TikTok can be a treasure trove of knowledge for life hacks, from
entertaining ideas
to
design trends
,
cooking
to
cleaning
. Gardening is no exception—expert gardeners and green thumbs have made their tips and tricks easy to access on the platform. Sometimes, though, it can be tricky to determine
which viral hacks are the real deal
. We decided to do the work for you and vet TikTok’s most popular hacks to find the ones that are really worth your time. The ones we handpicked are proven to show results—and you won’t have to shell out a ton of money to take advantage of them either. They make use of household items you already have lying around, from loose change to leftover takeout utensils. Scroll on and dive into the mind of our favorite PlantTokers.
Use the Nursery Pot To Make Re-Potting Easier
Re-potting or transplanting baby plants into new soil can be quite the messy process. Luckily, there’s a more precise way to leave enough room in your new soil for your plant. Place the nursery pot that is your plant’s current home in your new vessel, then fill and water the soil around it. Remove the potted plant, then take it out of its original pot and drop it into the new hole; this leaves a perfectly sized hole to house the plant, every time.
Drop Pennies or Vodka in Your Tulip’s Vase to Keep Them Upright
Tulips are beautiful, vibrant flowers to perk up your home, but they also tend to droop easily after a few days. The secret to to keeping them upright is in your wallet. Drop a penny or two into your tulip vase. It works as a natural fungicide, and the copper concentration preserves their fresh look. There’s a catch though—the penny has to be from the 1980s or older. Newer pennies don’t have the right copper concentration to preserve your blooms.
If you can’t get your hands on vintage pennies, check your liquor cabinet. It turns out your tulips also love a shot of vodka. Vodka inhibits the production of ethylene, the natural gas that causes plants to age.
Try This Viral Sexy Plant Juice That Makes Leaves Shiny
Don’t know how to keep your houseplant leaves from getting watermarked and crusty? Try
@paigetailyn
’s “sexy plant juice.” It’s made of water and household ingredients like Castile soap and isopropyl alcohol. A few spritzes will clean and disinfect your leaves at the same time. Plus, the neem oil in the spray is a natural pest deterrent, so it’ll keep broad-leaf plants like monsteras and fiddle leaf figs free of spider mites.
Use Pothos Cuttings to Speed Up Propagation
Water propagation
can be a great way to make your garden grow, especially when one plant is reaching the end of its life cycle. However, it also takes a long time. Impatient gardeners will be happy to know that there’s a natural way to speed up this process. If you have a healthy, trailing pothos, snip a few cuttings and place them in the water alongside your props. Pothos cuttings naturally secrete natural root hormones called auxins, which your props will love.
Weed Your Garden After It Rains
Weeding under the hot sun is a quick way to make any plant chore day feel extra long. But TikTok’s favorite advice-giving Grandma,
Babs
, has a great tip. Wait until it rains, then weed while the soil is still damp. It’s much easier to get those pesky roots out while the soil is wet and malleable, rather than digging in compacted soil with a weeding knife.
Re-Use Amazon Boxes to Start Seeds
Yes, you can put those piles of Amazon boxes to use in your garden. The cardboard can actually be re-used to start your seedlings, you just need to soak them in some water first. You can shape them around a can to make a perfect pot for starting seeds, and even plant them in
your garden bed
to prevent shocking the roots.
Use Plastic Forks to Deter Animals
If
rabbits
, moles, or other critters like to pay your garden a visit, you can use your takeout leftovers to politely turn them away. Simply place a few plastic forks upright in your soil. The sharp prongs deters any unwanted visitors, and they’ll last the whole planting season.
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