Tips for becoming a plant parent
So you’ve decided to become a plant parent, congrats!
Plants have truly changed my life for the better. Sharing a space with plants for the past few months has:
Helped with my anxiety
Improved the air quality in my room
Improved my patience and responsibility
Been a fun and inexpensive way to decorate my room
I'm pretty sure we've all owned that one plant that left us thinking "maybe this plant thing isn't for me". I know I have. After killing one plant a few months ago and leaving another struggling I just assumed I don't have the green thumb. But just like people, all plants are different and need to be taken care of differently.
Here are some tips I’ve learned for how to take care of my plants these past few months
Keep the card that comes with them
Most plants come with a tag that tells you the name of the plants as well as basic information about it. This is really the biggest key to keeping your plants alive when you’re just starting out. Can’t remember how often you should water it or what temperature works best for it? Just check the tag!
Instead of keeping the tags sticking out of the dirt from my plants, I tapped mine to my journal along with additional information about the plants written next to it.
Leave them be when you first get them
The best thing to do when you first bring a plant home is to leave it alone. Give it a day or two of adjusting to its new space before doing any heavy watering or fertilizing and wait a week or more to do repotting.
Google and youtube are your best friend
Don’t know what’s wrong with your plant or how to fix it? Google it. Google has helped me recover overwatered plants and completely bring my Christmas cactus back to life.
I usually go to google to get general information about my plants when I buy them and then youtube to get visual advice on how to take care of them. It’s also really helpful to watch plant professionals do things like repot or cut plants before you try on your own
There are many apps on the market that can tell you how to take care of your plants but I personally find them too expensive. You don't need to pay $20+ a month to know your overwatering your plants and giving it too much light.
So is social media
Following plant-based Instagram accounts has helped me so much with learning how to have a green thumb. Most of my favorite planting tips and hacks come from social media. The plant community on social media is also super welcoming and easy to reach out to for advice (and very generous with giveaways). Plus the photo inspiration from other plant parents is amazing! Here are my two favorite plant accounts
Sometimes the plant isn’t for you, and that’s okay
I had the lovely experience of owning the most beautiful angle plant….for a week. I followed all of my own advice; looked up how often it needs to be watered, cut off dead parts, gave it the correct amount of sunlight. It kept getting worse and worse every day. My last resort was moving it into a different part of my apartment thinking it was the temperature hurting the plant. By the end of the week, it was completely brown.
What did I do wrong? I have no idea. Sometimes we pick plants that don’t pick us, and that’s okay! You may lose some along the way but dot let that deter you from getting a green thumb.
So grab your purse, head to HomeDepot, and get your plant babies!
Plant Parent checklist