[Applause]
with a segment that's especially for
people like me he's calling it how not
to kill your houseplants okay we want to
keep them alive we want to go out and
purchase them and get the ones we love
but mostly we want them to live yeah and
you know a lot of times people just try
too hard a lot of times people think is
they think they walk by plant and it's
not looking happy and they're like I'll
just give it water yes and they'll walk
by it again it's not looking happy I'll
just give it water yeah so have you ever
sat in a tub for like maybe three days
no that's drowning your plants right so
the key is when it comes to any plant
that's out there is despite how it
appears before you go to water a plant
use your finger you got it Mother Nature
gave it to you yeah you stick your
finger in in the soil and if that soil
feel somewhat moist don't water if it
feels dry the plant looks dry then you
water okay the other word of warning as
many containers like these decorative
pots don't have any drainage in the base
so sometimes what happens is you think
they need water
well in the base of that pot it's full
of water so that plants just sitting in
water all the time like you sitting in a
bathtub for days on end yeah and with
that you get root rot and that plant
dies I have a question yeah about
watering now yes
so oK we've decided it's dry it needs
water do I know how much water it needs
like what so it's all good how do I know
when to stop so here's the key when it
comes to watering is it depends on the
plant size at the size of the pot really
easy thing that you could do is you
could take this pot right out the plant
right out of the pot it's still in a
scroll or container we can actually show
it over here with a little guy here and
we can just take this I'm gonna make
sure the pot comes with it as well there
we go
and if I was to put this just in a sink
like that and filled water up mm-hmm
to about that high on the pot yeah as
soon as you see no more bubbles or you
start to see the soil change color it's
fully water it's done
that's easy okay so it all depends on
pot size it all depends on how much
light that you have in your house but
the key is feeling feeling sure that you
don't do too much too much water okay
next thing is during the shorter
daylight hours that we have you don't
need to fertilize at this time of the
year right so as you're going from
October to March daylight hours are
short even though plants look nice and
green inside your home because the days
are so short they're not really
producing much energy and they don't
need to be fat Marge when the daylight
hours start to grow that's when you
start to feed and feeding every other
week you can use something like a
Miracle Grow or you can even use these
little steaks that you can just pop in
there okay
common problem that people have is the
wrong soil that they use a reminder you
want to make sure when you're using or
repotting a plant yeah use potting soil
don't repot too often sometimes people
put them in too big of a pot and they'll
drown so a smaller pot really key
there's different formulated soils for
orchids out there there's different
forms formulated soils for cacti right
as well and then the number one reason
why people hate plants indoors is died
on they die yeah and then also sometimes
you'll see these little things that look
like fruit flies coming from the soil
right
they're called fungus nuts okay that's
too much water why you have them the
other thing is too is if you have any
plant leaves that are sitting there on
the decay they're eating the decay but
what you can do is you see that right
there on the side there that you little
yellow yeah that's a sticky trap so what
happens with that is the insects
attractive and it sticks just to the
side cut your watering down put your
sticky traps up boom they're gone okay
it comes to the feeding yep
you said only do it certain times of
year if you're feeding and it's not the
time of year that you should be feeding
your plant you could be killing it you
could be actually yeah you could be
causing it some harm so what happens is
you may be putting soft growth on that
soft growth could be attract certain
insects even though it's inside insects
glowing your clothing and all the rest
that come inside your home right it's
just really it's just an unnecessary
need so outside of harm you're spending
money that you don't really need to
spend and and when you're all set and
done if things don't work out for you
yeah Tracy that's for you is this a fake
[Laughter]
it's you know what faux has come a long
way and I would I should totally just go
in that direction a good try with your
tips the other thing I want to ask us
about the repotting yes why do you need
to is it just disruptive when you keep
taking a plant and putting it in a
different pot like is that why it's not
a good thing
this is a jade plant that's just sitting
inside that pot I'm just gonna flip this
out so then you can take a look yeah
plans for instance are a plant that
likes tight feet okay so to be in a
tight container like statues right so if
I put it in too big of a pot yeah then
the roots are gonna go out it's actually
not going to be able to sustain and/or
survive so you got to know your plants
usually as your repotting many plants
only need to be doing that every other
year but don't go to too big of plot
Jade plants sometimes it's three to five
years okay for you start repotting so
just read a little bit there's this
thing called the Internet it's
unbelievable and if you go on there and
there's this other thing called Google
if you put in J plant when to repot it's
amazing the information that's out there
now say anything about like access to
light we didn't really talk about
sunlight well you want to make sure
you're picking the right plant for the
right place yeah so if you have an
apartment that's maybe a little bit dark
you want to do a spa fulfilling which is
a peace lily if you have high light then
you can do things like even to some of
the corn plants do very well in high
light right so picking the right plant
ask questions when you go to buy them
that's why I love independent garden
centers yeah when you go there they're
gonna answer the questions they're gonna
guide you and help you okay