covering the plant with a blanket. Simply turning the plant around so the leaves are facing toward the wall instead of the window.
Repotting When the Weather Warms Up Again
If your plant needs repotting, you can do it now before bringing it back outside in spring. But you’ll want to be sure to re-pot it in a container with a larger diameter so the roots have more room to grow. If your plant is in a very small pot, the roots may have started to grow around the inside of the pot and be constricted.
A smaller pot means the roots have less room to grow, which can lead to an unhealthy plant. Once spring rolls around, you can simply plant your potted plant back outside.
If your plant came in a pot that won’t survive outdoors, you can repot it into a larger container and keep it indoors. If you want to keep your potted plant indoors year-round, keep in mind that the light needs to be about 10-12 hours a day and you will probably need to fertilize every couple of weeks. wrapping paper potted plants gift wrap
Wrapped potted plant
Conclusion
Potted plants are an excellent choice for adding some greenery to your home, especially if you live in an apartment or have little outdoor space. When fall rolls around and the temperatures drop, you may be wondering what kind of care your potted plant needs during winter.
Luckily, it’s not difficult to keep a potted plant alive over the cold months. You can make it even easier by taking a few extra steps now to ensure your plant has a long and happy life as soon as it comes back outside again in spring.