The Ultimate Houseplant Guide Part 1 – Use a Cachepot

If you’re new to houseplants, you may be tempted to take your newly acquired houseplant and buy a pretty, little planter, transplant the plant into the container, add a little soil, a little fertilizer, and you’re good right? Not exactly. In fact a lot of times that is probably the wrong approach.

Just because that’s the standard practice for outdoor flower planters, do not do that for your indoor plants! Here’s what you should do:

Use a Cachepot

A cachepot is just a decorative container that holds a potted houseplant. Think of it as a pot inside a pot. Most likely, the cachepot does not have drainage and is ceramic, woven baskets, wood, glass, or basically anything that would look pretty and hold and hide the cheap plastic growing container of a plant. The benefits of using a cachepot are that:

1. 1. You don’t have to get your hands dirty. Just drop the plant into the pot, and you’re done. If needed prop up your plant with anything you can find around your house – upside down Tupperware or pots, empty water bottles, packing foam, Styrofoam chunks, anything! Most houseplants are best left in their original containers for quite some time. In fact,  most plants die from poor watering or light conditions than from needing to be re-potted. Up-pot your houseplants only if needed and when doing so just go up in small increments. You don’t want a small root ball sitting in a large pot of loose soil.

       

   2. You’ll have less chance of killing your plant due to over-watering. If you’re using a cachepot as mentioned above, just pull out your small plants once a week and see if they need to be watered. If they need a drink, try placing them in the bathtub or the sink and soak them really well… then drop them back in the pot. If you leave them in the cachepot while watering, just make sure to prop up your ‘inside pot’ so that it does not sit in water. You may need to dump out your cachepot from time to time as it collects excess water that has drained from the plant.

       

   3. Happy decorating! One of the best reasons for using a cache pot is that you can swap between plants and pots just as easily as you can drag and drop! In the unfortunate case that the plant dies, just throw it away and drop in a new one. Change your cachepot with your mood or with the seasons. Plants in cachepots are one of the hottest new interior decorating elements right now!

Need Ideas?

Cache pots come in a plethora of sizes, shapes, colors, etc. There is sure to be a cache pot that meets your plant’s needs! Come in to your local Wasson Nursery to look over our selection.