I finally hit 200 houseplants and it changed how I water them

I got number 200 last month when I picked up a satin pothos at a local nursery. I never thought I would own that many plants, but here I am. The real surprise was realizing I was spending over an hour a day just checking soil moisture. I started using a wooden skewer to test deep into the pots, and it cut my watering time in half. Before that, I was just guessing and overwatering half my collection. Now I only water when the skewer comes out dry at the two inch mark. Has anyone else hit a big number and had to change their whole routine to keep up?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_morgan3d ago

200 plants is a lot but a skewer test at two inches is for small pots.

sandra6933d ago

Wait, are you suggesting the two inch test only works for small pots? I have to disagree with that one. The skewer test works the same no matter what size the pot is, you just have to adjust the depth based on the pot size. For a big pot, I actually go deeper than two inches, like four or five inches for my big monsters and rubber trees. The whole point is getting past the dry surface soil and checking where the roots actually are. If your pot is deep, then yeah you need to test deeper, but the method itself is solid for any size plant. It is way better than just sticking your finger in and guessing, that is for sure.