It’s Time to Stop Overwatering Your Houseplants

Overwatering can be an easy mistake when caring for houseplants. We want our plants to

succeed so badly that sometimes we turn in to helicopter parents and do too much. Here are

some tips to help avoid overwatering and ensure your plants live their best lives. Plants need a good balance of water and oxygen to thrive. Overwatering will upset that balance and lead to numerous harmful issues.

Before we talk solutions, let’s talk symptoms:

• Yellow, drooping leaves, or wilting leaves despite the soil being wet. Overwatering prevents the roots from taking in oxygen and nutrients properly causing leaves to prematurely die and drop.

• Mushy or hollow stems are another visible symptom indicating that the plants structures are breaking down due to inadequate oxygen and nutrient absorption.

• Edema - transparent and blistery foliage - can also be caused by lack of oxygen and nutrients, leaving your leaves looking sickly and limp.

• Insects and mold. Gnats, fruit flies, mold, algae and fungal build up are all symptoms of an excess of water.

One major, yet less visible symptom can be a real problem: Root rot. Root rot is usually the real reason all the aforementioned symptoms occur. When roots sit in water too long and struggle to take in oxygen and nutrients they begin to decay, turning slimy and mushy and all around nasty. This often also lends quite the odor.

Saving overwatered plants will be the subject

of another post, but for now let’s focus on how to prevent it in the first place.

1. The first step to properly watering your houseplants actually has nothing to do with water. Choosing the right container and soil can help significantly when it comes to preventing future issues. Pot size matters. Typically, you should choose a pot that is no more than 2” larger than the root ball. If you don’t give a plant enough space and try to cram it into a pot that is too small there won’t be enough soil to retain any moisture and nutrients. However, if you go too big on the pot size you will run into an entirely different set of problems. With too much space you are going to see less growth in the foliage because the plant will want to grow its roots into all that space. All the extra soil in that space will retain too much unused water, which can lead to root rot.

2. Drainage: Pots should have good drainage so that there is no water trapped at the bottom. Make sure your pot has holes in the bottom so that excess water can drip out. It is possible to use pots without drainage holes, though I do not recommend it freely. In the case that you use a pot without holes you must water very carefully, choose plants that do not mind having wet feet and keep a close eye on it. In certain cases it is wise to only upsize 1” or so in order to keep the size of your plant smaller. You only need to restrict growth on plants that can grow into much larger plants, such as trees or really large ferns. For that it is important to prune your plants regularly and trim back the roots when repotting if necessary.

   Drainage holes are critical for success!

3. The next important step is to choose the right soil. Most houseplants prefer a chunky, soil-less medium. I designed the houseplant and succulent soils at Moore & Moore to be chunky so that the roots have the ability to grow more easily, and offer good aeration. This also helps with drainage. Sami’s Soil also has enough moisture-retaining ingredients in it so water doesn’t simply pour through it. Finding that balance is important to your plants health and success.

The biggest misunderstanding about overwatering is that it means you use too much water when watering. Overwatering actually refers to the frequency of watering, not the quantity of water used. It is beneficial to research each type of plant to see what it actually requires, but…

Watering rule of thumb: water your plants when the top few inches are dry.

Don’t be afraid to stick your finger in there to find out! but if you’d rather, you can choose to use a water meter from Moore & Moore to see if your plant needs water. Just be sure to take several readings from different spots of the pot.

To properly water your plants you should fully drench the root ball - yes drench it! Then allow the water to drain through. If you have saucers under your plants you will want to empty those when they become full so that your plant does not sit in water for too long. Sometimes it is easier to water plants in the sink and let them drain there before returning them to their resting places. I tend to do this with my larger pots since it takes more water to fully drench them.

Another helpful tip for when the water seems to drain out too quickly is to water once, let it drain

and then immediately water again. The water should drain more slowly the second time around. If the water just sits on top of the soil and doesn’t seem to seep into it quickly, there is a good chance your soil is compacted. Compacted soil is hydrophobic and quite dense so water will roll down the sides of your pot like on a raincoat. Repotting is the solution to this problem but for a quick, temporary, fix you can take something like a clean chopstick or skewer and poke holes around the top to help water get inside the rootball area.

Compacted soil can still hold too much moisture in the bottom and prevent a thorough watering.

A good, thorough watering will help the roots of your plant get the water and nutrients they

need.I know it is really easy and helpful to say “I water on Saturdays” and then stick to that

schedule, but the reality is that a strict routine may not be the best way to water. If you love a

good schedule, I recommend changing it to “I check all my plants on Saturdays” and then water the ones that need it, and take note of those that are still wet to check at a later time. You may have to check a few times a week for some plants, but the more monitoring, the better!

Overwatering happens most easily if you dump your half finished glass of water on the same

plant everyday. A little water daily isn’t nearly as helpful as a thorough watering when needed. I

too am guilty of tossing a glass when it is convenient, but I try to do a quick check to make sure the plant isn’t too wet already and I also try to switch up which plant gets it. We plant people aren’t perfect, and life gets busy, so don’t beat yourself up for little mistakes here and there. Just try to follow these steps and you are on your way to success!