Acclimating Plants

Acclimating plants can often be a challenge, especially for sensitive plants. When considering a new plant, it's always a good idea to plan for how you will acclimate it to a new environment to reduce stress. One of the most common reasons a plant will fail to thrive is because they went from a stable environment that was appropriate for that plant species, to a less desirable environment.

You will often see signs of acclimation stress such as drooping leaves, discolouration, or stalled growth. This can be the result of a few different acclimation related issues.

• Poor lighting

• Insufficient humidity

• Temperature

Knowing what environmental conditions your new plant lives in will go a long way to ensuring that it thrives in it's new home. Some plants like Pothos are resilient and can adapt to wide range of conditions. Other species, such as Alocasia require more narrow parameters to thrive.

Lighting conditions are important for a plants growth, as they utilize light to create their food. Without the proper access to the correct lighting, plants will begin to lose colour, stagnate, turn more green (lose variegation), lean, or discolour. Your ideal lighting for the majority of plants will be an East or South facing window. These are going to be your strongest and longest lasting light throughout the day. North facing windows will provide low lighting throughout the day and go darkest the quickest. Few plants will thrive here, and often times Snake plants and ZZ's are relegated to this lighting as they are called 'low light' plants. I promise you, if you move your Snake of ZZ to an East window, you'll see a stark difference. West facing light is often poor throughout the day and gets drastically intense in the early evening before fading again. Not ideal lighting for most plants, and during the summer, the evening light is rather intense because the light is coming from a shallower angle in the atmosphere. This is why driving East in the morning, and West at night is hard on your eyes.

In general, most households will hover around 35-55% relative humidity, which most plants such as Pothos, Philodendron, Monstera, Scindapsus, etc. can tolerate and adapt to quite easily. Alocasias, Anthurium, and some Philodendron, prefer higher humidity in order properly grow and have healthy leaves. If you've ever had a Philodendron damage it's leaves while trying to unfurl, or fail to unfurl, a lack of humidity is to blame. Overall, if you're able to give a plant about 70% humidity, they will thrive. Any succulent, cactus, or desert species will obviously not appreciate the extra humidity.

Temperature is one of the more important aspects when it comes to acclimating a plant. Every living species has an optimal range where it can thrive temperature wise. Outside of this range, the species begins to suffer and eventually die. Tropical plants are native to tropical regions which have more narrow temperature ranges compared to arboreal regions such as Canada. When you're deciding a plants location, temperature needs to be a consideration. How close to a window will the plant be? Window are notoriously drafty, and the temperature within the first few inches of a window are significantly colder than the surrounding area. Most windows will also have a register beneath them to counter condensation. This can create an inconsistent micro-climate for window bound plants. Most people who have central air will keep their house around 20-22C (68-72F). For the majority of plants this will be sufficient. If you're able to get the temperature for tropical plants closer to 29C/80F they'll be even happier. Most tropical regions reach 85F or higher on a regular basis with humidity in excess of 80%.

One of the hardest things to do with a plant is leave it alone. I can promise that if you do your research and know what your plant would like in terms of placement with the above in mind, it will thrive. Patience is key. Plants don't like to be moved around from room to room. They appreciate consistency. They can adapt to conditions outside their preferred ideals, but it takes time for that adjustment. If you continually move it around, you'll be stressing the plant out. Put it down and walk away.

All of the plants I sell live in a grow tent that runs a consistent 80F/60-70% RH with strong grow lights that run on timers for 12+ hours, and a fan that runs 24-7 to circulate air.

You don't need to recreate these conditions entirely, but the closer you can get the better the acclimation process will be. Acclimation isn't about recreating conditions, but easing a plant slowly from one environment to the next.

Prop boxes and old aquariums with lids can help provide a temporary habitat that mimics a grow tent. Misters and humidifiers can help temporary boost environmental humidity, but there is no substitute for a grow tent.