Bert Swope
Indoor gardening is the practice of growing plants in a room or container. The plants should be in an environment with low humidity, because high humidity can encourage fungal growth. Look for signs of high humidity, such as sticky air or condensation on indoor windows. To reduce the humidity, open windows or use fans to create a gentle breeze to circulate the air around the plants. You can also purchase a room dehumidifier to remove excess moisture from the air.
Living walls
A living wall can be an attractive, yet practical addition to your indoor gardening space. You can hang an assortment of planters securely to one wall and arrange them in a design that provides a lush cover. You can also use climbing plants, which do not require an irrigation system and can provide lush coverage. Just remember to provide adequate support for your climbers before planting. In addition, remember to plant plants far enough away from the walls to avoid creating a ‘rain shadow’ that prevents water from reaching their roots.
In addition to adding color and beauty to your space, living walls can also provide a natural filtration system for your indoor air. These walls can be as simple as vertical planters or full-sized walls of greenery. NASA research has proven that many indoor plants help with indoor air quality. Plants like bamboo palms, Boston ferns, and spider plants are particularly beneficial for cleaning the air.
Plant walls also need regular maintenance. The most common aspect of care is watering. Most homeowners use a hand-watering system for this purpose. Other maintenance duties include checking the plants for pests and disease, pruning, and general cleaning.
RoboPlanters
RoboPlanters are robotic seed planters that are faster and more accurate than hand planting. In less than six minutes, a robotic planter can place seeds in three-quarters of the cells in a planting tray. The time savings are important when you’re growing as many plants as the average person in the US does each year. The machine was created by two East Carolina University industrial engineering technology students, Josh Robar and Austin Hood. They presented the machine to Dr. Ellen Colodney, the president of Wetland Plants Inc., a business that grows plants to improve stormwater ponds and wetlands, protect water quality, and mitigate pollutants associated with runoff from urban areas.
The RoboPlanter’s smartphone app allows you to set watering schedules, monitor the water level, and control the intensity of the watering. It also comes with seed pods and LED artificial sunlight. A second app lets you customize the amount of watering each plant needs. These devices are a great way to start indoor gardening.
The RoboPlanter is the perfect companion for a busy indoor gardener. Its intelligent lighting system can detect the exact amount of sunlight and shade for your plants. It will also find the right temperature for your plant, and when it needs to be watered, it will stomp around and alert you to water it.
Lomi’s Grow mode
If you’re planning to start a garden in your home, Lomi’s Grow mode can greatly help. The device offers three cycles that produce different end products. The first is Eco Mode, which is perfect for adding organic matter to a green waste bin or backyard compost pile. However, this isn’t the best option for adding organic matter to houseplants as the mixture isn’t broken down enough to produce the necessary microbes.
In addition to composting, Lomi’s Grow mode breaks down food scraps and bioplastics into valuable materials that can be added to soil. This is done using a low heat cycle that helps break down food waste into rich, nutrient-rich soil. Then, you can simply add the compost to your soil or plant containers to add nutrients to your plants.
Grow mode takes 16 to 20 hours to complete. In this time, the machine turns organic material into a brown mulch. The Bioplastic mode takes 5-8 hours to complete. Regardless of your chosen mode, the process will leave you feeling satisfied. Lomi is ideal for community gardens; many urban areas have community gardening programs. These gardens serve as important social spaces. Community gardens typically depend on donations, grants, and membership fees to keep running.
In a day, Lomi composts 1.5 pounds of food waste and other materials. It only requires a small amount of energy, but by composting these materials, it prevents about 260 pounds of carbon dioxide from entering the atmosphere. Another benefit is that it isn’t expensive to run. The average electricity price in the US hovers around 14 cents per kWh.
Watering plants
When watering plants indoors, you need to pay attention to the plant’s watering needs. Certain plants need more water during their growing season than during their off-season. Humidity levels in the home can also affect how much water plants need. You can follow the directions on the plant’s label to determine how much water to give them.
During the winter, plants go dormant and need less water. It is important to check on your houseplants every week to ensure that they are not suffering from any diseases. Using an app to remind you to water plants is also helpful. You can also use distilled water or rainwater for indoor plants.
The best method for watering your plants indoors is to water them from the bottom, not from the top. This will avoid over-watering the foliage and make sure the important roots receive enough water. If you water from the top, you risk damaging the plant’s roots. Always use a watering can aimed at the soil.
It is important to remember that all types of plants require different amounts of water. For example, some houseplants are from tropical regions and require lots of water. In contrast, others are native to desert regions and require less water. This is especially true for succulents, which prefer to let the soil dry out between waterings.
Pollination of plants
One important aspect of indoor gardening is pollination of plants. There are a variety of ways to pollinate plants. The process begins when pollen is spread from one flower to another. Some plants require wind or window pollination, while others do not. For the best pollination, place plants far enough apart that they do not interfere with each other.
Pollen is transferred from male to female flowers by bees. The process of pollination is carried out by insects outdoors, but in indoor gardens, the process is typically carried out manually. To hand-pollinate a plant, remove the male flowers from the plant, strip off the petals, and wipe the pollen grains from the stamens across the female flower’s stigma.
To help the pollination process, place fans and oscillating fans around your garden. Another method is to use a bee vibration stimulator, which mimics the vibration of a bee wing to agitate the pollen. Cross-pollination is especially important for plants such as melons, squash, and cucumbers. These require pollination from another plant species to produce fruit and seeds.
When it comes to fruit and vegetable production, the type of pollination needed varies by species. Most fruit-bearing plants need pollination, including cucumbers (both the commercial and the parthenocarpic varieties). Pollination is also needed for strawberries, capsicum, eggplant, and tomatoes.