Let’s start discussing on Indoor Farming or Indoor Gardening in simple Q and A format to keep this episode interesting.
- What is Indoor Gardening or Indoor Plantation?
It simply means growing plants indoors. This might be at a residential home or an office building or any other enclosed area.
- What are the Types of Indoor Gardening?
Indoor gardening can be
a. Container gardening which is the most common and the simplest type,
b. Hydroponic gardening which is growing plants in water using various techniques,
c. environment agriculture,
d. vertical farming and more. We will discuss these later in various posts of this series.
- What are the basic components of Indoor Gardening?
The Three basic components or requirements are:
a. Water or moisture,
b. Growing Medium like potting mix for container gardening.
b. Light Source which can be natural light or a Plant Grow lights like LED grow lights.
c. Plant Support as they grow. We will discuss these in detail in next post.
- What are the benefits of Indoor Gardening?
- Grow anything anytime! Yes, you can grow anything at anytime of the year using indoor gardening. This is really important for those countries and zones which receive very less hours of sunlight. Owing to recent technological advancements, especially the usage of LED grow lights, indoor gardening has become pretty convenient and you can grow any type of flower, food and any ornamental plant, regardless of the weather and the time of the year.
- Air Purifying Plants: As we all know, plants take in carbon dioxide and produce oxygen, while the human body does exactly complete opposite. Having plants in and around your house will drastically improve the quality of air you breathe. Many air purifier plants filter the air around the plants and absorb toxic gases such as benzene and formaldehyde. You can check a detailed video on NASA recommended air purifying plant list from HERE.
- Grow Fresh Herbs and Vegetables organically for you Kitchen. This I feel, is the most important benefit. I understand, this may not be so easy practically as it sounds. Though not indoors, I have always recommended organic vegetable gardening in your home or terrace in containers.
In our next post, we will discuss on the principles of indoor gardening and things you need to set up a basic indoor garden.
Happy Gardening!
- What are indoor plants?
Indoor plants are simply the plants that can be grown indoors or in other words they can be grown in low light conditions. - How do you Purchase Indoor Plants? Best place to buy indoor plants is from your local nursery or gardening store. Buy Online only if they deliver within 3 days of purchase, otherwise the plant may not survive. There are a few things you need to check before purchase, like the root system whenever possible. I know they generally do not allow this! But You can also check the leaves for its overall health. Generally, the thicker the leaves, the more resistant the plant is for pest attacks. Also check thoroughly for pests by closing examining the plant. Because this can infect your other house plants. You can watch my related video on 10 tips to remember when you purchase a plant from nursery or online.
- Do I Need to Repot After I Bring it Home? Firstly if its come with its own container, leave it without disturbing for 3 to 4 days or atleast a week for it to settle to its new environment. Then if the container is large enough for the size of the plant and the potting mix used looks good and well draining, you better leave it as it is for few more days or atleast a month. If it looks root bound and roots coming out of drainage holes, its time to repot into a larger container of your choice. We will discuss on the Indoor Plant Potting mix later.
- How much light do indoor plants need? Well this is perhaps the most important factor and depends on the plant you are choosing to grow. But one point to note here is every plant requires light for photosynthesis, whether its natural sunlight or artificial grow lights, Whether direct sunlight or Indirect light like in a shady place. There are many plants which can tolerate low light conditions which we shall discuss shortly. But there is no plant which can survive in complete darkness.
- Now Which plants can do well in low light conditions? Yes some plants can grow well in low light conditions. The best examples are Philodendrons, Money plants, Peace lily, Dracaenas and even Sanseviera or the snake plants and most of these are air purifying plants as well.
- Now Which plants are very easy to grow indoors with very little care? Obviously the ones which require low light will do well in any conditions and are easy to grow. Sanseviera or the snake plants tops this list.
- How do you care for indoor plants? Here are some tips you can follow that will help you a lot to grow indoor plants: SOIL: Keep Soil Composition simple. Just take 1 part Perlite, 1 Part Cocopeat and 1 Part Compost. Generally you do not use garden soil for indoors plants. But its upto you to alter this composition. I think It hardly makes any difference. Most of these are ornamental plants and are slow growing and mostly do not require regular fertilizers.
So the Tips to Follow are: Keep the Soil Moist. One important point to note here is these are kept indoor and not in direct sunlight, hence the rate of water evaporation is very less and so the water requirement is less. And they do not require daily watering. Best way is to dip you finger into the soil for about an inch and check the moisture, and water only if its dry or if you see the plants leaves are wilting.
The other important Tips are: Always check the drainage holes are patent.
Also know your plant by its name so that you know the plant specific care tips and Dos and Donts for that particular plant.
- What are some of the common reasons indoor plants die? 1. Overwatering or underwatering and 2. Light Levels (either not enough light which his most common problem and also if too much light or under direct sunlight which is also common if you place an indoor plant under the sunlight and burn it, out of ignorance.
- How do you prune indoor plants?
Do you really need to do it? Well, If you have no reason to prune it, don’t do it. But, if you notice your plant growing tall and out of shape, you can carefully prune them. - Do I Fertilizer My Indoor Plants? Well, it depends on the type of plant. If its comes to Oranmental plants like agalonema or palms or succulents, they require very little feeds like once in about 2 to 3 months you can add few slow release NPK crystals or a handful of compost to the container. And if you are growing Flowering plants like Orchids, they definitely need a special fertilizer regularly.
- What About Pest Control in Indoor Plants? Yes they also need to be take care of by regularly spraying a mild pesticide spray like a plain soapy solution or mixing about 5ml neem oil in water with some 10 drops of liquid soap or shampoo into 1 litre of water. Once in 15 days maintenance spray is recommended to keep them pest free. Or weekly once if they are already infested.
- My Plant leaves are Turning Yellow or edges are becoming dry and brown? Well this can be due to under or overwatering. This topic is discussed in details in other videos in my channel on Leaf yellowing and leaf browning topics. You can check it HERE.