when I talked about watering house
plants and the proper way to do that
plants are going to need water as part
of their natural growth and life cycle
but not all plants are going to need the
same amount of watering most of them
need to be watered so that the soil is
allowed to dry out slightly in between
waterings but for most of the time it's
going to be kept more on the moist side
some exceptions to that are going to be
cacti succulents which because of their
very nature don't need a lot of extra
water and so they're not going to need
to be watered quite as often or plants
such as orchids which are also watered
quite infrequently not nearly as much as
most tropical plants would be in the
home couple of ways to figure out when
the plants are going to need to be
watered number one feel the weight of
the pot as the soil dries out on that
plant that pot becomes much lighter
another sure way to figure that out is
to just feel the top of the soil and you
can usually feel if it's going to be dry
and that would be another indicator that
the plants need some moisture you want
to avoid overwatering or doing it on a
regular schedule because the plants are
going to need need water at different
amounts and different rates depending
upon the size of the plant what kind of
pot it is in whether it's Clay or
plastic or how big that pot is that
moisture is going to evaporate or be
used at different rates a couple of ways
going about watering would be to water
from the top of the container it's
always a good idea to have room
temperature water and you want to water
thoroughly until the water begins to
drain out through those drainage holes
it can sit in there for just a little
bit but after about 1 hour unless all of
that water has been reabsorbed back into
that root ball you want to be sure that
you drain off that excess so that that
pot doesn't sit in that water which is
going to cause the the soil ball to be
too wet and the roots are going to rot
another alternative would be to Simply
take that pot and set it into a sink or
set it into a bucket of water for uh
about an hour or two and let that water
go up by capillary action again after
about that 2hour period drain off that
excess so that that pot doesn't sit in
that water for the catin the succulents
what's often used as a watering regime
is about every two weeks during the
growing season that's when they're
actively growing fall through winter
when they are dorment you want to avoid
overwatering them at all you just need
to give them a sparing amount when we
get to plants like orchids they also
don't need a lot of extra water if you
think about where orchids grow they are
usually up in tree so they get a little
bit of rainfall and so the rule of thumb
for orchids is to water about three ice
cubes a week now you don't have to
literally put the ice cubes on the top
of the bark mixture but about that
amount I mentioned the watering very
thoroughly through the soil ball rather
than just a little bit now our water
contains various salts and if you don't
flush out those salts what often happens
is that you'll get a white crust that
develops on the outside particularly
clay pots now that crust is because of
those salts that are in our water but
also within fertilizers so you want to
make sure that you always flush that
soil out completely when you water
speaking of fertilizing house plans
don't have to be fertilized but it's a
good idea to give them a little bit of
nutrition about every two weeks during
the growing season and it's a good idea
to use a soluble house plant fertilizer
you would put that in your water and
then use it to water your house plant as
you normally would one other tip before
I finish here is that if you have plants
that are decorative containers that
doesn't have any drainage holes in it
you always want to be sure that you take
it out of there to water rather then
just watering while it is inside that
container because what happens is that
water will build up inside that
decorative pot and once that plant sits
in water those roots continue to rot and
the plant's not going to thrive so
always take it out of that decorative
container and either water it from the
top or move it to a sink or to a
bucket
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