Aging in Place: How to Grow your Plants into Old Age

It’s a question we’re often asked when people are searching for a new houseplant to add to their space—“how long will this [plant] live for?”

Often prompted by genuine curiosity or perhaps a past experience with a houseplant dying, we’re happy to say that the answer to this question is most plants can live for decades with proper care. Read on to take a look at the factors that contribute to a well-lived life for a plant, along with the horticultural industry’s expected lifespan for houseplants.

This Ficus benjamina and Norfolk Island pine have been growing indoors for about 35 years now, taking on unique trunk shapes and gargantuan sizes over their years indoors.

Expected Lifespan

When we take pets home, we often say they’re going to their “forever home,” but we rarely say the same for plants, even though they’re also a living creature. According to most industry retailers, the expected lifespan for a houseplant is a staggeringly short 4-8 weeks. This is largely due to the overwhelming belief that people won’t know how to care for their houseplants. This one-to-two-month lifespan is reflected in the nondescript tags that come with plants in larger garden centers and big box stores. For example, these tags might suggest that a fiddle leaf fig, an otherwise high-sunlight plant, is capable of living in indirect or low light. The reasoning for this is because a fiddle leaf fig can live in low light… but only for 4-8 weeks as it slowly declines from a lack of proper sunlight.

However, when a plant is taken care of properly and receives adequate sunlight, that life expectancy can jump from months to decades—some plants are even passed down from older family members via cuttings and propagating, which is a great way to keep a plant living and within the family in the event that something does happen to the mother plant.

Keeping a plant living a long and happy life boils down to understanding your plant and its individual care needs. While finding out the correct lighting and placement for your plant is important, as is nailing down proper watering techniques, there are some other factors that can help contribute to a long-lived plant, such as fertilizing, repotting, and pruning. Understanding how a plant grows in its natural environment and doing your best to replicate that indoors will allow your plants to grow their best into old age and beyond.

A 30+ year old Euphorbia trigona living with Sylvia (@sylvia_zamora_vintage), that she inherited from a woman who was moving out of her home and didn’t have a place for it. This specimen came with that house when the lady purchased it, so it could be well over 30 years old.

This queen of the night orchid cactus, also in the possession of Sylvia, was found at a house auction. The late owner took care of it, and the plant itself is over 20 years old.

Pruning

Plants have the unique ability to grow infinitely—this is due to plants having special tissues inside of them called meristems. These meristems allow for continuous growth and cell division and are the reason why you can grow an entirely new plant from a cutting of an already existing one. Think of them as the plant equivalent of human stem cells that are able to be infinitely repurposed. At some point, if plants are allowed to grow without interruption, they will get too tall to support themselves, and this will adversely affect their health. This is where pruning comes in!

Keeping your plants pruned back to a manageable size keeps them supported, both literally and figuratively. Every time you prune a plant, it helps refocus energy and strengthen already-existing plant tissue—in addition, this also helps stimulate root growth in the soil. If you’re wanting to learn how or where to cut a plant back, we have an entire article dedicated to just pruning.

This 38-year-old Syngonium podophyllum, belonging to Nancy (@planetmombalt) was purchased when she moved into her first solo apartment—she recently shared the plant with her son via a cutting.

This 30-year-old Hoya, belonging to @rot5555555, was a cutting taken from a relative’s house in Germany many years ago and continues to live by its caretaker’s side.

Repotting

Repotting plants as needed is another way to increase the life expectancy of your houseplants.

As roots push forth and take up space in a planter, your plant will need to be moved up a planter size to continue to grow to its best ability. Waiting too long to repot can cause stunted growth and yellowing leaves, adversely affecting the health of your plant. Conversely, repotting too soon can leave a plant swimming in excess soil—too much water around the roots of the plant will cause the roots to slowly begin to rot.

How do you know when to repot? We’ve already compiled a pretty thorough guide here, but most plants will want to be repotted when their roots begin to poke through the drainage hole of your planter, or if they begin to push themselves up and out of the planter. Keeping a plant happy and giving them ample room to grow and spread their roots goes a long way in terms of letting them live to their full potential. Epiphytic plants, on the other hand, can typically remain in planters for a while longer—since these plants don’t grow terrestrially in nature, they won’t mind being root-bound for a bit longer than other plants that do normally grow in the ground.

This holiday cactus (Schlumbergera sp.) that lives with Natalie (@nathrcek) is at least 12 years old, but was a cutting taken from a mother plant that was 50+ years old.

This Euphorbia trigona, belonging to Brooke (@brookevrossi) is over 20 years old, and has traveled with them through 5 cities and countless homes over the years.

Fertilizing

Replacing nutrients in your plant’s potting mix is another way to ensure that it stays thriving throughout its life.

Over time and repeated waterings, the available nutrients in the potting mix will deplete. Something as simple as an organic, all-purpose fertilizer used roughly once a month during the growing season will be suitable for most plants to keep them looking and growing their best for years to come.

Too much of a good thing is possible with fertilizer, and it’s important to not overdo it, otherwise your plants could go into shock and develop fertilizer burn on their leaves. When in doubt, take a look at the back of your fertilizer of choice for dosing instructions—this amount can even be slightly lowered to play it safe and get more usage out of your fertilizer. For more in-depth information on fertilizing your plant, we also have a dedicated article on just that.

Through proper plant care, it is possible to get plants to live a long and prosperous life alongside you. If you have any questions about other ways to extend a plant’s life expectancy, or you just want to brag about your older houseplant and impart some wisdom to the rest of us, drop a comment down below or stop into one of our shops!

Words by: Egan Thorne

Photos submitted by the plants’ respective owners via Instagram