POT PLANTS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2848, 14 October 1908, Page 10

POT PLANTS.

The short life of the average indoor plant is not to be attributed to carelessness, but to' a-. lack of knowledge on the part of these , who tend them. A plant, like every other living thing, needs food, and this food' is largely taken from the soil irf which it lives, in the form of soluble salts. In Nature the Salts are continually being replaced in the soil by the ...weathering of minerals, but in the plant pot this is impossible. ■ What actually occurs 'is this : Ihe plant for a time flourishes at the expense of .the- salts already in the soil, and ' then begins to show signs •of failing. The usual course adopted under these circumstances is to shower the poor plant with waiter, and with, more water, until it eventually dies a. lingering death.. , Tlie< explanation of .this is siropl©. Thougn it is true a plant must have water (for it can only absorjb its food-salts when these are- "in solution), it is also clear that every time it ie watered some of the salts in the foil are carried away, and the soil is left poorer in plant food,- until eventually a point is reached at which the soil is "poor indeed" ; too poor, in fact, to supply the plant with food at all ! When the plant begins to fail it' is most probably in need of moie food, and not of more water. Clearly, then, attention must be paid, not to the plant, but to the soil, and two courses are open to us. We may either repot the plant with fresh soil or we may add to the surface of the original ©oil those salts which have been lost. "A pennyworth of potassium nitrate and of superphosphate of lime can be purchased from any chemist; it is then only necessary to mix the two powders to obtain a rich and complete fertiliser which, when spread over the surface of the soil in the plant pot in a Kiin layer, will ensure a ricb soil and a well-fed plant. The soil in a plant pob should always be kept faintly moist, and should never be very wet to the touch. More- plants die of hunger than of thirst, bitfc a still greater proportion are drowned !