Small Plants vs Big Plants Houseplant Care Tips for Beginners

Hey guys, what's going on? Welcome back to my channel. For those who's new, my name is Christian and this is my crazy plant life. And in today's video, we are finally gonna answer the age old question, does size really matter? Or is it all about how you care for it, caress it, love it. I'm just kidding guys, this is a plant channel. So of course I'm referring to my plants. We know that not every plant is created equal and it is very important to understand the plant variety you have and what their care requirements are in order for them to thrive and live their best lives as an indoor plant in your home. If you wanna live your best life as a plant parent, be sure to hit that subscribe button. So we know that plant variety matters. So for example, this Sansevieria Moonshine that you see here will have a different care requirements than this Philodendron Gloriosa. However, does the size of the plant matter or do you need to make adjustments based on what you know on how to care for that plant because it is a smaller plant versus a bigger house plant. So some may say that size doesn't matter, but in this case it matters quite a bit and it dawned on me the other day when somebody messaged me on Instagram asking me why their string of hearts keeps dying when they are following exactly the same care requirements I do for my string of hearts. Allow the bright indirect light, allow the soil to dry out completely between waterings and making sure that that potting mix is nice and airy like a cacti soil with a bit of perlite. So then I asked her, well, how big is your plant? She says hers is in a tiny four little inch pot with about like three or four vines that came from a cutting. And I was like, okay, there's absolutely a difference in how you need to care for your baby string of hearts compared to how I care for my larger one here. Why is that? So let's break it down. Most of us plant parents, we treat our plants like children, but like real children, the baby ones needs a little bit more of our attention than the older kids or rebellious teenager that doesn't wanna listen to you when you tell them to come home at midnight. I'm just kidding, but there is a bit of misconception when it comes to caring for your house plants that smaller ones are a little bit more easier than your larger and bigger plants when the reality is that's actually not true. Your bigger and larger plants are just a lot more established. They got stronger, thicker roots, thicker vines, you know, a lot more leaves, larger leaves where they can capture a lot of that sun to pull the synthesize. They can also withstand a lot more stress like underwatering or overwatering. However, when it comes to more of the baby plants, you know, they aren't as established. Their root system is still developing. Their vines or their leaves aren't as thick to retain the water. And they are also more prone to pests and they really do not like to be underwatered, overwatered during the development stage. But there are a lot of reasons why you should get a smaller plant versus a big plant. You know, comment below and let me know what those reasons are. But when it comes to caring for them, what adjustments do you need to make if your plant was smaller versus a larger plant? So what we're gonna do is go through a few plant example to help demonstrate the difference in care requirements when it comes to the size of your plant. So we'll start off with a string of hearts example again. So you guys know that my larger one is hanging right here about 10 feet away from my large south-facing window, floor to ceiling. So it gets a ton of that bright indirect light. However, with my four inch little string of hearts here that I have, which is very similar to what this person messaged me about, I actually have this about two feet away from my south-facing window. So it does get a little bit more light. And the reason for it is just doesn't have as much leaves or much vines for it to capture a lot of that light. So I do have to bring it a little bit closer. These plants do want that nice bright indirect light. So with a smaller one like this, because it is going through a development stage, I do wanna make sure it gets as much as possible without giving it that direct sunlight for the leaves to burn. Now, when it comes to watering my string of hearts, my larger one here, I allow the soil to dry out completely. That means it's pretty much like bone dry, which usually takes about every two weeks during the summer months and about like every three weeks during the winter months. In addition, I'll actually touch a lot of the thicker plump leaves to see if it's still firm or soft before I go ahead and water that plant. And I will use two full cans of water here that you guys see, and I will water from the top down, allowing that water to drain through. Now, with the smaller four inch little guy here that you see, I will not allow the soil to dry out completely, especially when you have taken just a cutting from your string of hearts, rooted it in water, and then planted in soil. You wanna make sure that your soil is not bone dry. So typically what I will do is I will allow the soil to be about 80% or 90% dry between waterings. And what that means is, you know, the top two thirds of the soil is pretty much dry. And then near the bottom, it's still a little bit more like moist, but ready to be watered because you wanna make sure you don't allow this thing to dry completely. If you do, the hearts are gonna crinkle pretty fast, the vines are gonna shrivel up, and then you're gonna have falling leaves and the vines are pretty much gonna die. So that is definitely a big difference in what you wanna do, especially when you have a smaller string of hearts compared to my larger, you know, six inch pot there that you guys see. When it comes to the volume of water, I will not use two full cans of watering that I do with my string of hearts. I'll maybe use like half a can or maybe like two thirds of it. As soon as I see the water drain through, that's when usually I'll stop watering my plant. You know, some may say that the volume of water doesn't matter as long as you have a nice well draining potting medium, but I think it still matters when it comes to a smaller size like this compared to my larger string of hearts. Even though I don't wanna allow the soil to dry completely, I also don't wanna make sure that this plant is sitting in wet soil for long periods of time. So typically this will start to dry out maybe like a week and a half before again I water it with about half a can of water or maybe two thirds of this watering can. So that is how I go about watering my string of hearts. Now, when it comes to the potting mix I will use for this little guy versus like a six inch or maybe a 10 inch string of hearts, I'll probably use a very similar potting mixture, you know, cacti soil with some perlite. I'll maybe adjust the ratio of perlite depending on if I want the soil to retain a bit more moisture or not. So in this case for this four inch container, I'll probably use a ratio of like, you know, 80, 20, 80% cacti soil, maybe 20% perlite, but say with a larger size of a pot or a larger size of a plant, I'll probably use like a 75, 25 ratio or maybe like two thirds and a third ratio of potting soil versus perlite. Now, when it comes to pest management, it is always important to stay on top of it regardless of the size of the plant or the variety of plants. So you want to make sure you are spraying down your plant with insecticidal soap, you know, every two or three weeks, depending on, you know, what that regime is for you. But with a smaller house plant, you do need to pay a little bit more attention to it because they are a little bit more prone to pest attacks. So just be mindful of that, but you may want to spend a little bit more time inspecting them and making sure that there are no pests going on within your plant. So those are kind of the care adjustments you'd want to make when it comes to caring for your string of hearts, especially when you have like a smaller baby juvenile one. But now let's take a look at another example. We'll take a look at the pothos. So you have here my golden pothos, which is massive. He's actually in a 10 inch pot, a lot of vines, a lot of leaves, and he's kind of grown quite a bit. And you guys can kind of slightly see that he's slightly dehydrated and probably needs a good watering. But again, with bigger plants, they can, you know, withstand a bit of underwatering or overwatering. I could probably leave this guy for a few more days or even like a week before I really do need to give him a drink and water. But when it comes to this mandula pothos that you see here, it's in a three and a half inch pot. I don't allow the soil to dry complete. Similar to my string of hearts, I'll maybe wait till the soil is about like 80% dry before I give it a nice good drink, especially when they are trying to put out new leaves and they are going through that growth or development stage. So again, you want to kind of keep that in mind based on the size of your plant. Similar to my lighting, you know, I will definitely move this a little bit closer to the window because it does require that nice bright indirect light. Although they can both tolerate more of the low or medium light. But if you want your plant to grow nice, big and healthy, especially when it comes to your pothos, you want to give them as much light as possible. When it comes to the potting mix, I'll use very similar potting mix for both the golden pothos or the mandula. Again, I'll probably just add a bit more of the soil versus the perlite to just help retain a bit of that moisture when it comes to more of your smaller baby type of plants. So that is kind of the difference. Again, when it comes to caring for your smaller plant versus your bigger house plants. So there you guys have it. Hopefully you found this video helpful. Again, the key thing to keep in mind is understand the variety of plant you have, understand their care and basic requirements they need. And then adjust accordingly based on obviously your home environment and whether you have a smaller plant or a larger of that variety. Hopefully you guys enjoyed this video and found it helpful. Comment below and let me know. Other than that, enjoy the rest of your week and we'll see you guys soon. Peace.