Kalanchoe plant is a low maintenance, warm climate, succulent plant that is a very good choice as a houseplant. Indoor, it can grow in any season. But having a perennial nature, it doesn't remain green for a year alone.
Although it is a warm climate plant but can grow for a few seasons in cool climates too. But in snow regions, they can't handle further nights and temperature fall.
Kalanchoe plants indoor care
I'm here to help you to take care of kalanchoe plants indoors in various seasons. But first, I want you to know the basics of kalanchoe plants in case you don't know much.
Kalanchoe plant features
Kalanchoe plant belongs to a succulent perennial group of indoor plants. You can easily identify them by following-
- Leaves- Succulent leaves, light green to green
- Size- 1 ft to 1.5 ft
- Flower color- Flower pink, orange
- Nature- Perennial
Growing conditions of Kalanchoe
Friends, let's understand the basics of kalanchoe plants first. You should know the basic requirements for kalanchoe plants too as follows-
- Soil type and pH
For Kalanchoe plants, you can use common soil with a compost mixture that can have good drainage ability. Soil pH should be between 6.2 to 6.6.
- Sunlight and shade
In summer, kalanchoe can't handle light sunlight but over 85F to 90F temperature is not good for kalanchoe. In the daytime, if sunlight is too intense, you can keep plants in 2 to 3 hours of sunlight, for 12 to 14 hours you can keep them in shade, and for rest of the day, dark is not harmful to these.
In winter, providing full sunlight for 5 to 7 hours is very good for kalanchoe plants and partial sunlight for the rest of the day.
- Irrigation
These plants don't ask for high humidity or regular irrigation on daily basis. But keeping the soil moist is helpful all the time. Where in summer, you can keep irrigation on every two to three days but in winter, plants need water only in very drought conditions.
- The Climate of growing Kalanchoe
Cool or warm both climates are good until the temperature is not falling or increasing too much. Lower than 40F or snowfall is deadly for kalanchoe plants. As I mentioned above, over 90F, the temperature is bad for these.
Kalanchoe indoor care
I have a few plants of kalanchoe in my house too. They are performing well even sometimes the weather change drastically. I've two varieties and none of them are strange to the other. I'm sharing the helpful tips that worked for me and I believe that will work for you too if you follow-
- Irrigate only at lack of moisture
In my opinion, it is not suitable to irrigate the Kalanchoe plants on daily basis either in winter or summer. But in summer, you can check the soil moisture every 2 or 3 days, if it is dry then irrigate. You don't need to wet the soil or you have proper drainage.
- Use fewer fertilizers
Don't try to fill your pots with any kind of fertilizer every month. Just keep it simple and once in 3 or 4 months when you see the plant is not performing well or growth is stopped, then you can use it. Only use decomposed organic compost.
- Access sunlight in winter
In winter, you need to be aware that Kalanchoe plants need sunlight in the daytime. So keep their pots at the direct window where sunlight access is about 4 to 5 hours a day. For rest of the day, don't shift it plants in a dark or sudden temperature drop area.
- Light sunlight in summer
In summer, you can keep your Kalanchoe plants indoors even in summer. In warm regions, the temperature can increase more than 90F which is harmful to plant leaves. Above 90F temperature can dry the plant faster.
- Don't shift in sudden temperature change
With the season change, don't put the plants in such areas where Kalanchoe plants will feel the sudden temperature change. These plants hesitate and are sensitive to sudden temperature increases or drop.
- Don't keep them in too dark
I admit that you can't keep them outside in intense sunlight but that doesn't mean you will keep them in dark for the whole day or season. It will directly damage your plants. You can make blunders by keeping them too dark for a long time. Only 12 to 15 hours in a day you can keep them in partial light.
- Clean the dried leaves
If your plant leaves are not recovered after dormancy, then remove them one by one. In the case of dead leaves, you can also remove them. Sometimes lack of water can cause dry leaves but you can recover them by irrigation.
- Don't irrigate flowers directly
If you have a heavy sprayer then don't irrigate the Kalanchoe flowers directly. If you want to shine on flowers then irrigate directly in the soil regularly to keep the moisture controlled.
- Pruning is not necessary
Kalanchoe plants don't get bushy or too tall so regular pruning or trimming is not necessary indoors or outdoors. Despite this, you can cut the extra leaves that make it looks mismanaged.
- Exhaust should be proper
In summer, the exhaust should be very excessive. If you ignore the exhaust then it may create stress for plant growth.