5 signs you have overwatered your plants

Always do research on how/when to water your particular plant. Some species like water once the top 2 inches of soil is dry (such as the Calathea plant) and others such as the Sansevieria and Cactus, like to be left alone for much longer. More hardy plants like their soil to be completely dry before watering again, sometimes this means not watering for up to one month! All our plants come with a care card upon arrival, so make sure you read the species preferred watering requirements before diving in.

Another way to prevent over-watering your plants is to ensure that all pots have drainage holes, this is essential. Drainage holes allow water to flow freely from the bottom of your pot, rather than getting built up in the pot and causing rotting in the roots of your plant. We favour keeping plants their nursery pot and placing this into your chosen decorative pot (without drainage holes). This way, if after watering there is water at the bottom of the decorative pot, you can easily drain the water out. Or even better, remove the nursery pot, place it outside, water and leave it for 10/15 minutes to drain and then popping it back into your decorative pot. You never want your plants roots sitting in water - avoid this at all costs!

Do you want to repot your plant directly into a decorative pot? Not to worry, you can buy decorative pots with built in drainage holes and dishes, just like our Dalston pot. Another option, would be to put some Volcanic Drainage rocks at the bottom of your pot, allowing your roots and soil to sit on top and any access water to sit amongst the rocks.

So you’ve identified that your plant has been over watered.. what to do next? In most cases, you can leave your plants soil to dry out and it will recover after 2-3 weeks. You might have to prune some of the damaged leaves but in the end your plant will make it’s come back!

In other cases, when it’s too severe, we recommend to re-pot your plant and whilst doing so, trim any roots that are damaged (these typically looks brown and feel mushy rather than white and hard).

Going forwards, we always recommend doing your research before you develop a care routine for your plants and listen to signs that they need watering. To catch the signs, follow our top tips:

Touch test, insert a finger into the top two inches of the soil and if dry you can water, if still moist/wet wait a few days and do the test again!

Get used to the weight of your plant. Lifting your plant up, if it’s heavy it’s still retaining water, however when this water has dried out, it’s much lighter!

Using a moisture meter, stick deep into the soil and it’ll tell you how much moisture there is!