Down to Earth – Episode 8 Pot plant care (1990)

YouTube ref: https://youtu.be/vfTidiSO4eg

Date: 19 March 2015

[Music plays and Gardening Australia logo appears with the number 8 and the words Pot Plant Care]

[Image shows a mix of indoor pot plants]

Kevin Handreck:  We all admire well grown pot plants but how do we keep them in really top condition?

[Camera pans across to Kevin Handreck speaking]

Humidity is probably the most important factor.  See most of these plants came originally from tropical and sub-tropical rainforests where the humidity is high all of the time so we have to get somewhere close to those sorts of conditions. 

[Images show close ups of individual plants]

And that’s not easy in our houses where we have air conditioners and heaters that really dry the air out.

[Image shows close up of Kevin Handreck speaking]

So the simplest way of overcoming that is to group the plants together so that they can create their own humid micro environment.

[Image shows close up of plants]

Light is another very important factor. 

[Image shows close up of Kevin Handreck speaking]

The different house plants that we grow have different light requirements. 

[Image shows close up of plants]

For example this Maranta and this Aglaonema tolerate very low light conditions and in fact their leaves are damaged by brighter light, whereas these Begonias and this Monstera need brighter light if they’re going to grow well. 

[Image shows close up of Kevin Handreck speaking]

And this African Violet needs even brighter light. 

[Image shows Kevin Handreck picking up African Violet]

It must over near the window in filtered light if it’s going to flower at all.

[Image shows close up of Kevin Handreck picking up pot plant]

As far as watering is concerned the simplest way to check when to water is just to lift the pot up, feel the weight. 

[Image shows Kevin Handreck pointing to large pot plant]

Of course we can’t do that with a great tub like this.  What we have to do here is to just dig down into the mix and feel how moist it is.

[Image shows close up of Kevin Handreck digging hand into soil around pot plant.  Image changes to close up of hanging basket]

For hanging baskets that have porous liners like this one here just feel the bottom of the liner and if it’s dry the plant should be watered. 

[Image shows close up of Kevin Handreck feeling bottom of hanging basket]

And of course you can’t do that for a plastic hanging pot like this but just feel the weight.

[Image shows close up of pot plant.  Image changes to show close up of Kevin Handreck holding pot plant]

Eventually almost every pot plant outgrows it’s pot.  You can see that this begonia here looks rather large in the small pot that it’s in.  Now I could either break this plant up into several or I could just put it up into a bigger pot.  Well I don’t want three or four of these so I’m going to put it up into a bigger pot.  The first thing of course is to choose a pot. 

[Image shows Kevin Handreck picking up an empty pot]

Now I can put it in that one there and that would fit alright but I think I need something a bit bigger than that.  Let’s try this one here. 

[Image shows Kevin Handreck picking up a larger empty pot]

Yes that’d look good and I won’t have to repot it again for many, many months.

Right we’ve got a pot, now we need to choose a potting mix that’s just right for this type of plant.  Over here I’ve got a rather fine mix. 

[Image shows close up of Kevin Handreck handling some potting mix]

That isn’t really suited to this plant, its better suited to a big tub or to plants that are going to be growing outdoors in the full sun. 

[Image shows Kevin Handreck picking up a different potting mix]

I’ve got a medium type of mix here.  It’s a little bit more open than that one over there and that one could be suitable but over here I’ve got one that’s much more open still. 

[Image shows Kevin Handreck picking up a different potting mix]

There’s big chunky bits of bark in there and that’s ideal for this sort of plant.  If it’s open enough it won’t get root rot even no matter how much you water it.

Right, let’s tip the plant out of here, being very careful.  

[Image shows close up of Kevin Handreck removing pot plant from pot]

Right, the thing to do is to look at the root ball. 

[Image shows close up of root ball of pot plant]

You can see that there’s no roots around the bottom there so I don’t need to do anything to that root ball.  If there were some there I’d have to pull those away.

[Camera pans out to wider image of Kevin Handreck handling pot plant]

I’ve got to put some mix into there because the height of that pot there is a bit greater than the height of the mix of the root ball. 

[Image shows Kevin Handreck placing potting mix into bottom of pot]

It should be about right there, I’ll carefully position it there. 

[Image shows Kevin Handreck placing plant into pot]

The top of the root ball should be about a centimetre below the rim of the pot there.  That’s pretty right.  Now the next thing is to carefully get mix in around the side there which of course take a few minutes.

[Image shows Kevin Handreck placing soil in pot around pot plant]

There, that’s all the mix in, all we need to do now is just water it in thoroughly and it should be OK for at least six months, probably a year.

[Screen fades out]