How Often Should You Water Houseplants?

Use these tips to create the right watering routine for your indoor plants. How often they need water will vary by type of plant, size, season, and more.

If you are going away, this has tips for keeping your plants happy while you’re on vacation.

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Watering Indoor Plants

How often should I water my plants?

Answer: As often as they need it.

It’s a cheeky answer but it’s also the right one.

I started out thinking a routine such as watering houseplants once or twice a week would be right for my varied collection of plants.

But, I gradually learned over time from some of my favorite houseplant experts including Lisa Eldred Steinkopf (The Houseplant Guru) that it’s not as simple as that.

Each plant is an individual with different needs. And they go through cycles throughout the seasons, just like outdoor plants do in summer and winter. This could be flowering, fruiting, producing seeds, or months of rest in the darker months.

During some cycles, the plants are thirstier, either due to growth or drier indoor conditions, and sometimes they can go long stretches while the potting mix remains adequately moist.

Yes, absolutely, have a routine for checking on your plants—I find every three days (maximum) works nicely—but do not assume water is needed each time. My simple tagging system (described below) will help with that.

Once you get an eye for it (or finger tip, as you’ll see), it does really become routine.

The section on Frequently Asked Questions addresses questions on tap water, chlorine, chloramine, and softened water.

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Contents

• Create the Right Routine for Your Plants
• General Houseplant Health Tips
• How & When to Water Houseplants
  • Routine Example
• Frequently Asked Questions
• Summary
• Resources

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Create the Right Routine For Your Plants

While it would be handy if our houseplants could follow a predictable routine and need watering on Tuesdays and Saturdays, nature doesn’t work like that.

Even within our homes, plants are both influenced by the seasons and undergo their own life cycles.

I’ve also found that plant behavior can vary between two seemingly identical plants—perhaps that’s different genes at work.

In other words, each plant is an individual and just like your children or pets, each will have its own unique personality and benefit from individual care.

It sounds daunting at first, but once you dive in, much of it becomes intuitive. And, unlike a fixed routine that ignores plant needs, you will soon dial-in to a system that really works.

General Houseplant Health Tips

Before we get to the watering tips, it’s good to know what follow basic tips for healthy houseplants.

Start With Healthy Plants

If you see anything worrisome, don’t buy it.

Examine every inch of a plant before buying, and, if there is any sign of insects, struggle, disease, mold, or anything else suspicious—on the plant or in the store—do not bring them home. Not only might they fail, but they could infect your other plants along the way. There’s always a chance something is lurking that you won’t see, but a good visual inspection helps.

Quarantine New Plants

When you bring a new plant home, keep it quarantined.

It’s ideal if you can keep new plants isolated for a few weeks before integrating them with your other plants. This allows time to learn if there are any bugs or diseases present and deal with them.

Know What You’re Growing

Tropical houseplants usually have some sort of instruction tag noting the basic light and water needs. But how can you know if they are trustworthy?

I save all my plant tags but also check the information against other trusted sources.

When I’m confident I have the right tips, I create a care tag (more on this below) and situate the plant where the lighting is best for its needs.

Fall in Love

Fall in love with your plants. Yes, there is an affair to be had. There’s a lot of noise online these days featuring super low-maintenance plants that tolerate variable conditions and neglect, and to me, you might as well buy plastic ones if that’s all you want.

Indoor gardening, just like outdoor gardening, is an opportunity to dive into an entire world of incredible plants, their life cycles, and all the magic and mystery of things that grow.

While I do prefer outdoor gardening, those same endorphins seem to run through my core when I tend to plants indoors as well.

Never underestimate the joy of a rare bloom on a tropical plant or a brilliant, flowering amaryllis on a dark, miserable February day.

I know this will sound like an exaggeration, particularly if you are envisioning a couple of flower pots on a windowsill, but trust me, the more you indulge in plant care, the more intriguing and enjoyable it becomes.

Pay Attention

I try to check—or, really, say hello to, my plants every day and never go more than three days. It’s really the only way to become aware of how they are growing, how healthy they are, and what they like.

If you have to be away for a week or two, this has tips for keeping your houseplants happy while you’re away.

By checking on your plants every day or so, you will start to notice all sorts of things. Along with new shoots, leaves, buds, and flowers, you’ll start noticing how your plants change throughout their cycles and the seasons.

The daily checks—or every few days—are also the time to rotate the containers to prevent serious leaning toward the window or other light source.

How & When To Water Houseplants

Routine Example

Frequency

If possible, check on your plants daily—with a watering can on hand—and never go more than three days without checking on them.

There is no such thing as a fixed watering routing but by checking on them regularly and using the tag system (below), it’s much easier to know what to water when.

Tag Plants by Needs

This explains my houseplant tagging system in full detail.

I use plastic plant tags that come in various colors to color code each plant by its water preferences.

1. YELLOW | Plants that like fairly dry conditions. This includes my various succulents, cacti, and Aloe vera.
2. GREEN | Plants that need soil (potting mix) to dry out between waterings. Examples include my indoor tomato plants, heartleaf philodendron, some herbs, and flowering bulbs.
3. BLUE | Plants that like even, consistent moisture, but not too much. African violets are a perfect example of this. When they have even moisture, they bloom a nice long time. Norfolk pine is another plant that likes even moisture.
4. PINK | Plants with special needs. Orchids are a good example. We’ve found the best way to water orchids is by submerging the entire pot in warm water for 30 minutes instead of using a watering can.

If you want to organize your plants this way, see the tagging system for easy houseplant care.

Test for Moisture

You can get a much more accurate measure of soil moisture by checking at root level.

Fingertip Method

If there is room in the pot, the fingertip method for detecting soil moisture is easy and reliable. Press the tip of your finger about an inch deep into the soil to feel how dry the soil is. Easy.

If there isn’t room or you can’t do it without damaging the plant, use a moisture meter instead.

Using a Moisture Meter

Moisture meters work nicely, don’t cost much, and do not require batteries.

I ignore any secondary features the meter may include and just use the probe to instantly know how moist the soil is.

• Insert the probe in the soil at root level. The dial indicates the moisture level on a scale from 1 to 10.

Whether I water the plant depends on the plant group (1,2,3, 4) and how recently it was watered.

For example, if it’s one of the plant types (group 1: yellow tag) like succulents that prefer a dry spell between watering, and I know I watered recently, even though the soil is somewhat dry, I will wait.

If the soil is getting dry and it’s an African violet (group 3: blue tag), I will water because these guys like even moisture.

After Watering

I mentioned that it’s important that your plant pots have adequate drainage holes.

After watering, the water should gradually moisten all of the potting mix and any surplus will accumulate in the saucer below—you do have saucers, right?

After 30 minutes, empty the saucer so the plant does not get waterlogged.

Dormant Periods

Some plants take rest periods, either because they have just flowered or fruited, or because it’s winter and light has decreased.

Growth will slow down and so does the need for water.

Check Ups

During my plant checks, along with observing changes in the plants and rotating the pots, I’m also watching for any signs of trouble, including insects, wilt, spots, fungus, or signs of over- or under-watering.

Often, we don’t actually know what we’re seeing, but we know trouble is brewing. That’s when the internet or a good houseplant reference book is your friend.

The part I like best, which also leads to more intuitive care, is the gradual awareness of the changes that plants undergo. This may be new growth, shoots, flowers, or fruits.

I also make note of any plants that may need larger pots, pruning, washing, relocating, or dividing.

As time goes on, I realize I’m becoming more tuned into the life of the plants.

Water Slowly and Deeply

I like a slender, long-necked watering can with a small spout so I can aim the water exactly where I want it: on the soil, below the bottom foliage.

The goal is to water the entire root area which may require rotating the pot as you pour the water.

Depending on the setup, it can also make sense to water from below, filling a saucer or tray with water and setting your pots in them for a period of time while the roots take up the moisture.

While misting is commonly recommended, it’s not an adequate source of water.

To prevent temperature shock, I fill my watering cans at the end of each watering session in preparation for next time which allows it to reach room temperature before use.

It’s also helpful to know that a chlorine or chloramine level in your tap water of 5 ppm or lower is considered fine for directly watering soil. Avoid softened water if you can because the salt can accumulate in the potting mix.

Advice varies, but I follow those who say to water deeply when you do water. Make sure the roots get a nice, deep drink. Water should come out the drainage holes onto the drip dish below. Remove the excess after 15-30 minutes.

Frequently Asked Questions

Listen

These episodes of our podcast explore the topic of using tap water for houseplants in greater depth.

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Summary

• Check on your plants daily if you can, and never go longer than three days.
• If and when to water depends on the individual plant: use the tagging system to simplify it.
• A moisture meter is very helpful for checking how dry the soil actually is.
• When you do need to water, water deeply, removing surplus from the saucer after 30 minutes.
• Ultimately, it’s awareness of your plants that will not only make you a better houseplant mama, but it also opens up a whole world of houseplant nerdom. And it’s a very nice world indeed.

If you’re going away on a trip, these vacation watering tips will help keep your plants happy while you’re gone.

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Resources

More Houseplant Tips

• Houseplants & Humidity: Tips That Help (& Those That Do Not)
• How To Keep Houseplants Watered While On Vacation
• How To Deal With Fungus Gnats On Houseplants (What Works)
• How to Bring Plants Inside: Timing & Debugging Tips)

Books

~Melissa the Empress of Dirt ♛