Eggplant is a hungry, warm-season crop, and steady feeding is one of the simplest ways to get more fruit from each plant. To fertilize eggplant well, work compost and a balanced fertilizer into the bed at planting, side-dress when the first fruits set, and then feed every 3 to 4 weeks until growth slows in … Read more >>
Most tiny white bugs on indoor plants turn out to be one of a short list of culprits. If the white bits look like cotton and sit still on stems, you most likely have mealybugs; if they fly up when you brush the leaves, they’re whiteflies; and if they jump around in the soil, they’re … Read more >>
Most indoor plants do best with fertilizer every 2 to 4 weeks in spring and summer, when they’re putting out new leaves. I recommend a liquid houseplant fertilizer mixed at half strength every 2 to 4 weeks from spring through late summer, then tapering in fall and stopping from late fall to late winter unless … Read more >>
Yes, several beneficial bugs work well indoors. Predatory mites are the best pick for most houseplant owners with spider mites or thrips, because they’re tiny, they stay on infested plants, and they hunt pests in the leaf creases and undersides where sprays miss. For fungus gnats, beneficial nematodes or soil-dwelling mites handle the larvae in … Read more >>
If you want a bold look indoors, my top picks are Monstera deliciosa, fiddle leaf fig, rubber plant, bird of paradise, Alocasia, Philodendron selloum, banana and Calathea. Each one brings broad leaves that fill a corner faster than a shelf of small plants. For most American homes, I’d start with Monstera deliciosa, because it grows … Read more >>
For most offices, a ZZ plant or snake plant is my top pick: both handle fluorescent or LED ceiling light, and both can go two weeks or more between waterings. If you want something that trails off a shelf, golden pothos is the next easiest choice and grows faster under overhead lights. Office plants fail … Read more >>
Pothos, snake plant, and ZZ plant are the easy indoor plants for beginners I’d start with, because all three handle missed waterings and average indoor light better than most houseplants. If you want something that trails, get a pothos. If you forget to water for weeks at a time, get a snake plant or ZZ … Read more >>
There’s little evidence that indoor plants that repel spiders keep spiders out of a house. A potted peppermint or lavender gives off far too little scent to change where spiders go. Spiders come inside to hunt insects and find quiet shelter, so the fixes that work are cutting their food supply and closing the gaps … Read more >>
A potted plant on your windowsill does very little to keep mosquitoes away. The oils that bother mosquitoes stay locked inside the leaves until you crush or rub them, and even then the effect reaches only a few inches and fades within minutes. If you want a real defense, I recommend tight window screens, emptying … Read more >>
For most homes, the best indoor plants that like direct sunlight are desert and dry-climate plants. Aloe, jade, echeveria, ponytail palm, bird of paradise, tropical hibiscus, rosemary and Meyer lemon all grow best when sun lands right on their leaves for several hours a day. If you have an unobstructed south- or west-facing window, I’d … Read more >>