Would you like to bring a pine tree into your house? Then you have to consider a few things. After all, the houseplant is a subtropical plant with certain requirements.
In its homeland, the room fir (Araucaria heterophylla) is not a “room” fir at all, but much more a park plant. In this country, however, it is only kept in pots as a houseplant. However, this is not so easy, as the plant is very demanding and cannot cope with today's room temperatures, especially in the cold season.
If you still want to give it a try and plant an indoor fir, you should find out about the various needs in advance. These include, above all, the soil conditions and the size of the bucket. We have explained the most important points to you here so that you are successful in keeping and that the expensive silver fir does not die.
The bucket - holes are mandatory
Choose a pot with one or more holes for your indoor fir. This ensures that no waterlogging occurs, even if there is an oversupply of water. The volume of the bucket should be about a quarter larger than the previous, completely rooted planter.
You can then wait up to three years before repotting. Be sure to leave a watering edge of two to three centimeters when you put your silver fir in the tub.
The soil - like a little sour
The indoor fir feels most comfortable in well-drained and slightly acidic soil with a pH between 4.5 and 5.0. A mixture of commercially available potting soil, peat or bog soil and sand is recommended as a substrate. The roots of the pine tree also gratefully accept a small proportion of highly acidic azalea soil. You can easily keep an eye on the pH value with suitable soil tests. Such tests are already available for little money in the garden trade. The purchase is definitely worthwhile for the sake of the rather high-priced room fir.
The drainage - for the best possible water drainage
In order to optimize the water drainage from the tub, you can cover the substrate with a drainagepad layer. Use gravel and pumice for this or recycle old, unsightly clay flower pots. Break the clay pots into small shards with a hammer and put them in the tub of the fir in front of the substrate. The drainage layer should be about three to four centimeters thick.
Important Care Instructions
You should follow the care instructions below so that your silver fir can develop magnificently:
❶ Water plentifully, especially during the warm season, and use rainwater or decalcified tap water.
❷ Choose a bright location, but not in full sun.
❸ Make sure the air humidity is sufficiently high, for example by spraying the pine tree with water.
❹ Make sure the subtropical plant doesn't get frost in winter.
❺ Fertilize your silver fir regularly in summer, but not with fertilizers with a high nitrogen content.