Your Plants Are Waking Up. Here’s What to Change.
Something’s shifted in the last few weeks. If you’ve got plants at home, you’ve probably already caught it: new growth on something that looked completely checked-out through June and July. That’s not random, and it’s not really about the calendar either. It’s about light. September to November is when Melbourne’s indoor plants actually wake up, and the way you look after them needs to wake up with them.
Most watering advice floating around online is written for the Northern Hemisphere, where the seasons run backwards to ours. So a lot of it just doesn’t apply here, not because whoever wrote it got it wrong, they’re just working off the wrong calendar entirely.
Increase watering gradually, not all at once
Through winter, most plants slow right down, some of them almost stop growing altogether. As the light comes back they start drinking more, but the shift is gradual, not something you flip on the first of September. Increase how often you’re watering a little each week, and check the soil by feel before you do it rather than trusting a schedule. The plant will tell you what it needs, if you’re actually paying attention to it.
Start thinking about feeding your plants
Preparing to Feed Your Plants: Yes
As October arrives, it’s generally a good time to start thinking about feeding your plants again. Indoor plants come out of their winter dormancy and will begining to show signs of new growth. You can begin fertilising every two to four weeks with good quality indoor plant food (like the ones we sell in store!).
This is your best window to repot, if it needs it
If a plant’s outgrown its pot, now’s the time, because roots establish fast while it’s actively growing, which means far less shock than repotting it in the dead of winter. A few things worth getting right while you’re at it:
- Go up one pot size at a time. Jump too far and the extra soil holds onto moisture the roots can’t use yet, and that’s usually how root rot starts.
- Always use a pot with a drainage hole. A decorative pot without one is a cover, not a container, so pot the plant properly first and drop that pot inside the decorative one.
- Wait until roots are actually escaping the drainage holes before you repot at all. If they’re not there yet, the pot it’s in is still doing its job.
Move plants back into position
Anything you shifted closer to a window over winter to catch the shorter days can go back to its usual spot now, especially if it needs a break from stronger spring sun once the light properly picks up.
What to actually watch for
New growth is the green light. It’s the plant telling you it’s ready for more water and more food, not the other way round. So let it lead, rather than sticking to whatever schedule got you through winter.
Not sure what your plant needs right now? [Take our 2-minute quiz] and we’ll point you in the right direction, or drop into our Elsternwick store and ask us directly. We’d rather you asked than guessed.