How often to water these plants?

[JeffersLos]

 

We bought some indoor plants, but will buy a lot more soon.

 

How much water should we give them?

And how often?

 

200ml every 3 days, 100ml once a week, 500ml twice a week? for example.

 

And temperature wise, are they suited to air-con rooms (living room) where the temp will sit at 24 degrees for a few hours a day, then return to 30-40 degrees or whatever the temp without aircon is, and have this temperature swing everyday? Or keep them away from air-con areas (kitchen/bathroom/stair's landing etc.

 

TIA.

[northsouthdevide]

Don't know how many ml. You need to water them, but as long as you don't let the soil go dry they'll be OK. 

I don't recognise the plant with lemon type leaves, but I have a lot of the fern in my border. They like shade and water, and grow really long roots... 

They spread fast. 

I would suggest it needs a bigger pot already.  The bigger the pot, the bigger the plant. 

If you put that fern on top of a tray of water, it will drink it from the roots. 

[JeffersLos]

16 hours ago, northsouthdevide said:

Don't know how many ml. You need to water them, but as long as you don't let the soil go dry they'll be OK. 

 

Okay, great thanks. I'll follow that advice. 

[baansgr]

If you talked to your plants as plant lovers do, they will tell you.

[AlexRich]

I inherited a couple of plants and have managed to keep them flourishing ... I water them as the soil dries, just as stated above, and give them plenty of sunlight. Don’t make the mistake of drowning them.

[JeffersLos]

1 hour ago, AlexRich said:

and give them plenty of sunlight

These are indoor plants, and specified to keep out of direct sunlight. 

 

 

I shall follow the advice of just keeping the soil from drying out. Which will likely mean a small amount of water (100-200ml) each day or 2.

 

Thanks. 

[drtreelove]

On 6/24/2020 at 12:38 AM, baansgr said:

If you talked to your plants as plant lovers do, they will tell you.

Until this intuitive capacity is developed, there can be a language barrier.

Best to use multiple senses, or take the guess work out and use a soil moisture meter:

 

touch: finger probe, handful of soil compressed to assess if its muddy wet or dry or in between.  

sight: soil surface drying and cracking, leaves wilting and turning light green, greyish or bluish

smell: sweet healthy soil smell, or sour smell from overwatering and decay

 

With a saucer under the pot, as in the plant on the right in the photo, you can watch the water level in the saucer and not water until the saucer dries. With an outer pot, as with the fern on the left, it is more difficult to see this and more dangerous for letting it set in a bowl of water. 

 

Not all soil is created equal, most pots and potting substrate don't have real clayey mineral soil,  but a sandy or organic or inert porous medium that water runs right through without being retained much at all. So there is no universal recommendation of how much to water. Not letting it dry out is not perfect advise in my opinion, but using the soil moisture meter standard, I recommend watering thoroughly and then letting it dry out to where the meter goes into the lower moist range, not completely into the dry range. Then water until it shows wet, then let it partially dry again. Keeping the soil muddy wet can cause hypoxia and extremes leading to root rot. Letting it dry completely can cause wilting, stress, die-back and mortality.

 

Watering too frequently causes leaching of nutrients and need for excessive fertilization. 

 

https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/garden-how-to/soil-fertilizers/testing-moisture-in-plants.htm

 

https://www.domyown.com/luster-leaf-rapitest-mini-moisture-tester-1810-p-7732.html

 

 

Edited June 26, 2020 by drtreelove

[jak2002003]

Dont need to measure the water like a science experiment. 

 

Put water then till water runs out of the plant pot into the saucer. Wait a few minutes till the soil absorbs the water, then tip away the left over water in the saucer.

 

Only add more water when the soil is nearly dry. 

 

Plants will die easily from over watering as their roots will rot.

 

If they dry out and wilt they usually recover after their next watering so long as it's not been weeks since the last watering.

 

I would never leave the plants standing in water...that is too much and the soil will be waterlogged. 

 

The plants will also benefit from misting with a water sprayer... And occasional feed..no more than once a month. You only need to report them if the roots are coming out the drainage holes. 

 

Your kind of plants will suffer if they get direct sunlight.. they are shade plants. They can cope with low light levels. 

 

Enjoy them. ????