Watering your houseplants for success: Tips to avoid loving your plants to death

Before watering your new houseplant or even potting it, gardening expert Owen Reeves has a few recommendations on how to make sure you can keep them alive for longer.

Reeves says the first step is to learn more about the species of plant, because that will determine its specific needs.

"Different plants have different needs, you want to know going into it that you've got a good spot in your house, you've got the right light conditions, and that it has a water care level that's appropriate for how much effort you want to put into it," Reeves told CTV's Your Morning on Monday.

The pot it's placed in is also important. Reeves recommends choosing a pot with a hole at the bottom to allow excess water to drain; newer plants can even stay in the pots they originally came with if they haven't outgrown them yet.

Additionally, Reeves warns that putting a small plant in a big pot will make the soil stay wet for longer and could drown the plant, so it's important to get an appropriately sized pot for your plant.

DIFFERENT WAYS TO WATER YOUR PLANT

Wet and dry soil can look very similar at first glance, which is why Reeves recommends touching the soil to feel whether your plant is too wet or too dry. In most cases, it's better to have the plant dry because overwatering your plant could cause the soil to rot and the plant to die.

Instead of using a traditional watering can, a glass watering globe is a self-watering needle Reeves says can be useful for watering plants that require more moisture.

"You fill this up and we just pop it in and what this does is it slowly drips water into the soil to keep it at a nice even level and you don't have to babysit the plant," he said.

Another form of self-watering is leaving your plant on top of a waterproof tray or container filled with water so the houseplant can absorb the water from the roots up.

"This is the sweet way to water them because they don't like that water on top of the roots so it's better to get it from the bottom," he said.

Watch the video above for more tips.