By AMY MUNCY
Master Gardener

More on houseplants as promised in my last column.

Once you realize you need to repot a plant and have chosen the correct type of pot and soil, remember the next size larger pot is all you need to put your plant in. If you put your plant in too large a pot, too much soil for too little of roots is not healthy.

If your plant is as big as you want but is root bound, or you can’t go any bigger and move the plant around more, one thing I have done before is take the plant out of its pot and trim the root ball down. If you cut it down severely, you must trim the leaves down the same amount. Around half of the roots trimmed down would be severe. Then replant into a new pot or the same pot with new soil.

If you are experiencing crusting inside or outside your pot, wash it with bleach water and try to get the crust off, then rinse well. This should be done to all pots when planting to ensure sterilization and avoid cross contamination of any diseases.

Any plant can be a houseplant, but you have to be sensible. I have kept a geranium in the house each winter for over 25 years. Every summer I put it outside in its pot, and it blooms profusely each and every year. I have only repotted it four times. I love its particular color, hence the reason I have kept it for so long.

Many people keep geraniums in a garage for the winter for a rest period, but that is where being sensible comes in. You have to ask yourself, do I have room for this plant inside or do I want to make sure it doesn’t freeze in a garage? I water mine all winter and it stays green and may even grow a little. But I have had the room all these years, or rather I have made the room. You can also give them water only when they are dry on top, they will still come back in spring.

I have a few other tender perennials I bring inside each winter. A lemon verbena is dug up out of the garden and brought in. I also keep a poinsettia in a five gallon bucket that comes inside each year. The poinsettia is three years old and will always bloom again if I do it right. This year, it just got done blooming because I did not put it in the right spot. Once I did, it started to turn its leaves red. I place this poinsettia in a spot in the garden that gets shade at noon and light shade in the afternoon.

The key to getting a poinsettia to bloom again is put it in a north window, don’t let it get any direct sunlight from mid-September on and no drafts if possible. I used to put a black bag over mine each day, but found I damaged too many leaves. You will be amazed! I always enjoy the transformation. If you have room, you can make your own Christmas gifts for your gardener friends.

I’ll finish up houseplants in my next column.

If you have any questions or comments, feel free to email me at [email protected].

Amy Muncy was born in Wabash County and lived in Northern Wabash County for close to 40 years. Muncy grew up in the country, has always enjoyed gardening and mowing the lawn. She has been gardening since a small girl. She moved to Kosciusko County in 2000.

She is a master gardener intern at this point, but will be a full master gardener before long. “I enjoy all aspects of gardening. I really don’t have an expertise on any one thing. I make compost. I can, freeze and dehydrate. I like to grow veggies, flowers, herbs and houseplants. I like to plant trees everywhere I can. I know a little bit about a lot of gardening. I would say my most experience has been on composting and different ways to do this. I believe we must conserve our land for our future generations and composting is a great way of doing this. The more we become self sufficient, the better off the future generations are and we need to be teaching them by example.”