“It says on the bottle plant food to feed every two weeks. But you’ve written earlier not to feed during December, January and March. So who’s right?”
The short answer: I am.
A longer explanation goes like this: First, I said not to feed foliage plants during these dark, dreary months. If an indoor plant is in bud or flower – or for orchids which are gloriously different – then by all means feed at regular intervals, although biweekly may be a trifle excessive. Plants in bloom are at the peak of their production and need all the help they can get.
Plants grown principally for their foliage are another story. Indoor growing conditions at the end of the year and beginning of the new one are abysmal in Canadian homes. Days are abbreviated, light levels low and, unless boosted, humidity levels are lower than those in the middle of the Sahara and little survives there except terrorists.
Applying fertilizer encourages new growth that fails to flourish under these conditions. The aim is to allow foliage plants to become almost dormant. And not only by with holding nutrients but also cutting back on watering. That is not saying allowing them to wilt but “growing dry” as the confusing professional phrase has it.
By all means fertilize during the remaining nine months of the year if you desire the plants to continue growing. But why wouldn’t you? If a specimen perfectly fills a position do you really want it to outgrow the space? Many of our most desirable houseplants are really juvenile trees. Mature, they may top off at anywhere from 30 to 150 feet tall. In shopping malls and other commercial areas embellished with such greenery, professional interior landscapers hold back on water and apply minimal fertilizer for just this reason.
So why would a commercial fertilizer container suggest feeding every couple of weeks year-round? A simple explanation might be that the label lacks the space to expand fully – see how many words it took me? Those of a more suspicious nature might hint that the manufacturer’s aim is encourage repeat sales. But who would ever believe the purveyor of such products would sink to such ill-considered advice? The big guns in the gardening business are usually those who have never been fired.
Wes Porter is a horticultural consultant and writer based in Toronto. Wes has over 40 years of experience in both temperate and tropical horticulture from three continents.
