I`ve read about letting houseplants 'rest' during their 'off
season'BUT I`ve also heard of people giving their plants fertilizers
all year long Which is best? TIA Sandy

Hi Sandy - It all depends on the soils that are being used now. If the
plants are in Peatlite mixes then they must be contiually feritlized on an
ongoing basis. Winter months cutdown on the feeding. But feed just to
ensure good foliage and flowers. Leach every 2 months.

Plants with regular soils in the mix usually 1-1-1 one part soil
(pasteurized), One part peatmoss, one part perlite. This mix can do with
feeding once per month. Every 3 months leach out the excess salts by
watering twice til the water comes out the bottom of the pot.

Derryl


"Sandy" wrote in message
om...
I`ve read about letting houseplants 'rest' during their 'off
season'BUT I`ve also heard of people giving their plants fertilizers
all year long Which is best? TIA Sandy

I`ve read about letting houseplants 'rest' during their 'off season'BUT I`ve
also heard of people giving their plants fertilizers all year long Which is
best?

Like many other questions, the answer is: it depends.
If you have a tropical, forest floor foliage plant, like Aglaonema, which grows
slowly all year round in low light, it can benefit from occasional fertilizer
all winter. If you have a plant whose natural growth habit is seasonal, like
Christmas cactus, you water & feed it heavily all summer, & keep it drier,
cooler, & unfed in the fall until it blooms. Use common sense & read up on the
individual plant.

Iris,
Central NY, Zone 5a, Sunset Zone 40
"The trouble with people is not that they don't know but that they know so much
that ain't so."
Josh Billings (Henry Wheeler Shaw), 1818-1885

On 04 Feb 2003 13:53:01 GMT, (Iris Cohen) wrote:

Like many other questions, the answer is: it depends.
If you have a tropical, forest floor foliage plant, like Aglaonema, which grows
slowly all year round in low light, it can benefit from occasional fertilizer
all winter. If you have a plant whose natural growth habit is seasonal, like
Christmas cactus, you water & feed it heavily all summer, & keep it drier,
cooler, & unfed in the fall until it blooms. Use common sense & read up on the
individual plant.

Iris,

In addition to Iris' good advice, it is more important to cut back on
the water when the days are shorter. The plants don't know it is
winter because their environment is consistent year round but the will
slow down on their water uptake in reaction to less daylight hours.

zhan