When to Water Your Houseplants

One of the most confusing aspects of indoor gardening is knowing when to water your houseplants. Sometimes it feels like you need a special degree to figure out when to water. The decision is even more difficult if you know that the number one cause of houseplant death is incorrect watering!

This article covers five different ways to check your houseplants to see if they’re reading for watering. Use one of these test and you can determine if it’s time to irrigate your indoor garden. When in doubt, you can use two or even three tests to figure things out.

Test houseplant soil with your finger

With the finger test you always have your tester handy. (Yes, pun intended!) Simply stick yourfinger into the soil an inch to an inch-and-half deep. If it’s wet in there, don’t water. If it’s dry, it’s time to water.

I like to use the finger test on plants in medium-sized containers. It’s not a good idea to stick your finger into a small pot, because that disrupts roots. And big pots need something longer than your finger. You want to check what’s going on down 4 to 6 inches in such pots.

Test houseplant soil with a wooden skewer

I really like this test, because I tend to drop moisture meters, and they break really easily. A wooden skewer, on the other hand, is pretty hard to break.

Insert the wooden skewer into the soil. Stick it in 1 to 2 inches deep for small and medium-sized pots and 5 to 6 inches deep in large containers.

Slowly remove the skewer and examine it. If there is no soil sticking to the skewer or it has a little bit of dry soil that means that things are dry down there and it’s time to water. However, if the skewer comes out coated in wet soil that means it’s not time to water.

If you discover for a large plant that the soil is dry up top but not below, water when more than two-thirds of the soil is dry. If more than two-thirds of the soil is wet, refrain from watering.

Test houseplants with a moisture meter

A moisture meter gives you a scientific answer as to when to water. Such instruments employ the use of electrical currents to determine the moisture content of a houseplant’s soil. You simply insert the pronged end of the meter into soil and see what it registers at in terms of moisture.

At times, moisture meters can read inaccurately. This occurs if the soil is high in salts. Salinity in the soil can be deadly for a houseplant, so if you get consistently different readings, repot the plant in fresh soil and retest.

The pick-up test to determine when to water your houseplants

If you pick up your houseplant and it practically hits the ceiling, it’s time to water! When you do water, note the weight of the houseplant so that you’ll know in the future when to water after picking up the pot.

The eye test

Pay very close attention to your plants and you will soon note when they are flagging. This refers to when the plants are about 12 to 24 hours from wilting. At this point, the leaves will have a dull look to them. You will also feel as if something is wrong but may not be able to put your finger on it until you do one of the other tests and discover that the soil is dry. When you pass by a houseplant and something tells you that things aren’t quite right, pay attention. It
could be that the plant is crying out for a good drink!