5 Houseplant Grooming and Maintenance Tips
Indoor plants brighten up our living spaces with their vibrant foliage and attractive shapes.
Whether you are growing tough succulents or tender tropicals, there are tricks to keeping indoor plants looking their best.
The right growing conditions are essential, but there are a few other maintenance tasks to help make your floral companions look – and feel – even better!
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In our houseplant primer, we cover the basic needs of indoor plants: sun, water, growing medium, fertilizer, temperature, and air flow.
In this article we’ll provide you with a checklist of houseplant grooming tips to keep your plants in perfect shape.
Here’s a sneak peek at our list:
5 Houseplant Grooming Tips
1. Cleaning Foliage
Is your favorite indoor plant looking dusty?
Dust build up on plant leaves doesn’t just make them less attractive – it can affect their ability to photosynthesize, which is how they produce food.
That’s why our first houseplant grooming tip is to clean those leaves from time to time!
If you’re wondering whether there’s any hard and fast rule about how often you need to complete this task – there’s not.
That’s because the amount of dust in a home will vary depending on many different conditions – the holiday cacti in my home may begin to show dust build up twice as fast as the ones in yours. And the amount of dust will be different at different times of the year.
So plan to clean the foliage whenever you notice the leaves looking a bit dusty, if not more often. You may even want to do this each time you water!
You can wipe the foliage down with a damp rag if the plants have fairly large leaves, such as those of monstera, snake plant, or fiddle-leaf fig.
But for species with smaller leaves like spiderwort or string of hearts, a much easier method is to place the plant, pot and all, into a shower or bathtub and wash off the foliage with a shower wand. You can even use your kitchen sink if you have a sink shower hose.
The shower method is also a time saver when the number of specimens in your houseplant collection climbs into the double or even triple digits!
Hey, it happens. Once you take a liking to indoor plants, it can be hard to stop inviting them into your home.
However, some plants don’t take kindly to having their leaves showered – African violets for instance, whose leaves can show spotting when water falls on the foliage.
There’s another solution for cleaning the leaves of these species – use a brush instead.
You’ll need to choose one with very soft bristles, such as a makeup brush or paintbrush, to gently wipe away the dust.
In addition to species with delicate foliage like African violets and purple passion vines, this is also a good cleaning technique to use with rot-prone succulents such as echeverias and pachyverias.
2. Pruning, Pinching, and Trimming
Don’t be afraid to prune, pinch, and trim!
There are a few reasons you may want to do a bit of trimming – the first is to change its shape.
You can remove single leaves or entire stems if needed to give the plant a more desirable shape.
Leggy stems can also be pinched back by an inch or less to encourage bushier growth. Be sure to pinch stems back to right above a leaf node to avoid unsightly stubble sticking out when the foliage regrows.
In addition to pruning and pinching live growth to shape plants, you’ll also want to remove faded foliage.
Outdoors, trees, shrubs, and perennials drop dead foliage which turns into leaf litter and eventually decomposes into humus, part of the organic matter in the soil.
Indoors – things happen differently!
If leaves fall, they often fall into the plant pot. Or they may remain on the plant, creating a brown splash in a sea of green.
To remove faded leaves, grab a pair of clean garden snips or scissors and prune off any discolored foliage, cutting at the base of the leaf stem. Sterilize the blades first by wiping them down with rubbing alcohol or hydrogen peroxide.
If you notice brown edges or tips – something that happens frequently with spider plants and prayer plants – you can trim the brown part off rather than removing the entire leaf.
Be sure to remove any dead leaves on the soil surface as well since they can provide a foothold for pests or diseases.
Check indoor plants to see if you need to prune, pinch, or trim at each watering. You can dispose of removed foliage in your compost bin.
3. Repotting
Eventually all houseplants need to be repotted, but before you get started, make sure you follow some best practices for repotting – which is our next grooming tip.
Most houseplants need containers with drainage holes, and it’s also important you select the best type of potting soil.
You’ll want to make sure you get the timing right as well – not all plants need repotting at the same frequency or at the same time of year.
Repotting at the right time will keep your specimen looking good, along with keeping it healthy!
Some, such as lipstick vine and ZZ plant, need to be repotted every two to three years.
Others, like rex begonias, don’t like having their roots disturbed, so it’s best to leave it as long as possible between repottings. This colorful begonia is one of many houseplants that prefer to become rootbound before repotting!
For most species this is not a frequent maintenance task. Usually the best time to repot is in spring, when the plant is actively growing but is not currently blooming.
4. Check for Pests and Diseases
Speaking of discolored leaves, be sure to count pest and disease inspection among your grooming tasks.
It’s a good idea to check indoor plants every time you water, but be especially mindful to look for signs of distress when bringing home a new specimen, and when returning a houseplant indoors for winter after a summer outdoors.
Inspect for discolored foliage and look underneath the leaves and on stems for signs of pests.
Some of the most common houseplant pests include spider mites, scale insects, and mealybugs.
In addition to checking for pests, also check for signs of overwatering, underwatering, and sun scorch, which may indicate you need to relocate plants or adjust your watering routine.
Also keep an eye out for wilting or any unusual discolorations which can indicate disease.
Browning or yellowing leaves are sometimes just old leaves that the plant is retiring, but they can also be signs of fungal, bacterial, or viral infection.
If you see strange symptoms, the best way to decide how to proceed is to know your plant, its basic care needs, and any diseases it is prone to.
Most of the time indoor plant disease is a result of overly damp potting medium, causing problems such as root rot, so review the care needs and make adjustments as necessary.
5. Trellising and Staking
Giving your houseplant a trellis or stake to climb on can make it all the more lovely, but sometimes this isn’t just an aesthetic choice.
Some plants grow better with support – so our final houseplant grooming tip is to trellis and stake as needed!
Many types of hoyas, for example, wind their vines around and around as they grow, making trellises the best type of support.
Others, such as monsteras, grow long aerial roots that are better suited for attaching themselves to moss poles or stakes covered with organic materials such as coconut coir.
Not all species have this growth habit. But keep in mind that although juvenile climbing plants often have a bushier appearance, they will need support as they grow.
Want to trellis one of your own houseplants?
You’ll find a nine-inch, round metal trellis available from Fancy via Walmart.
Need a stake instead of a trellis?
You’ll find a 48-inch coir wrapped, bendable metal stake for purchase from Lambada via Amazon.
Good Grooming for Growing Greenies
With these houseplant grooming tips, your indoor plant collection will be spick and span!
Do you have any questions about these care tips? Or would you like to share some of your own with our readers? If so leave your thoughts and questions in the comments section below!
And if you want to keep reading about houseplants, we have more articles for you right here: