How To Adapt an Indoor Plant to Outdoors

Every indoor plant is an outdoor plant. The ‘indoor plants’ label indicates that your plants are shade-loving enough or hardy enough to thrive in less-than-ideal environments such as our homes. Keeping that in your mind should boost your confidence in knowing that all your indoor plants will be fine.

So read on for some amazing tips on how to adapt your indoor plants to the outdoors.

Understand Your indoor Plant’s Natural Habitat and Needs

Researching your plants' growing needs from their care tag if you have it or carrying out a Google search to learn about your plant’s natural habitat and growing conditions will greatly help you with that process.

Plants that are not created for direct sunlight will never transition well to any sunny location, even if you do that so slowly. So, it’s important to pick an area that’s in line with your plant’s requirements, whether it’s sun, shade, or completely protected. If the spot is on the wet or drier side and your plants prefer, you must keep that in mind.

Transition Your Indoor Plant to Direct Sunlight Gradually

If your plants stay in indirect sunlight indoors and you want to put them in a sunny area outside, make sure to transition your plants very slowly, even if your plants can naturally grow well in full, direct sunlight.

However, if your plants are not used to being in direct sunlight, putting them under the sun all of a sudden will lead to sunburn. Try to transition your indoor plants slowly by allowing them a few hours of sunlight a day, to begin with, and gradually building that up from there.

Check The Area Thoroughly Before Permanently Planting Them

If you want to plant your indoor plants into the ground outdoors, it’s good to test the area before permanently planting your plants. You can do that by positioning your plants in containers in the desired location for about two weeks or so before you plant them. It will help your plants get used to the location and understand why your indoor plants wouldn’t do well in that spot. It could be because of the amount of sunlight or shade it gets or other nearby houseplants.

Enrich The Soil If Required

It might be great to enrich the soil with a fresh soil potting mix or compost, depending on your area. If your outdoor ground is specifically sandy or a bit more clay-like, that’ll be handy for your indoor plants and should allow them to adjust.

Water Your Plant Well and Use Soil Conditioner

If you’ve made a transition of your indoor plants outdoors, that’s great! It is an amazing process. Ensure to water your area as early as it’s planted to allow the roots to stay moist and help them settle in. Alternatively, you can use a soil conditioner right away to help ease that transition and create your plants' root system more strong.