Watering Houseplants - Indoor plants.
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How to water houseplants is one of the most
asked questions for our advice service. Without knowing the
growing conditions of the particular indoor plant - everyone
places them in different positions in different rooms - it
is an impossible question to answer. However, there are some
guidelines to help which we set out below.
In reality, many people forget about their
houseplants until they see them drooping, from lack of moisture.
Whilst too much water is a certain killer of many plants
indoors, the lack of moisture can also have a detrimental effect
on the health or otherwise of you houseplant. |
When a houseplant dries out indoors, the compost in
the pot invariably shrinks. This is turn, damages the root system so the
whole plant suffers and is more susceptible to ailments such as fungal
diseases and of course damage to the houseplant's foliage.
Conversely, when a houseplant becomes flooded with
over-watering - or is permanently stood in a saucer full of water - the
root system cannot get the air it requires for healthy growth, and the
first signs are a rapid drooping of the plant above. Just like it has
been throttled! Deprived of air!
Watering from Top or Bottom?
In nature, most plants get watered from the bottom -
the soil. Yes, they get rained on from the top, but in the wild, most
plants form a canopy of leaves which shed the water off into the
surrounding soil, and the root system usually travels outward from the
main stem, to capture that water from the soil at the perimeter of the
leaf canopy. (There are exceptions)
This cannot be the case with indoor houseplants, for
whilst the foliage canopy often expands outwards, the roots cannot
follow, for they are constrained be the sides of the pot. Basically, we
cannot replicate the natural root growth with plants grown indoors in
pots.
Some plants should always be watered from the bottom -
via a saucer. Cyclamen are such plants, together with some of the
begonias. The reason for houseplant cyclamen being watered from below,
is that if watering from the top, then water can collect in the crown of
the corm and cause it to rot - usually starting as a rot at the base of
the foliage stems.
Begonia Rex are best watered from the
bottom via a saucer
Exceptions to the general rule on
watering houseplants, are the wide group of plants that have lanceolate
foliage that will normally capture water in the wild and funnel it into
the base area of the plant. The Chlorophytum - spider plant is a typical
example. Also the Elephant's Foot Tree. As you will see from the
photographs, these plants are purposely formed to gather the rain water
in towards the trunk or base of the plant! The foliage on both of these
plants, do not branch out, but are confined to a small area around
a small non-reaching root system. So that is where the plants direct the
rainfall.
Chlorophytum
Elephant's Foot
Bromeliads.
Another group of houseplants needing
different watering habits, are the bromeliads - Urn Plants. This group
of plants often grow in the crotches of tree branches, or in cracks iin
rock faces, so are unable to collect rainwater through a far reaching
root system. They normally collect water in their 'urn' formed by the
crown of leaves. More often than not, they will live quite happily with
just a little drop of water collected in the urns! Again, in indoor
conditions, it would also be wise to keep the pot compost slightly moist
- but certainly not over-moist, or there will be a case of stem base rot
to deal with.
Foliage or Flowering Plants.
As a general rule, flowering house plants
tend to grow quicker than those which are grown for foliage effect. They
will require more water as a result. Foliage houseplants are mostly more
amenable to being neglected as far as watering is concerned. But don't
take them for granted!
Plants with thinner leaves usually need
more watering than the plants with thick fleshy leaves. Those with
thinner leaves usually have much larger leaves that their fleshy leaved
counterparts, so they cannot store so much water in their thinner leaf
structure. Cacti and succulents are the typical example of thick leaved
plants not wanting as much water. To a lesser degree, the same is true
of the fleshy leaver African Violet - Saintpaulia.
So, before asking the question again "
How often should I water my Houseplant?". Study it, and then refer to
the cultural notes on the rest of the houseplant section of
Gardenseeker.com
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