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- Shannon joined Garden Supply Company during COVID and takes care of houseplants and tropical plants.
- The houseplant industry exploded during COVID; interest in rare plants has tapered off, but basics and standards remain popular.
- Snake plants, also known as mother-in-law's tongue, are Shannon's favorite due to their hardiness and variety.
- Ideal time to repot houseplants is at the beginning or end of the growing season, not during dormancy in winter.
- Using a nursery pot inside a decorative pot has multiple benefits, including reduced weight and easier monitoring of the plant's health.
- Customers need to learn about their plants' specific needs, as factors like humidity, sunlight, and proximity to air vents affect their growth.
- When repotting, increase pot size by no more than two inches to ensure the roots can colonize the space and prevent stagnant water.
- Overwatering is a common reason for houseplant failure; establish a consistent watering schedule and check moisture levels.
- Use warm water and consider adding soap to help with water absorption and break surface tension.
- For exterior plants, soapy water can help with dry spots in the lawn or soil under hedges.
- Maintain consistent watering and monitor plant needs for healthier houseplants.
- The podcast hosts recommend feeling plants and checking for moisture, not just watering on a schedule.
- Repotting during the growing season is ideal to avoid disrupting growth.
- Experiment with different soil types to accommodate various watering habits and preferences.
Creators & Guests
What is In The Garden?
In the Garden with Keith Ramsey is a podcast aimed at helping you grow and maintain a beautiful and healthy garden and landscape.
Each podcast will focus on a new specific topic. Check back every two weeks for the latest episode!
[00:00:00] Hey, good morning, Keith Ramsey with garden supply company. Shannon's with me today. And we're talking about her favorite subject today. Shannon joined us a couple of years ago during COVID. Huge passion for plants. It's always been her hobby. And she finally followed in my footsteps step stuff, taking your hobby and turn it into a career that, so that you don't ever have to work,
[00:00:40] it's like you just get to show up and do the stuff that you want to do. Yeah. So Shannon takes care of all of our house plants and tropical plants. And then and then, does all kinds of design work around the garden center, but. I'll let you let cha, let her tell you a little more about our house plant.
[00:00:56] And how the industry has gone here lately. Yeah. The industry has completely blown up since COVID, as most people know. Certain rare plants have tapered off a little bit. And and I think interest and sales. However. Those basics are so great there. They're still there basics and standards for a reason because they're tried and true.
[00:01:19] They last forever. Do you know what my favorite plan is? I. The snake plant. The old Sansoverio. Never dies. His mother-in-law's tongue never goes away.
[00:01:28] And I've got that plant I've. Because I like it. I buy one of every color and every shape and size and that's, what's so great about all these different varieties, it used to just be a snake plant. Sure. W yellow edges green. Yep. Leaves. Now there's white and green upright variegation sideways. Variegation.
[00:01:46] Starfish, whale, fin. Yep. Yep. So many varieties. Yeah. And, I keep most of mine. At the lighthouse? Yes. So it's an hour from here. I'm up there at least once a month. Man, Typically, we tell people to water, a house plant once a week. My plants thrive up there. They've got great sun.
[00:02:05] I water them heavily once a month. But then they don't get water for another month and they're thriving. Absolutely. That's the ideal. Circumstance, they want to dry out in between waterings, which is true for 90% of houseplants. Yep. But what I really want to talk about today is.
[00:02:21] It's we're in the repotting season. It's ideal to report a houseplant. At the beginning of the growing season or at the end. In the middle or in the middle of winter when they're dormant. It's not ideal. Cause that's one more stressor. They're already stressed out because the days are shorter and they're not getting the sunlight they need to really grow. So the tendency to over-water would be super easy.
[00:02:46] So easy. And so I really like. Yep. I tell people just to pull back on watering and don't fertilize over the winter and then come spring is when you really want, when they're waking up. Is a great time to replant them because you don't want to upset the growth. Of planting them in the summer. Yep. That can really throw a wrench in there.
[00:03:06] Tell people about. Using using a nursery pot inside of a decorative. Because I think this is. To me, that's key to success in a house plan. I agree. There's so many benefits. The first one is it breaks the weight in half. If you have to move that plant. Being able to lift it right out of the pot that it's in a nice decorative pottery pot. Those are heavy. So it's a 50.
[00:03:30] If it's a, if it's a 50 pound plant in the 50 pound pot, you're not lifting a hundred pounds. At one time. Exactly. But more than that for the health of the plants, when you first take it home, it's been living in our greenhouse. In a pot. For part of its life. And so when you take it home, it stresses it out because it's just a little bit of a new environment for it.
[00:03:53] Exactly. So at that point, you don't want to stress it out and report. Into a decorative planter. Yep. Plus it gives you, especially our newbies. Coming into houseplants. It gives them a chance to get to know their plant. They can pull that. Out of the nursery pot or pull the nursery pot right out of the planter and stick their fingers in all those holes. So they can see if the top is dry.
[00:04:16] What's going on in the bottom. Yep. Is it dry as well? Or is it muddy and heavy? Exactly. So they can really get to know their plant that way. And the watering needs. So while we give guidelines to different people based on the type of plant they have and the size of the pot. Truly we can't account for the humidity in their home. We can't account for the exact sunlight that it's getting. If it's near an air vent, these are all things that the customer has to.
[00:04:42] Navigate on their own. Sure. They can reach out to us for guidance. But they've got to figure it out. Exactly. And so by keeping it in a nursery pot, it really allows for that. Leeway. Yep. To figure out if, when they get ready to report. How much bigger of a pot? Never more than an intro to.
[00:05:00] So we go by pot size and typically they're in two inch increments. And when I first, you mentioned before, I was always an avid gardener and this was my hobby. But until I really worked at a garden center, I didn't understand why that was. I thought. It was just a sales tool, a gimmick to get me to buy more play planters.
[00:05:18] But truly all that extra soil where the roots aren't colonizing and drinking up the water, then that water is sitting stagnant and wet or bone dry. And the roots really need to be able to fill out the pot. Yeah. And then when you do water you're trying to keep that. Outside edge evenly moist.
[00:05:38] More watering the plant on the inside, right where the old container is until it has a chance to root out. Exactly. Yeah. Because if you don't have any roots in there, the water is just going to sit there. And cause more root rot and more damage to the plants. Yeah. One thing I've learned recently is that water. Isn't the only reason you're watering.
[00:05:56] To give the roots, the water. It's also oxygen going into the water or from the water into those groups. Yeah. And so the more often you can do that. The better the health of the plant. However you need to have the right soil or medium. Yeah, because if you were to do that, If the plant's saturated with water.
[00:06:15] The oxygen D once the oxygen is depleted in the water. If you're lacking oxygen. Exactly. Yeah. And the plan drowns. And one of the things like, so all of the garden centers, I think. We get our, we buy our tropicals houseplants from. Other growers, and when they come in, they're in all different mediums. And so that is one thing we like to educate our customers about is what type of medium that plant is growing in.
[00:06:40] And whether it should stay in that, or if it needs. Just to change out the soil. To help with the training. Sure. It's kinda plants that come from a box store. Exterior plants. A lot of times they're grown. They're grown on extremely fast. They're grown on in Texas and Louisiana. And.
[00:06:57] And Florida and they're grown in really light soil because they D they're going to ship all those plants. All over the country. So they've got to go a long ways, so they'll make the soil as light as possible so they can put as many plants on a truck as possible. And the Tran the transition in in, into clay here is difficult because the clay is the heaviest soil you can have, and you've got the lightest mix possible. So we're, a lot of times those plants fail.
[00:07:26] It's the exact same plant. We might sell them, but it's locally grown and it's grown in a better soil. And one thing we like to educate our customers on or, and not just educate them, but get to know them a little bit. Is how often do you like to water? Do you want to neglect the plants or do you want to water every three days?
[00:07:43] Cause we can. Alternate the soil. To accommodate any of your habits, right? Put it in gravelly bonds. Yeah, that doesn't hold a lot of water and it'll settle dry out fast. Yeah. Because over love and over care and over-watering is what I see is the number one reason houseplants are. Failing.
[00:08:05] Yeah. So I always recommend watering on Sunday or watering on sharing. If you have Mondays as a day off, pick that day. And then just, try to touch. Touch base with your plants and and when I say touch base with your plants, touch your plants, touch the root, your finger in the dirt.
[00:08:20] That tells you everything. And if, We're pick the plan up, it's the weight is a wet plant versus a dry plant is. Is a world of difference. If it's a small plant, you can pick it up and you can feel what. You'll get to learn the plan. It's the same thing in beekeeping.
[00:08:35] When somebody says it's a light hive if you stand behind a beehive and you lift it up, you start to know. If it's jam packed with honey and jam packed with bees and brood, or if it's a declining hive and we're missing a queen and you can tell by the way to the hive.
[00:08:50] So similar to similar in house plans. Absolutely. What are you looking for when you stick your finger in there? Moisture. Moisture content. And so if you stick your finger into it and it's like putting it on a wet sponge and you can see water on your finger, or you can feel the water. It's actually to work to your finger as well.
[00:09:10] Yeah, the soil will like Browning. When it's dry, it just plays right off. When your brownies then exactly. If some comes out. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. This could be bad. So it's that same scenario. And if you stick your finger in the soil and if you've repotted, you don't want to be.
[00:09:27] You don't want to be you may want to be testing the soil on the outside of where the pot, the old pot was and testing the soil on the inside. You'd want to make sure there's enough moisture where the plants living now and the roots when the roots haven't grown in and you want to make sure you don't get the soil on the outside.
[00:09:42] Sopping wet. You don't want it. You don't want to bone dry. You don't want it sopping wet. You want some even moisture so that it's got a good environment to grow into mighty. Some people water, their plants with ice cubes. Is that good for the planet? Bad for the planet. It, so like when we used to do shows it cools the plant down,
[00:09:59] And so it, that kind of gives, it puts the plant in a rest period. But the the biggest reason is that it's a slow water. This. The slow watering. Yeah, I can't emphasize that enough. Yeah. So if you take a. A bowl of flour and you start dumping water on it, it's beaten up and there's tons of surface tension and it just, it runs all off to the side. If you
[00:10:19] If you put an ice cube in there. You're going to end up with DOE it just slowly, breaks down the surface tension. And we'll write. It doesn't absorb water really fast. So when you, if you've got a really dry ball, the water tends to run to the side and run around the pot and come out the holes. And so you could ha you.
[00:10:40] You could still have a really dusty, dry ball in the center and you just put a gallon of water on it. Most of it ended up in the saucer. So if you put a couple ice cubes around the plant, as they, they just slowly drain in and it's a good way to fix a dry plan to absolutely.
[00:10:54] I really encourage people to moisten their plant a little bit. When I water my house plants, I'll take my watering can with a long spout. And give them just a little circle of water. Yeah. Go through all of them. Warm water. Warm water helps. And then I come back. Yep. And rewater them. So that soil is a little, now that it's moistened up, it can really drink it up and then soapy water. You can always add, you can.
[00:11:18] At a tablespoon of soap to a gallon of water, and that breaks the surface tension and in a container. And it'll make the water run straight through. And it doesn't hurt the plant. Not at all. Yeah. Not only that it will kill any. Yeah, so it helped me. It helps with insect problems. You're talking less.
[00:11:34] Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. The cleanest base, most basic dishwashing. Yeah. And it's the same for exterior stuff. If you've got a dry spot in the lawn. You can put it in a hose end sprayer and go out there and spray that area and down. And it'll change the structure of the soil. It breaks the surface tension down and you get the moisture in there. And once you get moisture in there, it's.
[00:11:54] It'll tend to stay, to keep up with, keep up. Yeah. I You can maintain the moisture. It's like you can water your lawn less if you put some down on in it. Yeah. And if you've got like an old hedge of plants, You know that they, the top of the plant. Works as an umbrella for the whole thing, sheds the water off to the outside edge.
[00:12:12] The roots are pulling up all the moisture. So you ended up with this really dusty, dry area underneath the plant. If every six months you added some soapy water to that. And watered them really heavy. You can get that soil moisture to the right level that it can actually take on more moisture.
[00:12:30] So it's a good trick in. Okay. A lot of times that's used in greenhouses when we're talking about the soil and the wedding of soil down. It's a wedding agent. And we used it firsthand. When we got the new shipment of bonsai in yup.
[00:12:43] While bash recently. Yeah.
[00:12:46] Let's cool. Yeah, that's good stuff. So anyway, you. Fake pick a day. From figure out. Figure out a day that works for you and be consistent. With your watering and your plants will do a whole lot better. And not just necessarily watering them, but feeling them checking to make sure their knee.
[00:13:04] They need water.
[00:13:08] Till next time.