One of the best gardening tips I have learned has to do with watering your plants. There are many tips on how to water your plants, but I have found a few watering tips for plants which I didn’t realize were out there until I read them. Here are a few I found to be rather useful.
Room temperature water reduces the chlorine in the soil. This is important when you are using tap water for houseplants like a large amount of people do. The chlorine in tap water can damage the soil and the root system of your plants. By reducing the amount of chlorine in your water, you can almost eliminate this problem. As water rises in temperature, the chlorine level drops. This is because the chlorine dissipates into the air. Once the chemical is out of the water, what is left behind is healthier for your plants.
Watering bulbs from the bottom allows them time to consume the nutrients and moisture on their own time. This is another watering tip for plants which I wish I had last year. Like most people, I learned to water plants from above. This not only can potentially drown your plant, but also causes root rot and various plant fungus. Place your bulbs in pots with holes in the bottom, with the holes only being about an inch in diameter. Then fill a tray with pea sized pebbles or what people use for the bottom of fish tanks. The tray can be the size of a 8″ pie pan. Then put the pot on top of the pebbles in the tray. Fill the tray with water until it reaches the edge, which won’t be much. Then don’t water your plant again until you see the water is gone. Your plant actually drinks the amount it wants over time and doesn’t drown.
Stale club soda or cooled boiled-egg water contains trace minerals which can be used by plants. This is a watering tip which I never heard of until reading about it in old plant books. I tried it once with the boiled-egg water, and plants actually like it. Since I tend to let things expire like club soda, and love to cook eggs, this has become a great way for me to water my plants and feed them needed minerals at the same time. Using either method you must be sure to allow the liquid to come to room temperature or you will shock the plants.
Covering the soil of indoor plants with a layer of snow helps feed plants with nutrients and more minerals. This is a natural way to help maintain your indoor plants health during the winter months. This watering tip for your plants doesn’t take much effort, in fact all you would really need to do is to scoop up two handfuls of snow as you walk into your house and then place it on the soil of the plant you want to feed. This tip works good for window plants because the snow, when molded around the base of the plant, acts as an insulation against the cold from the window. Odd but true.
Check the soil first to see if it is too wet to water. Here is a big watering tip for your plants survival. If you water your plants when the soil is still damp, you will have water logged roots. Keeping the soil wet does not help the plants, just like allowing it to completely dry out does not help. A good way to check this is to take the tip of any finger and gently poke into the soil. If the dirt gives way easily, or feels wet, you don’t have to water. If the soil feels chalky or gritty, you need to water immediately.
