Things You Should Know Before Buying Plants


Things You Should Know Before Buying Plants

Greens are very expensive luxury item for your house as they bring color, increase humidity, reduce both stress & toxins but to maintain plants is actually a very massive deal and less people are good at it. No doubt plants are key part of your garden, lawn or indoor home decors and nobody wants them to expire, inshort they should never die shortly after bringing it home.

For long life of your plants you should know some basic elements to buy a plant in good physical condition but sadly lots of people can’t tell the difference between a healthy plant and an unhealthy plant. And if you also don’t know how to buy a healthful greens, we will happily guide you through the process. When you are going for plant shopping you must take extra precautions because in most cases, what might look more robust actually isn’t and can deceive you right before your eyes.

Plant shopping is actually a great mystery and to solve it you must follow nine bonus tips given below just to make sure you don’t end up buying sick and unhealthy plants.

1. Inspection of Nursery/ Garden center/ Plant shop

Step out of your home go to nearby nursery, take a full tour of nursery or garden center or plant shop. Take a bit of longer duration for observing everything around yourself because purchasing a plant from nursery or garden store requires a lot of patience. If a plant is bought in a hurry it will waste your time, money and efforts, look everything with a keen eye. Watch overall look and hygiene of the nursery/garden, inspect whether they are maintaining it well like overall appearance and arrangement of all plants and cleanliness of the nursery. notice whether or not the majority of plants are healthy.

If most of them are browned plants or wilted, chances are all plants are not given great care. Hence go to some other places where young plants and trees are grown with care and are green and fresh-looking giving good impression of the whole nursery.

2. Foliage

A healthy plant is a sign of plenty of healthy new growth.

  • It must not have bi-colored or variegated leaves.
  • It must have bright green leaves.
  • Avoid buying plants that have pale leaves.
  • Avoid plants with yellow leaves/brown leaves.
  • Avoid plants with dry and brown edges of leaves

3. Signs of Healthy Plants

To select a healthy plant is a very initial and crucial step in building a beautiful garden. Always buy healthy looking plant. First look on the plant itself will reveal its overall health. If its looking fresh, healthy, flourishing and blooming then choose it . You can easily judge a healthy plant by looking at its green leaves, healthier roots and joints, and full bushy growth habit.

4. Insects & Diseases

Insects and diseases are reasons that make plants ill. It is caused by bacteria and fungus or viruses from bugs, spiders and chemical fertilization. So closely analyze both plants and their container for any signs of pest attacks and damaged and curled leaves. First, check both sides of leaves i.e. upside and downside for symptoms of pest and diseases. Also, check potting soil.

Signs of disease and insects in plants are,

  • Blackened Area
  • Holes
  • Spots
  • Mushy Areas
  • Stickiness
  • Distortion
  • Webbing
  • Tiny Insects

5. Roots, Soil and Watering check

Roots inspection is basics when you go out to buy a plant. Avoid rotten and ruined roots because they symbolize unhealthy plants.

If a plant is packed inside the pot forcefully and its roots are popping out from bottom then you should avoid buying because it is stressed and will never recover. You must look for a plant that lifts out easily because it is recently re-potted and can live for a longer time period.

Color of the root can also be a sign of an illness. Dark-colored root shows that root is over-watered or over-fertilized. Also, avoid buying plants that have swollen roots because it is a symptom of root-knot infection.

Also there is more thing to look for, check whether they are using a good well drained soil for the plant and examine whether the plant is watered adequetly.

6. Root Ball Defects

A root ball is a compact mass of roots and soil. If you are looking for a balled and bur lapped tree or shrub, the root ball should be solid. If it’s not, most probably it will dry out and the plant will die.

Other common defects to avoid while purchasing tree or shrub includes,

  • Roots circling close to the trunk
  • Kinked roots
  • Loose root ball
  • Roots greater than one-fifth of the trunk diameter, or growing out of the bottom of the container
  • Root Balls too small for the tree.
  • Weeds in Root Balls
  • Very few roots in Root Balls

7. Weed

Ever since plant owners are growing plants, they had to fight the invasion of weeds. What basically weeds are known for their undesirable qualities rather than for their good ones. If there are a lot of weeds around the plant, it also indicates poor maintainance.

Those weed in the pot is competing for nutrients, water, and space from plants. They also show the nursery staff is being very careless. Be especially careful of indoor plants regarding weeds, don’t welcome them in your home or garden.

8. Buds & Flower

Although plants with blooming and colorful bright flowers are so very attractive you should hop for a plant in the bud stage because they tend to stay longer. For that choose plant with healthy foliage and vigrouse growth with many flowering buds to open in near future.

9. Stem Damage

The stem carries your plant and providess water to it. The foremost rule to buy healthy plants is to avoid buying a plant with stem damage.

Avoid stem with cracks and scars. Always choose thick, woody and healthy stem for long survival of a plant.

Conclusion

That is all a few points to take care of before buying a plant from a nursery or plant shop. Those tips will help you seek the healthiest plants. Also after buying your favorite plants learn how to take care of it to avoid any kind of plant damage.


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