How To Bottom Water Houseplants | Gardener's Path

Before you start, check to make sure your plant needs more moisture. Stick a finger into the soil or use a moisture meter to determine the soil’s moisture level.

You can water in a bathtub or sink, or in a large bucket or similar container. So long as it is big enough to fit your plant container, it can do the job.

For smaller plants, I like to use a small washtub.

A sink is perfect if you want to do several medium-sized plants at a time.

I reserve the bathtub for my larger plants, or if I want to do my whole collection of houseplants all at once.

It’s fairly wasteful to fill an entire tub for a single small plant, after all.

To begin, fill the container or tub with lukewarm water.

Distilled or filtered is best if you live in an area where the municipal water is treated with chlorine or fluoride.

Fill it with enough that it will cover the base of your container by at least an inch.

If you add fertilizer, do it now.

If you have some sort of drainage material in the bottom of your container such as rocks or broken pottery, the water needs to come above that material by at least an inch.

Place the container in the water and let it sit for about 15 minutes so that the soil can soak up all the moisture it needs. Larger containers need to sit for a bit longer, and smaller containers for bit less time.

Keep an eye on things. If the soil soaks up all of it during those 15 minutes, add more. The surface of the soil should feel moist to the touch.

Sandy soil or potting soil with lots of perlite mixed in will take longer to soak it up.

Keep in mind that terra cotta pots soak up the water along with the soil, so they’ll need extra.

Drain or dump out any excess, and let the plant sit for 10 minutes or so to drain.