10 tips to make your houseplants grow faster

The days are getting longer, and so are the stems of your Monstera deliciosa. Every morning, you get up, hoping for a new leaf or flower. But even in spring, you get the impression that nature is taking its time. Do you dream of seeing your fake philodendron grow as fast as Jack's beanstalk? Discover 10 tips that will speed up the growth of your houseplants.

Plants grow faster with regular, appropriate watering. A subject that lacks water slows down its growth and the new leaves are smaller. It can also adapt, for example by developing surface roots to capture more water. This is to the detriment of the foliage.

On the other hand, sufficient and regular watering encourages flowering and the production of limbs. But don't get your watering can out too often! Over-watering doesn't boost plants- on the contrary! Excess water rots roots and kills plants.

Preferably use rainwater. It contains nutrients not found in tap water. Do you have a freshwater aquarium? Its water is a real rejuvenating cure for your plants. It's low in limescale and high in nitrates and phosphates, elements found in fertilizers. When you change the water in your aquarium, keep it for watering your indoor jungle.

Plants also feed on light. Solar energy, transformed via photosynthesis, enables them to grow. So you need to make sure your plant gets enough natural light to thrive.

Each variety has its own preferences. Some plants, like strelitzia reginae, cacti and succulents, prefer a bright spot. Others, like aglaonema 'Silver Queen or goeppertia picturata, prefer part shade. However, light levels are lower in our homes than in nature. If you want your Stromanthe sanguinea to continue making new leaves, place it behind the window. But beware of too much light. It can burn the leaf blades. If the light is too intense, install a curtain or move your plants away from the window.

Plants generally need 18 hours of daylight for every six hours of darkness. A difficult ratio to achieve in December... To help your green plants grow even faster, you can invest in a growth lamp. It reproduces the sun's rays and provides maximum sunshine all year round.

Plants don't live on sunshine and room-temperature water alone. Nutrients are essential to their development. In nature, the soil is enriched by the work of earthworms and the decomposition of plants. In pots and indoors, the soil is not renewed and becomes impoverished. Your green plant can no longer feed itself properly and stops growing.

You need to fertilize during the vegetative period (generally between April and October) to remedy this. Liquid fertilizers, like solid fertilizers, provide the plant with what it needs. However, liquid solutions give results as soon as they are applied. Mixed with water, the nutrients are absorbed directly. Fertilizer sticks or granules, on the other hand, need to decompose before releasing their benefits. So, if you're in a hurry, choose a liquid product!

You must respect the plant's requirements. Fertilizing too often or applying too high a dose will damage foliage and roots. You must also be careful in your choice of fertilizer. To act on :

🌿 foliage, choose a fertilizer rich in nitrogen;

🌺 flowering and fruiting, choose a fertilizer rich in phosphorus;

🫚 roots, favor a fertilizer rich in potassium.

What if shortening the branches of your Dieffenbachia 'Camilla helped it gain centimetres? It may seem counter-intuitive, but pruning is probably the best trick for making your plant grow fast.

If you're afraid of making a mess of your pruning shears, start by removing dead limbs and flowers. Are you growing your plant for its decorative foliage? Remove the flowers. And if you want to make the most of the flowering season, remove spent flowers before they go to seed. The process exhausts the plant.

Then, arm yourself with courage and prune the branches. The length to be removed depends on the species and the result you want to achieve. But you should always cut above a node. This way, the plant will branch out again. Most varieties, like crassula ovata, generate two branches from the cut, where previously there was only one.

Pruning isn't the only miracle worker. Pinching the end of a stem also gives rise to branches. With hypoestes phyllostachya or fittonia albivenis, this simple gesture produces bushy plants in just a few weeks.

For pruning to be effective, you need to follow a few rules. Firstly, use a clean, sharp tool to prevent the spread of disease and facilitate healing. Then, prune at the right time. Most of the time, you need to do it in spring. But sometimes you have to wait until autumn or the end of flowering.

Your houseplants need room to grow and expand their foliage. But not just on the surface. They also need space in their pots. You may not realize it, but their roots are growing. After a few years of good care, they completely colonize the container and can't spread any further. And growth suffers.

So you need to repot your plants regularly to support their development. Some varieties need repotting every year, others every two or three years. When changing pots, select one with a slightly larger diameter than the old one. Two to four centimetres is sufficient for small containers (less than 30 centimetres in diameter). For others, you can increase the diameter by five to ten centimetres. In any case, don't think too big! Lost in a 50-centimeter-wide container, your Misery won't be able to absorb all the water available. It will end up soaking in damp soil and withering away.

Repotting has a double effect. You give the plant more room and renew its substrate. Two elements that will make it grow faster than its shadow.

Living indoors isn't natural for our plants. They may adapt to our homes, but they prefer the great outdoors. The wind that caresses their leaves blows away dust, the atmosphere is less dry and, above all, the stronger light stimulates their growth.

So, when the fine weather returns, treat your protégés to a vacation outdoors. You don't need a garden for your plants to thrive. Your balcony, terrace or even windowsill will do just fine.

The transition should be made gently so as not to burn the foliage. First, move your pots into the shade for a few hours. Gradually increase the intensity and duration of exposure. After a few days, your plants will be able to spend the day and night outdoors, temperatures permitting. But be careful! With the exception of a few cacti, no variety tolerates direct sunlight at its zenith. Always ask about recommended exposure by consulting our growing guides.

Grouping plants together naturally improves hygrometry through evapotranspiration. But that's not the only reason why plants grow faster when grouped together. Mature plants give off more oxygen than young ones. By leaving your cutting next to its mother, it benefits from better air and grows better. This also works if you place two different varieties side by side.

Certain combinations are particularly beneficial. In nature, some species live together to help each other. Epiphytic plants in the Bromeliaceae family, such as Tillandsia, love the company of orchids. They like to capture the water discharged by their neighbors.

You can simply place the pots next to each other. Some gardeners, however, place everyone in the same container. Before getting started, check that the plants have identical needs in terms of substrate, exposure and water. Make sure they all have enough room to grow.

This tip works for climbing plants that are sometimes grown in hanging baskets.

A plant that is used to clinging to a support instinctively looks for something to hold onto. It spreads its aerial roots until it finds what it's looking for. And while it's looking after its roots, it's neglecting its foliage. If you want your Pothos to produce limbs rather than roots, give it a stake.

We all love discovering sprouts at the foot of our Chinese coin plant. But these little creatures require a lot of energy to grow and survive. They slow down the growth of the main plant.

To keep your plant focused on its own development, remove the suckers. You can remove them as soon as they appear. But you can also wait until they are three or four centimetres tall and have their own roots. Then you can cut them out and expand your collection.

This advice does not apply to monocarpic plants. After flowering, tillandsia racket, aphelandra squarrosa or guzmania zahnii will die, no matter what you do. Wait until the offshoots are at least a third of the size of the mother plant before repotting them successfully to perpetuate your favorite bromeliad.

Plants are like people. Each grows at its own pace. If you're impatient, opt for fast-growing varieties. Not sure which ones to choose? We've put together a selection of 16 fast-growing houseplants for busy gardeners!