Indoor plants will flourish in garden using expert's simple technique
Gardening enthusiast Krystal Duran has shared her go-to tips to acclimatise your indoor plants to move outside to your garden with a trick to prevent sunburn.
As the weather warms up, people will be spending more and more time outside in their gardens. It's hardly surprising, then, that we want our gardens looking as nice as possible.
But while it can be expensive to buy new flowers every year, especially if they just grow annually, it can be tempting to just move our indoor plants outside with us.
This is exactly what plant enthusiast Krystal Duran has done. Krystal, known as '_plantswithkrystal_' online, has urged more people to bring their indoor plants outside with them. She even shared a simple technique to make sure they thrive, as it's not as simple as to just carrying them outside.
She explained: "I’m a brown human being, but if you took my skin that hasn’t seen a lick of sun all fall and winter, and then you sat me here in direct sunlight for even 10 minutes, I would burn."
"We need a gradual transition," she told her 747,000 Instagram followers.
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But how do you gradually transition your plants outside? The first thing you need to do is to make sure the temperature at night is warm enough to prevent your plants from getting too cold.
“Nighttime temps here are close to 50 degrees (10C) and above. I’ll start to transition some of my hardier plants," Krystal said. "For now, I’m only going to start with my cactus and my succulents."
"Tropical plants, I’ll bring out when nighttime temps are consistently above 55 degrees (12.7C),” she also wrote on the video.
As for actually bringing your plants outside, Krystal said: "And you’re gonna be the greatest weather person ever. And what you’re looking for is your sunlight."
The sun is directly hitting me right here in this spot," she said as she was sitting on a bench in her garden. It then cut to her sitting in a more sheltered part of her garden. "And on this side, I’m completely covered by the shade."
“So I’m taking them and putting them only in areas that have shade. Before you say ‘I’m just gonna wing it’, okay, I warned you," she said.
Showing a cactus that has been burnt by the sun, she warned: "This is what happens when your cactus is not properly acclimated."
She then showed herself putting some of her cactai and succulents in a shadowy part of her garden, explaining: "After a week of shade, I’ll increase to morning sun for a few hours each day. And continue to increase the time in the sun. This is a two-week process."
While it might seem like a good idea to just acclimatise your plant indoors by putting it in a bright window, Crystal said it's not enough.
She explained: "Now your brightest window indoors is covered by blinds, trees, houses. So this being my brightest window, is not as bright as the shadiest spot outside. After a few weeks of this transition, some of my houseplants that have grown indoors will be ready to see hours of sun outdoors."
She also noted that tropical houseplants should be placed in a shady spot with some morning sun, whereas carnivourous plants, cactai and succulants can be placed in the sun. After the two weeks of acclimation, you'll be able to enjoy your plants outside, without having to go to a garden centre to buy new outdoor plants.
It's important to note that some plants only flourish indoors, and depending on what climate you live in, it may not be appropriate to move plants outside. Always check what is right for your plant before changing its environment.
