Grow Beautiful Plants With These Summer Houseplant Care Tips

Take advantage of the growing season with these tips for summer houseplant care

Summer lovers rejoice! We are in peak growing season and hopefully surrounded by happy houseplants. Like all seasons, it’s important to evaluate our current plant setup during this time to make sure that our plants are happy and thriving. Here are a few important summer houseplant care tups to keep happy and healthy houseplants this season!

First: Evaluate Your Environment

It’s important to learn your home environment during the summer in order to give your houseplants the care that they need. Do you tend to let the windows open and embrace that summer heat? Or do you prefer to keep your space cool and comfy during those sultry summer months? The answer will ultimately help you decide how to best care for your plants. Here are some basic considerations:

Let’s dive into each on for the ultimate summer houseplant care guide!

Light

Summer is ultimately when light levels are at their peak. Your poor sunlight starved succulents are thrilled to have that sun beating down on them. But what about your other plants? They may not be as thrilled. You may need to move more tender foliage plants back from any windows with strong southern exposure and monitor them for sun damage or sunburn.

Water

Will all of that generous sunlight, you may notice that your watering routine has ramped up significantly this season. Make sure to check your plants a little more often to make sure that they are not drying out too quickly! Signs that your plant is under-watered might include: crispy or yellowing leaves, crispy tips, dry soil, or drooping. Getting a moisture meter is an easy way to keep track of whether your plant is ready to be watered.

Because summertime is typically when we are out and about and enjoying the sunshine ourselves, you may go on a vacation. If you’re leaving for a week or less, chances are your plants may be okay as long as you water before you leave. If it’s over one week, you may want to recruit someone to check on your plants, or take other measures to ensure that your plants get water (a full blog on vacationing with houseplants to come!)

Humidity

Depending on where you live, summer months can get quite humid and sticky. If you tend to open the windows and let the humidity fill the room, then you may notice very happy houseplants in your home! If however, you prefer to keep the summer weather outdoors, and prefer to crank your air conditioner, beware. Move your plants away from vents or air conditioning units, and you may need to take steps to increase the humidity in your home, or maintain your winter humidity practices. Getting a hygrometer is a great start to measuring your space’s humidity levels, but you can also read about ways to increase your humidity levels here.

Fertilizer

If you began fertilizing in the spring season, you might be well into the swing of things when it comes to fertilizing your houseplants. One thing that you may want to be mindful of, is the temperature. It’s a good idea to hold off on fertilizing in extremely hot temperatures (if you space gets to these levels). Intense heat can result in some stress on your plants, especially if they aren’t accustomed to it. It’s best to hold off fertilizing during this time and resume when temperatures are a little more comfortable.

Monitoring for Pests

Speaking of stress…if your plants are experiencing any stress this summer they do become more vulnerable to pests. It’s good practice to monitor your plants closely for pets in any season, but it’s especially important to incorporate it into your summer houseplant care routine. Here are a few reasons why your plants could be particularly susceptible to pests during the summer months:

• Dry air from the air conditioning
• Sun damage
• Opening windows nearby can attract pests
• Frequent trips to the garden centre
• Bringing your plants outside to repot during nice weather
• Keeping plants outdoors during the summer months

If pests are a concern for you, here are a few general pest prevention measures that you can take to ward off houseplant pests. You can easily adopt these practices during your summer houseplant care routine! Continue to inspect your plants regularly for signs of pests throughout the season. It might be the difference in stopping a small outbreak to becoming a catastrophic infestation.

Repotting

Summer is a very popular time to repot your houseplant. The weather is nice, plants are growing rapidly. You may notice that you may need to repot many more of your plants at this time, due to increased growth during the growing season. Check your plants for signs that they are ready for a new pot, and check out this blog for everything you need to know about potting houseplants! Similar to fertilizing, if your environment is experiencing extreme heat to such a point that your plant is showing signs of stress, it’s best to hold off. Repotting a houseplant in a distressed state can make it even more stressed. Now, make sure that it is in fact the temperature and not the pot itself that is causing the stress.

Propagation

Summer is also a great time to start snipping and propagating your plants as the brilliant light is great for encouraging root growth. Have fun making new plants to share with friends or family! You can also use the cuttings to stimulate growth on the “mother plant”, make your plants more full, or have extra plants in your collection. One important thing to keep in mind with propagations is to be mindful of the heat. Keeping water propagations in a sunny windowsill is great as long as the water temperature doesn’t get too hot or it will rot the roots. If a warm space is your only option, you can try propagating in soil or in moss as well!

Enjoy The Growth!

Some of the best houseplant growth happens during the sunny summer months! Enjoy your summer houseplant care during the growing season with your happy houseplants while it is here!