Lack of humidity in winter dries out skin and plants

Q: Plants have been doing quite well over the holidays — but I guess I've ignored a problem. Suddenly the tips — the end needles of my Norfolk pine and also some fern leaves and the very tips of my peace lily and my cast iron plant — are beginning to dry out and get brown. Is this a bug or some other problem and what can I do to fix it? Should I cut the brown part off?

A: The leaf tips are turning brown because of a huge lack of humidity indoors in winter. The air in a heated house in the winter is very dry, often below 20 percent. Your skin is probably noticing it, too: You're using more hand lotions and moisturizing skin cream in the winter, and yet your skin feels dry. But there are no moisturizing lotions for your plants leaves. So the only cure or help, for you and your plants, is to increase the humidity in the house by adding moisture to the air with water pans, a humidifier, or pebble pans beneath the plants. Your plants and your skin will both feel the difference!

It's simple: Depending on the type of heating system you have, you can dry bath towels and kitchen towels in front of a heating vent, or on a radiator, or on a rack near any heat source. Vent an electric dryer (not a gas dryer) into the house during the winter if this is practical; a kettle or pot simmering on the stove, helps too!

Don't try cutting off the brown ends of leaves; the cut ends will produces more brown ends and they're still unattractive. Tou may have to remove the entire leaf.

Do what you can, and this problem should be over when spring and higher humidity returns!

Q: I have a very large clay pot, unglazed, that has a crack running up and down. Is there a way of repairing the crack and still use it for flowering plants next summer? I hot-glued it on the inside last summer and it was OK but now the glue has peeled off. I hate to toss this magnificent pot. Thanks for any help you can give.

A: I'm a saver, too! But saving a cracked clay pot is very difficult. It's easier to mend on that has broken through completely — then at least you have edges to glue together! But sometimes it is possible to literally tie the pot — and keep it together.

Try using a nylon cord to bind it at the rim. I assume this is a standard shape clay flower pot, wider at the top with a rim, narrowing to a slightly narrower base. If you tie it in the body of a sloped pot, the tie will slide down. Tie it at the rim. Or tape it.

Q: My problem is the four geraniums on my deck. I have now brought them in. They are growing well also. Now the flowers are gone. The only place I can put them is on the northesat windowsill, other than in our storage room with no windows. Will they be OK? Do they go through a rest period? Should I water/feed them as usual?

A: A northeast window will only provide enough light for mere maintenance for a geranium. Don't expect flowering in this reduced light over the winter. Geraniums are perennials in hot, somewhat dry, sunny climates — not here in New England unless given similar conditions. Reduce watering over the winter; any new growth will be thin.

After the first of the year, cut them back and allow new growth and ertilize and water when needed, but don't let them stand in water. Consider using some grow lights!

Some gardeners hold geraniums quite dry in a dark, cool cellar all winter, and then bring them back into normal sunny conditions in the early spring.

Years ago, when people had reliably cool, dark cellars and sheds, where the temps remained very cool but not freezing, and moisture was constant, gardeners would remove the plants from pots and hang the drying plants from the ceiling, replanting the remaining roots and stems in the late winter.

I think the safest way is to try to keep them alive, on your windowsills, if you have the room. They won't be as beautiful as they were all summer, but you'll have a better chance of saving them!

I usually garden barefoot. Are there parasites I can pick up through my feet from dirt or aged manure or cats, or is that mostly in the South or tropics?

A: Gardening barefoot is not a great idea! Yes, parasites do exist in manure — and if cats and dogs use the garden as their toilet, the danger increases! And there is always the danger of stepping on a sharp object — a stone, nail, piece of plastic or a tool.

At least wear sandals when gardening to protect the soles of your feet. And be sure your tetanus shot is up to date each year!

This week's dirt

Yesterday was 12th Night and it's officially the end of the holiday season. According to custom, all greens must be out of the house today. If by chance you still have greens in the house today, you must keep them, or bad luck will follow for the entire year!

Let Mother Nature dispose of your old greenery, not the trash men:

Wreaths, trees and roping; they all have an after-life: roping and wreaths can be used as winter protection for spring bulbs and perennials buried in your garden. And the tree can be recycled as a bird feeder. Just stick it in a snow bank and hang suet blocks and peanut butter filled pinecones on it for your feathered friends. Or just let it be used as shelter from the next storm.

Whatever you do - don't burn any dry green in the fireplace or stove: All pines and firs contain tars, which easily go up in the flames, coating the interior chimney walls, then igniting and causing chimney, and house and roof fires.

You may think that you have just a handful of needles and branches — and you might be tempted to burn them in a fireplace. PLEASE DON'T DO IT! It's much too dangerous. Dry pine gets out of control when burned. Flames quickly flare back into the room — and you and your home won't stand a chance!

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North Shore Gardener by Barbara Barger of Beverly is a regular feature of the Home North section. Reach Barbara by e-mail at nsgardener@comcast.net or write to her c/o Salem News, 32 Dunham Road, Beverly, MA 01915. Her Web site is www.nsgardener.com

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