Hydrangea is a beloved plant that lights the environment with its beautiful flowers. Most gardeners have it in their gardens outdoors because it loves the sun in the summer and spring. But, you can also plant it indoors.
Once you provide the plant with cool air, enough light, and moist soil, it grows to form large healthy blooms 5 to 6 inches in diameter. The blooms have different colors depending on the plant variety. These colors are pink, violet-blue, white, blue, and red.
If you want to know how to care for hydrangeas indoors, don’t worry because it’s an easy task. Hydrangea has been an indoor plant for a long time, but if you want to give it less attention, you can keep it outdoors in a pot.
It is an annual plant since it cannot survive winter, but if you keep it indoors, you can grow it yearly.
How to care for hydrangeas indoors?
To care for hydrangeas indoors, you need to follow the guidelines and give the plant attention because when it is indoors, it doesn’t get the requirements as it can get outdoors. So, to survive, you must be careful what you do to the plant.
Most indoor hydrangeas are prone to suffer from insects and pests, they will lose their vigor, and some can have trouble blooming. But, this doesn’t mean you can’t have a healthy plant. With proper care, you can have a healthy indoor plant.
Hydrangea has a period of dormancy when the plant stops growing. That period is triggered by cold temperatures in late fall or early winter. You can avoid dormancy by choosing a plant from the greenhouse or nursery. They are used to warm temperatures and can’t go dormant. The hydrangea plant that comes in foils can be a problem because once you plant it indoors, you can’t take it outdoors.
So, what are the requirements to successfully care for hydrangeas indoors?
Light requirements
Hydrangeas are plants that love light. The light has to be indirect in the shade. When planting them indoors, they won’t receive enough bright light from the sun. So, you have to provide them with high-quality bright and indirect sunlight. You can place them in a south-facing window that provides sunshine throughout the day or an east-facing window with bright morning light.
If the sun’s intensity is high, you can change the location to avoid burning the leaves.
The temperature in the room should be cool and preferably below 60 degrees Fahrenheit. It increases the flowering time of the plant.
Watering
One of the common mistakes people make with water is to give the plant more or less water than it requires. So, the question arises, “how much water is enough?” there is only one way to know when you have enough water for a plant. That is when the soil is moist.
If your indoor hydrangeas plant is in a small pot, change it to a medium pot because the small pot has less soil, which means less water for the plant. Good soil should have proper drainage, and the water should not stay on the soil for long. It should dry out, leaving the soil moist and not wet. It prevents root rot and fungal diseases.
The moist soil should hold enough water for the plant to absorb until the next watering period. When you water next, ensure the soil is dry, not bone dry. Also, ensure the pot has holes to drain off excess water.
Another thing to look at is the humidity of the room. Keep the room at least 50% humid. You can use a humidifier to keep the humidity constant. Or you can use a tray of pebbles with water to maintain humidity.
Soil type
The soil type for an indoor hydrangeas plant is well-draining, rich in nutrients, slightly acidic, and well aerated. Well-aerated soil is suitable for retaining moisture since it can drain off extra water through the holes.
To change the color of your flowers, change the soil’s acidity level. The soil should have a pH of 5.5 or lower for blue flowers. To get purple or pink flowers, the soil should have a pH of 5.5 to 6.5. A pH of above 7 will result in red blossoms. Also, the variety of hydrangeas can determine the color of the blooms.
You can make your soil using compost, peat moss, and perlite. Or you can purchase potting soil here that contains all the requirements.
Fertilizing
It is another way to care for hydrangeas indoors. But, this is done differently from outdoor plants. You can use a slow-release or weak fertilizer for indoor hydrangeas plants.
And since it is a weak fertilizer, you need to continue applying it every 7 to 14 days as per your dosage. You can add some compost during the growth and blooming period.
Find a fertilizer that is made for acid-loving plants like hydrangeas. Using fertilizer and compost is mainly to help the plant when it starts having trouble blooming.
Pruning
Pruning should be your added priority when looking for how to care for indoor hydrangeas. It involves removing dead tissue or leaves from the plant.
Most gardeners assume this process, but it is necessary, especially for a plant with many flowers.
You should prune it at the end of summer when it stops flowering. It is dormant, and you can remove old, dead leaves or unwanted parts of the plant. However, you should avoid pruning it in fall, winter, or spring because that is the period it is creating new buds. You can risk cutting off new buds.
Conclusion
Once you know how to care for indoor hydrangeas, you will have an easy time ensuring it grows into a healthy plant with beautiful flowers. Even though the plant is not for indoor growing, you can now do it at home.
Ensure that you give it more attention than other plants. That way, you can notice when something goes wrong. If you find a problem, take your time to find the cause of the problem, then find the solution.
