TROPICAL PLANT CARE: 5 STEPS FOR TRANSITIONING FROM OUTDOORS TO INDOORS
Most of the tropical plants we grow outdoors can’t survive a winter in Indianapolis, but they can be ideally suited for indoor care! Instead of tossing out your tropicals once the gardening season ends, you can bring them inside to overwinter. The following spring, you can bring them back outside and start the cycle again for bigger, beautiful tropical plants that last.
Bringing Outdoor Tropical Plants Indoors Requires Special Care
It’s not quite as simple as carrying your plants inside and placing them with the rest of your indoor houseplant collection. Bringing tropicals indoors is a multi-step process, but if you do it properly, you can save your gorgeous plants from meeting an untimely end!
Here are the five steps you need to take to ensure a smooth transition for your tropicals from outdoors to indoors.
1) Debug Naturally
There are all kinds of creepy crawlers and pests hiding in the garden. In the wild, beneficial insects like ladybugs and spiders keep them under control, but pest populations can grow surprisingly quickly indoors.
Debugging your plants with an all-natural insecticide is essential before you bring them inside. Spider mites, aphids, and hard-to-spot bugs could be hiding out in those leaves. Those pests could spread through your houseplants in just a few days and do significant damage.
Neem oil, insecticidal soap, and pyrethrin spray are all terrific natural insecticides that are safe for indoor use. Coat the leaves of your tropicals generously—top and bottom—and spritz the soil surface as well.
2) Give Your Tropicals a Glow-Up
You’ll want your plants to be in good shape so that they can settle into their new home. Remove any dead, damaged, or diseased parts so it can direct its energy to new, fresh growth.
If your plant looks like it’s outgrowing its container, it can help to swap out the soil and move it into a slightly larger container. Try to do this by October 1st, before it has entered dormancy—repotting a dormant plant can scramble its cycle and prompt growth when it hasn’t had sufficient time to rest.
Repotting your plant is also a great opportunity to check for any other pests that may be hiding in the soil. Gently tousle the roots with your fingers to loosen them up, so they can spread and fill out their new container.
3) Make the Transition Gradual
Bring your tropicals in for a few hours at a time for the first 10–14 days, slightly increasing the time spent indoors with each passing day. A drastic change in environment can stress out your plants, but if you transition them slowly and gradually, it will be a much smoother process. Repeat your insecticide applications occasionally, just in case any new bugs sneak in there.
4) Keep Them Away from Your Other Plants for the First Two Weeks
Even though you debugged your plants, it may not instantly kill all the pests, and a bug or two might still be lurking. Quarantining outdoor tropicals in a separate room for two weeks will protect your houseplants from infestations. After two weeks, you can place your tropicals wherever you see fit.
5) Find a Comfortable Location Indoors that Meets Their Needs
Most tropicals have similar care requirements—they tend to thrive in bright, indirect sunlight. Direct sunbeams can scorch the leaves of certain plants, and too little light will stunt their growth. Find a spot indoors that meets their needs.
Remember to scale back on watering once winter arrives! When your tropicals enter dormancy, they require less water and because they aren’t growing very much.
If you have any more questions on how to care for tropical plants in Indianapolis over the winter, you’re more than welcome to contact our experts at Dammann’s Garden Co.! We’ll be happy to provide you with simple, easy-to-follow instructions to keep your tropicals healthy and bright all year long.