Greenhouse Leaves: Understanding the Process of Acclimation for Your New Plants
We’ve all had it happen before—we take home a plant from a nursery or shop and within the span of a couple weeks or so, it’s already lost some of its leaves despite receiving both adequate sunlight and water. These string of events can leave us questioning, “why?”
As experienced plant parents, we’ll be sharing why this happens indoors, how to ease the acclimation period for new plants, and our top tips for accepting the new, imperfect forms that our plants take on while living happily indoors with us.
Plants grow and change over time. While it might not be what we expect, it’s all part of the process of being able to connect with nature indoors.
What’s going on with my plant?
When we take plants indoors, we bring them into an imperfect environment and do our best to try to replicate what conditions they might get in nature.
This, coupled with the fact that plants typically go from a grow-house in exceptionally sunny areas—such as Florida and California—and then are shipped on a truck to your local nursery or plant shop, means that they’ve been through a lot changes in environment in a short amount of time. All of that traveling would leave anyone a little weary and out-of-sorts!
All of these changes in temperature, light, and humidity result in a plant that is more or less going to be slightly stressed for a brief period while they acclimate to their new home. This acclimation period will last for around a few weeks, and it’s not uncommon to notice some leaf loss on your new plants, especially the older, lower leaves on the plant.
As the weeks pass, and your plant settles, it will acclimatize to your space and slow its leaf shedding, normally only shedding leaves to make way for new growth or as the seasons change. If your plants continue to lose leaves, it could be a good idea to double-check what kind of sunlight it’s in and make sure you’re watering your plant correctly. Sometimes when you purchase a plant in its nursery container, they might be root-bound and ready to be repotted, leading to under-watering symptoms like lower leaf loss.
The benefit of purchasing a plant from an indoor retail shop versus a traditional garden center is that your plant will have already had a little bit of time and experience acclimating to light levels that are more on par with what they would experience in your home and office space, meaning they’ll likely have an easier time acclimating when you take them home. Indoor plant shops—such as us at STUMP—will often place plants in appropriate lighting to ease that transition into their new homes when someone does purchase them.
Yellowing leaves—particularly on incredibly bushy plants like this Dracaena marginata—are a common sign of acclimation and will typically stop after a few weeks.
Easing your plant’s acclimation
While there will almost always be an acclimation period for your plants when you initially bring them home, there are some things you can do to help them along their way.
Depending on what kind of plant you have, aim to place them in a spot that receives bright light, or—if they can handle it—a little bit of direct sunlight. Even if they’re a plant that’s low-light tolerant, placing them in a spot with bright, filtered sunlight will ease their transition into a fully-indoor space. After a couple weeks, place your plant where your original intention was and see how it fares.
Make sure that when you’re watering your plant, that you fully saturate its potting mix—this means watering until you see water run out the bottom of the planter. Keeping your plant well-hydrated will go a long way in easing its transition to its new home.
While not necessary, adding any sort of product that incorporates beneficial microbes₁ into the soil will bolster a plant’s strength and root system, giving it an easier time while it acclimates.
Potting a plant in an appropriate soil mix and sticking it in bright, filtered sunlight is the best way to let it acclimate.
Appreciating your plant’s form
Over time, your plants will take on their own shape and form in your unique, indoor setting—this is inevitable. They might not look as full and lush as the photos you see on social media or gracing the covers of design publications, and they likely won’t appear just as they do outside in nature. This doesn’t mean that they’re unhappy—rather that this is how they’re growing in your space with the conditions provided.
Just as we change over the years, our plants will grow in tandem with us—sort of like a beloved pet. We love to look back on pictures of when we first brought our plants home and compare them to how they look in the present, taking time to appreciate the subtle and sometimes not-so-subtle changes they’ve gone through, just as we all do. Whether it’s the sculptural branching of an indoor tree gone wild or the foliage reminiscent of a jungle canopy on a vining and trailing plant, plants are always a living work of art in their own right. And if you don’t like how they’re growing, you can always prune and try again for the form you’d like to see your plants take over the years. The shape that a plant takes over time is ultimately the reflection of its journey with you as its caretaker.
Take a moment to appreciate all the twists, curves, and branching your plant has achieved—they tell its story of how it got to where it is today.
₁ Microbes and fungi are naturally found in soil in nature—the beneficial ones will bolster root strength and growth, creating a holistically healthier plant.
Words by: Egan Thorne
Photos by: Emily Kellett, Collin Foltz, Egan Thorne & Sebastian Muñoz