In my book, I stated that misting is about as useful to raise humidity as it is to light up a match to warm up a room: the effect on ambient humidity is minimal and temporary. And I don’t use a humidifier anywhere – my ambient indoor humidity in the winter goes down to 30% […]
I’m so excited to share that HPJ has partnered with Greg, the app that helps you grow healthy and happier plants, to bring you even more data-driven, science-based plant care! The Greg team and I agree that plant care should be highly personalized, because no two plants or environments are alike. So we both emphasize […]
Scale is an interesting pest: most people notice them when they see little domes stuck to the stem or any ridges along a leaf. The domes are actually the last stage of the insect since it is a protective shell that resists insecticidal soap sprays. Inside the dome are the eggs. When they hatch, the […]
Just as I was running out of space in my first Ikea Greenhouse Cabinet (Milsbo), I stumbled upon a gently used Detolf display cabinet FREE for the taking in my apartment’s garbage disposal room! Disclaimer: this article contains affiliate links that help to support House Plant Journal content ~ Thank You! Product Summary (links where […]
Being able to catch an infestation at the earliest possible stage will give you the best chance at fully eradicating it. I went through 3 years where I was dealing with sporadic thrips infestations and ended up throwing away many plants, but in that misery/frustration, I took lots of photographs! I hope they will help […]
The keys to successfully eradicating pests is early identification and persistent treatment People are often taught to identify spider mites only by the presence of fine webbing…but there is another type of plant-damaging mite that does not produce webbing: the false spider mite – scientific name: Brevipalpus californicus (Banks). The (true) spider mite produces fine […]
The selection of pruners/scissors/snips involved in gardening can be overwhelming. Luckily, for houseplant parents, we are mostly dealing with soft-stem plant material. Disclaimer: this article contains Amazon Affiliate links which help to support House Plant Journal content – thank you! Long Handled Snips (Amazon Link) I love these bonsai-inspired long handled snips for making precise […]
When your houseplants get adequate light, they will use up water and soil nutrients. You replenish the water by regular watering but nutrients gradually get depleted from the soil. Light drives the production of sugars, which are made from water and carbon dioxide but the physical plant structures and all the cell processes require other […]
Yes, I’ve jumped in on the trend of keeping high humidity aroids in a modified Ikea cabinet. I even felt a bit late since the Milsbo cabinet had been out of stock for a couple weeks when I decided I wanted to give this a try – and on the day they came back in […]
Prerequisite: Light Meter Without a light meter, you’ll never be able to make sense of how much light your plants are getting. It’s like buying an oven without knowing what temperature you’re setting it to; like a car with no speedometer. Any of these will do:(Amazon Affiliate Links)Dr. Meter (shown above): https://amzn.to/34qxtfxDr. Meter (version 2): […]
This article contains affiliate links that support House Plant Journal content. Active Grow kindly gifted the grow light system for an honest review. One day, a friend gave me a few potted herbs saying: “you’re good with plants, you’ll enjoy these!” For any non-plant people out there: the hobby of growing plants has many sub-genres, […]
Famous last words heard by houseplants: “Bright indirect light?” This spot seems bright enough. Your interior light levels form the growth potential of the plant. Your care efforts realize that potential (watering, fertilizing, repotting). Good light is the PREREQUISITE for a plant to grow but the term “bright indirect light” fails to convey anything concrete. […]
