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1. Know your plant. Read about its requirements for light, water, fertilizer, temperature and humidity. Know what pests tend to bother it the most, how to detect them early, and what will kill them.

2. Now that you know what your plant needs, place it in a location where it will get enough light and be safe from drafts. Grouping plants together will increase the humidity in the immediate area and help keep delicate plants from drying out. If you aren't sure whether or not the light is sufficient, buy an inexpensive light meter at a garden store or online. It will give you a quantitative (numerical) reading. You may need to look up some supplemental information to get a more qualitative description like "bright" or "dim". If the light is insufficient, supplement with a fluorescent bulb.

3. Never over-fertilize. Also, use a fertilizer that is appropriate to your plant.

4. In general, plants need to dry out in between waterings. Prayer plants and Norfolk pines (living "Christmas trees") are notable exceptions. Most plants will develop root rot if their soil is consistently moist. It doesn't hurt them to go a little dry and have their leaves wilt a little, so in general, err on the side of watering too rarely. When you do water, drench the soil but don't leave the pot sitting in standing water.

5. Repot only if the plant has become rootbound. For more information on repotting, see the following:

http://www.helium.co m/items/786250-standard-advice -keeping-houseplants

6. Spray for pests as a preventative measure. Pure water in a spray bottle will help mechanically wash off the insects as well as help any leaves that may be too dry. A little bit of plain dish soap makes a decent insecticide with no toxicity. Neem oil is an organic evergreen extract that kills many household pests, but it smells terrible.

If you have a serious pest problem, you may need to use something stronger. The insecticide Seven is an effective bug killer that has relatively low toxicity.

7. Do not recycle potting soil, especially from plants that have been outside. The soil can become moldy, which is dangerous to your plants and to you.

8. Learn about how to propagate each species. Some are fairly easy to propagate from cuttings while others require more skill. However, it is worth some trial and error to ensure that you will always have a copy of your favorite plants. A cutting is a clone, meaning that it truly is genetically identical to the original.

Learn more about this author, Raven Lebeau.
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