Linnaea Newman

1. Stop watering Poinsettias immediately after the New Year.  I’m not kidding!  The sooner you stop watering, the more labor you save, not only from extra watering, but also from answering the 526 questions from people who want to know how to get their plant to re-bloom next year. 
2. Take out Poinsettias (see #1 above) ASAP.  This is easier if you haven’t spent twenty minutes telling customers how to re-bloom them.  The polite answer is, "As professionals, we buy new Poinsettias each year so they will look their best during the holidays, and we recommend the same to all our customers." 
3. In all areas of the country where it is not 80 degrees F. or arid, don’t water the foliage plants unnecessarily, either. 

Seriously, how long do your personal plants at home go between waterings, two weeks?  Four?  Do yourself a favor, don’t water anything that isn’t almost dry and totally needing it.  Using a soil probe to determine there actually is moisture in the plant’s root ball is generally the only "watering" step needed right now.  Clean?  Yes!  Water?  Probably not.

More plants are lost this time of year from OVER-watering than UNDER-watering, just because we’re so busy (and tired) we don’t have time to THINK about what the plant needs, and splash water indiscriminately, "just in case."

Just in case of what?  Summer day-length and temperatures arriving in January?  My guess is that all of your plants at home get pretty much ignored between the extra work and holiday festivities, and they’re all doing fine (or will be once they get thoroughly cleaned).

Do yourself and your plants a favor, SKIP the extra water.  Your own plants are the best indicator for how often company plants will need watering.  In this case, LESS really is MORE, and your stress level will be greatly reduced, as well.

For a more complete explanation of watering indoor plants, click on:

www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/hort/consumer/hortinternet/houseplants/watering and type "watering houseplants" into the Search box.  Then click on the top listed article, or click:

http://www.linnaeanewman.com/wp-admin/post.php?action=edit&post=66