Find out what to do if you overwatered a large floor plant and the saucer is too full of water. It’s important to not let the plant sit in trays of water for more than 2-3 hours. Sitting for an extended period of time in a wet tray will often lead to root rot in your houseplant.
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Hello, and welcome to HealthyHouseplants.com, where we teach you all about gardening and the great indoors. If you’d like to support our show, please use our Amazon affiliate link below. Today, I’m going to show you a quick and easy way to get water out of plant dishes if you’ve overwatered.
Now, today I’m using a small little plant, so obviously I could just take this to the sink and empty it. You can see here that we have too much excess water down here, and the plant’s roots are sitting in it. I’m using this little guy so you can get a good show, see what I’m doing here, but usually, this is a problem with really big, tall floor plants that are very heavy.
Right, so what do you do if you fill the dish up too much when you water? The dish fills up too much, and then you’ve got the roots sitting in soil. You don’t want it to sit there. You can let it sit there for like two, three, or four hours, but if the plant doesn’t re-suck up all that water, you definitely want to get that water out of the plant dish, because that’s one of the quickest ways for root rot to set into a plant.
Okay, so I’m showing you on this little guy so you can get a good idea, but the quick and easy way to do that is with a turkey baster. All you have to do is use it to remove the water from the dish itself. As you can see, fill this up, and you want to get something to put the water in. The more you suck it up—I didn’t put a lot of water in here, but you’ll get the idea—fairly quickly, you can get most of the water out of there.
Another thing I’ll do sometimes if there’s still a little bit more water left in there that I can’t quite get with the turkey baster, I’ll use some old rags to soak it up. You’d be surprised with those big dishes just how much water is in there. When you get a container to put that excess water in, get something fairly big because you’re going to find yourself slurping up bunches of water, which will show you how good it is that you’re doing that with the turkey baster. You definitely don’t want the plant to be sitting in that kind of water.
So, this, like I said, is the easiest, fastest way I’ve found. Pretty expedient—you can move this plant around, but a lot of times with the big plants, you really can’t move them much. Maybe you can tip up the plant a little bit and squeeze to get underneath. You’ll see I’m getting a lot of water out that way too.
Okay, so that is a little quick tip for you on how to make sure that your big floor plants aren’t sitting in trays of water for extended periods and getting root rot. Thank you for stopping by today! Please leave any comments about any indoor gardening tutorials you’d like to see. Remember to like, comment, subscribe, and share this video. And please check the bell if you’d like to be notified when new videos are released.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a quick and easy way to remove excess water from plant dishes?
You can use a turkey baster to easily remove excess water from plant dishes. Simply squeeze the baster to suck up the water and transfer it to a separate container.
Why is it important to remove excess water from plant dishes?
Excess water can cause plant roots to sit in water, which leads to root rot. Removing the water helps prevent root rot and keeps the plant healthy.
How long can you leave water in the plant dish before removing it?
You can leave the water in the plant dish for two to four hours. If the plant doesn’t absorb it by then, it’s best to remove the water to prevent root rot.
What other tools can I use if some water remains after using the turkey baster?
If a small amount of water remains after using the baster, you can use old rags to soak up the rest. This helps ensure no excess water sits in the dish.
Is it okay to move the plant while removing excess water?
It’s okay to move small plants while removing excess water, but larger plants are often heavy and hard to move. In such cases, using the baster is the best option.
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