Here are 8 Strange Plant Tricks for Clever Gardeners that you can learn to make gardening easier and enjoyable!
Looking for ways to make gardening more interesting? Have a look at these Strange Plant Tricks for Clever Gardeners that can come in handy!
Check out some clever gardening tricks to save money here
Strange Plant Tricks for Clever Gardeners
1. Have Free Houseplants from Food Scraps
You can increase your plant collection at zero cost by using food scraps! Use scraps from herbs, fruits, and veggies—for example, you can grow an awesome tropical houseplant by using a top of pineapple, or you can plant celery from its base.
Try growing avocado from the pit—they become great houseplants. Also, see eight kitchen scraps that turn into amazing future houseplants here.
Follow easy planting hacks to grow vegetables for FREE here
2. Ice Cubes to Water
Newbie gardeners are always concerned about water, and they unintentionally kill their plants by over or under watering, specifically delicate small plants like succulents.
An easy hack is to water using ice cubes! Perform this once a week to send a slow and constant dose of water to the soil while melting, protecting the soil from becoming waterlogged. This way, the roots will be hydrated well!
Just make sure not to place the ice cube directly touching the plant root or stem. You can also place several cubes on a plastic box with a hole at its bottom. The cubes will melt slowly, dripping the water down in the soil.
3. Try Plant Watering Spikes
This trick will keep the plants hydrated even if you forget to water them! It’s also useful if you travel a lot. You can either buy the watering spikes or DIY them with the help of these tutorials here.
4. Add Humidity with a Saucer of Water
Placing the container on a saucer or tray filled with water is an excellent trick to enhance humidity. When water vaporizes, it increases humidity.
Make sure to elevate the container using pebbles. It will save the drainage holes from blocking and roots from rotting in still water.
5. Crowd the Plants Together
Most houseplants, mainly tropical ones, do well in high humidity. They emit water vapor through the foliage during transpiration. Hence, when you group plants together, they create a microclimate around them, which helps each other to thrive well, even in dry surroundings.
6. Use Lemon Juice
Lemon juice is a fantastic way to control weeds around plants, boost germination rate, and balance the pH levels of soil. Also, adding a spoonful of lemon juice to a gallon of water and watering the plant with this solution will make the growing medium more acidic, which is good for acid-loving plants.
Whereas lemon peels are a rich source of calcium, sulfur, and magnesium, which can benefit the plants in many ways. To use them, crush the dried peels into a powder form and add them to pot and garden soil.
Have a look at some amazing lemon juice uses for plants here
7. Use Packing Peanuts
Mix an ample amount of packing peanuts in the bottom of the large container. This will enable you to use less growing medium while improving the breathability and aeration. As packing peanuts are cheaper, adding them will help you save a bit of money, too.
8. Add Rusty Nails!
Rusty nails contain iron oxide, which can provide much-needed iron to the plants. Jab several rusty nails in a pot around the plant. They will also help slightly increase the soil acidity, which is very beneficial for plants that prefer neutral or acidic soil.
