Fall Plant Care and Handling of Indoor Plants

With daylight lessening as we get into the fall and winter seasons, our plants have specific care needs as the colder and darker weather approaches. Since plants are nature’s way of purifying and improving our indoor air quality, it’s important to keep them as healthy as possible so that we, in turn, can keep ourselves as healthy as possible!

By now, most of us have moved our outside house plants inside, but in this article I’m going to provide fall plant care tips to help keep your green friends alive throughout the autumn and winter seasons.

How to water plants in the fall

With limited sunlight indoors, make sure you water your plants thoroughly once a week to ensure they are properly hydrated. If the plant container has drainage and a saucer, you should see a little bit of water in the saucer after watering. The water in the saucer indicates that the plant was thoroughly and properly watered.

If your plants were not fed in the spring, you can give them a half-feeding of water-soluble plant food. Fall plant feedings should be done as early as possible, since most green plants go dormant in the winter.

Light, and where to place plants in the fall

Placement of your plants with regard to lighting should strike a balance. East and west locations are ideal for most plants. Keep plants a foot or two from the brightest window so that the sun coming through the glass does not burn them; remember, most green plants are tropical.

If your plants need re-potting, check out this blog post from my pal Val Ghitelman titled How to Repot a Plant. And if you want to get a head start on the next season on the calendar, read my post about caring for plants in winter.