Changes
How are your houseplants responding to the changing seasons?
Here in my part of the northern hemisphere, autumn is absolutely here. Colder, misty mornings, mellower sunlight, rainy days and that earthy smell of the soil and trees in the air.
Like in previous years, I noticed the changing season in my houseplants almost before I noticed it outdoors. Houseplants are supersensitive to changes in light, and will immediately adapt: they’ll grow slower, and many of them will drop leaves.
Noticing these changes is one of my absolute favourite things about caring for houseplants. It comes with time, but that doesn’t mean you need to spend hours every week gazing at your plants (though you may, of course).
Changes I’m noticing in my houseplants
The soil is less dry during watering sessions. You will only notice this if you actually touch the soil before watering—these seasonal changes are a time when you can quite easily overwater, so pay extra attention.
Some of the plants are dropping leaves: the photos in my study is doing that quite dramatically, to such an extent that I’m not sure whether it’s okay otherwise. Everything else (soil, water) looks fine, so I’ll keep an eye on it. Another plant that immediately shows the changing season is my baby caladium. Caladiums grow from tubers, and are known for dropping their leaves and going dormant over the winter. It currently has two large leaves left—let’s see whether it holds on to them. Otherwise, I’ll just keep an eye on the pot, leave the tuber in, and look forward to new leaves in the spring.
Plants that had gotten slightly discoloured over the summer are regaining their previous, deeper colour. This goes for the Haworthia in the kitchen, which had gotten a few quite dark green, even black leaves, and the spider plant in the front hall, which gets a lot of indirect bright light through the front door and had gotten quite pale.
What this means for how I take care of my plants
I’m extra careful about watering during these seasonal transitions, making sure to really put a finger into the soil of the plants before watering them. With darker days, plants need less water because they’re not growing as fast. It’s so easy to overwater, so be aware.
I’m changing how often I water my succulents and cacti. From April 1st to October 1st, I water my succulents once every two weeks. The same goes for the cacti. Over the past month I had already noticed that the soil on some of the succulents was still moist by the time I was ready to water again. From now on, I’ll water them once every three weeks. I’m not watering my cacti at all until April 1st, as they go semi-dormant over the winter.
If you’re worried about the number of leaves your plant is dropping, check whether everything else is fine. Are you under watering or (most likely!) over watering? Does your plant have any pests on it? Is it suddenly in a much darker place now that the light is changing? Most of the time, I just let a plant be, unless I notice a real deterioration over a couple of weeks. Remember: plants use leaves to catch the light. Fewer light means the need for fewer leaves, so most of the time, the plant is fine even though it’s dropping quite a few leaves.
Propagating season is almost over! Propagation is so easy and rewarding over the late spring and summer when plants seem to grow roots over night. If you’re still planning to propagate a plant, do it sooner rather than later if you’re in the northern hemisphere. Of course you can propagate a plant during the autumn and winter: it will just take considerably longer for it to take root. In the past, I’ve done this a couple of times with plants that seemed to be on the brink of dying (and one that actually died): I took a few cuttings of the bits that still looked alive, and propagated them over many, many weeks in the winter.
Which changes are you seeing in your plants? Are there any plants that show bigger changes than others? Do share in the comments, I’m always curious about your houseplant adventures!