April 20, 2009

Hanging Plants

How to Care Hanging Plants



Of you may have already know how to care for ornamental plants with a rope swing and a pot for its entranceway, balcony or front of your house to a window outside your home. You do not want to plant when you buy a pet or plant itself looks withered and died. This may cause you own, the lack of routine care in the excess dose or as a result of fertilizer you use. A little tip for you who want to keep the plant with the swing method.A hanging basket or pot full of wet soil and plant material can be heavy. Before you hang anything from your walls or ceiling, make sure the structure can hold the weight. Do not sink hooks straight into plaster or drywall—make sure they are firmly anchored in wall studs or ceiling joists. If you have existing hooks, test them before hanging anything.
Your choice of soil can help. Potting soil is heavier and, because of its added weight, might limit your available hanging areas. It's better to use a lightweight peat or soil-less potting mix.
Protecting Your Floors and Furniture
Hanging baskets present multiple opportunities disaster, but probably the most common problem is water drainage. The coconut fiber liners that work so well outside are unsuited for indoor use because water runs straight through them. The two best options for indoor baskets are:
• A pot within a pot. This versatile and easy set-up allows you to easily switch out your hanging plants. The outer, decorative basket is completely sealed—no drainage holes at all—and it has chains or rope fastened directly to it for hanging. Place your potted plants inside, and viola, a hanging garden. The major disadvantage here is it may be difficult to reach over the lip of the outside pot while watering, and it is heavier.
• The attached tray. This is how most hanging baskets are sold in garden centers. A plastic basket comes with an attached drip trap. The wires or ropes attach to the basket itself. While this is lighter and more economical, the problem is usually the size of the drip tray. Very small trays allow very little room for error. Even a little too much water and you end up muddy water dripping onto your floors.
Here are a few tips on caring for your hanging baskets.
1. Watering - Hanging baskets and containers dry out very quickly. On a warm summer day, you may have to water as much as two or three times. One way to know if your baskets are dry, is to lift them up from the bottom of the container. Dry baskets will be very light weight and should be watered at once. You may also feel the soil to determine dryness. If the potting soil feels dry one inch below the soil surface, then it must be watered. When you water, be sure to water enough so that it drains out the drainage holes. If your hanging basket has dried out too much, then you will need to immerse it in a bucket of water to resoak the soil mix.
2. Fertilizing - Frequent watering flushes nutrients from the soil rather quickly. Frequent fertilizing will help replenish that which is lost. Two different fertilizers can be used, liquid or timed-release. Liquid fertilizers are applied biweekly throughout the growing season. They are fast acting. Timed-release fertilizers are applied to the soil, and are released over time. They can last up to several months, depending on the fertilizer. Before you fertilize, it is important that the soil is moist. Fertilizer is utilized by plants much better when they are turgid and not wilting. Be sure to follow all labeled instructions on fertilizer applied to hanging baskets.
3. Dead-heading - It is important to remove all faded flowers after they have bloomed. This is known as dead-heading. Removal of spent blooms will promote additional flowers to form. Some plants, such as verbena, benefit from cutting them back in mid summer. This will help promote further branching and flower formation.
Visit your local garden center or nursery for ideas on hanging baskets for your home. You may get some ideas for different color combinations that may work for you.

On Summer Long
Here are few hints to keep that hanging basket looking good all summer long.

• Keep in mind that growers fertilize the baskets every time they water. This helps maintain healthy, vigorous growth. A grower recommended fertilizing once a week with a formula of 10-10-20 or 12-12-12 with micro nutrients such as iron, copper, manganese to satisfy the heavy feeding requirements for hanging baskets. There are some specially formulated fertilizers available for container growing on the market. It is the moderate steady supply of fertilizer that will sustain and maintain the plant in a vigorous growing state. A research study in Michigan State compared 3 flowering baskets: one with soluble fertilizer, one with a time-release fertilizer incorporated into the soil and the one with both soluble and time-release fertilizer. The third basket with both soluble and time-release fertilizer preformed the best.
• Fertilizer is not the only important factor. Watering is just as important. Most of us find that by the time we get home from work, our poor basket is drooping from the heat of the day and lack of water. So we immediately get the watering can and pour lots of water on the plant to rehydrate it. This practice causes lots of stress to the plant. In addition, leaving soaking wet roots overnight (when its cooler) can invite root rot and other diseases. Judicial watering(just enough to revive the plant) in the evening and good drainage is a must. It is best to water in the morning using a wand or watering can and pouring water directly onto the soil avoiding wet leaves. When feeding your plants, water first with unfertilized water and drain; then re-water with a fertilizer solution. This will keep soluble salt accumulation to a minimum and avoid fertilizer burn to the roots. A moisture retaining polymer can also be added to the soil to keep your plant hydrated longer.
• Check the label for sun exposure- hang your plant in the right spot - too much sun can be as bad as not enough. If you basket shows signs of scorching, brown edges and faded or bleached leaves if may be getting too much sun, therefore move it to a shadier spot. Spindly, leggy plants with lack of flowers can indicate not enough sun. Plants facing west in the summer will require more water and need to tolerate hotter temperatures.
• Hopefully, some of these suggestions will reward with summer long blossoms.

1 comment:

Tony Destroni said...

hi good day ! nice post you have . about this decors .they are beautiful . this decoration add attraction to our home . it depends only on how you put it or the arrangement in order to fit it in your interiors and theme . like me i have some home and garden decors which i contrast with my garden accessories and wind spinners and they blend perfectly . lovely set up !