Soil (or any planting medium) holds a certain amount of water – it’s usually not more than a quarter or a third of the total soil volume. Don’t pour in more than that. Then, ensure there is enough light so the moisture is used up before root rot can set in. This is the fundamental principle of house plant care.
–
We can now apply this principle to explain how my rabbit’s foot fern can grow well despite being in a container without drainage holes:
–
Step 1: LIGHT – the plant has lived in several different homes over the past 2 years of being planted in the glass container. No matter where it lived, it always had as wide a view of the sky as possible. This is not because it needs the sun, it is because it needs light from the sky – the source of “bright indirect light”. Yes, I know the light from the sky originates from the sun but we need to have a more granular understanding of light than just “sun or no sun”.
–
Step 2: WATERING – after fulfilling the requirements for light, I can safely deliver a volume of water equivalent to about a third of the total volume of sphagnum moss whenever I feel the moss is completely dry. This occurs approximately once a week. Notice: if I just said “I water it once a week”, it would reinforce a poor mental model of how plants work (“this plant needs water once a week.”) My best guess as to why “once a week” has become conventional wisdom is because it’s simpler than explaining why. The problem is, if you didn’t learn how someone arrived at that answer, you won’t be confident in your care methods when the environment is slightly different (and it always will be).
~
~
#oxalis #oxalistriangularis #rabbitsfootfern #fern #houseplantclub #houseplants #wisdom #plants #plantas #plantgoals #iloveplants #gardening #botanical #greenthumb #plantlife #chasinglight #plantlove #plantlover #horticulture #houseplantjournal #urbanjunglebloggers #plantstyling #indoorplants #iamaplanthoarder #livingwithplants #plantaddict #plantobsession #plantsathome #instaplant #planttherapy
Comments are closed.