When it comes to having house plants, there are a few tips and tricks to follow to keep your plants happy and living a long life. One of these trips is to rotate your indoor house plants. So how often should you rotate indoor house plants?
You should rotate your indoor house plants anywhere from once a month to every 2 to 3 months. The amount of rotation is going to depend on the type of plant and the accessible sunlight.
In this article, I’ll further explain how you should decide how often to rotate your indoor house plants and some signs that your plant is getting too much or little sunlight on one side.
Rotating Indoor House Plants
The main reason for rotating indoor house plants is the way sunlight comes into your home. A plant needs to get sunlight across its entire surface area. If the light exposure is limited to one side of the plant, it must be rotated. Plants that require a lot of light need to be rotated less than those that require low to medium light, such as Pothos.
If you have a plant near a window and the sunlight is only coming in from one direction, then the side of the plant opposite the window isn’t going to get as much sunlight. So, in this case, you’ll need to rotate it.
Window exposure is catered towards indoor plants, as outside plants usually have total surface area sun exposure, so no side is left without sun.
Exposure to sunlight for all sides is essential because one side might begin to wilt, or if you keep one side towards the sun too long, it could get scorched and die that way.
A good rule to go by when deciding on how often to rotate your plant is if plants like a lot of sunlight, then rotate it every 2-3 months. According to Leon and George, if a plant requires low or medium light, rotate it every few weeks or once a month. However, this will differ depending on the type of plant and the amount of sun exposure in your home.
Some may think you should rotate them every day to keep things balanced. However, this doesn’t benefit the plant in any way. Rotating the plant every day will cause no harm, but it won’t help it either.
How To Know When You Need To Rotate Your Indoor Plants
If you are unsure of the amount of time your plant needs on each side per rotation, there are a few signs to look out for. Your plant will tell you a few things through physical symptoms, so ensure you’re on the lookout for those.
If you notice any of the physical signs we’re about to discuss, make sure you act quickly and don’t leave them for days after. These physical signs can worsen the issue and cause your plant to die.
Wilting Leaves
If you notice wilting leaves on the side of your plant facing the sunlight, it’s time to rotate. Wilting means too much sun exposure, negatively affecting the plant. Additionally, there may be too much direct sunlight in that area. So, you may want to move the plant to a different area of the room to avoid this issue.
Wilting leaves can go back to normal if the intense sunlight is removed. Just keep an eye on your plant to make sure the issue gets resolved. If not, more damage can occur to your indoor plant.
Brown/Dried Up Leaves
After your plant begins wilting, the leaves will eventually turn brown and dry up, signifying that they’re dying. Brown or dried-up leaves happen after your plant leaves have been wilting for a while, so it’s important not to let it get to this point. There is a possibility your plant won’t recover.
However, this can also be a sign of an issue with watering, so make sure you can decipher where the problem is coming from. No matter the cause, once leaves have become brown and dried up, they can’t go back to normal. You’ll need to remove the dried-up leaves from the plant or soil and dispose of them.
Brown Spots
Also known as sunburn for plants, brown spots signify that the plant is getting too much sunlight. These can appear as spots or patches, but the whole leaf will not be brown.
Sunburn is due to the fact that exposure to the sun burns parts of the leaves, turning them brown. So, if you notice this on one side of the plant, you’ll want to rotate and keep an eye on it to ensure this doesn’t happen to the other side.
Once a leaf is sunburned, there’s no going back, so it’s best you cut off the sunburned leaves to allow for new growth to come through. Doing so won’t damage your plant if you cut them correctly.
Yellow Leaves
Another indicator of when it’s time to rotate a plant is the leaves on your plant turning yellow. If this occurs on the side facing away from the sun, then you’ve waited too long in between rotations.
Yellowing leaves mean there’s a lack of sunlight exposure. So, you’ll want to rotate your plant to get the sunlight it needs. As soon as you notice this issue, you’ll want to change the position of the plant. Unfortunately, the yellow will not go back to green. However, your plant can have yellow leaves and be just fine. You’ll want to prevent further yellowing as the leaves can eventually die off.
Leaning
Some plants will begin to lean towards the sun if one side isn’t getting enough light. So, if you notice this in any of your plants, you’ll want to rotate it to the other side. If leaning happens for too long, the plant will become too heavy on one side, and stems can break, or your plant can fall over.
Leaning can also affect the level of growth on each side so that your plant becomes asymmetrical. Being a little asymmetrical won’t harm the plant, but it’ll make the plant look a little odd and may not be pleasing to the eye. If the leaning progresses, it can cause breakage.
In addition to rotating the plant, you can fix leaning by adding extra soil on one side to keep it from leaning too far. Another way to help the leaning is to add small wooden stents to your plant stems to keep them upright. Using stents can help prevent the stems from snapping while the other side catches up on growth.
Best Place in Your Home for Indoor Plants
Depending on which window in your home you’re putting your plans near, some can provide more sunlight than others. According to Back to the Roots, East-facing windows provide indirect, bright light into your home, whereas South and West-facing windows provide direct solid light, which can be too much for some plants or too little for some plants.
If you find yourself correctly rotating your plants and keep seeing the above signs of too much sun, it may be because of your window. You might want to try changing to a different window to see if the light was too much from the other.
Changing windows also goes for signs of too little light. Either way, if nothing seems to work, change the window you have your plants at and see if that improves your indoor plants.
Conclusion
For most plants, you should rotate them once a month or once every two to three months, depending on the plant. Low to medium light plants need more rotation than plants that require a lot of sunlight.
Check for wilting, brown spots, yellow leaves, leaning, and brown/dried up leaves for signs that you’re not rotating your indoor plants enough. Some of these conditions can harm your plant if left alone, so make sure you rotate the plant immediately to fix it.
You’ll need to check the light requirements for your plants to decide which window is best for them.
