A Beginners Guide to Happy House Plants: How to Care for Indoor Plants

1. Introduction: Hello, Welcome to happy has plans. My name is Shelly. I'm based in Sydney, Australia, and I have a real passion for indoor plants, and I'm hoping to share with you today. I started collecting plants about five years ago, and now my house is just filled with them and they bring me so much joy watching them grow , collecting new varieties and adding different shapes and colors to my indoor space. Today, we're going to learn about what first plant I recommend you buy going to discuss pots and soil types house and put up your first plant we're going to look at can't Oops so you can get the most out of your plants, including how to deal with those pesky little fungus gnats that fly around in some plants. Let's get started on this rather green journey into happy houseplants. 2. Your First Plant: So if you're new to indoor plants, there is one that I recommend that you start with, and it's the same that I began. We've It's called a pace lily. It has beautiful grain, glossy leaves. It puts out what flowers when it's happy, and it could be quite a robust plans. I've got one here. It's just a little offshoot that I've planted from a larger plant. It's not looking as happy as a more mature plant, but it will grow with many more green slaves. They come up through the middle, and then it will stop going up white flowers when it's happy. So that's a good starting point for you with your plant collection. 3. Pots: So the big question about what type of pot you should buy is something to give some thought to. In my experience, the self watering pots have not seen that great. I've got one here, so it's a part that has the source of incorporated in it, and it has a hole here, and this is, you know, the water in this whole water from the top and excess water collects at the bottom. But I found that I was having issues with fungus nets. There's little flying insects trying to live in there, and I couldn't really get to them, and I was never really sure how much water was in the bottom. And it's hard to tip it out if it gets too full, because the soils I've been on top, so I would avoid those if possible. A better option that I've found is a separate part and a source under name. But beyond this option, you can actually have one of those decorative ceramic pots on. They usually don't have a drainage hole in the bottom, and then what you can do is just by a simple a simple pot like this one, just a black plastic club that will cease into the ceramic pot. And if you're gonna do that, put a few pebbles at the bottom off the ceramic pot so that this one is raised off the bottom and any excess water that's flowing into the part. Then the soil itself is not sitting directly in the water because some plants don't respond well, Teoh having wet feet, so to speak. 4. Soil: so you've now got plans and you've selected a pot. What we need is in soil, but how do you know what type of soil to use when you go to the hardware store? There's such a variety that's really shaped soil, and then this really expensive soil. And it's hard to understand what painful in Australia. The more expensive soils have a series of red ticks on the front of the soil, and that means that I actually comply with safety standards. So I definitely recommend looking at your soil packaging and just saying you there is some sort of indicator like that, which suggests it is actually better for you to use because you never want to braid in potting mix. You want to wear a mosque, do it outside because this and nasties in that soil, and you can get quite seek from that so it tends to pay more for a soil. What you're actually doing is paying for higher quality compartments, and because indoor plants only have that little part of soil to draw all the nutrients from you don't want to choose. The cheapest, cheaper ones tend to be filled with more bark and pieces of wood there dryer often, and you know when you do send that extra money on the high quality soil you'll find. It's really rich and dark and really beautiful, and you can understand what a difference that would make to the success of your plants. If you already have, since little that isn't so great, you could choose a soil improver, which is a rich soil that you can add to other soils to improve the quality. And the interruption is to add compost, whether you've got your own at home or whether you buy a bag of compost. So I do put some thought into the type of soul you choose and make sure you're giving your plants some food, some nourishment so they can grow to be really beautiful in your home. 5. Other Plants to Consider: This is my dwarf umbrella tree. It's an exotic looking tree. It likes to be indoors with quite bright, indirect light. If it's really warm, he might like to missed it with water. It will droop if it's underwater or if it's over watered, but it should be reasonably easy plant to grow. If the leaves start falling off, you may want to move it to a brighter spot because it might not be receiving the light that it needs. This is a beautiful and very bust little indoor plant. Treat it much like you were despite a plant so you know, water it once a week, perhaps ordered a little less during winter if it doesn't need as much water. But it does need a bright spot, but definitely not direct sunlight. And as this plant grows, you'll notice that it has little offshoots that kind of grow in part of the plant. But you'll see little roots coming down, and I've recently cut off one of these sort of separate plants and put it into soil in a pot, and it didn't even respond to being planted or cut off. It didn't droop. It's very, very robust, so This is a fabulous plant to have around, and it puts up so many leaves. It just looks so happy. This is a blue stuff earn. It's really beautiful. It has dusky grey green leaves, and it puts out lots of happy leaves. It's really gorgeous. It also grows little, very caterpillar looking roots at the bottom. So are there not roots but little extra bits, which is something nice to keep an eye out for? This plant needs to be watered regularly but not kept wet. It lacks light, and it is a more robust fern than a maiden half earn. This rubber plant is part of the FARC. It's family. It's a really gorgeous plant. It grows large, glossy green leaves that you do need to wipe to keep the dust off of them. Um, this one I bought was a really small plant, and it did take quite some time Teoh to start to grow. So don't worry if it's lies dormant for you know 3 to 6 months. Eventually it will find its feet and start putting out new, bigger leaves. I also want to avoid direct sunlight with this plant, so just find a nice bright area near window. But where the light were, the sunlight won't be burning its leaves. Filet figs, older rage. Now, if you look in the interior design magazines that always there always in the corner of a room, they're very, very trendy. I can remember my grandparent's having one of these, but they're actually really gorgeous. Plants don't have them in direct sunlight because it leaves may burn. Keep them well watered. But don't let them be soggy. So maybe water than once a week and see how they go when they're happy. They're putting out new leaves all of the time. And because the leaves are so large, it is a good idea to wipe them down regularly to remove the dust spot of plants. A lovely decorative indoor plants to have. They're pretty robust and easy to grow, and as they mature, they will push out little baby plants, which you can then cut off and report into a separate plant. So these plants have a lot of opportunity to bring happiness to your home. You'll need to report these plants when the roots of pushing the plant up from the pot that it's in so just keep an eye out for that chain of hearts or hearts on a string is a beautiful plant. It grows downwards and create a long chain off leaves coming off very fine stems. Now these fleshy leaves are heart shaped, and this plant is very easy to care for. Just water it regularly, but not overwatering it and have it in a bright, sunny spot. This separate plant is a gorgeous addition to your indoor plant collection. It's pattern leaves are a real feature. If you over water this plant, the leaves will drop off. They are known to flower, but I haven't seen mine flower yet, so this would be a really great addition. It does like a warm room. And, ah, like most plants, this one will enjoy being misted with water. Regularly made in her phones are one of the trickier plants to grow, their very sensitive. So this one's looking pretty happy. But I've had several that I've lost because they just wouldn't thrive. So I do like to miss two this plant with water. It's in a sunny room, but certainly not in direct sunlight, and I do like to keep it well watered 6. Care Tips: So why were discussing Katie? It's a plans. Water is a key component to their well being. Some plans might need more water than others, but as a starting point, I recommend trying to water your plants once a week. Then you can observe them and see whether that's working or whether they may need more. And some may need less assigned. The plants have too much or too little water is that they droop. They may also drop leaves, so keep an eye out for how they're looking. The amount of water that you give your indoor plans also changes depending on the climate and therefore the time of year in the season. So I would water my plants, perhaps once awake during winter. But in summer, they may need a drop of water twice way now when you watering them, die poor, huge amount on the plans. But don't put a tiny drop by Give them a decent drink. But you want to be careful because you don't want to put in too much that actually overplays the source of that city in. So when you're new to watering plants, just proceed with caution and make sure you don't stop flooding your apartment house, so something I really like to keep at hand to look after my indoor plants is a water atomizer they really shaped. Grab it from your Sigma Little hardware store. Keep it filled with fresh water and as much as one today, I'd like to walk around and just spritz my plants with some water. I spend a lot of time. I actually just pick up my little spray, and it just seems to keep them happy. I'm sure it's good for the leaves to We have to take water in through through the lace because if they were outside, there would be doing condensation and rain. So I think it's a nice thing to do for plants that inside all of the time, the other thing I like to do is to actually give them more nutrients by fertilizing them or giving them a plan tonic Every now. Then this is, say soul. It's a seaweed based one can be a little bit smelly, but you know, to have happy plants that is worth it, and I don't do this all the time. It might be every few months you could possibly don't often. But whenever I think of it, I'll, uh, yeah, give them a bit of extra nutrients to help them, right, because that's important there in a limited amount of soil so they don't have access Teoh extra nutrients. So making sure that they have little boosts like this to draw upon will really help them. So life is a K factor for happy, healthy indoor plants. Plans Jenny Light. If you're looking for a plant for a very low light areas such as a stairwell, you need to actually research the tops of plants to control a rate. Levels a lot, I believe, mother tongue control, aerating levels of light. But you'll need to actually do some research and try them out. So, generally plants do we have some light. Often indoor plants don't want direct sunlight. I'm like you got big windows at my place at both ends with my living spaces. So I've got plants situated at both ends, and they seem to be doing really well. This is a blue stuff. It's a beautiful, beautiful plants, and it's thriving here. East based a tiny little thing, and now this huge, So experiment with a lot and way. Position your plans. If a plant isn't doing well, it may need more lot. Or maybe it needs less direct flight. So just move them around until you say the plant starts to respond well on our well responding plant maintenance. Putting out leaves. It's looking healthy and robust, and I think new growth is a very good indicator of happy plants. So one major problem I experienced when I first started having indoor plans was away. These tiny little flying's and fruit neck, fruit flies or fungus gnats, I later learned. They called, and they were bringing in the service of the soil. So if you walked up to a plant, I could say them moving around on the top layer of soil, and I tried all sorts of things to get rid of them during a drench with name oil that had been diluted. I tried putting pebbles around the top of the soil, tried lots and lots of things, and it was quite problematic because there were a lot of them and they're annoying and they actually are attracted. Teoh, the carbon dioxide that you exhale and so they fly in the face all the time. it's really annoying. So I did find a solution and the solution was a part way through triple strength spray. So if you're experiencing that problem, go to your hardware store and experiment with different pyrethrum sprays. And all I did was spray this directly onto the soil, and I want to repeat that for a couple of days in a right, perhaps on I found that that certainly stopped it and reduced it. It's still an issue for me today, and I always have a full on hand to the parliamentary spray, and I find it work out what pot fungus gnats Brady in and I spray around the top. The other reason that fungus gnats, a problematic indoor plants is that they're actually feeding off the root system of plant. And obviously that would be really negative for the plant. So I believe that over time, if that went treated, the plant would stop Teoh suffer. It may start to die because its root system has been compromised by these creatures who actually eating the roots. That's definitely something to get on top of that you have Well, there is a solution because it went on for so long from A and I couldn't find a solution. So it's quite upsetting when you're fighting these things in this and many of them. But once you find the right product to treat them, they're not a problem. It'll go away, so it's really right. 7. Your Project Happy House Plants: So now that we've learned a little bit about plants and the different varieties and how to care for them, it's your project. It's your turn to go out and choose a plant. Now this may be a peace lily, or it might be something completely different. Then you need Teoh. Take your plant home as well as a pot and some party mix, and you need to put your new plant up into its beautiful new pot and find a location in your home where there's enough light for the plant. Put it in its new spot and then take a photograph and share that with the class. I'm really looking forward to seeing all of your new plants. 8. Thanks Happy House Plants: this class. We've covered what your first indoor plant could bay. We've looked at different types of pots and how they function on what's going bad about, Um, we've considered the importance of soil for indoor plans. And then we've looked at a variety of different plants so that you have some idea the choices that are available to you. Then they looked at some care tips. How to look after your plans, how to make them happy, what to do about some problems you may encounter with those fungus nets. So I heard that this class has now given you an opportunity to learn the basics about indoor plants and to have a people confidence in going out there and actually getting your first plant and building up your collection. And what you'll find is that your indoor spaces are more beautiful. Your indoor air is cleaner because the plants purify it, and this should contribute toe an increased sense of well being and happiness. So I can't wait to see the photos of the plants he choose, and let me know how. Guys, if you enjoy the class, please lock. It plays labor of you place share with your friends. I'll see you for the next class. Uh, I've made lots of classes on painting and drawing and water colors. Color theory, endless classes feed to take, and you find that each one you do your skills will develop and grow. So let's have a look at how to follow me on school Share. Here is the full I button. Click on this on, and if you hover your mouse over this part here, it'll take you through to my profile as well. Under my profile, you'll see all of the classes I've created, and you'll be able to see the range of classes you could take. So here are highlight a couple of my art classes. Color mixing basics for absolute beginners. Copying the masters with Shelly Learn to paint. Watch me work. Embrace fear in the creative process. Begin is charcoal drawing how to paint gloss and beginners figure drawing gesture. I'm creating new outclasses all the time on I'm really looking forward to the opportunity to support you as you develop your own creative skills and make your way on your own creative journey. So let's start making stuff 9. More Art Classes: I've made lots of classes on painting and drawing and water colors. Color theory, endless classes for you to take, and you'll find that each one you do your skills will develop and grow. So let's have a look at how to follow me on school Share. Here is the full I button. Click on this, and if you hover your mouse over this part here, it'll take you through to my profile as well. Under my profile, you'll see all of the classes I've created, and you'll be able to see the range of classes you could take. So here are highlight a couple of my classes color mixing basics for absolute beginners. Copying the masters with Shelly Learn to paint. Watch me work. Embrace fear in the creative process. Begin is charcoal drawing how to paint gloss and beginners figure drawing gesture. I'm creating new outclasses all the time on I'm really looking forward to the opportunity to support you as you develop your own creative skills and make your way on your own creative journey. So let's start making stuff