Everyone talks about all the benefits indoor plants have and why you should add some greenery to your living space. Though I am also one of these plant lovers and can’t see why anyone shouldn’t have a couple of plants at home, depending on one’s lifestyle there can be some disadvantages to having indoor plants which I will explain in this post.
Potential disadvantages of indoor plants may arise in case of a latex allergy or toxic plants that can harm pets as well as if an irregular lifestyle prevents adequate maintenance of plants. Inadequate maintenance leads to plant diseases and pests that can be unaesthetic and disturbing.
Needless to say, there aren’t many disadvantages to indoor plants compared to all the benefits they bring. Still, if you have pets or certain allergies it is good to know what you need to be careful about with houseplants.
Are There Any Downsides to Indoor Plants?
As such, indoor plants do not have any downsides. Disadvantages of indoor plants mainly arise due to certain incompatibilities with the way of living of the plant parents.
For instance, if you keep houseplants this means you need to regularly look after them. If your lifestyle includes being away for weeks at a time with no one looking after your green fellows, they might not live for very long.
Or maybe adequate plant care is no issue at all as you are home regularly but instead, you have small kids or pets that play with everything within their reach including the plants. Then you want to make sure that none of the plants are potentially toxic to them.
In the following, I will get into all of these aspects to make sure you know what to consider about your green housemates and how to avoid these disadvantages.
Reading Recommendation: I certainly do not want you to only read about possible downsides of indoor plants because the benefits will always outweigh the few disadvantages there might be in keeping houseplants. Find out more about how plants reduce stress, improve concentration, and many more benefits in my post linked right here!
Possible Disadvantages of Indoor Plants and How to Avoid Them
What are the disadvantages that might be an issue when you have indoor plants? Here’s a short overview of all possible aspects:
- Maintenance requirements: Can plants easily be integrated into your lifestyle? Are you at home regularly or away for weeks at a time?
- Plant diseases and pests: A plant parent needs to know how to care adequately for the green fellows to ensure a long and happy plant life
- Allergies to poisonous sap: Mainly plants with milky sap, also called latex, can cause skin irritations
- Toxic plants and pets: If you have pets that roam around freely in your living space such as cats, dogs, or birds you should make sure none of your plants is toxic to them.
- Plants and small kids: Plants with spikes, sharp edges, or sap that causes allergic reactions can potentially harm your kids if they start playing with or around such plants.
Let’s share a little more on each of these aspects and how you can avoid them from becoming an issue in your household:
Maintenance Requirements: Be a Reliable Plant Parent Who Knows Their Plants’ Needs
As plants are unable to move from place to place as we humans or other animals do, they cannot just collect whatever they need in various places. That is why in nature, plants only grow and survive where the environment is suitable for them. For indoor plants, you as the plant parent need to provide the plants with all their needs.
Well, what is it exactly that you have to do for a plant?
- Watering
- Fertilizing
- Repot plants or prune them (periodically)
- Propagate plants (optional)
- Check plants for their health
- Occasionally wiping the dust off or showering them off
All in all, it may sound like plants are a lot of work but it’s not as bad as it seems at first glance. Most of the time-consuming tasks only need to be done periodically, such as repotting a plant each 1-2 years. Also, if you have new plants it might take some time to find the ideal spot for each of them in your living space.
But once a plant sits in a spot that suits its needs in terms of light and temperature and you have your plant care routine down, there is not much more you need to do than watch it thrive and enjoy its presence.
Reading Recommendation: Do you know what plants need? Plant needs are simple but essential for their well-being. Find out in this post linked here why not just water and light are essential to plants!
Pests and Diseases: Unaesthetic and Harmful for Your Indoor Plants
A healthy plant has a natural resilience to defend itself against pests, fungi, or diseases. Though once a plant receives inadequate maintenance over a longer period, its needs are not met and it becomes more prone to pests and diseases.
Think of our immune system: If we don’t provide our body with the nutrients, vitamins, and water it needs, we risk getting sick more easily as our weakened immune system cannot work properly. It works the same way for plants.
Pests like mealybugs, white flies or spider mites are not only killing your plant slowly, they also look extremely unaesthetic. Once your plant is infested, you either make the effort of saving it or you will eventually get rid of it.
Watering your plants properly plays an important role in plant infestations, especially in the soil. Root rot is one of the most common issues that cause indoor plants to die off.
Tip: Are you unsure how much water your plants need and if you are doing it right? Once you had a plant die from overwatering, you probably realized that watering plants is not as easy as you think in the beginning. On the other hand, if you keep in mind some simple basics, you can develop your green thumb in no time. In this post linked here, you will find plenty of know-how and tips on how to water your plants properly.
Allergies: Latex Sap Can Cause Skin Irritations
Some plants, such as the mulberry family (like Ficus benjamina), have poisonous milk sap also referred to as latex. Touching the latex sap can cause allergic skin reactions.
This is only an issue when pruning or repotting the plant as those are the occasions where your skin might touch the sap.
If you are allergic to latex, then it is recommended to wear gloves whenever treating the plant.
Toxic Plants and Pets: Know Which Plants Can Potentially Harm Your Pets
If you own pets such as dogs or cats, you must make sure to have no indoor plants that are toxic to them or to put them out of your pets’ reach.
Generally, as I already mentioned most plants of the mulberry family have poisonous sap. You can easily recognize those plants as all of them have a milky sap. Common indoor plants of the mulberry family (Moraceae) are all types of Philodendron and Ficus.
Other common poisonous indoor plants are lilies such as the Peace Lily (Spathiphyllum) or the Easter Lily (Lilium longiflorum), Pothos (Epipremnum or Devil’s Ivy), English Ivy (Hedera helix) as well as the Spider Plant (Chlorophytum comosum), ZZ Plant (Zamioculcas), or Dumb Cane Plant (Dieffenbachia).
Beware: In case your pet has eaten bits of a toxic plant, reach out to a veterinary right away!
Plants and Small Kids: Don’t Let Your Kids Play With Indoor Plants
Plants and kids do not always go well together if you don’t pay attention to where you put the plants.
It can help a lot to define a certain area of your living space as the kids’ playground. That way, kids get their playtime but you can keep more delicate things like plants or that one expensive vase you inherited out of that play zone.
This is good for the plant’s safety as no plant likes to be toppled over or have leaves torn out but also for your kids’ safety as some plants can have sharp edges, spikes, or the latex sap I already talked about that can cause allergic skin reactions.
Tips to Minimize the Disadvantages of Indoor Plants:
There are several ways to minimize or completely avoid these disadvantages of indoor plants:
- When away for vacations, use self-watering systems or organize a plant nanny
- Use plant care apps to help establish and remind you of your plant care routine
- Adapt your plant routine to suit the needs of each plant type you have
- Choose plants that suit your skill level and lifestyle: There are easier plants and more difficult ones to care for
- Choose plants that match the availability of light in each spot of your living space
- Place plants out of reach of pets (especially the toxic ones) by putting them up on shelves or placing them on hangers
- Do not place plants in your kids’ play zone at home
- Check your plants’ health regularly when watering them (Don’t know what signs to look out for when checking your plants? Read this post to get a step-by-step health check for your plants including first aid tips)
- Wear gloves when treating plants with latex sap
Bonus Tip: Maybe you don’t already know what types of plants you have and what their light or watering requirements are. No need to fret: Through this link to my post, you can read all about what plant care apps there are and which one suits you.
Related Questions
What Kind of Light Do Plants Need?
Plants need light as we all know but sunlight is not as readily available in our living spaces. Do other types of light work for plants? The good news is yes, they do.
After reading through this post linked right here, you will know what kind of light your plants need and what substitutes for sunlight there is that work for plants.
Is Tap Water Safe for Houseplants?
Have you been watering your plants with regular tap water all the time? Well, depending on your living area your plants were probably just fine with that. In the long run, some issues might still arise if you use tap water such as salt build-up in the soil or a fluoride overdose.
Find out in this post what makes tap water safe for houseplants as well as some easy steps to quickly improve the quality of your tap water for plants (and for humans!).