- Watering your houseplantswatering can and pot image by JJAVA from Fotolia.com
Soil, light and water: these are the essential components for growing healthy house plants. If you have plants, they are probably already potted in soil and located in a bright location in your house. Now you need to determine the best way to water your plants. There are several products available at most garden centers and home improvement stores that will serve your watering needs. - The traditional, and probably most common, product for watering house plants is the watering can. The idea is simple: a vessel holds water and includes a spout and a handle for pouring out the water. Watering cans can be plastic, copper, galvanized steel, brass or even ceramic. Size and shape can vary depending on the intended use. For example, a narrow spout on a small can makes it easy to water small pots whereas bigger cans can have a large nozzle that produces a shower of water for large plants. Some watering cans are more decorative than functional.
- A fairly new product for watering house plants, the self-watering bulb waters plants from the roots up. A simple glass bulb with a long hollow stem is filled with water, then turned upside down (bulb side up, hollow stem pointed down) and pushed into the dirt. The water slowly seeps out and keeps the soil most, providing water for up to four to six weeks depending on the size of the bulb and the water needs of the specific plant.
- An easy way to be sure your house plants get a regular supply of water is to plant them in self-watering pots. These pots employ a reservoir system that lets water slowly seep into the soil. The reservoir needs to be refilled on a regular basis, as infrequently as every 30 days depending on the pot design, but self-watering pots are still a less labor-intensive alternative than watering with a can every few days. Some pots have a built-in reservoir that you water from the bottom, and some have a pot that can be completely removed. Plants with sensitive leaves such as African violets do well in self-watering planters, which are recommended by the African Violet Society of America because they eliminate the possibility of large drops of water falling on the leaves through traditional watering methods.
- To provide humidity and light moisture in between regular waterings, use a mister. A mister is a bottle with a spring-loaded handle that sprays water in a fine mist. You can find misters that are specifically marketed for watering plants, or you can purchase a simple empty spray bottle at your local department store. Make sure the plants you are misting will not be damaged by getting water directly on their leaves.
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