Simplify Your Houseplant Care with This Easy Tagging System

This simple tagging system takes the guesswork out of houseplant care. Instead of trying to remember what each plant needs, use custom tags to make routine watering and care a breeze.

For more on indoor plant care, also see How Often Should I Water My Houseplants to help your plants thrive.

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Easy Indoor Plant Care System

For all the good things houseplants bring, it can get stressful trying to keep track of their individual needs.

• How much water does this plant like?
• Should I fertilize—and how often?
• Which light conditions are best?

While it would be great to follow a set care schedule where, for example, Tuesday is watering day and every plant gets watered the same way, it just doesn’t work that way.

Every plant is unique and indoor growing conditions change throughout the year. Influences like light, temperature, and humidity levels are always shifting.

Yes, a fixed schedule for checking your plants every few days is highly recommended. But when or if to water or fertilize—or when to change lighting—requires observation and judgement.

To simplify things, I came up with a streamlined tagging system that makes it easy to see at a glance what each plant’s basic needs are. No more fumbling around for information.

It’s also handy to have a system like this in place for vacation plant-sitters in case you ever need someone to water your plants while you’re away.

Easy Houseplant Care Tagging System

I’m sure I’m not the first person to do this and it’s not rocket science (it’s really basic) but, wow, it has really helped me take better care of my plants. No more under- or overwatering which I’m sure you know is so hard on plants.

To come up with this system, I read hundreds (and hundreds) of houseplant care instructions in books, magazines, plant tags, and websites to find common themes and narrow things down.

While I appreciate the varied and sometimes poetic wordings, with each author giving their own flavor, it’s a relief to get things like watering instructions sorted into a few basic groups.

There are always a few amusing or nonsensical ones like “always keep evenly moist but allow to dry out between waterings,” but, thankfully, those are exceptions.

Most fit into the groups listed below which make an at-a-glance tagging system easy to create.

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Steps

1. Buy multi-color plant tags (or white tags and multi-color marking pens).
2. Inventory your plants listing plant names and care instructions, then assign to water and light groups.
3. Prepare tags.

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1Gather Supplies

• Get multi-color plant tags and markers.
• Save the free tip sheet.

Plant Tags & Markers

I opted to use this set of plant tags that comes in assorted colors.

You could also use white tags and colored marking pens.

Look for markers that are permanent and will not wash off. This has tips on which pencils, pens, and markers work on plant tags.

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2Create Plant Inventory List

• Create an inventory list of all of your houseplants and their care instructions.

Use the printable list or create your own.

• Plant name (botanical and/or common name)
• Recommended care instructions. If you have the original plant tag, jot down that information. Otherwise, Google is your friend.
• Assign each plant to a water and light group (see below).

Water Groups

Light Groups

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3Create Your Plant Tags

Choose your tag color according to the water category (yellow, green, blue, pink).

Write the plant name, light code (F=full sun, E-W=east or west, Low=low light, Any=any light) along with any special instructions.

If you keep written records of your plants, it’s handy to assign each plant a unique ID number which you can cross-reference on your tags.

I also use the back of the tag to note repotting dates and any other events like taking cuttings for propagation.

Examples

Yellow Tag | Dry

• Aloe vera, dry conditions (yellow tag), full sun (F)

Green Tag | Moist

• Heartleaf philodendron, moist soil – allow to dry out (green tag), east or west sun (E-W)

Blue Tag | Even Moisture

• Norfolk pine, keep soil moist (blue tag), east or west sun (E-W)

Pink Tag = Special Care

• Showy tiger orchid, water by soaking entire pot in warm water x 30 minutes (pink tag), full sun (F)

There you go!

For priorities, light comes first. Pick a location in your home that best suits the sun requirements for each plant. As sun intensity varies throughout the year you’ll probably need to move your plants closer to or away from your windows accordingly.

With the tag colors, you can see at a glance just what moisture levels each plant likes.

For my plant collection, green and blue are the most common tags. Knowing at a glance which plants should dry out a bit between waterings and those that should not has made all the difference.

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Resources

More Houseplant Tips

• How Often Should I Water My Houseplants?
• Watering Houseplants With Ice Cubes: Pros & Cons
• How To Make Plant Tags (Best Practical & Creative Options)
• Houseplants & Humidity: Tips That Help (& Those That Do Not)

~Melissa the Empress of Dirt ♛