{"id":1206161,"date":"2023-11-25T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-11-25T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/?p=1206161"},"modified":"2023-11-25T09:00:00","modified_gmt":"2023-11-25T14:00:00","slug":"why-you-shouldnt-fertilize-your-houseplants-during-the-winter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/?p=1206161","title":{"rendered":"Why You Shouldn't Fertilize Your Houseplants During the Winter"},"content":{"rendered":"

After spending the spring, summer, and part of the fall tending to your garden and yard, you may be tempted to turn your attention towards the houseplants lining your windowsill. The colder winter months may seem like the ideal time to focus on your ferns, and fertilize your fiddle-leaf fig, but doing so may end up hurting your houseplants\u2014not helping them. Here\u2019s why you should hold off on fertilizing your indoor plants<\/u><\/a> during the winter, and allow them to hibernate instead.<\/p>\n

Why you shouldn\u2019t fertilize your houseplants during the winter<\/h2>\n

Most of the species we keep as houseplants are tropical natives, which is why they wouldn\u2019t survive if you left them outside in a cold climate. But the change of seasons also affects their life indoors, according to Amy Simone<\/u><\/a>, a master gardener at the University of Vermont Extension.<\/p>\n

In climates with traditionally hot summers and cold, snowy winters, tropical houseplants feel more or less at home during the spring and summer months. But that changes once the colder weather of fall and winter hits, and the plants enter \u201ca period of rest,\u201d Simone explains.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The drop in temperature, coupled with decreased daylight hours this time of year result in reduced plant growth, according to a resource from the University of Maryland Extension<\/u><\/a>. Because they\u2019re neither expanding their roots nor sprouting new shoots, houseplants don\u2019t need fertilizer during the winter.<\/p>\n

But surely a little fertilizer can\u2019t hurt, right? Actually, it can, says Simone. Unnecessary or excessive fertilizer can lead to a buildup of salts in the soil, which can end up harming the plant.\u00a0<\/p>\n

If you\u2019ve already fertilized your houseplant during the winter and now notice white, chalky salt deposits on the surface of the soil or the outside of the pot\u2014or that your plant is yellowing, wilting, or browning at the tips\u2014that\u2019s probably a sign of high soluble salt levels, according to another resource from the University of Maryland Extension<\/u><\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The good news is that you can fix this pretty easily by flushing the soil with clean water, allowing it to run out the bottom of the pot, and repeating the process until you\u2019ve flushed it with at least as much water as the pot holds (e.g. two gallons of water for a two-gallon pot).<\/p>\n

When to start fertilizing houseplants again<\/h2>\n

It may seem like a long time, but Simone recommends going the entire winter without your fertilizing tropical houseplants. You\u2019ll know it\u2019s time to start fertilizing again when you spot signs of new growth, which, she says, typically happens around March.<\/p>\n


\n
\nSource: LifeHacker – Why You Shouldn’t Fertilize Your Houseplants During the Winter<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After spending the spring, summer, and part of the fall tending to your garden and yard, you may be tempted to turn your attention towards the houseplants lining your windowsill. The colder winter months may seem like the ideal time … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[91,110],"tags":[92],"class_list":["post-1206161","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-lifehacker","category-unfiltered-rss","tag-lifehacker"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1206161","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1206161"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1206161\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1206161"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1206161"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1206161"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}