Plant Care
Light
Each plant variety has unique lighting needs and we can help you select a plant that will thrive in your home or office.
As a general guideline, most tropical plants require at least 8 hours of indirect, bright light. Most herbs and vegetables prefer full sun. Perennials can range from shade to full sun.
In King George, tropical plants enjoy spending summer and early fall outside, but need to be brought indoors before temperatures cool at night. Although they love sunlight, they can’t tolerate full sun and will require some relief from the
Water
Water tropicals when the top inch of soil is dry. Avoid overwatering to prevent root rot.
Vegetables prefer consistent watering, keeping the soil evenly moist. In the heat of summer, most vegetables will require daily watering.
Most herbs thrive in an arid environment and prefer to dry out slightly before watering.
Fertilizer
Container grown plants and vegetables require regular fertilizer for best growth and fruit production.
Tropical Plants thrive with a fertilizer the promotes foliage. We use half-strength Jack’s Classic Tropical Food or FoxFarm Grow Big with each watering.
Potting Media
Pests
Your plants will grow best when a high-quality potting media is used. A good quality soil mix will provide essential minerals and nutrients your plants need.
For tropicals, we use a loose chunky mix made with high quality potting soil, perlite, coconut husk and coconut coir. For plants that prefer a moister soil, we add in sphagnum moss.
For other plants we use a high quality potting soil and perlite.
Carnivorous plants are grown in a mix of sphagnum and peat moss.
Unfortunately, pests will likely love your plants as much as you and are a normal part of having an indoor or outdoor oasis.
Common indoor pests include: spider mites, aphids, mealy bugs, and fungus gnats. A quality well draining soil combined with a good watering routine to avoid soggy soil provides a strong defense to prevent bugs and fungus. Using a bit of a “mosquito dunk” or systemic granules in your water will help control gnats. When the inevitable happens and spider mites attack in late summer, we use Captain Jack’s Dead Bug Brew or Captain Jack’s Super Insecticidal soap.
Outdoor pests are just as predictable. In King George, squash bugs, Japanese beetles, and other pests will devastate a garden harvest. The best prevention is daily removal of bugs before they lay eggs. We supplement manual removal with Captain Jack’s Dead Bug Brew to control pests and preserve our harvest. It is an organic, naturally derived insecticide.