How to feed indoor flowers in the winter at home?

The people who carefully care for a small garden on the windowsill, for the most part, are well aware of the peculiarities of their pets, their preferences in land, fertilizers and irrigation regimes. But far from all can guess how to feed indoor flowers in winter. And therefore, sometimes mistakes are made, leading to growth retardation, lack of flowering or diseases of the inhabitants of window sills. Our article is designed to help you avoid such oversights and help you choose the right way to maintain your plantings.

General rules for feeding

Before you figure out how to feed indoor flowers in the winter at home, we recall how this is done in principle. There are not many rules, but it’s worth remembering them.

1. Top dressing is not applied to dry ground! Even in a diluted state, they can burn the roots. First, the plant is watered in a slightly smaller volume than always, and only after a couple of hours fertilizers are given.
2. It is better to feed flowers in the evening, when active sun exposure decreases, less evaporation and the flower can fully receive nutrients.
3. Do not violate the recommendations for diluting fertilizers. More than prescribed by the instruction, the plant will not be able to absorb the fertilizing, and it is quite possible for it to burn the roots.

When it is impossible to fertilize

There are frequent situations in which top dressing is strictly prohibited or, in any case, is strongly not recommended. Firstly, this is the period of plant disease or the time of attack by its pests. First, this problem is solved, and only after complete recovery do they begin to neatly and carefully maintain the weakened flower.

It is not worth fertilizing only purchased plants: during their industrial cultivation, so many stimulants and minerals are introduced into the soil that they need time to master the already existing fertilizing. The first time you can feed such flowers only after a month, when they confidently take root in your home.

You need to pause after the transplant. If you have correctly selected the soil, it contains everything necessary for the survival and well-being of the plant. In addition, the roots are damaged during the relocation, even if you were extremely careful. Fertilizers in this situation will not only not be absorbed, but may also harm.

There are special rules about how often and how to feed indoor flowers in winter: during this period, plants are especially vulnerable, so we will talk about this in detail and separately.

When fertilizers are needed immediately

If you rarely recall that the soil for plants needs nutritious, that they cannot survive on the same water, then over time you will observe the sad consequences of your forgetfulness:

• flowers stop growing or growth slows down very much;
• stems are very elongated, become thin, brittle and weak;
• the leaves become small, pale, lose their color and wilt, their dropping or the appearance of unhealthy spots are often noted;
• theoretically flowering plants refuse to bloom ;
• plants hardly resist disease (if you regularly have to treat them, it's time to think about the fact that you are doing something wrong).

If such symptoms are detected, you will have to fertilize as quickly and gently as possible, otherwise you risk being left without a kindergarten. If starvation is noticed out of season, you will have to rack your brains over how to feed indoor flowers in the winter at home so that weakened plants can absorb fertilizers. In summer, spring and autumn, you can use universal dressings in the usual way.

Updates for the winter

Most gardeners believe that plants should not be fertilized in the cold. But professionals think this is not entirely true. Of course, the frequency of fertilizer application changes; in no case are growth stimulants given; and before feeding indoor flowers in winter, you will have to think in advance and change the composition of fertilizing. However, you should not completely stop supporting, especially if flowering plants are standing on your windowsill. Nevertheless, they spend a lot of energy on flowering and pull out from the earth everything that it can give. So such specimens are fed as usual until they fade.

It is enough for other plants to give fertilizers in a much lower concentration (it decreases by half) and much less often. Once a month it will be enough - and so on until spring.

The variety of plants also greatly depends on how to feed indoor flowers in winter. Lily, for example, is resting during this period. If she has been living with you for several years, then the aboveground part dries up, and the underground part gathers strength. The pot is placed somewhere cool, it until the spring just maintains soil moisture. If you just planted the bulb (in the fall), then it is being developed in a new place, and until March it is not worth stimulating it. The same considerations apply to all colors that have a clearly expressed rest period.

How to feed indoor flowers in winter: folk remedies

Many generations of plant growers who care about the health of their pets have come up with a significant number of “recipes” for how to feed indoor flowers in the winter as softly as possible, but nutritiously. The following were considered the most successful:

1. Juice of the well-known aloe. A teaspoon of this substance is diluted in one and a half liters of water. Once a month it is applied as top dressing. Suitable for all plants.
2. Infusion of pomegranate and citrus peels. It takes 24 hours to withstand. Suitable again for all colors.
3. Banana skins infused for the same time.
4. When washing cereals (buckwheat, barley, millet, rice), do not pour water, but use it for watering. Perfect soft fertilizer! The same applies to the water in which dried peas were soaked.
5. If the house has an aquarium, water from it (when changing) is allowed to water the plants. Then chemical fertilizers will not be needed.

Preventive measures: getting ready in advance

In order not to guess how to feed indoor flowers in winter, you can do something ahead of time. During the spring transplant, you can go for some tricks that will provide your plants with everything you need until spring. They will help a lot if there is a need for a transplant in the fall.

1. Forest soil. It must be taken under the oaks, only the top layer. For a year, everything that it contains is enough with the head.
2. When transplanting flowers that prefer acidic soils, a chopped fern is laid at the bottom of the pot.

Choosing how to feed indoor flowers in winter, remember that they need soil of different acidity. It is not necessary to add eggshells to plants that need an acidic environment, and thick from coffee - that they love alkaline.