Potted plants can be watered either from the top or from the bottom.
Although watering from the top is the most common method, it is not always the best.
This article gives you the gist on bottom watering and helps you decide whether its right for your plants.
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What Is Bottom Watering for Plants?
The water is slowly absorbed and drawn into the potting medium through the drainage holes of the pot.
Benefits of Bottom Watering
If its done properly, bottom watering has several benefits.
African violets should be bottom wateredLudmila Kapustkina / Getty Images
First, water is better absorbed with this method, especially when the potting medium is dry.
Second, bottom watering ensures all of the potting medium gets saturated, not just the top layer.
This lets plants develop stronger, deeper root systems as the roots are growing toward the water source.
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It also avoids getting the plant leaves wet, which some plants dont like.
And fourth, bottom watering discouragesfungus gnatsfrom laying their eggs.
Fungus gnat females lay up to 200 eggs on the surface of moist potting medium.
see to it to discard that water and never let your houseplants sit in it.
The time it takes for the potting medium to get soaked can vary greatly.
The rule of thumb is at least 15 minutes.
The larger the pot, and the drier the soil, the longer it takes to reach that stage.
It depends on the key in of plant and its watering needs.
Fungus Gnats on Houseplants.University of Wisconsin-Madison, Division of Extension.
