BASIC COMPONENTS of Indoor Gardening

In today’s post, we will look into the basic principles and components of indoor gardening. First and foremost factor is:

  1. MOISTURE: The moisture of the plant is realted to hydration of the soil which is achieved by simply watering the plant. Here, you must take care not to commit the mistake of overwatering or under watering.  Use the finger dip method to check moisture before watering. Watering a plant by the calendar is not recommended.  The watering requirement varies from plant to plant like for instance, succulents or xerophytes require very less frequent watering like once in a week.
  2. LIGHT: This is another major factor required for plant photosynthesis. This can be achieved by two methods: a) Natural Sunlight – like placing your plants in your balcony or near a window or under indirect bright light in a bright spot in your home.
    b) Grow Lights – This is obviously an artificial source of light for plant photosynthesis. These plant grow lights are actually substitutes for sunlight and present day technology provides great quality LED grow lights emitting the electromagnetic spectrum appropriate for photosynthesis.  You can grow any plant including vegetables and even flowering and fruiting plants under led grow lights. We will discuss this in another detailed episode on grow lights – like choosing the right intensity, right bulb, right color and so on.
  3. SOIL: For house plants to thrive successfully indoors, special care needs to be taken of the kind of soil they are planted in. the soil used for houseplants is different from the natural soil that plants usually thrive in outdoors. We will discuss in detail about the indoor plant potting mix recipes in our next episode.
  4. FERTILZERS: Natural outdoor grown plants receive nutrients from the ground soil. However, potted plants have to be feeded regularly to meet the plant requirements and sustain growth and yield. This includes the Major NPK elements – Nitrogen, Phosphorous and Potasssium as well as trace elements required for proper plant performance. Nitrogen provides the plant with its green and leafy growth, Phosphorus is essential for flowering or fruiting plants. And, potassium is essential for strong roots and increased nutrient uptake. 
    We always prefer organic fertilizers like vermicompost, decomposed cow dung, bone meal, neem cake powder and stuff like that for our indoor as well as outdoor gardening. We always say “No to Chemicals”.
  5. CONTAINERS: Choosing the right container for indoor gardening is not so much important except using the right size for a particular plant. You can use plastic, cement, ceramic or even wooden containers for indoor planting. Plastic is commonly used as its relatively cheaper and light weight. Make sure you have drainage holes and cover the holes with a mesh at the bottom and also use a plate under the container.
  6. OTHER FACTORS: Other important factors like Humidity, Temperature, air circulation, Plant support are also important factors to take care in indoor gardening. Variations in these factors can be responsible for leaf drying, leaf drop, fungus and many other problems.
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