How to Care for Houseplants in Halls

Getting a houseplant is the perfect way to spruce up your university room and make it more inviting, so lots of students tend to purchase plants when they first move to halls. However, if you don’t take proper care of your leafy friends, they’ll quickly become dry, wilted and (in the worst cases) dead. By reading this simple guide, you’ll know exactly how to keep your new plants alive and beautiful within your space in halls.



• Know your ability

It’s important to assess your ability to nurture a houseplant and use this to determine the types of plant you buy – if you’re a first-time plant parent, you might not want to try and take care of a high-maintenance azaelea! Beginner’s should opt for something which requires low amounts of watering and care, building up to more advanced plants as they grow their skill.



• Match your plant to your space

Before you even think about purchasing a plant, assess the space that you have to work with – do you have room for a large plant that will grow a lot? Is your room a little dingy or do the windows let in bright light? Once you know the main features of your bedroom, you can match your plant to the space and light levels available.

Top Tip! – South and east-facing windows are best for plants requiring direct sunlight! North-facing windows are best for plants requiring less light!



• Avoid over-watering!

Whilst you might be enthusiastic about watering your houseplant as often as possible to help it stay alive, this can do more harm than good – it’s really easy to over-water a plant and unfortunately it’s much harder to recover from than underwatering. Don’t even think about watering your plant until it feels weightless and the soil is completely dry. Then, run the bathroom tap and place your plant under the water until it drains through the holes in the pot. This is sufficient water for the plant until it feels completely dry again – most plants need less watering than you think!

Top Tip! – If you’re still a little confused about how often to water your plant, try downloading the Planta app. Just enter the name of your plant, fill in details about it’s light levels and it will make a watering schedule tailored to your plant’s needs!



• Don’t leave them alone during the holidays

Whilst carrying 13 houseplants home on the train might not be possible, you shouldn’t leave your plants without care over the Christmas and Easter breaks – most houseplants cannot survive three weeks without water! If you can, ask a friend or housemate to periodically check on your plants and water them if needed – this doesn’t have to be done particularly often, once a week should be fine to avoid disaster.



Now that you know how to take care of a plant, why not try getting one for yourself? Here are some of our best recommendations for newbies:

Don’t want to remember to water it? – try a monstera or rabbit’s ear!

Want a plant that thrives in direct sunlight? – try an aloe vera or a cactus!

Want a plant that thrives in a darker space? – try a snake plant or a pothos!