How to grow your Indoor Jungles

 A lot of the plant species we choose to grow as indoor plants are tropical and subtropical, which means they love a warm to hot humid environment. 

Most naturally grow as understorey plants in rainforests and love dappled and low light situations. Of course, this is why they make great indoor plants, tolerating the lower light offered inside your home

Plant groups such as the Alocasias, Spathiphyllum, Philodendrons  and more have large leaves, and this is because having a larger leaf area gives the plant more opportunity to capture light and help with photosynthesis. Now that winter is behind us, you may have noticed a lot of these indoor plants have possibly not looked their best during the cold of winter, but the sun is shining and the temperatures are rising, so now is a great time to refresh and revive your indoor plant collection.

• Repot – when potting mix is spent and loses water holding capacity, the plant has outgrown the pot or the potting mix levels have dropped.
• Fertilise – give your plants a fertilise with a liquid fertiliser.
• Refresh – prune off any diseased, dead or damaged foliage.

TOP TIP: Rotate.

For those locations within your house that are dark and receive very little natural light, it is best to buy two or three of a particular indoor plant you like and rotate them on a weekly basis from a good light position into the dark location. This way, you aren’t just having one plant in this tricky location and watching its slow demise from a lack of light.

My top 5 bullet proof indoor plants:   

1. Zamioculcas ‘Zanzibar gem’
2. Spathiphyllum ‘Peace Lily’
3. Aspidistra ‘Cast Iron Plant’
4. Dracaena ‘Happy Plant’
5. Epipremnum ‘Pothos’ or Devil’s Ivy’

What is the Best soil for indoor plants?

This varies from plant to plant but what we can say is it's NOT the same as your outdoor plants. In general, you typically want a potting mix that has air, moisture and a good nutritional balance. Your generic Indoor potting mixes tend to be dryer and not have a lot of nutrients so make sure you fertilise regularly.

For a richer potting mix, your plants will LOVE Rocky Point's  indoor potting mix, it has a tried and tested blend of coir fibre & chip, peat, perlite and other beneficial trace elements which deliver micronutrients while your plants grow. It’s designed to be the ideal balance between water holding, drainage and air flow to help your plants thrive. And will feed your indoor plants for up to 9 months, thanks to the controlled release fertiliser addition.