This is for all the plant owners who may be afraid sitters will over/under-water their plants.
If you develop a “plants by number” system, not only will YOU find watering easier and keep more plants alive longer, you can also leave simple instructions for your sitters.
This is your secret weapon.
Once you know what number on the meter the plants are happiest being watered at, you can label all the pots. Every one of my terrestrial pots is labelled with two numbers: the top number is the reading on the meter at which to water, and the bottom number is how much to put on it (I go by how much water it takes to just start coming out the bottom). This accounts for “ferns like it moister and will need water at 5” vs. “the jade plant can go down to 3”. It also avoids overwatering big pots where the surface feels dry but the soil a few inches down is still wet. In big pots, check multiple places (there might be wet & dry spots) and average.
It also helps to have a scheduled “plant day” – check them all with the meter. Some will need water now, and some will be good till next day.
I leave an instruction sheet of reminders for my plant-watering-dude, and all he has to do is check the meter vs. the label on the pot.
This is about as close to idiot-proofing your plant care as you can get.
This makes me feel like there should be a new checkbox for sits. Instead of just being able to select, Cats / Dogs / Poultry / Livestock, a sitter or HO could also select “plants”. This level of detail for a plant would just make me cry, and I would have to pass up this sit. But I have friends who would think this was the best thing ever and they would clamor to do a sit for someone with this gadget.
Knowing in about 5 seconds whether a plant needs water and how much to put on it is much easier than trying to guess by lifting, tapping, shaking, or sticking fingers into the top inch of soil and then hoping a random amount of water is enough.
I’m surprised how many people who have quite a few plants don’t have one of these. I’ve told all such HOs on sits about them and left one for a gift once. Improper watering is the biggest killer of houseplants. A good moisture meter would let many more people enjoy having green growing things in their home. I’ve had quite a few of my plants over 30 years.
I do think a category for plants would be a great addition to sit listings.
I agree. I have a lot of plants, which mean a lot to me. One, for example, was a moving-in gift from neighbours eighteen years ago.. I’d be devastated to come home and find them all dead from sheer lack of basic care.
It grates with me how it’s considered something of a joke to boast that You Kill Plants (hahaha!) ; imagine if you said the same about dogs or cats…..!
Right? I sell cuttings & divisions occasionally and sometimes people will remark “I’d like this but I can’t keep plants alive“. I mean, come on. Unless your house has some really extreme conditions…it’s not rocket surgery.
When you think about how long it takes to grow some plants, like orchids that take years to get to blooming size, it annoys me that people – or the stores selling them – can kill them in a matter of weeks. Such a waste.
