The Best Way To Water Your Houseplants

A common question we receive at our shop is, “What is the best way to water my plants?” Well, today we’ll be showing you how to do just that!

There are plenty of ways to water your plants, but not all ways of watering ensure your plants are properly hydrated. I created this little video to show you how we, at Flowers Talk Tivoli, recommend watering your plants. This is also how I do it in my own home, too!

It’s best to keep your plants in the plastic grower pots that they come in. This allows for great drainage and for the plants to focus on creating wonderful showy foliage for you. Most plants are fine to be kept in the grower’s pots for about a year or two after they are purchased from a reputable flower shop. Most tropical plants prefer to be more root-bound instead of being planted in a really large pot.

STEP #1:

Fill your sink with lukewarm to cool water. About an inch or so of water is fine. Place your plants in the sink, slowly let them sink to the bottom. Sometimes if you just drop your plants in the sink that are very, very dry, they can float on the top and knock off.

Once the plants are sitting on the base of the kitchen sink, gently spray the top of the soil and the foliage of your plants. Make sure to clean and dust off the leaves and soak the top of the plant; this will help with photosynthesis. It’s similar to not washing our faces – we would have clogged pores resulting in unclear skin. Cleaning off the leaves allows the pores of the plant to open up.

STEP #2:

Shake out each of the plants individually to ensure all excess water is gone. It’s fine if there are a couple of drops or two, but you don’t want to place your plants back in their decorative pots when water is pouring out of the bottom of them.

STEP #3:

Place your plants back into their decorative pots, making sure there isn’t any water sitting in the base of the pot. If your decorative pot has holes in the bottom, you can place a plant liner within. We also recommend placing felt pads on the base of the decorative pot to protect your flooring.

By watering this way, you ensure that your plants are soaked through and will result in you having to water less often. Remember, most tropicals prefer really good water as opposed to little bits of water here and there. They like a good soak and then let them dry out.

The smaller the grower pot, the more often that you will need to water. Most 4” tropical plants need to be checked on for watering every 4-7 days, depending on the variety. 6” plants every 6-10 days and 10”-14” plants every 10-14 days.

Exceptions:

Ferns are a different story altogether; they like to be kept moderately moist and don’t like to dry out as much as tropical plants do. Sansevieria, ZZ plants, cacti and succulents are exceptions as well.

Check out our full selection of houseplants and place your order online if you see something you like!