I'm tired and thus the title of this node probably could be better, but regardless, it serves as a decent description of the content herein. I've seen a few plant nodes floating around, but thought I'd add just a few little tips I've picked up along the way.
- If you've got plants hanging by a window, or somewhere in a room where one side is against a wall, remember to turn them every so often so that both sides get at least close to equal amounts of light. If you don't, one side won't do so well, it might even die. (This doesn't apply to all plants, but the majority.)
- Leaving floor plants and others that don't hang in the same position will also lead to problems that are somewhat similar. The leaves tend to grow towards the light and eventually the pot will get a bit tipsy because some plants grow really crooked when they're not rotated regularly. This requires transplanting them into bigger pots in order to be able to straigthen them again. Some can just be turned and will slowly right themselves. Either way, it's best to avoid this.
- It really isn't impossible to keep plants in a room with not so much light, it just requires a lot more time to take care of them. To me, it's worth it. I've only one window in my room, so I have to do a lot of plant rotation and it takes me about an hour to water my plants every week and a half or so (though some need water every second day, especially the teardrops on my windowsill). Without the rotation from different places in my room, my plants would likely die off.
- After you buy a plant from a store, especially if it looks to be in somewhat poor health and you're going to attempt to save it, keep it away from your other plantlife for a while until you're sure it doesn't have any spreadable diseases or insects on it. It's much easier to treat one infected plant than a whole lot of them.
I'll add to this as I think of more little things that might be
helpful to others.