Fertilizers are essential for indoor flowers. Without top dressing, the inflorescences will cease to ripen, the buds will not be able to fully open, the flowers develop very slowly. Currently, in flower shops you can buy any organic fertilizer for indoor plants, each of which is effective in its own way. But you do not need to spend money, because at home there is always a large number of improvised means that will give the plants strength and restore their health. How to feed indoor flowers at home? Let's figure it out.
When plants need feeding
In order for home flowers to be strong, healthy, beautiful, you need to follow some feeding rules:
The period from early April to late September is the best option for fertilizing. In winter, you need to keep top dressing to a minimum. It is necessary to gradually prepare the plant to reduce the amount of fertilizer.
- Fertilizer should be applied when the stems become thin.
- You cannot do without feeding if the plant does not bloom for a long time.
- If the flowers do not grow at all for a long time.
- When the plant begins to shed its leaves for no reason.
- The plant looks sickly.
Fertilizers for domestic plants are applied only to wet soil, this will help not to burn the plant roots. Flowering and deciduous plants need different fertilizers. Therefore, it is not recommended to prepare the same mixture for all plants. Experienced flower growers say that if the fertilizing is regular, the right fertilizers are selected, the flowers will delight with their strength, flowering, and beautiful appearance. But you need to remember one rule! They do not like overfeeding plants. With an excess of fertilizers, plants may stop developing, uniform growth and flowering processes will be disrupted, which will lead to death.
Ash chemical composition
Ash contains about 30 types of trace elements that all plants need for full development. Flowers grown in the house can suffer from a lack of them more than outdoors, since the amount of land for them is limited and quickly depleted, which leads to developmental delays, disease and pests. In all these cases, fertilizing the soil with ash can be invaluable - it will not only add the necessary minerals, but it will also do it quickly.
By the appearance of the plant, it is possible to assess whether it needs feeding and whether the elements that can be obtained from ash are needed here - potassium, phosphorus, magnesium, calcium.
Ash rich in potassium provide plant resistance to diseases, leaf burns, root rot. The lack of a trace element is visible when the lower, old leaves begin to die off - yellowing spreads from the edges of the leaf to the middle between the veins. In this case, the buds, if they are on the plant, freeze.
Phosphorus is an element without which it is difficult for plants to bloom. And if its deficiency is large, then the root system will also suffer. Magnesium is important for photosynthesis, without it the leaves become pale, curl, and if the lack of trace elements is not replenished, the plant will die. If the flower becomes lethargic and unsightly, it probably lacks calcium, which improves the flora's resistance to disease.
How to feed indoor recipes at home: recipes
When feeding by any means, you need to observe the home flower, its reaction to the applied fertilizer for indoor flowers. We present the most popular components of home dressings for indoor plants:
- Aloe juice and onion husks.
- Cigarette ash and dry yeast.
- Banana peel and sugar.
- Aspirin and castor oil.
- Quail and pigeon droppings.
- Decoction of nettle and fern.
You may be interested in: How to feed the money tree at home
How to prepare natural fertilizers for indoor flowers from them? Let's tell you more about each of them.
Yeast. Natural organic product containing a lot of trace elements and nutritious vitamins. You can feed any plant with dry yeast. To prepare a healthy solution, you need to take 1/3 teaspoon of dry yeast, 9 liters of warm water, 3 tablespoons of sugar. Mix everything, leave for a day. Then dilute the resulting mixture 1: 5 and water all plants under the root. The prepared solution cannot be stored for a long time, otherwise gases will form.
Cigarette ash. Ash is a universal fertilizer for the garden. And feeding flowers at home is possible with cigarette ash. Fertilizer will give energy and strength for growth, will help protect the plant from diseases. Top dressing is not difficult. It is enough to pour the ashes into the pot; when watering, it will penetrate into the soil by itself. If there is ash from burned wood, it can be used to prepare a useful solution: 2 tablespoons of ash are stirred in a liter of warm water. The mixture is infused for two days, then the flowers are watered with it twice a month.
Aspirin water. One aspirin tablet is dissolved in a liter of water. An indoor flower is sprayed on top with this solution to enhance immunity.
Sugar. Indoor flowers need a lot of glucose. Its introduction is necessary for the correct formation of molecules, normal development and growth energy. It is very simple to make top dressing: sprinkle the soil with a small amount of sugar and water it.
Banana peel. It contains a large amount of useful trace elements: magnesium, potassium, phosphorus. Indoor flowers perceive banana skins as fertilizer for flowering indoor plants. Top dressing is carried out in different ways. You can pour the peel with a glass of water and leave until foam appears. The ready-made mixture is used for watering twice a month. You can dry the peel, chop it. In powder form, banana is an ideal fertilizer to use immediately after planting or during planting.
Citrus peel. Citrus fertilizer can protect against ants and other parasites in the summer, as well as provide useful substances. For several days, citrus or pomegranate peel is infused with water. Then this composition is used for watering.
You may be interested in: Raspberries in the fall: care, pruning and feeding of bushes
Onion peel. Every house has common onions. You should not throw out onion peels if there are indoor plants in the house, this is an excellent flower feeding. You need to soak the husk in water, hold it for several days, then water the plants. Such top dressing is most suitable in autumn, winter, when the plant needs to be fed as much as possible.
Garlic. Every gardener knows the benefits of garlic. In the summer, you can make houseplant fertilizer at home from garlic arrows. They are crushed and added to a liter of water. Insist for five days in a dark place. It turns out a concentrated solution, which must be diluted at the rate of 1 tbsp. spoon for two liters of water. Fertilizer is used once a week. Garlic helps protect plants from disease.
Aloe. The fertilizer is suitable for those plants that have weakened leaves, stems, and do not develop well. Only adult plants over 4 years old can be fertilized.The cut leaves are placed in a plastic bag, put in the refrigerator for 10 days. After that, the leaves are grinded, squeezed out the juice. You can feed indoor plants with a solution prepared from 1 teaspoon of juice and 1.5 liters of water. The plants are watered with fertilizer 2 times a week.
Castor oil. Castor oil is used to improve color and increase the number of buds. Top dressing of indoor plants is prepared from a teaspoon of oil and a liter of water. The mixture is shaken, the flowers are watered when the ovary of buds appears.
Quail (pigeon) droppings. A small concentration of nutrients is the main condition for fertilizing flowers, otherwise you can harm the plant. A teaspoon of manure is poured on top of the soil and watered with houseplants. It helps in the rapid development of buds, growth and flowering.
Aquarium water. Aquarium water contains a lot of nutrients. They stimulate flower development and proper growth. In such water, the pH level is neutral, this has a beneficial effect on the plant. It is recommended to use top dressing in early spring and until mid-summer. During this period, indoor plants grow actively, new leaves are laid and buds develop. Watering in moderation is the main condition. It is not necessary to water the flower only with water from the aquarium; watering should alternate with clean water.
You may be interested in: Currants in the fall: care, pruning, feeding and other autumn work
Broth (infusion) of fern and nettle. You need to make fertilizer from three liters of water and 100 grams of vodka and water the plant. A withered plant can be brought back to life by watering with this fertilizer. It will even start to grow better. During transplantation, plants also use nettles and ferns. They help to make the soil more airy and porous, which is very important for the development of the root system.
Nettle is used to create liquid fertilizers. You need to take dry nettle, add water and insist for a week. It turns out a sourdough, it is diluted 1: 5 with water and used for irrigation.
Fertilizer 3. Citrus and other fruits
As a fertilizer, many growers use citrus peels such as orange or tangerine, and banana peels are also suitable. But before you start feeding, you should prepare the fertilizer.
First, you need to finely chop the citrus zest and put everything in a 1 liter glass jar. It should be 1/3 full. Then freshly boiled water is poured into the container. Let the mixture sit for 24 hours. After that, strain it and bring the volume of liquid to 1 liter, pouring boiled water. Fertilizer is ready, you can start feeding.
Making fertilizer from banana peels is almost the same. Only the can should be filled ½ part, not a third. Also, the contents are poured with boiling water, infused for a day, filtered and the required amount of water is added to the container.
Banana peels can also be added directly to the soil when transplanting. To do this, it must first be dried and ground or thoroughly crushed. After some time, it will begin to rot and release micronutrients that contribute to the rapid growth of the green mass of the plant.
You can also make a nutritious mix of citrus peels and bananas. All you have to do is into a 3L glass jar. add finely chopped peels of citrus and bananas in a 1: 1 ratio. The jar must be one third full. Pour a couple of small tablespoons of granulated sugar there and pour in water, which should be warm. Then the container is covered and removed to a warm, dark place, where the fertilizer will infuse for 21 days (from time to time, the contents must be shaken).After the allotted time, a cloudy liquid of a light yellow hue should form in the jar. It can be stored in the refrigerator for a very long time. For feeding, the resulting liquid is diluted with clean water in a ratio of 1:20. This fertilizer is fed to the plant only once every 4 weeks.
Top dressing myths
Many gardeners use coffee grounds and tea leaves for feeding. Are they good for plants? The issue is controversial. It is believed that the remains of the tea leaves only loosen the soil, but practically no benefit. Coffee grounds can increase the acidity of the soil, which is dangerous for flowering plants such as chrysanthemums.
Another top dressing for home flowers is eggshells. It is believed that calcium will help the plant develop properly. But many indoor plants do not need calcium. Egg fertilizer will only serve as a baking powder and drainage.
Meat water is often used by flower growers. It is believed by many to help saturate plants with protein. In fact, after soaking the meat water into the soil, an unpleasant odor will develop, which can attract flies.
Types of evils
Ash can be obtained by burning dry straw, grass, branches and leaves of deciduous and coniferous trees. It is used even with the remains of coal. Do not fertilize with red ash because of the high content of iron in it, as well as ash and coals from burnt household waste, paint, film, newspapers - all harmful substances will pass into plants and contaminate the soil.
In terms of chemical composition, fern leaves and sunflower stems contain the most potassium and phosphorus - up to 40%, other plants give these minerals twice less when burned. Pine and birch firewood provides the most calcium. Ash also contains magnesium, manganese, sulfur, boron, copper, all of which are in a form that plants can easily assimilate. The poorest ash is considered to be shale and peat ash - it contains only 1-1.5 percent potassium and phosphorus, and half as much potassium as can be obtained from grasses and firewood.
Important aspects in plant development
It is not enough to apply only fertilizers so that indoor plants develop correctly and bloom magnificently all year round. Proper lighting must be provided. If the plant does not have enough natural light, then no additional feeding will be able to save it upon death.
The optimal solution for indoor plants is to be on the windowsill. But you need to make sure that in winter the flower is not under a stream of cold air. If the rooms face north, there is not enough light. Mirror surfaces can be used to reflect additional light. The length of daylight hours is very important for home flowers. In winter, plants are illuminated for 2-3 hours using special lamps.
What is not recommended to do
So that wood ash does not lose its working qualities, it is recommended to store it exclusively in a dry place, protecting it from the negative effects of moisture. Frequent use of organic residues for feeding indoor flowers is contraindicated, since the alkaline reaction increases and their ability to absorb useful components decreases.
In addition, you should not use rusty ash, it has an increased iron content, which slows down the absorption of phosphorus.
When working with organic compounds, you should use protective gloves and cover your face with a mask. It is inappropriate to use ash for flowers that do not like it (rosalia, camellia and other varieties growing on soil mixtures with high acidity). After processing the bushes with a working solution from parasitic individuals, it is not allowed to place them on the windowsill under the scorching rays of the sun and irrigate them with water in the first 3-5 days.
The addition of wood ash to the soil makes it possible to enrich the soil substrate with nutrition and protect domestic crops from the attack of harmful individuals and ailments.The main thing is to make it dosed and no more than 3 times a year. Otherwise, the general condition of the flowers will worsen, and they may die.
Application methods
You can fertilize plants with ash in dry form and make infusions or decoctions for watering. Dry fertilizer is applied when transplanting indoor and garden flowers into the soil or later, sprinkling the soil with it, mixing with the top layer. When transplanting indoor flowers in spring, ash is added to the ground at the rate of 2 tablespoons per 1 kg of finished soil, everything is thoroughly mixed, the flower is planted in a pots and watered. Fuchsias, geraniums, cyclamens and other flowers respond well to such enrichment of the land.
