Maintenance Techniques for Interior Plants

This manual will teach you how to grow lush, green plants-with zero plant replacements. It is the result of a 10-year study of 70,000+ interior plants by the largest interior landscape company in British Columbia, during the major foliage plant boom of the 1970s-80s.

Maintenance employees on this project kept detailed weekly reports on each of the plants in a wide variety of our commercial plant locations-shopping malls, office towers, restaurants, banks, and all the extremes of likely indoor environments. The design department monitored their findings, and after 5 years, the plants flourished and a company-wide zero plant replacement rate was achieved.

During the next 5 years, watering techniques that allow plants to grow in the lowest possible light levels were perfected. Our designers continuously tested new findings to seek out the limitations of tropical plants indoors, now available to the general public as well.

This book takes the 10 years of research and distills it into our Light . Air . Water . System (LAWS) of plant care, whereby plant care professionals and people who enjoy caring for plants can quickly and efficiently take the necessary steps to ensure that their designs and plants will live on indefinitely. Something to celebrate!

-David L. and Patricia Hamilton

(Based on studies of 70,000+ plants in commercial spaces over a period of 10+ years. Now available to the general public.) As soon as you finish reading this book, you will know 95% of the secrets to professional indoor plant care. The remaining 5% will become obvious after you have watched how plants respond to minor variations in environmental conditions over the course of a calendar year. Indoor plants are easy. They respond primarily to light and water. And, although you have no control over the light after they have been installed in a particular spot, current maintenance techniques make watering an exact science. Thus, after you learn how easy it is to water correctly, you can devote all of your working hours to becoming an efficient interiorscaper. As you make your rounds, you will notice how impressed the office people are with your plant skills. They will constantly ask you for advice. They will also notice, however, your overall attitude toward plants. It is imperative that you learn how to put on a 'show' for them. They are paying your company for two things - your watering expertise, as well as your personality. You benefit your company by doing both to the limits of your ability.