A new year and decade have arrived. Naturally, many of us have turned to New Year’s resolutions to make positive changes in the year ahead. At Ambius, we have taken inspiration from the United Nations (UN) announcement that 2020 is the international year of plant health. According to the UN, sustaining plant health on a global scale means making key changes that will contribute to efforts to ‘help end hunger, reduce poverty, protect the environment, and boost economic development’. This initiative can even extend to the office and workspace. With more companies opting for biophilic office design to help boost health and wellbeing, it is important to make sure that your workspace is designed to maximise the health of the new plants being introduced.
Ensuring that plants are well watered and have a good source of light is only the first step to good plant health. Below are some of our top tips on how to ensure your plants remain healthy for as long as possible.
Place/Pot it with care
We know how much plants improve our surroundings but spare a thought for their environment too. Potting plants in appropriately sized containers can help the roots to spread and grow effectively. As plants access a large portion of nutrients through their roots, we need to ensure that their surface areas aren’t blocked or covered, and that they are surrounded by fresh, good quality soil. Repotting your plants roughly every year will help provide them with proper nutrition, moisture-holding capability and aeration.
Fertilise and protect
Whilst we always advise regular watering of plants as it helps keep the soil in a good condition and offers certain nutrients, excessive watering washes the soil of needed vitamins and plant food. This is why you should add fertilisers to your soil to help restore lost vitamins. As well as fertilising your plants to keep them well fed, make sure that you protect them from local pests. Warm damp soil doesn’t only provide the perfect home for plants it also makes a welcoming environment for pests such as aphids. The presence of pests is often noticeable either through obvious signs such as bite marks on leaves, or in discoloured or dried out plants, indicating that something is preventing the plants from receiving the right nutrients.
Do your research
Having more plants indoors provides many benefits for those in the surrounding environment. But it’s worthwhile to research sustainable plants that are likely to thrive in your office environment. Factors to consider are the average office temperature, how well ventilated the space is and how much natural light the plants would get. It is also important to factor in how much time will be made available for the maintenance of office foliage.
Final thoughts
The UN has recognised that plants have a huge impact on the environment and has therefore made a global initiative encouraging the maintenance of plant life. We also know that plants boost wellbeing, which is why it is important to make sure that the health of plants is factored in when introducing foliage to your workspace.
