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Houseplants - care at home & opportunities for commercial cultivation · Hydroponics Daily

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Hi, welcome back to Hydroponics Daily with me, Dr. Russell Sharpe,
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and today's subject is houseplants, and I hope to cover something for everybody,
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from amateurs who have just got a few houseplants on their windowsill,
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through to really keen houseplant growers,
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all about the care of houseplants, and then through to people who are looking
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to cultivate houseplants on a commercial scale.
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And I've got a few tips and advice on that as well.
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Okay, so houseplants, the first thing to consider. The first piece of advice
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I would say for anyone looking at houseplants is that 90% of all houseplants,
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when they die, they die from overwatering.
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People kill houseplants with
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kindness and you really want to be trying to underwater them if possible.
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So when a houseplant is overwatered, they
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sit with their roots in stagnant water
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and this leads to anaerobic conditions the
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production of ethylene anaerobic respiration which is
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very inefficient toxic gases like hydrogen
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sulfide smelly gases and diseases can
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get into the plant from there and so you'll see lots of plants that will die
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and even plants that have evolved lots of houseplants have evolved in the rainforest
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so saint paulia monstera philodendron figs they're all rainforest plants However.
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Even in the rainforest, they don't sit with their feet in stagnant water most
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of the time unless they're adapted to live in swampy conditions.
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So maybe something like...
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You know even things like figs you know
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will suffer if you get stagnant conditions so always keep
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the soil or the growing media or the compost dry
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as not bone dry but.
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Don't don't keep it wet constantly and that
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is also feeds into another area is that in pest and
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disease one of the big pests for houseplants
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is fungus gnats and they thrive anywhere where there's moist
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decomposing grow media so if it's
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wet if your grow media is wet and it's made out
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of cocoa or compost it's going to be decomposing and that's
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going to be really attractive to fungus gnats they're going to they're going
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to aim in on anywhere where there's decomposing
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grow media and then they will target and eat your plant roots
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also counterintuitively a lot
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of cacti and succulents die from underwatering people
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just assume because they're an arid plant that you don't need
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to water them and that couldn't be further from the
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truth again they hate to be over watered and these
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are the plants that really will suffer if you over water them but in
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the summer you can water them as regularly as many other
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houseplants it's just in the winter you need to dial back
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and keep them dry so cacti often they
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can suffer from from actually a lack
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of water another important point a reason why
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a lot of houseplants die is that in the winter
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people put them in a warm room and they put
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them on windowsills that are above a radiator and
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central heating in the winter is one of the biggest causes
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of death in houseplants it's because the
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the the air coming off a radiator is.
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Extremely dry very low
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humidity even though the room is a moderate temperature that
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that air coming off the radiator is much hotter and much
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drier and so the plants simply just dry out
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it's like putting your clothes on the radiator putting your houseplants above
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on a windowsill above a radiator worst thing you can
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do and also even if you have your houseplants in a warm room in the winter unless
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they're getting lots and lots of sun they are going to be using up calories
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because they're going to still be respiring they won't have gone dormant so
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houseplant the best place for a houseplant in the winter is a cold but not,
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a cool but not cold room with lots
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of sun away from a radiator so that's
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where a lot of houseplants can can you can go wrong with
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houseplants over watering and then put them on a windowsill or
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near a radiator in the winter obviously houseplants had a real boom during covid
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and lockdown lots of people started collecting houseplants then and that that
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trend has continued it hasn't just died off with covid and there was a big boom
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in variegated and rare forms of variegated plants Now,
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when it comes to those variegated plants,
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especially the monstrous and the philodendrons with the very white,
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clear leaves,
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maybe the half green, half white.
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Because they haven't got functioning chloroplasts, they can't deal with the
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excess energy that comes from extreme sunlight.
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And so you really need to keep these even more shaded than you would a,
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what we call a wild type, a completely green monster. So in my office here,
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I'm looking at one of the Monstra's that is completely green and all of the
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leaves, there's no scorch on it whatsoever.
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And we treat this plant really badly. We water it every few months and it's completely healthy.
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Now, in the other office, we've got a variegated Monstra and that is always
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suffering from scorch and we care for it.
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We make sure it's got the adequate amount of water, but because it gets direct
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sunlight every now and again,
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because there's no chloroplast the energy just breaks down the cells and kills
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them off so to mitigate this make sure that your variegated philodendrons and monsters never.
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Are exposed to direct sunlight in the summer and never let the plant dry out
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because if it dries out then the leaf temperature increases dramatically because
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there's no evaporative cooling of the water from the leaves.
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So that's a top tip for philodendrons and monstras or what we call Swiss cheese plants.
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So we said the main issue with complete beginners is that they overwater their houseplants.
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So the main issue when it comes to really keen growers is they probably over
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fertilise and this is coming from somebody who is selling fertiliser but you'll find that.
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Most houseplants are over fertilized and i
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would consider myself a good grower especially of house plants but i have looked
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at the the electrical conductivity of some of
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my houseplants coming out and because they you never
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actually get rid of the runoff they can build up to really crazy
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high levels so my number one top tip for
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anyone who's a keen grower is not to buy a fancy fertilizer
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it's to buy an ec pen an electrical
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conductivity pen way before you start messing messing
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around with ph ph pens an ec pen is critical and
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pour some normal water into
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the top of the pot and then collect some
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runoff and measure the ec of that runoff and
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if that runoff is not close
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to the ec of the when you
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fertilize the plant or double that then
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if it's like 10 times that then you've got a
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real problem so what i would do there is take the plants outside
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and just feed them with water until
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the runoff went down to a reasonable level
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for what should be the fertigation solution because you've
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got all those salts that have builded up every time you fertilized and
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they're not going anywhere unless your plant's going crazy and you're harvesting
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the plants so that's one thing you can do you could if you're in a flat use
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something like a wet dry hoover to add to you obviously you can't take them
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outside but you could hoover up the water and then put it down the sink or down
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the toilets or something like that.
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So checking the runoff EC for.
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Keen growers, I think that is the number one hack. If you took away anything
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from this podcast, that would be the one thing.
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And then when it comes to choosing your fertilizer, there are a number of things
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to consider. Obviously, gold leaf contains every essential plant nutrient.
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It's the only one part fertilizer to do that. And so if you're adding a standard
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garden fertilizer or any standard houseplant fertilizer, and it's a liquid,
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it's probably going to be lacking calcium.
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And so you should be on the lookout for signs of
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calcium deficiency which is blackened tissue like
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the leaves have gone black the new growth is black the fruits
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are black the flowers are black and then if you're using a powdered
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product signs of sulfur deficiency which is the leaves
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aren't yellow in so the leaves aren't very
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green they're a light green so not particularly yellow
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but light green and then then if
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you have a ph meter you could check the ph of the
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fertilizer you're using now obviously it the
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ideal is between ph 5.5 and ph
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6.5 and for every unit you go up or
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down that's times 10 so it's a logarithmic scale
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so it gets 10 times more of an
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issue and so this can be a real issue so i once
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tested miracle grow herb one that was designed
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for herbs and it was a bright green product and
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a ph of like 11 or 12 and that's crazy
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high i don't know what was in it but that was stupidly high and then if you
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look at a lot of the plants grow the formulations made for specifically for
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house plants you might find especially in the uk there's ones like you can get
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ones for bonsai you can get ones for citrus plants you can get you know these very specific feeds.
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They may look good on the label, but if you actually test their pH,
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they can be crazily acidic and that's not going to be good for your plants.
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That's going to strip out calcium even further and other elements.
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And so I would definitely, if you're using a houseplant specific fertilizer,
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check the pH, make sure you're not doing that.
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Check the label, make sure there's no chlorides in there. And when it comes to tap water.
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Either leave it 24 hours for the chlorine
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gas to bubble off or add a dechlorinator or
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even better add gold leaf or as it's called in the UK liquid gold
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because that will that will
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fertilize and dechlorinate at the same time now I
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say I'm the inventor of gold leaf
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in the US and liquid gold in the UK I'm
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also the inventor of a product called liquid gold leaf which is
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sold to houseplants houseplant users houseplant growers
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in the UK however i don't sell that product and that
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product hasn't been formulated and improved since
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i i invented it so i would
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advise you to look for signs of iron deficiency
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if you were using that product because it's a white product it used
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to be gold hence the name and magnesium since
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i've since i've moved on and and produced liquid
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gold we've increased the magnesium level as well so those
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would be two I would be particularly looking at and the
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other thing when it comes to house plants is if you
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are going to dilute the fertilizer because you're not going
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to use it all at once then make sure you
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label the bottle I am as guilty as anyone at this I leave bottles hanging around
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and forget to label and think I'll remember what that is but this is a particular
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problem with houseplant growers and it's because people take something like
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liquid gold or gold leaf and they.
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They dilute it in water and it becomes it's cloudy to begin with and then it
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becomes clear and if you're you're diluted it in an evian bottle for example
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and then leave it to one side.
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Every year we get a number of calls from people who say we've drunk
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the diluted fertilizer am i gonna die is
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it gonna be hazardous luckily it's a non-hazardous product but you don't want
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to be drinking fertilizer you know especially if you're pregnant this can be
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an issue so don't leave unlabeled evian bottles that have don't got dilute fertilizer
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hanging around it sounds obvious but people a number of people do it every year
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doesn't have a particular problem in,
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hydroponics standard hydroponics because i guess that.
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Clientele that user-based aren't drinking evian they're more like monster energy
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or red bull and stuff like that so that's that's a particular problem and then
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in winter dial back your nutrition i would stop fertilizing altogether in the
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winter obviously other people the,
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fertilizer manufacturers will say oh keep on fertilizing keep
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on fertilizing in the winter just at a lower level
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but i just don't think it's necessary the other
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thing when it comes to building up ec levels and also stagnant roots is that
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you can have issues in things like terrariums where there is no no allowance
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for runoff and so if you were fertilizing a terrarium you're going to get that
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buildup of the ec again and again and again so maybe take some of the growing media,
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squeeze it get some runoff measure it with an ec pen
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is it crazy high if so try and flush your terrarium
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otherwise it's going to build up over time and then the
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other thing is well a lot of amateur growers they don't realize that
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you're meant to have a plant pot inside a container so
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one the the inner one is supposed to drain into the other so
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the plant the grow media doesn't become stagnant and
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some people just pots into the container and
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obviously you're going to get really bad issues with with build up there so
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don't do that when it comes to the grow media used it used to be peat based
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or loam based like john innis and now it's almost universally cocoa apart from
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some carnivorous growers who still insist on using.
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Compost or sphagnum moss for growing
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their plants because they need a low a low nutrient
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and they won't they found that they can't grow the carnivorous plants in those
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but most plants vast majority plants thrive in cocoa disadvantage
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of cocoa is it doesn't hold on to nutrients so feeding more
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often with a quality fertilizer like gold
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leaf or liquid gold is a really good option when
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it comes to pests and diseases and weeds you get all the
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same pests and diseases and weeds that you get in hydroponics plus a
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few others so spider mites are a
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massive issue fungus gnats are a massive issue thrips are
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a massive issue if you want to deep dive into those see the.
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Earlier episodes we did on those on controlling them identifying them
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and things like that but you also get other pests
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and diseases and the two pests probably
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that you're going to get is aphids mealybugs whitefly
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they're all very similar related sap sucking
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insects and that's because you're
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not growing in a grow room and so you can't
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exclude those pests that you would
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if you were growing in a grow room now some people do set up
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small little grow areas in their in their
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house or their flat and can exclude pests and diseases
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that way and also the advantage of that is you can increase the humidity
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as well because most houseplants like a high humidity especially
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tropical plants so that's good if we
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move on to cultivation and and
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there is a lot of interest now in houseplant cultivation especially
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in the UK and that's coming from two particular areas
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there's one is grow shops the
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hydroponic industry in the UK is seeing
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a significant dip it's not as thriving as
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it was say in lockdown and so people are looking for other types
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of crops to grow and houseplants is proving popular with a number of grow shops
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they're setting up cultivations with houseplants and then the other people looking
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for to get into the houseplant cultivation sector are vertical farms and there's
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a lot of interest from very large vertical farm companies who are experimenting with growing.
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These house plants and they say that it's like a they're doing
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it as like a research project but they wouldn't
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be doing it unless they thought there was serious money to be made in
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it because they've got shareholders and investors and
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they need to show return on that investment fairly quickly
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so the competition they're going up
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against is the sort of countries like or
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areas like the canary islands where they grow vast quantities of
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house plants and they're coming on what we call danish trolleys
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and they're fairly cheap and they go into the big box stores
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so that's one there that's where you're going to be struggling to
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compete on price they it's cheap and
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cheerful and so the grass isn't always
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necessarily greener now you can target the
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more expensive rarer houseplants and
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the variegated forms and things like this however just
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setting up a grow and growing them and getting some cuttings is
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not going to be enough you're going to need to invest a lot of
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time and effort in building up a social media following
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for your propagation a lot of
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the the extra money the
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what do you call it the the premium
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you can pay for these plants is because there's a story behind.
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Them and you know the provenance of them and
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things like this you know you've seen this with like dahlia farmers
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in the uk you know that's where you're getting
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the premium from some houseplant growers some
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houseplant florists turning into houseplant stores they can pay
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a premium because there's a following they're generating a following
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and they're giving advice and they are an influencer
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so you can't just do that straight off the bat and then there's also getting
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those rare genetics you might be able to find rare genetics you might be able
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to mutate some houseplants i might do a podcast on how to mutate plants that
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would be a good one with a big health and safety warning at the start because
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there are some dangerous ways of doing it.
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The catch-22 of selling these rare genetics there is that if you propagate them
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and sell loads of them, they suddenly are no longer rare and they don't command the price.
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So there's something to consider there.
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The good news about growing houseplants hydroponically is that you can use a
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grow 10 to exclude those normal pests and diseases.
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You can get really good increases in yield by adding CO2 and you don't need
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to use such a high light level that you would for other hydroponic crops because
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these plants thrive in the understory of a rainforest most of the time and so
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you don't need to blast them with loads of light to get really good levels of growth.
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The other advantage over a number of hydroponic crops is that you don't necessarily
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have to induce flowering.
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You take a Swiss cheese plant, for example. It's very rare that it flowers.
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We had one flower in our office, our variegated one.
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It was a very interesting flower, but it just sat there for about a year and
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a half producing a fruit, then dropped off, and the seeds weren't viable.
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It definitely wasn't growing for its fruit. Even though its scientific name
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is Monstra Deliciosa, I don't know how it got that name, because the fruit did
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not look in any way delicious.
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Or the sort of thing that you would want to be eating it didn't look
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desirable but obviously something like a peace lily
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or an orchid you would definitely have to be in flower before you
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sold it you would struggle to sell a peace lily or
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an orchid that wasn't in flower and on
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the promise that would have amazing flowers propagation is
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normally by cutting or division it's very
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rare that you would grow houseplants from seed if you are growing them from
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seed be very wary of seeds sold on
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ebay ebay is notorious for selling
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seeds that are not true to type and are
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just of the completely different species so buyer
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beware in that case and then with cuttings if
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you're buying in cuttings always put them
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into quarantine because if you get bring thrips into
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your grow area you're in for a world
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of pain so don't do that when it
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comes to cultivation rather than just houseplant care you do
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have a few options when it comes to pest and disease control that are not open
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to sort of home grower so for example fungus gnats we manufacture a soil sterilant
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that is great for fungus gnats but we never even contemplate selling it for home,
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houseplant growers because it smells of rotting eggs it's extremely hazardous
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even though it can be used in organic farming. And so...
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The idea of having something that would stink a house out with rotten eggs,
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we just wouldn't contemplate that.
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But in a cultivation grow room, you could just about get away with it and you
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could use commercially available pesticides if you had a really bad problem
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in a cultivation sector that wouldn't be available to somebody growing them at home.
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Most home pesticides that are designed for home garden use,
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they have to be safe enough to be used without any PPE,
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whereas the commercial ones they they
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are they are registered and and authorized
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on the assumption that people will be wearing you know
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state-of-the-art personal protective equipment respirators
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full body suit rubber gloves
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things like this and obviously trained on how to use them
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safely more importantly i haven't covered bonsai
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in this podcast episode because
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bonsai are not a house plant there is
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an assumption in certainly in western countries that
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bonsai are house plants and lots of people try and buy bonsai
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for house plants however this is a
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myth that is thought to be generated because
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when western leaders would
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go over to japan or china it's
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pen it's called penjing then they would
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go into people's houses and they would find a
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bonsai on the table as a centerpiece and they
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say oh look at this tree growing on this table it's a house plant in japan they
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have house plants that are trees that's not actually true what's happened is
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they brought in a bonsai from outside cleaned it up put on the table and this
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is a sign that you are a esteemed guest and you've been you've been welcomed
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in the house with a bonsai but obviously the the the.
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They didn't realize that people would go back to Europe and to North America
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and say, oh, they grow houseplants inside and they're trees.
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So in Japan, they're actually grown outside, even though they're in pots.
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Bonsai means tree in a pot, and you would struggle to grow them indoors.
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Obviously, there's things like figs that can be grown as an indoor bonsai,
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but they are not the most common species of bonsai in Japan, certainly.
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You're talking more pines and elms
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maples and these just would not thrive indoors
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so don't try and grow them indoors you want
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shaded areas outside of wind
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and extreme extreme weather that's the perfect conditions for a bonsai certainly
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the best similar conditions for wasabi really so bonsai and chinese penjing
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they're definitely something to grow outdoors and bring in to the house on special
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occasions and then take them straight back out again,
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and if you're growing houseplants you're probably bringing in a load of pests
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and diseases on them as well at the same time which your houseplants won't be
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thanking you for interestingly bonsai,
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originated in china and was brought to japan so penjing is the original but
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it was certainly refined and made into a real art form in japan so you can't
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give the chinese all the credits.
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I like to say the Chinese invented everything apart from the camera to take
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pictures of the things they invented.
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But I think, penjing, we can certainly say they definitely invented probably
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1,000 years ago, probably.
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That sounds about right, that, doesn't it? Other interesting houseplants like green walls,
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I think we'll cover in a separate episode because they're a
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law unto themselves and they require specialist irrigation
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and fertigation systems involving pumps and things like this so
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they'll they can stay for another day so if
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you've liked this podcast then please as i
23:36
say give it a review if you are on apple
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i'll run a competition and the
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funniest review can get a one
23:45
of our amazing hand lenses so we we sell
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a hand lens that has an led light and a
23:52
uv light for diagnosing pests
23:55
and diseases looking at trichomes looking at mycorrhiza so
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uv mycorrhizae you put them in the dark they'll illuminate
24:02
under uv so you can see if your plants have got mycorrhizae
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and things like this so we'll we'll give out a free light
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hand lens to anyone who gives the best review on
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apple podcasts and that can be anywhere in the world so
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we'll post it out you might need to pay the tariff
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when it comes into your country if you've got a particularly
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bad import duty from the uk
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but as long as you agree to pay that then it won't come straight back to us
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and so yeah the free hand lens for the funniest review you can you can give
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any style you like because a true honest review that would be fantastic so until
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tomorrow that's been hydroponics daily for today houseplant care and houseplant cultivation.