Green Plants: How To Take Care Of Them During The Heat Wave?
During the summer, it's not just flowers and vegetables in the garden that suffer from heat waves. Houseplants also need special care when it's very hot. Here are 5 practical tips for taking care of your green plants during a heat wave.
1- Check the ground more often
Houseplants, which are mostly plants of tropical origin, are used to temperatures ranging from 18°C to 28°C. Even in periods of heat waves like France is experiencing this summer, they are therefore quite capable of withstanding the heat.
To help them get through these heat episodes without damage, you simply need to adapt the care you usually give them, starting with the frequency of watering.
Since the air is drier in hot weather, you should first check the condition of the foliage and soil more often to make sure your Green plants aren't thirsty.
Even if you spray them regularly to compensate for the dry air, be aware that spraying is not a substitute for watering.
2- Use water at room temperature
When it's hot, it's important to use room temperature water for watering. Be careful: watering with cold water will not cool your plants! On the contrary, it could cause them to die from thermal shock to the roots.
Another mistake not to make would be to overwater plants under the pretext that it is hot. Water preferably in the morning or evening, when it is not too hot, but don't drown your green plants for all that!
3- Protect the leaves from direct sunlight
Even if some of your Green plants are used to being installed near the windows, you must be extra vigilant during a heat wave.
As a general rule, we advise avoiding south-facing exposure for Indoor plants anyway. When the weather is very hot and sunny, the risk of leaf burn is even greater.
So, if you find that some of your plants are getting too much sun and their leaves are starting to burn, the best thing to do is to move them to a more shaded area of your home.
4- Keep your home cool
Please note that all the actions that allow you to refresh your home are beneficial for the plants that live there.
Air out early in the morning and late in the evening when temperatures are cool and then close the blinds and curtains during the day to keep the heat out of your home.
Caution: if you use a fan(s) to cool down, don't direct the airflow toward your plants. Most houseplants do not like drafts.
Heavy air movement increases water evaporation and thus may further dry out plants and cause them to wilt.
5- Create a microclimate
In hot weather, green plants suffer more from dry air than from high temperatures. The most effective method to remedy this is to create a humid microclimate around your houseplants.
To do this, you simply gather them around a basin filled with water. You can actually use reclaimed water, such as vegetable wash water.
If you want to provide moisture to a single plant, you can also lay it on a bed of moistened clay balls. Place the clay balls in a saucer and wet them before placing the plant in them.
As the water evaporates, it will create moisture around your plant. This method is therefore more effective than simply spraying water on the foliage from time to time.
If you are going to be away for several days, you can even place wet towels at the bottom of your bathtub and gather your plants there so that they benefit from the ambient humidity and can better withstand the heat wave.
