Indoor Plants

• Requirements for Growing Indoor Plants
• Feeding Indoor Plants
• How to care for indoor plants?
• Plants Doctor
• Plants Talk
• Books

Common Indoor Plants in Singapore

• African Violets
• Herb
• Gloxinia

Nurseries in Singapore

Plants are one of the major kingdoms of living things. Plants are important to us as they provide us with food, clothing, shelter, medicines, even the air we breathe! They also enhance the environment with their beauty and help other living creatures. Thus it is very important we are informed about plants and how we can help them thrive. The study of plants is called botany.

The Plantae includes all land plants: mosses, ferns, conifers, flowering plants, and so on—an amazing range of diverse forms. With more than 250,000 species, they are second in size only to the arthropoda.

Plants have been around for a very long time. The plants first appeared in the Ordovician, but did not begin to resemble modern plants until the Late Silurian. By the close of the Devonian, about 360 million years ago, there were a wide variety of shapes and sizes of plants around, including tiny creeping plants and tall forest trees.

The most striking, and important, feature of plants is their green color, the result of a pigment called chlorophyll. Plants use chlorophyll to capture light energy, which fuels the manufacture of food—sugar, starch, and other carbohydrates. Without these food sources, most life on earth would be impossible. There would still be mushrooms and algae, but there would be no fruits, vegetables, grains, or any animals (which ultimately rely on plants for their food too!)

Another important contribution of plants is their shaping of the environment. Think of a place without plants. The only such places on earth are the arctic wastelands, really arid deserts, and the deep ocean. Everywhere else, from the tundra to the rainforest to the desert, is populated by plants. In fact, when we think of a particular landscape, it is the plants which first come to mind. Try to picture a forest without trees, or a prairie without grasses. It is the plants which produce and maintain the terrestrial environment as we know it.

• New shoots are weak looking.
• Growth is slow.
• New leaves are smaller and turn pale.
• Older leaves may turn yellow and fall.
• Brightly coloured leaves turn green.
• Plant fails to bloom.

Lack of light

• Increase artificial or natural lighting at first signs of weakness.
• Reduce room temperature by about 3°C.
• Water less frequently and do not fertilize.

• Leaves exposed to direct sunlight turn pale and develop faded spots that turn dry and brown.
• Affected leaves turn increasingly pale.

• Remove plant from direct sunlight in summer or install sheer curtains to filter light.
• Remove badly damaged leaves.

• Leaves wilt.
• Growth is slow.
• Brown spots appear on margins of older leaves, which eventually turn yellow and fall.
• Soil is pale, hard and dry on the surface or damp on the surface and dry farther down.

• Water plant.
• If soil does not absorb water, immerse pot in a bucket of water until air bubbles stop appearing.
• Remove pot from water and allow it to drain.
• Continue watering at normal intervals.

• Leaves wilt.
• Growth is slow.
• Brown spots appear on leaf tips.
• New and older leaves eventually turn yellow and fall at the same time.
• Soil is constantly damp or drainage is too slow.
• Roots become spongy, turn brown and rot.

• Make sure that no water remains in saucer and place pot on a stack of newspaper for about one hour.
• Return pot to saucer and allow soil to dry out before next watering.
• Water less frequently.

• Stems grow long and lanky (despite proper lighting).
• Older leaves wilt (despite proper watering), turn brown around margins and fall.

• Remove plant from direct sunlight in summer or heat sources in winter.
• Check to see whether plant requires a rest period.
• Remove badly damaged leaves to avoid disease.

• Leaves are covered in white spots or turn yellow and drop a few hours after a sudden change in temperature.

• Few indoor plants tolerate temperatures lower than 10°C.
• Keep an eye on plants kept outdoors in summer and protect plants transported outdoors in winter.

• Young shoots are weak, smaller and paler (although not yellow) than rest of plant.
• Flowers are faded or plant fails to bloom.
• Plant is in an artificial potting mix and was not fertilized during the growing period.

• Fertilize as recommended.
• Transfer to a larger pot and add new soil, as necessary.

• Leaves turn brown and fall.
• Plant stops growing, young shoots are sometimes deformed and blackened.
• White crust forms on soil surface or pot rim.

• Leach excess fertilizer salts from soil by flushing with water several times.
• Fertilize less frequently and in smaller doses.

• Leaf margins (especially on broad-leafed plants) or tips (especially on narrow-leafed plants) turn brown and fall.
• White crust forms on soil surface or pot rim.

• Evaporation causes salts to rise and burn leaf tips or margins.
• Let tap water sit for 24 hours before watering plants.
• Mist aerial parts regularly.

• Leaf tips turn brown.
• Leaf margins turn yellow.
• Flower buds dry out and fall.

• Use a humidifier.
• Mist plants regularly.
• Remove them from heat sources.

• Small pale brown spots appear on leaves.

• Some plants are very sensitive to sudden changes in temperature.
• Use tepid water when watering.
• Cold water may spot the leaves and slow the growth of some tropical plants.

• New leaves are smaller.
• Older leaves turn yellow and fall.
• Plant wilts quickly between waterings.
• Roots grow out of drainage holes or show near soil surface.

• Confirm diagnosis by removing plant from pot.
• Repot if roots form a tight ball.