How to Safely Introduce Outdoor Houseplants Back into Your Indoor Jungle

Hey guys what's going on? Welcome back to the channel. So in today's video I'm going to share with you guys how to prepare a lot of your houseplants that you have outdoors to kind of bring them back indoors especially as the weather kind of changes. If you live in a climate like where I am which is in Toronto Canada, the season is now changing, the days are getting shorter, the temperature is getting cooler and I want to make sure that these plants do not be out there for too long especially you know when the weather drops below 10 degrees Celsius or 50 degrees Fahrenheit because that is really the temperature that these types of plants will start acting up and next thing you know they are gonna die on you. So typically I bring a few of my plants outside in the spring and summer months. Those plants that usually love a lot of bright indirect light even a couple hours of direct sunlight. For example my jade plant is out there, my jasmine plant, my crotons they love a lot of bright light that's how you can get their colors to show up. You know a couple of my pineapple plants and even my kalamandin. And now that the days are starting to get shorter and the temperature is starting to cool down I want to make sure that you know I don't leave them out there too long when the temperature drops below 10 degrees Celsius or 50 degrees Fahrenheit because that's when these plants will start acting up and next thing you know if you leave them out there for too long they are gonna die on you which has happened to me on a couple occasions. So you know in this case I want to make sure I'm ahead of that and want to bring a lot of these plants indoors but you guys know you can't just bring them indoors and introduce them to the rest of your jungle because you know chances are a lot of these outdoor plants may have a couple of pests or two around them so you want to make sure they are free of that before introducing them back into your home. So the first thing I'll do is figure out exactly the date of when I want to bring a lot of these plants indoors and then from there maybe about 48 hours before that or maybe even three days I want to start preparing the plants. So the first thing I'm gonna do is spray all the plants down with a high-pressure hose or a high-pressure spray bottle this is what I'm using right now by Solo I got this off Amazon and pretty much I want to spray all the plants every inch of it the top leaves the bottom leaves the petiole the branches and even like the top layer of that soil just to spray off any potential critters that's crawling around the plant. So once I do that I will then spray them down with my insecticide soap. Right now I'm using this Safer's concentrated one where I add about 50 milliliters of this into my one liter spray bottle and maybe a couple drops of neem oil and I'll use this to kind of spray again every inch of this plant the top leaves bottom leaves all over as much as I can and then from there I'm just gonna let them chill and I'll usually repeat that process twice a day for the next two or three days. You can find these insecticide soap at your local garden center or big-box stores or even on Amazon and if you don't have them what you guys can do is also make your own homemade ones by just mixing a couple drops of dish soap maybe about 30 milliliters of rubbing alcohol and if you do have neem oil a couple of drops of those as well in a one liter spray bottle and this should actually work as well. So again the process is spray your plant with a high-pressure hose or spray bottle then spray it with your insecticide soap do that twice a day for the next two or three days. Now on the day when I'm about to bring these plants back indoors I also like to actually repot these guys in fresh soil so I remove a lot of the old soil just in case there's something crawling in there and then obviously repot these guys in fresh soil and use a medium mixture that works for the plant especially as you head into the winter season where you're gonna have to hold back on water and so you want to make sure it's a bit more airy especially with a lot of these tropical type of plants so I'd like to mix a lot more cacti soil in there a bit of perlite a bit of pumice and then a bit of regular potting mix. Now with some of these plants like a Kalamondin or Jasmine that has a lot of foliage I actually like to prune them back especially if there are a lot of like dead or yellow leaves that's lingering around as well as any of those leaves that maybe lost its chlorophyll potentially because there was pests probably sucking life out of it so I want to make sure that I prune a lot of these guys back. Now once I'm done the outdoor preparation you know spraying them down pruning it repotting and I'm ready to bring them back indoors I actually will quarantine them for the next 48 hours in my bathroom and for the next two days I will repeat the process of what I did outside which is to spray them down with a high-pressure hose or spray bottle and then spray them some more with my insecticide soap twice a day for the next 48 hours again just making sure that these guys are pest free before introducing them back into your home and along with the rest of your plants. So once I'm done that then I will find a nice bright sunny place in my home in this case these guys were used to a lot of bright lights I will move them closer to the window and from there just continue to monster them just make sure they're thriving along with the rest of your plants. So yeah that's pretty much how I go about preparing a lot of my other plants and introducing them back indoors really the key thing is making sure they are pest free and not leaving them outdoors for a very long time especially if it's gonna drop below 10 degrees Celsius or 50 degrees Fahrenheit and also it's important for you guys to stay on top of your pest control management don't lazy out on it just because we're heading into the winter season in fact I do think it gets worse I know a lot of you guys are asking for winter care videos it is coming soon you know we're not to do necessarily in the winter yet but I will definitely put one out there and share with you guys kind of how I go about caring for my plants during the winter season because I have gone through a couple of them now but yeah any other video suggestions you guys may want to see on my channel comment below and let me know other than that hopefully you guys enjoy this and learn something or two and I'll see you guys in the next one. Peace!