How to tell if house plants need water?

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Often, one is advised to tap the pots with a tool made by fixing a cotton reel on the end of a 2 feet cane to test the plants water requirements. A dry pot will give a resonant ring and a wet pot a dull thug. This piece of advice, handed down through gardening books, may apply where the experienced gardener is concerned, but the mind boggles at the thought of the average owner of a few indoor plants performing this percussion exercise, and trying to decide whether it should be one or two egg-cupfuls of water.

How to tell if house plants need water?

Better by far to give plants a good watering by filling the space between the rim of the pot and the compost each time the soil takes on a dry, grey-brown appearance.(Do this twice, allowing the first lot to soak in, if the soil is very dry.)Err on the side of dryness by all means, but guard against excessively dry soil; the mixture must never be so dry that the compost is coming away from the side of the pot. Should this happen, subsequent watering will result in water too preventing the root ball from becoming moistened, and this, after all, is the pime object of watering.

A sluggish soil that drains slowly, or not at all, quickly becomes sour. Remedy this by removing the root ball from the pot in order to unblock the drainage holes; it may be necessary to place a few pieces of broken flower pot (crocks) over the drainage holes, and only the presence of worms in the soil would cause the drainage holes to become obstructed.

The majority of house plants seem to enjoy the company of each other, and grow better when they are grouped together. However, the large plant that is well established will happily endure solitude in its individual corner. Wall brackets are not suitable for majority of house plants, except for real toughies, such as ivies, tradescantias,  Philodendron scandens and Rhoicissus rhombiodea. Less hardy plants should be placed where their need can be more readily administered to , and , unless of trailing habit , the majority of smaller plants are really seen to best effect when one looks down on them.

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Plants grouped together on a plant table, or in a plant trough, provide a pleasing focal point in the room, besides affording the plants more agreeable conditions in which to grow. Where possible, plants ought to stand on, or be plunged in, a moisture-retaining material of some kind. Sphagnum moss, moist peat, or even wet newspaper can be used for this purpose. So that watering need can be attended to, care must be rims and no futher. Moist pebbles, or one of the light-weight aggregates such as Lytag, provide an ideal base for standing pots on. Though pebbles must be kept wet to give a moist atmosphere around plants, it will be detrimental if the plant pot is actually allowed to stand in water.