Tools for an Elevated Plant Experience

You have a green thumb and want to be the best plant parent on the planet. Your plants are calling for attention—repots, haircuts, a simple drink of water—however, you feel unequipped with the tools currently in your arsenal. Fear not! We’ve compiled an easy list of utensils to add to your plant toolkit. 

Of course, none of these tools are a requirement to have a successful plant journey; many of these tools do not need to be plant-specific either. But having devoted tools for your plant routine can help deepen your relationship with your plants. Plus, when you find tools that match your style, plant care fits almost seamlessly into your routine. Here are some tools that could help you have a more engaging experience with your plants.

Watering can

While your cabinets might be overflowing with a plethora of mason jars, mugs, and cups, it may be wise to keep your plants’ watering vessels separate from your own. If fertilizing plants is part of your practice, you can run the dishwasher as many times as you’d like, but it’s hard to forget about all the organic material you just mixed into that jug. If you opt for a larger watering can, it can also mean less trips to and from your sink as they typically have a larger volume than a standard drinking glass. If your watering can has a more precise or gooseneck spout, it will be easier to apply healthy watering practices on your watering day.

Measuring Spoons

With the same idea of mixing fertilizer into your drinking vessels, you might want to separate your cooking measuring spoons from your fertilizer measuring spoons. Many liquid fertilizer options suggest measuring out anywhere from a few drops to a couple tablespoons per volume of water. This can be hard to eyeball. By the time you’re done mixing and dinner time rolls around, you might realize that together, fennel and fertilizer do not taste as good as they sound.

Shears

Office scissors, kitchen shears, and pocket knives can accomplish some minor plant haircuts, although they are typically not the most effective tools for the job. Depending on the cuts you’re trying to make, these tools might not be heavy-duty enough, or require too much force that can damage the mother plant, the cutting, or yourself. Within the realm of plant shears you might find two major styles most useful for your indoor plant collection. Here at STUMP we offer both two styles that are made by hand in Ono, Hyōgo, Japan by the maker Hanakumawaga. Precise and pointed bud shears are great for quick, delicate cuts on smaller vines or to remove individual leaves. A curved branch shear option is best for more significant cuts such as thicker or woody branches. Although a certain amount of maintenance is required, we’ve got you covered! Check out our Pruning Shears Sharpening Guide to find out what upkeep might look like. 

Cactus Gloves

At times repots can be quite dangerous, sometimes plants bite! After the obvious dangers of cactus spines getting stuck in your skin, residual fertilizer in the soil can also irritate sensitive skin. If you’re partial to nail care, using gloves during any repot helps keep your hands clean too! There is also the potential for accidents to happen during a repot. If the unfortunate case of breaking a ceramic has happened to you, using gloves to pick up the shards will help keep your hands safe while cleaning up broken pottery. 

Tarp/Potting Station

We have some of the most fun while in the flow of a repot. But the party ends pretty quickly once we get to the cleanup. Having a designated work surface will keep all the fun organic materials off of your kitchen counter. If you’re repotting more floor-sized plants, laying out a painter’s tarp makes it easy to contain your mess and carry your spent soil outside for disposal, or directly to your trash or compost bin.

Paintbrushes

After the mess of a repot, it’s time to dust off any soil you might have kicked up along the sides of your planter or in between the leaves of your plant. We sometimes call this “brushing your plant’s teeth.” Regular paintbrushes lend themselves nicely to this task. We recommend a few sizes to help brush off all the dust. A 2”-3” brush is great to clean the sides of your planters, a 1” brush gets between some more significant stems, and a detailed 1/4” brush can get between individual leaves or past some cactus spines.

Handbroom and Dustpan

Our palms and fingers have suffered through enough wooden splinters at our potting stations. Save your skin and find a handheld broom set. Pictured above are a pair of shuro brushes alongside a metal dustpan—these will make quick work of any residual mess your painter’s tarp didn’t catch! 

Moss Poles/Support Stakes

There are a multitude of ways to keep your plants standing upright. While small utensils like chopsticks or wooden dowels can help a smaller plant in the short term, as the plant grows, it may require a stronger trellis. At many of our STUMP locations, we stock handmade sphagnum moss poles by Mother Plants. This type of support works great for certain climbing aroid varieties, such as Monsteras, Philodendrons, Pothos, and others. For more delicate vining varieties like Hoyas, a delicate wire trellis can suit their growth pattern nicely. Macramé hangers can also allow a suitable support for those climbing vines to clamber along.

Chopsticks

While we mentioned that chopsticks might not hold up to be the best plant trellis, they do make themselves to be useful tools in other parts of plant care. Our favorite way to use them is for aerating the soil on watering day. Chopsticks can also be quite useful during a repot to continue loosening the soil from the sides of the planter or removing roots that are adhered to the ceramic. If you’re lacking a moisture meter, a chopstick can also make for a great soil probe. If you stick a chopstick down to the bottom of the planter and pull it out, feel the tip of the chopstick—if it feels pretty wet, chances are that you can hold off on watering for a bit longer.

Text & Photos by: Sebastian Muñoz