Bringing Plants Indoors In Fall

It’s almost time to bring houseplants back indoors for the winter. It’s also time to bring in assorted annuals and tropicals that you’d like to save for next year. How will you know when to bring these things indoors? Our general rule of thumb is that most plants should be brought inside when the night-time temperatures are regularly falling to 50° or just below. So although you might have a week or two before this happens, it’s time to get prepared with the products that will help with insect control and watering when the houseplants come inside.

Click here for a download pdf shopping list of the products mentioned, click here.

First, any spraying for insect control is easier when the plants are still outside, so make sure you have the products you need. Insecticidal soap is a good product for mealy bugs, aphids, whitefly and scale.

If you’ve had problems with fungus gnats in the past…those annoying “fruit flies” that zip around the house and drive us crazy, you’ll want to have two products on hand. The first is some yellow sticky cards for trapping the adult gnats. The second is spinosad, which should be put into your watering can when you water the plants. The spinosad coats the organic matter in the potting mix as well as the plants’ roots, and then when the fungus gnat larvae feed on the roots they will die.

In addition to insect control, you’ll want to be sure you’re prepared with plenty of saucers to protect your floors and furniture from water that comes out of the pots when you water your houseplants. Be sure to get saucers that are at least an inch or more larger than the bottom of your pots. If the saucers fit too snugly the water will overflow immediately. A larger saucer offers better protection and a deeper one holds more water.

Some people use plastic trays under their plants, even if they have a saucer for each pot. Trays catch any over-flow of water and are a second safeguard against leaks.