Here’s how to bring your houseplants inside once temperatures start dropping.
Itdepends on the temperature, and specifically the nighttime low temperatures.
You’ll want to move your houseplants indoors before night temperatures get below 45F.
Place houseplants where they’ll get plenty of bright but indirect light.Credit: Richard Leo Johnson
Any colder, and you’re likely to see damage, especially on tender new leaves and stem tips.
Somecommon ones to look for include aphids, scale, and spider mites.
Before moving your houseplants indoors, firstcheck them carefully for pest problems.
Coleus will do well indoors over the winter, then can be planted outside again in spring.Credit: Marty Baldwin
confirm to turn over leaves to check the undersides and look closely along the stems.
Spray any pests you see with insecticidal soap.
After that, check them once more for any pests, and if needed, treat again.
While they won’t go completely dormant, manytropical houseplantsnaturally slow their growth during the colder months.
This means they don’t need as much water or fertilizer as they did during the warm growing season.
Instead, hold the nutrients until spring andkeep your plants wateredjust enough so they don’t dry out completely.
Provide Light and Humidity
Even though your houseplants are resting, they still need bright, indirect light.
Because days get very short in winter, you might want to considersupplementing with grow lights.
