Cats and dogs love dirt, they dig in it, play in it and if a cat's litter box isn't clean they may find a back-up location in your potted plants. Some pets will leave the dirt alone but are irresistibly drawn to the leaves, either to nibble on or bat at. There is no fail-safe plant but there are some tips and tricks you can follow to make your pets leave the plants alone.

The biggest problem and the most damaging to an indoor plant is a cat deciding to use the dirt as a litter box. Once a cat has done this once, the odor is there and it is going to be hard to stop them from going back. To prevent this from happening in the first place, cover the dirt in larger pots with lava rock or wood chips. A cat will not like the feel of either of these materials on their paws and will not feel comfortable using the pot as a bathroom.

Dogs are easier to train and keep away from plants but it is harder for other animals. Especially for cats - a deterrent may be necessary to keep them away. You can use a spray bottle of water to stop them from chewing on plant leaves or digging in the dirt. Since cats don't like anything from the citrus family you can put fresh citrus rinds at the base of the plant too - their sensitive noses will stop them from getting too close.

Keep your soil nice and moist, not only is this good for the plant, cats will not enjoy digging in wet dirt. Some trial and error may be called for until you find the right solution that works for your pets. If all else fails, buy hanging plants instead or put the plants in an inaccessible location.

Technorati Tags: gardening, House, Indoor, plant, Plants

Expand the description and view the text of the steps for this how-to video.

Check out Howcast for other do-it-yourself videos from kendraelliott and more videos in the Houseplants and Container Gardening category.

You can contribute too! Create your own DIY guide at http://www.howcast.com/videos/new or produce your own Howcast spots with the Howcast Filmmakers Program at http://www.howcast.com/filmmakers/apply.

You don't need a green thumb to have houseplants that flourish; you just need to know which ones will thrive in your home.

To complete this How-To you will need:

Informed purchases
Hardy varieties

Step 1: Consider your schedule

Consider your schedule. If you are out of town a lot, choose plants that can go a couple of weeks without watering, like jade or rubber plants, mini-geraniums, golden pathos, or any kind of philodendron.

Step 2: Think about lighting

Think about where you want to put plants, and then pick ones that will thrive in the light those rooms provide. Your local nursery can tell you whether a plant needs high, medium or low light.

Tip: Windows facing east, west, southeast, and southwest provide a lot of light; north-facing windows provide low light; and south-facing windows provide medium light in summer and a lot of light in winter.

Step 3: Evaluate your space

Evaluate your space. If it's limited, look for plants that can live in small pots, like Chinese evergreens, African violets, ageratums, and lantanas.

Step 4: Combat pollution

If you live in a congested city, consider plants that remove pollutants from the air, like English ivy, peace lilies, spider plants, and aloe vera.

Step 5: Take humidity into consideration

Take humidity into consideration. If you live in a dry climate, avoid houseplants that require high air-moisture levels unless you plan to put them in a room that's often humid, like the bathroom.

Tip: Tropical plants like Pink Sunburst cannas, caladiums, and lantanas need humidity; succulents and cacti are desert plants that thrive in dry air.

Step 6: Go with hardy plants

Increase your chances of bringing home plants that will thrive by choosing varieties known to be hardy, like ZZ palms, wave petunias, dragon trees, ivy, and crotons. If you manage to kill those, switch to silk plants!

Thanks for watching How To Choose an Indoor Plant! If you enjoyed this video subscribe to the Howcast YouTube channel! http://www.youtube.com/subscription_center?add_user=howcast

Duration : 0:1:58

Read the rest of this entry

In order to grow bamboo in shade, it helps to do a number of tricks to provide the plants with more heat and light. Learn about adding organic material to help bamboo grow in shade with help from a sustainable gardener in this free video on growing bamboo in the shade.

Expert: Yolanda Vanveen
Bio: Yolanda Vanveen is a third-generation flower grower and sustainable gardener who lives in Kalama, Washington. She is the owner of vanveenbulbs.com and has sold flower bulbs for more than 15 years.
Filmmaker: Daron Stetner

Duration : 0:1:35

Read the rest of this entry

Technorati Tags: bamboo, care, Cuttings, gardening, gardens, Grow, Growing, how, palm, plant, Plants, to

If you have heard of hydroponics or other methods of growing plants without soil and want to try it out at home, you can. Hydroponics is easy to care for and set-up at home. There are materials you can buy or some you may be able to find around the house.

The dirt or soil that you use to grow plants in a traditional method is substituted for a growing medium (full of nutrients the plant needs to grow) in hydroponics gardening. The growing medium is fed directly to the roots by method of a drip-feeder. The system can be automated and the gardener can control how many drips the roots receive in a specified time frame. The more of the growing medium the faster the plants grow.

Since the system can be automated, the amount of time and energy that is required to maintain a hydroponics garden is less than with a traditional garden. As long as enough water is present and growing medium the plants can be left unattended for a longer period of time.

A home-based hydroponics garden can grow vegetables year round. The concern about pests and the composition of the soil are not an issue with this type of gardening. Another bonus with this type of gardening is how fast you can have mature vegetables indoors (by increasing the amount of growing medium).

The types of plants that are best for hydroponics are ones with thin spider-like roots. Plants that have a bulb root system are still best grown in the traditional soil method inside a pot or outside. When you are ready to begin, germinate the seeds for your plants like you normally would. When the seed has started to sprout and has approximately 2-5 millimeters of growth it is ready to transplant to the hydroponics container and begin growing.

Technorati Tags: gardening, House, Indoor, plant, Plants

Watering a plant would seem like a really straightforward job, and the majority of the time it is. Yet when it comes to anthurium plants, how you water it may be a critical matter. Much like most plants, if you do not offer your anthurium sufficient water, it's going to perish. But providing your anthurium too much water might also kill it.

To find out how you can water your plant you should recognize exactly how it is watered in the wild. These kinds of plants originate from the jungles of South America and most of them grow on trees, as opposed to in the ground. It rains a whole lot in the jungles, and so these kinds of plants receive loads of water. However residing in trees helps to keep these plants out of puddles of standing water, while providing their roots exposure to air. This allows warm winds to dry out their roots prior to the following rainfall.

The two major insights to takeaway from this are that: these kinds of plants need lots of water and they also want to dry a bit before their next serving of water. Obviously, you must not allow them to dry up completely, however you need to allow them to dry out enough to ensure that their roots can get oxygen. The key reason why their roots require air is that air stops anaerobic bacteria and fungi from developing. These nasty creatures bring about root decay, which can destroy your plant.

So how can we reproduce the conditions of a rainf orest inside your house? First, start off using a planting medium which is developed for these varieties of plants. It must be airy plus it needs to empty nicely, so that air may get to the roots of your plant. Second, water your plant everyday, but be sure that you drain any excess water immediately. Don't enable your plant to remain in standing water. Third, situate your plant somewhere warm and moist. Often a great area will be near a window within your bathroom. When you have a hot bath, it will supply moisture to your plant.

So as you can observe, applying water to an anthurium plant is not a hard job, nonetheless it takes a little thought to do appropriately. The primary rules are never allow your plant to sit in standing water and never permit your plant to dry up completely. Once you understand what you're doing, it's pretty easy to reproduce the growing conditions of a rain forest inside your own home.

Discover regarding hawaii beaches and anthurium care at my anthurium site.

Technorati Tags: anthurium, anthurium care, flowers, Indoor House Plants, Plants

When you are an indoor gardener the same rules apply to your plants as they do to any other type of gardener. Your plants will need water, food, and plenty of light as does the ones grown outside or in a green house. Of course there are special considerations such as temperature and humidity control but they can be overcome with relatively minor adjustments. With that being said, there are some plants that are best left to the outdoor gardener.

The type of plant that won't do well indoors is really dependant on the climate you live in. If you live in a warm area and have the air conditioning or fans on during the day a plant that is used to higher temperature will not do well inside your home and should be left outside. The same goes for the opposite, if your house is overheated a plant will most likely dry out from lack of moisture in the air.

Other plants that are best left outdoors are perennials and bulb plants that need the seasonal rains and temperatures outside to grow again. You could bring some tulips or daffodils inside in a pot but they will do much better outside.

Most trees are best left outside too; by trying to grow certain trees inside you will only have a smaller less sturdy version than its outside mates. If you do decide to grow a tree indoors plan ahead for a transplant that may have to occur. You do not want to wait until the tree becomes too heavy to move. When a larger plant is repotted or planted elsewhere it will usually go into shock - meaning it will not grow for at least one season (it may be more depending on the size and age of the plant).

Technorati Tags: gardening, House, Indoor, plant, Plants

Life in the big city can be a wonder. But, there would come a time that all you can see is concrete walls and towering buildings that you tend to miss nature or even want to see a single tree on the windows of your apartment. Well, how about bringing nature right inside your apartment. You can always add plants.

Plants are a very nice addition to your home decoration. Not only that, select plants that have a dual purpose. They should serve not only one purpose but two which is for decoration and for other purpose like a healthy purpose.

Plants like the aloe can be a great way to heal your burns. They give off extracts that help the skin heal a lot faster than usual. The Chinese Evergreen also has properties that lower allergens in the air making it easier for you to breathe.

There are a lot of plants that are very good to your health and are also great addition to your overall decoration.

Sometimes, when we have plants over at our place, it will require a certain amount of time to maintain. For some who are always on the go and still want to have a more natural look, there are a lot of plants that do not require a lot of time to maintain. Plants like the Aspidistra can be a great addition.

The cactus is also another great plant that requires less maintenance. They come in a myriad of sizes and shapes but there will also be problems regarding cactus. They might prick your child or pets in the process.

Ask for some great advice on how you can bring in plants inside your home that are not poisonous or dangerous to your animal companion. For example, poinsettias are very dangerous to animals so ask around and see some plants that are great for both you and your pet.

Whether you want to grow a lot of green plants inside your apartment is up to you. As long as you are comfortable and you can help keep your family healthy and safe.

Besides gardening, the author also regularly gives advice regarding binoculars compact and marine binoculars.

Technorati Tags: decoration, environment, family, gardening, happiness, hobbies, home, home improvement, Indoor House Plants, lifestyle, nature, outdoors, Plants, science, stress management

When you happen to be planning of planting orchids on your own, then the the amount of light is among the factors that you ought to give attention to. Apart from selecting the correct mulch, the life of your orchid depends upon the quality of light that it receives day to day. Even though it necessitates particular focus, you won't need to actually break your budget only to secure high quality lighting which are grow lights orchids. Here are some of the advice that can be used in order to obtain that grow lights orchids for your orchid.

Take into account the area sizes where you will place your grow lights. It should be the correct dimension in order that you wouldn't result in obtaining a set of grow lights which are bigger than your space. One way to keep away from this will be by obtaining the correct diameter along with other dimensions of the spot where you will place your orchid lights.

Because your Grow Lights for orchids will be kept switched on for a very long time, make sure you go with the one that will save energy. Handling your orchids won't have to be costly. It's all about ensuring that you pay a smaller amount whilst receiving a lot more. Look at the descriptions of the grow lights that you'll buy carefully. Be sure you know the watts for each bulb.

You must at the same time think about the brightness of your grow lights. As there are grow lights for various plants, it's always best to tell the person that you'll be buying from that you're buying these lights for your orchids. Normally, they do know precisely what to provide. Even so, never forget that it doesn't need to be the most costly light in the shop. Choose wisely.

It's also best to get those grow lights for orchids that are adjustable since your plants can still grow. With this, you don't need to re-install it or perhaps purchase another one just so the light can still be used for your orchids. You must also consider any renovation possibilities.

For more info visit growing orchids & silk orchids

Technorati Tags: flowers, gardening, Indoor House Plants, orchids, Plants

The three things that all plants need to survive are food, water, and dirt. The food for plants is created when enough light is provided. The water and dirt part of the equation are pretty straight forward as long as you follow the recommended care instructions and don't forget to water your plants. But how do you ensure that your indoor plants are getting enough light? Finding the right location in your home may require some trial and error before you find the perfect spot.

Before deciding on what type of plants you will have in your house, look into the light requirements. The four categories that describe the different light requirement for plants are low, medium, high, and very high. If you have a sunroom or skylights in your home and can position your plants in or under them you can purchase plants that need high or very high light exposure. Be aware that some plants can get too much sun, in which case the light that comes in from a regular window should suffice.

There are options you can utilize if you want a certain type of plant and know that your house is not going to provide it enough light. You can purchase specially designed grow bulbs to supplement the amount of light the plant is getting. Be aware of the light requirements for your plants when choosing this lighting method. Although plants require a lot of light to grow there is such a thing as too much light too. The exact ratio for your plant may differ but a good guideline to follow is 14 hours of sunlight to 10 hours of darkness.

Your plants will let you know if they are getting too much or not enough light (either they will begin to look dry or will become limp). Try different locations in your home to find the best place for them.

Technorati Tags: gardening, House, Indoor, plant, Plants

Learn how houseplants root when growing houseplants from tip cuttings in this free home gardening video from our plant propagation expert.

Expert: Nicole Pantaleon
Bio: Nicole Pantaleon has a B.S. in Plant & Soil Science from the University of MA. She has been a grower at Five Acre Farm since 1996.
Filmmaker: Christian Munoz-Donoso

Duration : 0:1:57

Read the rest of this entry

Technorati Tags: floriculture, flowers, garden, gardening, Nonwoody, plantcare, Plants, soil, trimming