How Often Should I Water My Plants?

How Often Should I Water My Plants?

Ruby Flora is a plant shop that promotes communication and conversation surrounding houseplants and their care. I seek to educate and inspire all the plant lovers who enter through my doors.

Watering Can in front of Cactus

If a question could be cleverly-designed and framed on the wall here at RF, this one would be it! How often should I water my plant? A simple question that honestly doesn't have the simplest answer. In so many words, it depends!

The main thing is how dry the soil is, but that being said, some plants like drier soil than others. Different plants require different watering schedules. Because of this, I always recommend feeling the soil or just getting used to how light your pot feels like when it needs water. Vice versa, you can also gauge on how much the plant needs water by how heavy the pot is too. A heavy-feeling pot means the plant isn't that dry, a super light pot means it's time to water. The difference in weight is very noticeable and that knowledge just comes from owning your new plant for quite some time. 

The top factors that go into how much water a plant needs is the plant's environment, sun exposure, temperature, how well your soil drains, pot size...etc.

Instead of dishing out an exact water schedule, I prefer to educate those individually on what plant they are referring to when asking this question. Overall knowing what the plant is, its background and its likes/dislikes, only then will you know when to water.

For the sake of this blog post to be a bit more educational rather than, just learn your plant's needs, I put together 3 different categories of soil wetness you can follow! Along with the usual plant suspects that go under each category.

Lightly Moist ◇ Likes to Dry Out ◇ Drought Tolerant

LIGHTLY MOIST
nerve plant - fittonia
Some plants thrive in moisture, and for that reason love the soil to stay fairly wet. The plants that usually like their soil to remain slightly moist are as follows:
  • Fittonias (nerve plants)

    • Calatheas

    • Ferns

    • Carnivorous Plants (VFT)

    • Oxalis

    • Maranta

    • Begonias

    • Peace Lily

      LIKES TO DRY OUT
      Philodendron Brasil
      Stick your finger into the soil a couple inches deep, if it's dry but you can feel a bit of moisture on the tip of your finger, then let it dry out further for these plants. 
      • Philodendrons

      • Pilea

      • Pothos

      • Ficus

      • Hoyas

      • Palms

      • Spiders

      • Dieffienbacha

      • Tradescantia

      DROUGHT TOLERANT
      ponytail palm
      You may think of only succulents and cacti when you hear this word but some houseplants I list below could surprise you! These plants can go longer in between waterings because they store water in their bodies, rhizomes and/or leaves to give it moisture when it needs, rather than soaking it up from its roots when watered. 
      • Succulents

      • ZZ

      • Cacti

      • Euphorbias

      • Dracaena

      • Jade Tree

      • String of Pearls

      • Sago Palm

      • Cardboard Palm

      • Aloe

      • Living Stones/Lithops

      Sometimes the way you water can also be a factor in determining how often to water. If you water from the top only, you may feel like the soil stays wet more often because of how the soil dries. If you bottom water, the plant takes a bit more time to fully dry out because the watering is so thorough. In my opinion, bottom watering is by far the best approach to watering, but sometimes compacted soil doesn't fully allow for a proper bottom watering. This is where your soil drainage comes into play. See all the factors?! So many!

      Overall, understanding your individual plant needs when it comes to watering is a huge first step to ensuring your plant is getting the water it requires and when. It's all about merging into a harmonious relationship with them and really reading their signals to fully understand and move forward together.

      Interested in trying a new houseplant? See what's new here!

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      1 comment

      Thank you for the information

      julie kingsley

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