It’s only some few plants that
actually match the incredible fragrance of heliotrope plant, the plant has showy
purple or white mops of flowers. The heliotrope plants are commonly grown
outdoors, although they can still be grown indoors. You can actually overwinter
your heliotrope plant that you’ve had growing outdoors, or you can take
cuttings to overwinter and plant back in your garden the following year. Let us
look at some of the conditions you need for growing heliotrope plant inside.
How Do You Care for a Heliotrope Indoors?
You need to give your heliotrope
houseplants as much sun as you can indoors. In cooler climates make sure you give
your heliotrope plant the sunniest window possible. If you actually live in a
hotter climate, you may want to protect your heliotrope plant indoors from the hot
mid-day sun.
If your light is not enough, your heliotrope
plant will become leggy. If this happens you can easily prune it back and then give
it more light, and you can even use a grow light if you do not have sufficiently
sunny windows. Make sure you keep your heliotrope houseplants evenly moist. Don’t
allow your heliotrope plants to dry out completely, nor should you keep the
plant too wet. To achieve this indoors you can mix in a generous amount of
perlite into your potting mix. This will help attain a moist potting mix, while
increasing drainage, and without keeping your heliotrope plant wet. You can keep
your heliotrope plant indoors year-round, but your heliotrope plant will
definitely benefit from being outdoors during warmer months. You can either
bring your potted heliotrope plant indoors before it gets too cold, or you can
take cuttings.
Heliotrope Plant Propagation
You can easily take the cuttings of
your heliotrope plant in late summer if you don’t want to dig up your plants or
move any large plants indoors. Simply cut a piece of the stem that is about four
or five inches long, make sure you cut the stem right under where the leaf is
present. You need to remove the leaves from the bottom part of the cutting, dip
the end in rooting hormone, and then insert it into a container of soil to
which you’ve added some perlite. Be sure to keep your cuttings moist and also increase
humidity if you can. Keep your heliotrope
plant in a bright place, but out of any direct sun until it is rooted. Once
your heliotrope plant is rooted, you can increase the plant exposure to
sunshine. Try and also keep your rooted heliotrope plants in a sunny, but
cooler location in the winter. If you
can provide cooler nights for your heliotrope plant indoors, with temperatures
in the fifty to fifty-five degree Fahrenheit, this would be ideal.
Pinching and Feeding Your
Plant
If you actually want bushier heliotrope
plants, you can easily pinch off the growing tips of your plant stems. This is preferably
done in the spring after the first growth of your plant occurs, but before your
heliotrope plant sets flower buds. The Heliotropes plants are heavy feeders, make
sure you feed the plant regularly throughout the growing season. Make sure you
avoid high nitrogen fertilizers as these can easily cause too much foliage and
fewer flowers. A well balanced fertilizer (for example, 10-10-10) will really
work very well. To actually keep your heliotrope houseplants in fine shape, you
can always remove spent flowers and any dead leaves. This will not only keep
the heliotrope plant more vigorous, but will also helps to prevent pests and diseases.
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