Caring For Your Mobile Home Plants Through The Fall & Winter

As the colder seasons approach, you’ll need to make sure you’ve cared for your mobile home plants. Indoor and outdoor plants alike are likely to need a little extra care to make it through the winter.  It’s never a good idea to wait until the last minute on a project, and plants are no exception. Though it might surprise you, bringing plants inside is something that takes a little work. So, if you’re a plant owner, it certainly can’t hurt to start getting ready now!

Sometimes, outdoor plants can come inside

We’ve all done this at some point in our lives. The weather says it’s going to freeze outside, and we rush to make room for our favorite outdoor plants to come inside. If you’ve got outside plants that won’t make a mess inside, choose an out-of-the-way corner and bring them in! They’ll have protection from the cold and hopefully make it until spring. Of course, there are a few things you should know before you do this: 

• Don’t wait until the last minute to bring your plants in. Instead, give them a chance to gradually get used to a darker environment. You can do this by transferring them from their outdoor locations to an indoor location like a shed. From there, you can move them into your home. 
• Take a very close look at your plants to ensure that they aren’t bringing any bugs into your mobile home. Examine every leaf under a magnifying glass if you have to. 
• If you do find evidence of bugs in your plants, make sure you’ve done away with any and all pests before moving the plants indoors. You can do this by submerging each plant in a bucket of soapy water and letting it soak for awhile. If you can’t submerge a plant completely, spray it with a mixture of mild dish soap and water (or an insecticidal of your choice) instead. Clean plant pots with a scrub brush as well. Finally, rinse the plants and let them dry before moving them inside. 

Cleaning plant leaves via Get Busy Gardening

Tips for upkeep

You’ll still need to do plenty of upkeep on your outdoor plants turned indoor plants throughout the winter. Conveniently, the tips we’re going to talk about here don’t just apply to your outdoor plants that you’ve brought inside. They also apply to the indoor plants that were already indoors! Throughout fall and winter, you should be keeping up with all your houseplants in these ways.

• They won’t need as much water, so make sure you wait until the topmost two or three inches of soil are dry to water them. 
• Your outdoor plants also won’t require as much fertilizer after they’re indoors, so make sure you aren’t overdoing it on the fertilizer. 
• Make sure they get plenty of light! While natural light is the best option, a lamp or a plain lightbulb are both acceptable ways to give your plants enough light. If they still aren’t getting enough light, you should start thinking about getting an LED grow light.

• Plants won’t flourish in an environment that’s too hot or too cold. While you shouldn’t leave them right next to a window that’s letting in cold air, you also shouldn’t put them right next to a source of extreme heat, like a fireplace or space heater.
• Keep your mobile home’s humidity levels high enough to prevent your plants from drying out. Misting your plants with water a few times every day is a good way to provide humidity if you’re having trouble.
• Finally, if you have so many plants that your whole mobile home is starting to feel like a garden, consider adding a greenhouse/sunroom to your home just for your plants.

Some outdoor plants can stay outdoors

While many outdoor plants need to come inside, some can stay outdoors for the cold season. For example, small spruce trees and hardy succulents are both great options for an outdoor winter garden. (Of course, less hardy succulents will need to come inside before temperatures drop below freezing.) So, if you’re looking to enjoy an outdoor garden over the winter, think about choosing some of these tough plants. 

Enjoy your plants during the cold season

No matter what you choose to do with your plants during fall and winter, the ultimate goal is to enjoy your outdoor and indoor plants alike. After all, that’s what gardening is for – enjoyment! So, do whatever works best for you: build a sunroom, plant an outdoor garden of evergreens and succulents, or stick with indoor plants.