 Hi everybody, spring is here, which is very exciting. So let's talk about how we can prepare our plants so they can grow happy and healthy. The first thing that we wanna do is to clean our pots. So I have many plastic pots, such as this one's at home. I also have cerakota pots, and we have some ceramic pots. And sometimes our pots have some soil inside or residual from the previous plant. So it's very important that we clean them. This is to prevent eggs that pests may have put inside our pot or any bacteria or fungi. Because in the spring and especially in the beginning of the spring, we may have to repot some of our plants as they will need more space to grow. So yes, I would recommend that you clean your plastic pots and your cerakota pots, just to make sure that the environment for your plants will be clean and healthy so they can grow their roots. Another very useful tip that I learned from Becca de la Plants is that we should clean our window seals, our windows, and even spaces where we have our pots, so underneath the pot. This again, because these places may be perfect for dirt and pests to hide. So in order to prevent any pest infestation, it's good that we maintain the space clean, especially window seals and shelves like this one, for example. So we prevent any soil, eggs, or pests. Okay, now that we have our plants space clean, we can look at our plants. And the first thing that I always recommend to do with our plants is that we remove damage or dead leaves in the soil or in the plant. Dead leaves are perfect spots for mold to grow or pests to hide. So it's good to remove all of that and on top of it, we make more space for new growth, which takes me to the next point, which is pruning. The beginning of the spring is the best time to prune our plants. This is because we're preparing them for a season to grow. So we can shape our plant the way that we want them to be, get rid of damaged leaves or damaged stems on the plant, and my best part, we can actually find some cuttings to propagate our plants. If you watch my channel, you know that I love propagating in water, this is because we get to see the root grows underneath the water. So when I prune my plants in the beginning of the spring, I try to find good stems that will be good to propagate in the water. Propagation is one of my favorite things when it comes to plant care. So if you want to learn more about it, check out the playlist that I have for you. This is a very fun playlist with lots of propagation methods. And yeah, let me know what you think. The next thing that we want to do is to check the soil a little bit deeper. Remember, spring is generally the season for growth for many plants. So they will need more space to grow, not only the leaves, but also the roots. And the beginning of spring is the perfect time to see if the roots need more space to grow. So what I do is I check carefully my plants, so I take them out of the pot and I just try to see if the roots are growing around the potting mix. If this is the case, it is a very good sign that your plant needs a little bit more space to grow. Remember, if you repot your plant, use a pot that is maximum one to two sizes bigger. This is so the new space is not so different from the previous space. And this helps us prevent over watering, because if you put your plant in a very big pot, we will tend to water more than what the plant needs. And this will lead to over watering. So remember, the new pot has to be maximum one to two sizes bigger. If you have a big monstera like this one, you will know that it's very hard to repot her. This one is 32 years old, so we cannot repot her to a bigger pot. But we have learned that we can freshen up the soil, especially the top layer of the soil. So what I do to freshen up the soil is first I check for mold. For example, this monstera right here has some mold on the top of the soil. And this is because we were treating her against thrips. So we had to use these sticks right here, and these ones go inside the soil so the roots can actually absorb the substance. They work really well against thrips, but they produce mold on the soil. So what I'm gonna do is remove all that mold on the top of the potting mix. Also, I will remove any dead leaves on the soil because, again, this is where mold can grow or pests can hide. And then I just freshen up the first layer of potting mix with new soil. For this, I'm gonna use my homemade houseplant potting mix. I use this one with all of my tropical plants and they seem to be very happy. Which takes us to the next point, which is that this is the perfect time to get your new soil and supplies. Especially now with corona, we don't wanna go to the shop many times and spring is the season for growth. So depending on how you see the roots in your plants, you may have to do a lot of repotting. What I usually do is I make a list of the things that I need so I don't have to go to the shop more than once. If you wanna stay at home, you can also get your things online. For example, personally, I like to make my houseplant potting mix at home. This is because I like to know what I'm using for the potting mix and I prefer to use coconut water in my potting mix instead of peat moss because I know that coconut water is a little bit more sustainable than peat moss. So what I usually do is I go online and I get my ingredients, which are coconut water, perlite or pumice and warm cast. And then I just make my mix at home. This is a very relaxing activity and I can tell you during these times that we're more at home, making my own potting mix has helped me to come down and just feel more connected to nature. So I would really recommend that too. The next point is to relocate our plants when needed. If you live in a city like Berlin where I live, you know that in the winter, you're not gonna get so much sunlight. So what I had to do is to learn about grow lights and place my highlight loving plants closer to the grow light or closer to the windows. I also moved some of my lower light level plants closer to the window because they still needed light. And since in the winter, we're not getting so much sunlight, this space was okay for them. But now that spring is coming, we're gonna get way more sunlight. And because of that, I have to move my plants accordingly. So the low light plants have to go a little bit farther away from the window. And I'm gonna put away my grow light and place my highlight loving plants in this living room right here because we have a south facing window here. So I know that they will get a lot of light. Remember, this is a transition period. So make sure to always observe your plants and see if they're getting too much sunlight or they need a little bit more. The last point is that we're gonna start fertilizing our plants. Again, for most of the tropical plants that we have at home, the growing period is between spring and summer. It is always good to educate ourselves and see what are the specific requirements for our plant. But generally growing season is between spring and summer. So in order for our plants to grow healthy and happy, we need to provide some fertilizer. If you have been following me for a long time, you know that as a plant beginner, I like to use organic fertilizer instead of synthetic fertilizer. This is because organic fertilizer is way less concentrated than synthetic fertilizer. And this helps me prevent not to over fertilize my plant. Last year, I was experimenting with two types of fertilizers. One was for tropical plants and the other one was focused on succulents. But of course, I would love to know your experience with fertilizer and which ones you use. So make sure to comment below so we can all learn together. And as always, I will see you in the next one. Okay, ciao and happy spring.