How to Deeply Water Houseplants

Today we’re talking about the right way to water your houseplants. I know—it sounds like something so easy that it doesn’t need a tutorial to explain it. But it’s entirely possible you’re watering your houseplants wrong if you’re just getting started.

And that’s because there is a massive difference between overwatering, which is something you’re not supposed to do, and deep watering, which is something I really want you to do! I’ll explain the differences, show some examples, and wrap up with some things to consider adding to your watering routine.

Overwatering vs. deep watering

You’ve probably been warned a million times to avoid overwatering your houseplants. That might make you scared to give them too much water. But it’s not about how much water you give them when you water them. It’s about how often you water them.

If you give your plants a little bit of water every few days, this isn’t ideal. It might even lead to moldy soil and fungus gnats since the top few inches stay consistently moist. And that’s not where the roots are!

The better option is to water your plants deeply. In an ideal situation, I like to do this by carrying my potted plants over to my kitchen sink or even throwing them in my shower. This allows me to completely saturate the soil until water is flowing out of the pots drainage holes.

This is exactly what you want—a thorough, even soak of the soil that allows the plant’s roots to soak up what they need, while all of the excess goes down the drain. You don’t want to let your plants sit in water, which is one of the main reasons why it’s a best practice to always have a drainage hole in your plant’s pot.

Aerating soil

If you go to water your houseplants and notice that the soil in a pot is caking and shrinking away from the inside of the pot, I recommend taking a fork or a chopstick and aerating the soil to break it up a bit. 

If you don’t do this, all of the water will run right down the inside of the pot and out of the drainage holes. It won’t soak the soil because it’s too dry and tightly packed. So you’ll need to loosen things up. Don’t make it a practice of letting the soil get this dry, though. It’s not great for your plants, but it’s also not the end of the world if you’ve let it happen.

Knowing when to water

Now knowing when to water your plants is another story. For common houseplants like pothos, hoya, scindapsus, monstera, and similar plants, I like to let my soil dry out at least halfway before I deeply water again.

That’s why it’s best to check the moisture of your soil before watering instead of sticking to a strict schedule. You don’t need anything fancy for this—I’ve never owned a moisture meter. I usually just use my finger. I’m always covered in dirt, it’s not a big deal.

Rinsing foliage while watering

When you have your watering routine down, here are a few other things you can do to help your plants thrive. When you deep water your plants, take this time to rinse down your plant’s foliage. Lift up the stems and rinse off the bottoms of the leaves. As much of the plant as you can.

This is an excellent pest management best practice. It can help to wash away any pests that might be trying to move in to your plants. And it cleans excess dust off of the foliage, which is way better than using over the counter leaf shine products.

Grouping similar plants together

Another tip is that, while I don’t recommend watering your plants on a strict schedule,  I do like to group my plants that have similar watering needs together. For example, I have my hoya tower in my sunroom. 

All of those plants have similar watering needs, so I can carry them over to the sink together and soak them all at once. Then I lay a towel out on the counter to let everything dry off a bit before I bring them back to their homes.

Tap water vs. everything else

And one thing I have never done and probably will never do…I have never used distilled or filtered water. I use tap water. Now this might be different depending on the composition of your tap water…but we have treated water here, and the plants are fine. So take that for what it’s worth!

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