Bringing Your Houseplants Inside for Fall

Fall is here, and with it, colder temperatures. This is a great time for homeowners to start checking off their winter prep checklist. For every good plant owner and green thumb this means bringing your houseplants inside where it’s warm so they can survive the winter. Unfortunately, this isn’t as simple as just moving the pot inside and putting it near a window. There are several important steps for plant parents to keep in mind in order to acclimate plants indoors for the winter.

1. Acclimation

If you have time to plan ahead before temperatures drop, acclimate your plants to life indoors. To simulate indoor life, move your houseplants to a shaded area of your yard. This will allow the plants to get used to the lower light levels they will be receiving over the next few months. This is an important step, so the plants won’t go into shock when moved indoors and become dormant. This is also a great opportunity to trim them back a little and remove dead leaves.

2. Debugging 

When moving plants indoors, the next step should be to debug the plants, in order to keep them healthy, and keep your home pest free. Small garden insects such as aphids and spider mites may hitchhike on your plant, and beetles, spiders and moths may lay eggs on your plants, or in the soil. These eggs typically hatch in the spring, but the moderate temperature of your home may cause them to hatch early. For more info about common houseplant pests and how to get rid of them, check out this article.

There are several methods to debugging your plants. Some folks use neem oil, a natural and safe insecticide that absorbs into your plants. Once neem oil comes in contact with insects, it will cause them to slow or cease feeding which will prevent larvae from growing. It is completely non-toxic to birds, wildlife and pets. Another method is simply hosing off the plants before bringing them inside. The most effective method is to remove the plant from its pot and soak it in a plant safe dish soap and water mixture. As long as you use a natural dish soap with no degreasers in it, this method will be safe for the plant and soil, but kill any insects or eggs. 

3. Repotting

Using the dish soap and water method of debugging gives you a chance to inspect your plant to see if it has grown over the summer. If the roots of your plant have gotten to the edge of the pot, best practice is to repot your plant into a larger container so that it can safely continue growing. If you haven’t removed your plant to debug it, carefully wiggle the plant and majority of the dirt out of its container and inspect the roots. If your plant hasn’t outgrown its container, gently place it back into the container and add appropriate amounts of potting soil to fill in any empty spaces. 

4. Reduce water and fertilizer

Although most tropical plants continue to grow over the winter, their natural cycle causes them to slow their growth and essentially rest. To simulate this in your home, reduce water and fertilizer to allow them to follow their natural cycle.

Hold the nutrients off, and reduce watering just enough so that the soil doesn’t completely dry out.

5. Provide indirect light

We’ve established that your plants will be in a resting cycle over the winter, but this doesn’t mean they should go completely dormant or die. Place them in an area where they can receive indirect light so they can receive the sunlight needed to remain healthy. If your house has low humidity, or you live in a dry climate such as parts of Texas, or Utah like us, experts recommend using a humidifier a couple times a week to keep your plants from drying out.

Happy Planting!