6 easy steps to bring outdoor plants indoors in fall

And how to stop cabbage worms in their tracks

The babies are ready to come home. (Jessica Damiano)

Hi, guys!

It’s time to get houseplants ready to come home from their summer vacations. If yours have been outdoors, like mine, which have been soaking up the summer sun since June, you should do this gradually.

Abruptly bringing plants indoors could undermine the benefits they reaped from being outdoors in the first place, and it’s no fun tending a stressed plant.

1. It’s also no fun dealing with an indoor infestation, so give plants a good rinse with a gentle stream of hose water.

2. After they’ve dried, spray them with your choice of Neem oil or insecticidal soap, being careful to soak all plant parts, including under leaves, to kill any would-be hitchhiking insects that may have made themselves at home over the summer. Don’t be shy — spray until the product drips off the plant.