Indoor plant care for beginners: watering, light and humidity explained
If you are new to growing houseplants, there is a lot of advice available online. Sometimes you get conflicting advice that complicates a straightforward activity. Water once a week. Don’t water once a week. Don’t let the plant go dry. Let the plant go dry. What exactly do “bright light” and “indirect light” mean? It’s not that complicated. Caring for houseplants comes down to three basic things: watering, light and humidity. Let's start with the one that trips up most beginners: watering.
1. How to water indoor plants without overwatering
Watering isn't one size fits all. It all depends on the type of plant and the size of the pot. More than anything else, a sad-looking houseplant’s demise is usually because it was overwatered. The best is always to water less than you think.
How to know when to water
Try the rule of thumb: the idea is to wait until the top 2.5 cm feels dry to your finger. If the top layer is still moist, wait a few days before checking again. If you aren’t sure about your water sensing ability, you can purchase an inexpensive moisture meter to guide you. Remember also that smaller pots dry out faster than bigger pots.
Some people get fairly good at gauging the need for water simply by lifting the pot when it is dry and then again when it’s wet. That way, you get to learn to feel the need. If too dry, leafy plants will start to wilt to let you know that it’s time to water them.
The first thing is to make sure that your pot has drainage holes. Otherwise, the chance of drowning your plant is high. If your plant is in a nice ceramic pot with no hole, you can simply repot it in a smaller plain plastic pot with drainage holes and place that pot inside the nice ceramic one.
Water thoroughly. Don’t just moisten the top. Run water until it drains out of the bottom. After a half hour or so, empty the saucers, so the pots aren’t sitting in accumulated drained water.
What happens when the soil gets too dry
If you let the potting mix get especially dry, water may not be absorbed but will instead flow down the sides of the pot and out into the saucer. No moisture gets soaked in. In that case, immerse the whole potted plant into a sink or pail full of water until air bubbles stop. After a good soaking, put the plant aside to let excess moisture run out. Press the potting mix against the edges of the pot to make sure it’s tight again.
8 signs you're underwatering your houseplant
- Dry soil: the top few centimetres feel very dry, and the soil may pull away from the sides of the pot.
- Drooping or wilting leaves: the plant looks limp, especially during the day.
- Crispy brown leaf edges or tips: leaves can feel dry or brittle.
- Yellowing leaves: sometimes older leaves turn yellow and drop.
- Slow growth: the plant may stop producing new leaves or seem stalled.
- Lightweight pot: when you lift it, the pot feels much lighter than usual.
- Wrinkled or curling leaves: common in some tropical plants and succulents.
- Dry, compacted soil: water may run straight through without soaking in well.
What happens when you overwater
If you don’t allow the potting mix to dry on the top inch, and you continue to water, you could end up with the roots suffocating. In that case, you’ll often see yellowing, mushy leaves, mouldy soil or spongy stems. You need to let things dry out. If overwatering has caused the roots to start to rot, you’ll need to re-pot with a good draining potting mix and before replanting, cut out any spongy roots. If caught in time, the plant will recover.
9 signs you're overwatering your houseplant
- Yellowing leaves: especially when several leaves start turning yellow at once.
- Soft, limp leaves or stems: they may feel mushy instead of dry and crispy.
- Brown spots with a soft texture: unlike underwatering, the damage often looks wet or mushy.
- Wilting despite wet soil: the plant droops even though the soil is still moist.
- Consistently soggy soil: the potting mix stays wet for too long.
- Root rot smell: a sour, musty or rotten smell can come from the soil.
- Mould, algae or fungus gnats: excess moisture can attract pests and fungal growth.
- Leaf drop: the plant may suddenly shed healthy-looking or yellow leaves.
- Black or mushy roots: if checked, healthy roots should usually be light-coloured and firm.
Watering tips at a glance
- Avoid watering on a strict schedule.
- Adjust your tap so the water is at room temperature (plant roots don’t like to be hit with cold water!).
- If you can, use collected rainwater. It has no added chlorine, fluoride or water softener salts. (Although most plants do well with regular municipal tap water.)
- Water your plants from the bottom: set the potted plant (with drainage holes) into a shallow pan full of water and allow it to soak up the water it needs until the top is moist. It takes a bit longer, but you know that the potting mix is fully saturated.
- Be aware that plants typically require less water during winter months as the shorter daylight triggers them to go into a sleepy or dormant mode.
- Always remember: different plants, different needs: Almost all tropical houseplants want the top layer to dry between waterings. However, desert plants like succulents and cacti prefer to dry out completely, while some rainforest plants like ferns and calatheas want a more constantly moist potting mix. Grouping plants with similar needs together makes it easier to remember the three different watering regimes.
- Rotate your plants at each watering to share the light on all sides.»
2. Understanding light for indoor plants
Whenever you’re picking out houseplants to live in your home, you need to take note of what it needs for light. Light needs will be printed on the plant tag, but you can also verify that plant’s particular light requirements online or in books.
Selecting the right location within your home sets the stage: how much water your new plant will need, how fast it grows, whether it produces new leaves or whether it slowly declines despite your best efforts. Plunk a desert plant in a dark corner and you can appreciate that it won’t do well.
Usually, the plant will fall into one of these three light levels:
- bright direct light
- bright indirect light
- medium light
- low light
The differentiation will reflect the intensity, duration and quality of light needed.
What is bright direct light?
This is in front of a south- or west-facing window with no sheer curtains or outdoor shrub or tree obstructions, where the sun hits the leaves for a few hours a day. Most tropical plants come from the forest floor and aren’t suited for full sunlight. But there are plants that do well: any succulent or cactus, aloe vera, hibiscus, lantana, croton and ponytail palm.
What is bright indirect light?
A few feet back from a sunny south- or west-facing window, closer if your south or west windows have sheer curtains to filter the light, or directly in front of an east-facing window with morning sun. This is truly the sweet spot for most of the tropical houseplants. Plants like ficus, philodendron, monstera, dracaena and bromelia enjoy bright indirect light.
How can you tell if it is medium or low light?
The light you get from a northern window, or further into a room, away from the sunny windows. Plants like snake plant, ZZ plant, pothos, cast iron plant, Chinese money plant, Chinese evergreen and peace lily do well in medium to low light areas.
How to spot a lighting problem
Plants will exhibit some stress symptoms when there’s not enough or too much light. Change locations if you think lighting is your problem. Move your plant to a different light level and keep an eye on it for the next couple of weeks to see if things improve.
6 signs of too little light
- Leggy growth: long, weak stems stretching toward a light source.
- Small or sparse new leaves: growth may look thin or uneven.
- Slow growth: the plant seems stalled.
- Leaves turning pale: foliage can lose its rich green colour.
- Leaf drop: some plants shed leaves when light is too low.
- Plant leaning: it bends noticeably toward the window.
5 signs of too much light
- Scorched or bleached leaves: patches may look faded, white or brown.
- Crispy edges: especially on leaves exposed to direct sun.
- Curling leaves: the plant may try to reduce sun exposure.
- Drying out very quickly: soil dries faster in intense light.
- Wilting during the hottest part of the day: even if the soil has moisture.
Can you use a grow light?
If your space has very low light, opt for a grow light rather than trying to grow plants in the dark. You can also supplement with a grow light if the spot you picked doesn’t get enough light for the plant you want, or if it doesn’t get any light, you can purchase a grow light to imitate natural sunlight.
Why houseplants need darkness too
All houseplants require a period of darkness. During the day, they use light to generate energy and then at night, they use that stored energy in the dark to grow, repair cells and move nutrients. If using a grow light, put it on a timer so the plant can rest during the night.
3. Humidity level and indoor plants: why it matters mostly in winter
Most people never think about humidity, until their plant starts getting crispy edges for no apparent reason. Most houseplants are from tropical areas and can do well in a normal home’s humidity, commonly around 40-50%. But in Canada, many homes will see a drop in humidity during the winter, due to home heating. Some homes can drop to 10% humidity.
The only plants that don’t mind the low humidity are desert plants like cacti and succulents.
For others, it will affect the quality of new leaves, as higher humidity makes new leaves come out larger. Lower humidity means crispy leaf edges on humidity-sensitive tropical plants.
How to boost humidity without a humidifier
If you don’t have a good humidifier in your furnace or HVAC system, consider a few tricks that can help houseplants through the winter months.
- Group humidity-deprived plants together. By simply putting these plants close together, you raise the humidity around them. The foliage helps trap humid air around the plants.
- Use pebble trays; cover a watertight tray with pebbles or marbles, fill it with water, then position your potted plant and saucer on top. The water in the tray evaporates to create higher humidity around the plant.
- Buy a small portable humidifier; place it close to your humidity-loving plants.
- Move the prone plants to a damp room; bathrooms and even kitchens have higher humidity levels than the rest of the house. Some people move their prone plants to the bathroom for the winter.
Why misting your plants doesn't actually work
While misting your plants with a water mist seems like a promising idea, the effect is extremely short-lived and doesn’t really raise humidity levels for more than a few minutes. It can also cause the spread of certain diseases. So it is no longer recommended.
Feeding your indoor plants: the step most beginners skip
The potting mix that came with your new plants is depleted of nutrients within a month or two. A diluted liquid fertilizer, like Schultz All Purpose Plant Food (7 drops per litre), makes it easy to feed your plants consistently without the guesswork. A lot of plant parents cannot remember when they last fed their plants, so rather than giving them a full feeding once a month (if you remember), just add a diluted simple feeding each time.
You continue throughout the spring, summer and early fall. Then give your plants a fertilizer break for 2-3 months during the winter when they aren’t actively growing.
The bottom line on indoor plant care
Houseplants just need water, light, humidity and a bit of plant food. Give them these essentials, and watch them grow! Once these fundamentals are understood, most plants are forgiving. The goal isn't perfection, it's building a relationship with your plants over time.
Now that you know how to care for plants, let's discover the best plant choices for beginners or very busy plant parents.
