This guide provides a comprehensive, step-by-step approach for beginners to successfully select, purchase, and care for new houseplants, emphasizing pest prevention and proper watering to ensure plant health and longevity.
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if I was starting out with house plants
all over again I'd use this video as the
guide on what to do and how to do it
seriously he has everything he need to
know to not only keep them alive but
help them Thrive I mean what's better
than nurturing a beautiful little green
baby all the way from wee Bubba to a
glorious majestic beast nothing my plant
friend I love it and don't worry it's
really not too taxing even an idiot like
me can keep a few live you just need to
get a few Basics right and you'll be
well on your way I'm going to buy a new
plant from the store in this video and
show you exactly what I do to set them
up for
Success so it does all start in the shop
much of the pain guilt and anguish we
experience as plant parents all stem
from the mistakes we often make when
buying the plant in the first place
first you'll want to avoid anything that
has the word calaa on the tag only
joking of course sort of if you're an
absolute beginner then you'll want to
start with something that is pretty
easygoing like a monstera a peace lily
or a snake plant and calaa is not
easygoing my plant friend trust me I
know from experience crispy brown leaves
and Calif go together like peas and
carrots it's something even the most
experienced Growers struggle with as
well as me the best advice I can offer
here is to hunt out a couple of plants
that ick all your fancy and then do a
quick Google search to see how fussy
they are I usually just type in the name
of the plant and easy care and see what
comes up if the results come back with
things like this plant needs specific
care then alarm Bell should be ringing
in your head if you like a challenge
then go for it by all means but if you
want an easy life like me then move on
to the next one I think I've chosen my
plant I'm going to choose this Mosaic
Plant £750 which I think is a fonia
I've already got one of these in my
house I think I've got one of these
already in my house and it seems to do
quite well so I know this one should do
the same I a quick look on Google to see
how easy it is to care for it's pretty
easy to care for I say the like high
humidity which not sure whether I agree
with or not cuz mine seems to do okay
not particularly high humidity but the
health of the plant is pretty good all
the leaves
look in good condition no yellowing no
Browning doesn't look like the plants on
death door or anything like that so it
looks like a good healthy plant to buy
it's in budget it's easy goinging so I
think this is the one I'm going to
purchase now that I found a green buddy
that doesn't sound like it's going to
give me too much grief and it's in my
rather limited budget I now need to do
the most important step check for pests
so before you go and pay for your plant
you want to give it a quick check over
some pests you probably won't be able to
be 100% sure that the plant hasn't got
pest but you give it a good look over
and get see any obvious damage so you
want to look for kind of speckly leaves
particularly underneath this is where
the potential insects like FPS and
spiderm and been munching away on the
leaves so if it's looking a bit speckled
underneath then you want to avoid that
plant move on to the next one doesn't
look like this has got that looking at
under the on side of leaves they all
look pretty healthy as you'd expect to
see also want to look for
webbing on the underside of the leaves
where it meets the petol particularly
very fine webbing that's an indication
of spidermites where they kind of spread
over the plant use their webbing to
munch on the leaves while that's
happening on this
plant and also any any specks of black
or red or anything like that the
indication of frips and spider ites
which didn't like is the case on these
Le are give a check
over um you can also look in the soil as
well for any fungus snats now there
probably will be fungus snats in most
plant parts cuz they are the bane of of
everyone's lives but if you give it a
little disturb on the front on the
top and if you see anything popping
about little flea like insects then they
are fungus that so you can have a quick
look at the soil of your plant I've had
a look at this one doesn't like there's
too much activity going on so I think my
checks are over and going take it to the
cashier and pay for it I'm pretty happy
with my purchase then doesn't seem like
it's going to be too much of a nightmare
the foliage looks pretty decent I can't
see anything too sinister under the
leaves and in the soil and I'm getting
reasonably good value for money I'm
excited so you'll be pretty excited
about your new purchase and you'll want
to bring him home and plunk him straight
onto the window sill to meet all his new
friends right well this can actually
land you into all sorts of B so hold
your horses it's well worth doing yet
another check for pests I know it sounds
Ott but you can never be too careful
when it comes to pasts the last thing
you want is for the little suckers to
jump ship and invade your existing
collection disaster and it's very tricky
doing a fur check when in the store with
all those eyes on you you get some funny
looks believe me and you can easily miss
the little gits you know most of them
are pretty small after all bought this
plant back from the shop I've been
having a look at it for the last 5 to 10
minutes to see if there's any naughty
pests on here and I can't see anything
so I've had a good look at the underside
of the leaves especially where the Peto
meets the leaf or the stem meets the
leaf cuz that is where they tend to hang
out es especially spidermites and it's a
it's a good idea to get a light you can
use the light off your phone and you can
shine it on the other side of what
you're looking at and it kind of shows
up the very fine wispy webbing so that's
a good little tactic to use and you can
also use it to look at all the underside
of the leaves so if you do have a
problem you want to isolate the plant
and you want to treat it with an
insecticide or something to get rid of
the bug depending on which one you have
so I'm now pretty happy that there are
no pests on this guy I can put him in
his new home right well I would actually
wait this step is optional but highly
recommend it I always isolate new plants
for at least a week I know I sound like
a mad man but I hate pests and I want to
make sure there's no risk of them
spreading who knows what eggs and
whatnot might be on the plant and have
yet to hatch and spread and Conquer we
don't want to plant ocalypse on our
hands with bugs jumping easily from ship
to ship do we like I said it's optional
but I keep them in the corner of a room
like a naughty child for week or two
checking them over every day to see if
anything rears its ugly head now that
I'm reasonably happy there are no hidden
suckers lurking under the leaves or in
the soil we can now get him ready for
his new life in his new home and for a
glorious friendship to Blossom I now
look under the Bonnet and check out the
health of the engine roots that is
plants that come fresh from the store
should be in decent soil and have
healthy Roots but sadly the world isn't
a perfect place so it's well worth
checking them out pull its trousers down
and have a look or even fondle of his
private parts he won't mind no need to
go mad and disturb all the soil and
break apart the root bow he fairly
delicate down there after all you're
just seeing if there is room for roots
to grow that they look healthy and plump
we have a very healthy plant here
because lots of soil for the roots to
grow into it's not root bound whatsoever
can see all the finer Roots have reached
to the bottom of the plant which is
quite good away from the crown
and the roots are nice and beige which
is exactly what you want you don't want
any black roots in here cuz that is an
indication of root rot and you'd want to
get rid of that going
forwards but yeah really healthy plant
by the looks of things underneath in the
soil loads of room for these roots to
continue growing for probably at least
another year you might think you need to
get the plant out of the soil he came in
and pop it into a nice fresh mix but
honestly I wouldn't bother unless the
soil absolutely pongs and is a bit of a
dog's dinner I'd leave it alone he will
happily live in the soil he came in
until he outgrows the pot and is ready
for an upsize basically it's a problem
for much further down the road right if
you've isolated your plant and it's been
a week or even if you didn't bother you
need to check how dry the soil is is he
ready for a drink now don't over
complicate watering it boils down to
this water the plant when the soil is
dry that's it nothing too taxing forget
schedules and all that just check if the
soil is dry and give him a drink if he
is you can use your finger for this and
go about halfway down into the soil if
it feels wet then leave it another week
and if it feels dry then he needs a
drink but I use my trusty moisture meter
for this because I find it much more
reliable I've actually down played that
a lot this device is a plant parents
best friend and it's my favorite thing
in the whole world world because it
takes the guessing game out completely
the one I use is listed in my Amazon
store Linked In the description if
you're interested and when it does come
to watering just know that as long as
the pot he lives in has holes in the
bottom you can't give him too much water
boarding for over an hour if you want to
it'll be just fine overwatering is about
frequency rather than volume that's a
big takeaway from this video and I'll
leave a link to a video about that in
the top right corner if you want to go
further down the rabbit hole so he's
well watered what about food plants need
food right yes they absolutely do my
plant friend but not yet I'd avoid
giving any fertilizer for at least the
first month sounds harsh to starve him
like this but the reason is pretty
simple you have no idea when the grower
last fertilized him it could have been
the day you bought him so to feed him
again would soon fatten him up and
that's not good yellow leaves and
drooping are the issues you might face
or even plant death
not pretty be safe and wait at least a
month even if it has been a while since
he was last fed he isn't going to starve
he' be just fine before I go about
finding a spot for him which has some
crucial steps I'll cover in a jiffy by
the way I always add one of these to the
pot what on Earth are these ugly things
I hear you cry these are fungus Knack
catchers these are the stickiest things
you'll ever touch and sometimes
annoyingly so they always stick to my
hand whenever I brush part pass them but
needs must they're yellow because gats
are dumb enough to be attracted to
yellow and will fly into it at are
things and they can't get off so they
will die a slow death sounds pretty Grim
actually oh well fungus nuts are the
most persistent Pest and having one of
these in the pot does two things it
keeps a lid on the population by
catching the adults but it also tells
you how bad a problem you have and this
is crucial if you've caught thousands on
the card then you got a big problem that
need sorting leave it and you'll soon be
overtaken and you'll want to give up on
life let alone plants and check out the
video in the top right corner all about
how I finally conquered these Mighty
beasts we're about ready to finally pop
him in his new home and let him settle
into his new surroundings but where
should he go for this you need to
understand what light he wants this is
crucial all plants have different light
needs some need direct sun like
succulents and cacti but most in indoor
tropical plants will require bright
indirect light don't worry too much
about what that means it's just a catch
term for not allowing direct sun rays to
touch the leaves the plant basically
wants to be in the shade from the Sun
otherwise the leaves will burn I.E don't
leave him to roast on a south facing
window all day if you're in the northern
hemisphere a quick Google search will
tell you what the ideal light for your
plant is so it's well worth doing this
so the tag of this guy came with the
plant says that it needs a bright spot
out of direct sunlight so I don't always
trust these tags because quite often
they don't even give you the name of the
plant but this one does Mosaic Plant
fonia so I have done a little bit of
research on it online it tends to back
that up so it does need a bright spot
which I think is about 800t candles
minimum more than that a little bit it
doesn't want the direct sunlight to
touch the leaves cuz it will turn them
crispy Brown not a massive issue but if
you keep doing it if you keep it on
there on a south facing window in the
northern hemisphere for example then you
will get lots of crispy brown leaves and
you'll end up with nothing so I need to
find a spot that is nice and bright
where direct sun doesn't touch the
leaves which is a little bit tricky so
now it's all about finding the right
spot in your home but how on Earth do
you know if your home gets low medium or
bright light well for this I have this
trusty light meter don't be too alarm
it's pretty cheap and there are even
apps on your phone you can use that do
the same thing although a little less
accurately I bought this fella a year
ago and I love it so this guy my light
meter has saved my bacon because I now
know exactly how much light is coming
into my home and it turns out not a lot
because I measure my the light coming
into my house in various spots and it's
always quite low so this measures in Lux
and foot candles I use foot candles I
think they're more or less the same
measurement really anything below low
500t candles is considered low light so
that's not great for your plants and
anything 500 to 1,000 is medium light
which is good for your plants above
1,000 is highlight which is probably
quite unlikely in most spots in your
home unless you're right next to a
window which is this spot here so I'm
going to put this plant on this window
shelf right here next to this window
this is an east facing window and during
a bright day or clear day during the
spring and summer I know that it gets
about a, foot candles which is great so
all these plants love that but on an
overcast day like today it is
getting about 300t candles which is
lower light so not great but that's
pretty much the best I can do in this
house unless I was to put it under a
grow light so this spot it will get
direct sun but it should be able to
tolerate it because I live in Sheffield
in in the northly UK and we don't get
much direct sun if you're struggling to
find the perfect spot for your new guide
then don't worry too much if it's not
got bright enough light most of the time
it just means it won't grow as
vigorously as it could it will still
most likely be perfectly happy in your
home and if you really want to get the
best out of your plant then consider
adding a grow light I've got four sansy
grow lights in my home which allows me
to have plants in dark spots in my house
and you can use my code for a 15%
discount in the description to this
video every week you should be checking
the soil with your finger or your probe
if I've managed to convince you to get
one and only watering when the soil is
dry this is the biggest takeaway from
this video most problems come about
because new plant parents are far too
generous with the watering can and drown
their new baby wait for the soil to dry
out and everything else becomes much
easier enjoying new green friends you've
earned it there are tons more tips and
tricks to learn to get the best out of
your Le Pals so check out the video on
the screen now for more fun and subscribe
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