So you’ve taken the plunge and bought a bunch of indoor office plants from ExecuFlora. Congratulations! You’ll have a flourishing, inviting work environment before you can say “spring”. Taking care of your new plants is essential to getting there, and if you’re dealing with more than a handful of different types, the maintenance schedule might involve quite a bit of watering. In a professional setting, the last thing you want to have to do is to scramble to find paper towels or a cleaning rag in order to mop up excess water. This guide details how to water your indoor plants without having to worry about making a mess.
A Few Do’s and Don’t to Consider
Watering plants properly requires you to take a few key do’s and don’ts into consideration. What you should definitely start by doing is to gather enough information about the type of plants you have, and how much water they need. The same goes for exposure to sunlight, which will dictate where they should be placed in the office space. Do use a watering can to prevent unnecessary spills. Don’t water them on a rigid schedule (which won’t apply for all four seasons), opting instead for flexibility after checking how wet the soil is instead. Don’t let the indoor plants sit in water if at all possible, which is possible by sorting out any drainage problems right off the bat.
The Sponge Method
If your indoor plants are less efficient at absorbing water, a relatively quick trick you can adopt is to cut a bath sponge into the size of the bottom of the pot or container it is in. Place it below the soil so that it catches any excess water that might have flowed into the tray or the floor otherwise. This eliminates the opportunity for mess altogether. You may want to buy a couple of sponges and look at replacing them periodically, in order to avoid attracting mould or grime that may be harmful to the plant.
Double Potting for Double Efficiency
Another way to ensure that your indoor plants don’t create a mess is to use the age-old trick of double potting. Simply place the “core” (planted) pot with drain holes into a slightly larger one with a solid base. Excess water from unexpected overwatering or poor absorption will collect in the second pot, which will be easy to throw into the garden, rather than ending up on the floor. Adding a second pot also allows for creative freedom with decoration, as the physical pot it grows in is aesthetically “replaced”, leaving more room for the plants to match the design theme of the room it is in.
Watering in the Sink
If you’ve got a dedicated person looking after the plants in the office, they may have a bit more time to go through the maintenance process. This provides the opportunity to water the plants in the sink, leaving them to soak through into the drain and ultimately forfeiting any possibility of making a mess. This might be harder to do for hanging plants, or those that don’t like to be moved frequently. The person might want to create an Excel spreadsheet to keep track of watering schedules and to take note of what works, and what doesn’t. At the end of the day, you’ll have a polished and professional looking office space, designed to be inviting to new and existing clients when they walk through the door.