Ruthless gardening: Watering houseplants

[untonuggan]

As promised, my hack for watering houseplants.

But first, because I'm wordy and trying to get my campnano word count up a quick examination of why watering houseplants the "right amount" is hard and also important.

If you are watering a plant that is in soil, if there is Too Much water, the water just goes elsewhere. There is also more water to tap into (hopefully) in the soil, although honestly the biggest problem er...yard gardeners run into watering-wise is not watering things *enough*.

For houseplants, it's usually the opposite -- watering plants *too much*. There's not a place for extra water to go if you put too much in there, and if your plant isn't doing well peoples' impulse is often "Oh no, it needs more water!" (The other thing, forgetting to water a plant, can be remedied by having cacti which "thrive on neglect" which is one of many disturbing gardening phrases.)

What happens to a plant's root system when there is Too Much Water? Assuming the plant doesn't lurv "wet feet," several things can happen: it can get Root Rot or another disease, which can kill your plant. Plants also get oxygen through their roots:

The roots of a plant also need oxygen which they obtain from the air spaces in the soil. If you give too much water to a plant in a pot you could kill the roots by drowning them! Plants, such as rice, which normally grow in wet soil often have air spaces in their roots. This is so that they can carry air from the atmosphere down to the root tips to be able to respire under water.
[citation]

Sometimes it can feel overwhelming how much there is to know about plants. How can you possibly grow a happy houseplant when you never thought about fertilizers before! Or organic ones versus non-organic! Or what season is appropriate to fertilize your particular plant so you don't overstress it when it's supposed to be resting???

Please relax. Seriously. It's okay to make mistakes! Mistakes will happen. That is how learning happens.

So, here is my "it's probably the easiest way to not overwater a plant that I've found" method. Please share your own method if you've found a good one!

1. Check to see that your plant needs to be watered. They sell doohickeys for this --especially useful if you have soil texture issues -- but I stick my finger in to about the first knuckle and see how wet the soil is. If you have a cactus, wait for the soil to be SUPER dry. Check your individual plant species for more specific info, or if you don't know the species, see what "tropicals" or "succulents" like.


2. If your plant needs to be watered, fill a sink or bucket or tub with water


3. Put your plant in the tub (without watever saucer you have underneath it


4. Let the plant water itself using the magic of osmosis! Leave it there for up to 30 minutes. Use trial and error to see how your plant does


5. Let the bottom of the planter drain out excess water (and, yes, some soil) before you put it back where it lives. If it drains out a LOT of water, leave it for less time next time you water it.


6. profit Happy plants!

In general, don't water houseplants til their soil gets "soggy" (like after a huge rainstorm). Soggy: if you press the soil and it goes "squish", it is TOO wet. Aim for "moist": the soil is a darker color, and it feels wet when you put your finger in, but there's still air and space in the soil. It still...crumbles? When you touch the soil, if that makes sense. (This will obviously also vary depending on the soil you use.) I...it's like baking, it's hard to describe?

Very vague general guide to how often I water types of plants. YMMV depending on how dry/humid your house is, how much sun your plant is in, what type of pot you're using, what soil you're using, etc. There, you just learned what a microclimate is! (and why two plants can be next to each other and one can be bigger/happier.) I mean, unless you already knew. Either way, you're a rockstar.

Houseplant watering vague guide by type of houseplant:

Tropicals: roughly once a week, soil should not be moist or soggy but also not bone dry
Ferns: roughly once a week, soil should not be moist or soggy but also not bone dry
Orchids: let me know when you figure it out. I usually do weekly or biweekly. Mine have rebloomed *once*
African violets: roughly once a week, since soil is different it can be harder to stick your finger in. I usually go by shade of the soil? If you are using african violet soil and it's gone to sort of a parchment color, it's too dry.
Succulents (cacti and other types): every 2-3 weeks, when they're bone dry. water a LOT -- like a desert just had a big rainstorm -- then leave them alone.
Bonsai: why are you here, if you're up to bonsai you know more than me :P

And to be perfectly honest, you are probably going to kill at least one houseplant through a watering issue. I have done so. I have also raised perfectly happy houseplants. It is okay. Seriously.

Comments

[alexseanchai]

Thank you!

[untonuggan]

You're welcome! Hope it helps and is not overwhelming. :)

[redsixwing]

Very nice.

I use a variant of this method. Each houseplant's pot has a corresponding dish. I fill the dish once a week. Heavy water users get it twice a week (looking at you, crotons.)

I'd love to learn about bonsai. <3 Not there yet either.

[untonuggan]

I've use that method with African violets so I don't get the leaves wet! (They haaate that.)

Now that I'm a bit clutzier with the fibro fog though I sometimes spill water in the dish -- and everywhere else -- if I do it that way, so I use the sink. But yes, if people have trouble moving plants or whatnot, using the dish is a totally acceptable alternative.

(Though if you have water sitting in the dish for a few hours, you put too much water.)

Same with the bonsai. The constant root trimming freaks me out a bit.

[redsixwing]

Oh yup. The sink is a really great way to avoid spills.

>>(Though if you have water sitting in the dish for a few hours, you put too much water.)

True. Generally, mine drink the water up within the first 10-20 minutes.

>>Same with the bonsai. The constant root trimming freaks me out a bit.

Yeah, for sure.
I worried about the health of the plants, until I was lucky enough to catch a bonsai exhibition right as the sun was coming up through the window. They had a lot of small beautiful trees, and as the light came in, they exhaled the way houseplants do, and the whole room smelled so sweet.

[the_rck]

We only have one houseplant at this point, a Christmas cactus. We've had that for at least six year, so I figure I must be doing okay. I give it about 2/3 of a cup of water once a week, on Thursdays, and that seems to do well for it. At any rate, it's still blooming a couple of times a year. I've occasionally missed weeks due to health problems (watering a plant when one's not supposed to walk is challenging), and it seems to be okay with two weeks between waterings, at least occasionally. Longer than that and the segments get flabby which I think they're not supposed to.

The soil in the pot has always been so hard that, even right after watering, I couldn't stick a finger in. I worry that it needs repotting, and that will require help from someone else because I don't think I could lift the plant and move in the ways that are required to get a plant out of a pot. Also, we have a very small space where a plant can get light. If the pot's too big, the plant will have to go somewhere else and rely on artificial light.

Outdoor stuff tends to have to be able to survive with just what falls from the sky. I'm only sporadically able to water things, at the best of times, and Scott isn't willing to do it at all. Of course, I wasn't actually able to plant anything last year, and I don't really think I'll be able to this year, either. Sage is pretty forgiving, and so is winter savory. Coleus will survive but not thrive. Maybe I should just plant all three raised beds with lemon balm. That's unkillable.

[untonuggan]

My mom was out of town in the drought-iest part of the year and no one screwed the sprinklers into the hoses, so I did not do much watering when she was gone either. Fortunately it rained a couple things so not too many things died, but yeah, I hear you there.

There are some plants that are drought resistant which are getting more attention from agriculture departments with climate change issues.

Ahahhahha with the lemon balm. Though the one issue is that if you ever want to kill it and put something else there, it will be a pain in the ass. But yeah <3 Your local extension office might have some ideas?

If you're repotting your plant, maybe you want to try a lighter container next time? I've seen these decorative recyclabe plastic ones at garden centers and they look nice and sturdy and lightweight. You can punch out the existing hole in the bottom, or have a nursery pot inside the planter and use it as your saucer. (not my favorite method) Just a thought ^_^

Good job with the Christmas cactus by the way -- I've never gotten the hang of them. :)

[the_rck]

I think, with certain types of succulents, the key is to figure out how firm the bits ought to be. It wouldn't work with, say, a barrel cactus, but something like an aloe plant or a jade plant or one of those segmented cacti generally feels different to touch when it has enough water and when it doesn't.

More later.

[the_rck]

Picking plants for the raised beds is hard. They only get a few hours of sun a day because they're on the west side of the house and because there's a huge maple tree that shades them when the sun gets past a certain point heading west. I'm not interested in flowers unless they're both unscented and likely to bloom all summer.

Mostly, I go for herbs. A lot of those do okay there even though they're supposed to need full sun. Lemon verbena and pineapple sage do well if I water them frequently enough but don't overwinter. Regular sage thrives (and overwinters which most things don't). Thyme does not prosper. It'll hold on for a year or two and then vanish completely. Rosemary doesn't outright thrive, but it doesn't die until after the first couple of hard frosts or look like it's about to. Dill... Well, it's not very robust to begin with. I keep planting it because Cordelia loves to eat it fresh (so, apparently, do the neighborhood cats. I have no idea).

I planted rue at one point because it has insect repelling qualities. It was effective in that direction, but it seeded like crazy, and it turns out to be something that can raise blisters when it comes into contact with human skin. It doesn't always, but the blisters are really, really unpleasant when they do happen. We started pulling out the rue four or five years ago, and we still get an occasional new plant.

Scott likes some color in the raised beds, so I've started getting coleus. I think those need more sun and water than they get, but they don't die or wilt. They just don't grow bigger or spread out.

Lemon balm is a mint, if I'm recalling correctly, so yeah, getting rid of it, ever, would be... challenging.

[dingsi]

This is very helpful and I am going to link to it*, if you're ok with that?


* eventually. I will do it eventually.

[untonuggan]

yes! thanks for checking.

(though I assume you mean dw linking? please don't send, like, facebook people here.)

[dingsi]

(yes, absolutely only DW-linkage, no worries. I do the occasional linkspam in my journal.)

[worlds_of_smoke]

(and why two plants can be next to each other and one can be bigger/happier.)

I should totally post a picture of my Chocolate Soldier kalenchoes. They're in the same pot and drastically different. One is basically a stem with a couple leaves, and the other one is shooting out all over the place. It's rather ridiculous. XD

[untonuggan]

oo, yes! microclimate plant things are so interesting/amazing.

[tyger]

We have a potted fern, and it seems to do best when it doesn't get watered in the, you know, traditional sort of way, but gets sprayed a couple of times a day. :) Since it's in the bathroom it's super easy to just pick up the spray bottle and spray it when brushing teeth or whatever - when it was out in the hallway it didn't. Really. Do so good.

/anecdata!

[untonuggan]

Yes! Some plants are into the humid thing. I am terrible at changing water in spray bottles. This is probably why I was not good at raising carnivorous plants.

[tyger]

Well, it's pretty easy when both the plant and the spray bottle are on the sink, not gonna lie...

[geeksdoitbetter]

"It still...crumbles?"

that's an awesome description!

i'd always thought squish like a rainstorm was the goal

[untonuggan]

yay I'm glad it helped!

and yeah the "squish like a rainstorm" is fine when there's a lot of other soil for the water to drain into, but in a pot it messes with oxygen and suchlike (as described above).

it really is kind of hard to do gardening without some sort of baker-person to tell you what "bread dough" looks like.