HOUSEPLANT ADVICE I DON'T FOLLOW - and my plants don't mind!

“Nobody is walking around the rainforest wiping leaves” 😂

Thank goodness someone is brave enough to say they rarely disinfect their scissors. Glad to know it is not just me. I appreciate the way you deliver advice and tips. I have learned over the years to take any ‘tips’ with a grain of salt. They can sometimes be helpful if trouble shooting an issue but generally I just pay attention to my plants. Like you have said all our conditions are different.

This video ought to be required viewing for all these Youtubers and Instagrammers who are complaining about burnout with their 'collections.' Because they are rigourously following all these silly tips and tricks (shudder) and making more work for themselves. I've been gardening outdoors and in for much longer than you have been on earth, and I am pretty much on the same page as you for all of those so called advice. There are probably close to 300 houseplants, mostly hoyas and some aroids, in here and I work fulltime plus have a big outdoor garden of perennials, shrubs, trees etc. WHO HAS THE TIME to wipe leaves? LOL. This is a terrific video plus your cat and your fondness for each other is just awesome. Cheers from Canada (and my four indoor-only kitties).

I'm from Wisconsin in the USA.. I have been growing houseplants my entire life! I have over 200 amazingly large plants in my apartment and don't fuss over stuff. I have them for enjoyment not a job! At 70 yrs old... My life is good... It is a healthy clean jungle in here! I keep my home clean which keeps my plants clean! Love your honesty!

I repot (most) plants as soon as I get them, and I also don't follow most of what you're saying. And if these rules actually were 100% true, we'd all have gorgeous, huge, healthy plants. So much of the fun is the intuitive aspect.

Guidelines and rules are meant to: 1. Be followed 2. Broken 3. Modified or adjusted as necessary To do that, you need to know the reasoning behind a rule. When you do, you can apply the rules (all, parts, or none) to your advantage. This video was so useful. You did not just spout rules you break, but explained the whys behind the rule and the considerations we need to be mindful of. Without this, a stated rule is merely an opinion. Thank you!😊

As a new collector just starting out I thank you. New people watch these videos and they make you crazy with all the dos and don’ts, telling you to buy these products and planting in a certain medium. Ugh it’s way overwhelming. I live in a small apt and cannot isolate so it’s not even possible but I feel like I’m doing things wrong when I don’t. I am learning to take advice and sort out what is working for me and go slowly with collecting high end designer plants. This hobby and fussing over my plants is escape from a stressful job, I don’t want it ruined.

Just what I needed today ! i don't have the time/energy to do some chores today and as you just said: it's a hobby. i'm not a prisonner in my indoor garden, if i don't do it today, well, who cares ! Have a nice day and thak you very much

Well put! I have done this for years. I've been growing all types of plants for 40 years. And I still have the ones I started when I was 5 years old. Between my inside and outside garden I am dealing with thousands of plants. Happy growing everyone!

This is a huge relief for me. So many do's and don'ts in the plant community. Make more sense now for me. It's all about how we treat our plants according to our enviroment conditions. Thank you for sharing this with us 🌿🥰💚🤩🌱

Hello Sir Bradley... I love that he is sitting beside you, very relaxed and napping ❤

I don't have the space to quarantine plants either, so what I do is put them in clear plastic bags, sometimes with predatory mites, for a month, and keep an eye out for mold that might develop due to lack of airflow. Some plants come with springtails, making mold a non-issue, at least for a month.

I enjoy the whole “growing season”. I have many fish tanks in my apartment and every water change I do is great for my plants! I think that’s another reason why my plants do well!

I break plant rules all the time and still have great success growing my plants. I’ve repotted in the winter, pruned roots and foliage without disinfecting scissors, fertilized in the winter, up-potted several pot sizes larger than the standard “1-2 inches bigger than the root ball” advice, I don’t use chunky “aerated” soil, and I often water in the evenings. I’m sure I’m forgetting to mention a few other things. So many plant influencers repeat the same old advice without providing a shred of evidence to support their claims.

I live in cold, cold Minnesota lol I fertilize all year! I also get way way better sun in my home during winter when the sun is lower and the trees' leaves are not blocking the light. For that reason, my plants without grow lights actually grow way faster/bigger in winter!! I both top and bottom water, mostly depending on what pot they are in and how fast they dry out. Great advice here, agree with all points 💚💯

Hi there from Mumbai, India. Have been a plant-cat-fish parent since 1995. I am so glad there are people who think like me. New subscriber here. God bless you mate. Common sense is the biggest rule, I feel 😊

I fertilize all year at a weaker solution. I too move plants around depending on light conditions 👍 The one plant I moved that had a melt down was my Maranta ☹️🇨🇦

Finally got someone who shares the same theories as me! The one about disinfecting the scissors... I mean I only do that if I know it's time to or I just cut a plant that has pests. Moving my plants around - big guilty of that to "catch the direct light/sun/rain" XD Literally, a lot of people sharing "tips" are from countries with completely different seasons than here in Australia. Conditions at home too, many tips I don't see the benefits/working for me. E.g I have a south-facing window but have a partially shaded outdoor courtyard, and indoors I avoid using a humidifier (even have an air dryer for wet days). Lots of the advice I tested & didn't work for my home, so I just have my own ways that work perfectly, easy for me & my plants all growing happily.

I disinfect my scissors very regularly. I fertilize at each watering, water weakly weekly kind of thing. I tend to use a moisture meter during “winter” just to make sure I don’t water a plant that doesn’t need it. I live in the U.S. central Texas so our winters aren’t typical. It could be 80°F one day and 30°F the next day. I wipe down some of my plants. My monsteras mainly…I’ll spray my soft cloth with neem oil and clean my plants leaves and I’m also preventing pests. I don’t really isolate new plants but I do spray them down, change their substrate and treat them with systemic granules for a short time then I go back to just spraying occasionally. I do pest check frequently. I think I have close to 200 plants…I work full time and I break up my watering chores into 2 day sections if that makes sense. Plant chores are helpful to destress from a hectic work week but I don’t want my plants to consume all my free time. Thank you for admitting to not always following the rules…I feel they are more of a guide line anyway. I am loving all the frequent content you’re putting up along with your vlog channel. Hello Brett!

I have been watching YouTube videos for nine months on plant care and you are the first person besides one other video; I saw last month to mention that moisture meters do not work in chunky soil. It took me too long to learn this, and it killed too many plants. I wish it was mentioned more.