Grow It In Maine

January’s finale

Fri, 01/30/2015 - 9:15am

Perhaps we’ve come through the darkest days of winter.

Now we can look forward to stronger sunlight and extra minutes of it in mornings and afternoons.

Make certain there’s extra humidity in the house. It’ll help you and the house plants. Whatever means is used: pot on the wood stove; porous spheres standing in water by a radiator or in a sunny window; or any of a variety of humidifiers — be sure the moisture doesn’t dry out.

House plants may need more water now. If tiny insects flutter up from a jostled plant, they could have appeared as swiftly as a human head cold. Here’s one way to keep that population down: Potting soil contains nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium (seen on the bag as the short-named chemical elements, N, P and K). The fourth most important element for plant growth and health is magnesium (Mg).

Where the NPK elements stay in the soil, Mg leaches out with repeated waterings. White flies thrive in water-drained soil. (This happens near the end of January/beginning of February.) Dose the potting soil with Epsom salts, maybe an ounce dissolved in a half-gallon of room-temperature water. This treatment should disperse the white flies, which hate it. The solution rushes through the plant’s circulation system.

Epsom salts are available at a drug store. A pint-size box is more than enough. This useful substance is also used for soaking sore feet and other alleviations.

Milk of magnesia on the soil surface works too, but who wants that white surface on the potting soil?

White flies go through several stages in their development. Other “pesticides” may kill them off in one or two growth stages but magnesium does it all. One dose should take care of the problem until spring.

Look for more on this real midwinter in another week.