What It Means If You Find Water Droplets On Your Houseplants

Keeping your houseplants healthy is more than just setting and forgetting them until it's time to give them water. A happy plant requires more love. By spending more time caring for your plant, you'll be able to notice when they look different and treat what's wrong quickly. They can't explicitly tell you what they need, but their foliage will change in ways to hint that they need water, less sun, or have a disease.

A content plant will have green leaves with a uniform color — unless they're variegated — and will change their shape as they continue to grow with compact stems. Each time you water your collection, you should inspect the foliage. Your plant(s) may need more moisture if it's drooping or the leaves turn brown. Or there could be white specs, telling you there's a fungal infection or pests are invading the plant. Once you routinely check in with your plant, you'll be able to care for it better. You may even notice small changes like water droplets accumulating on its leaves every morning.

You don't need to worry if you see a few water droplets forming on your houseplants. Your plant is going through guttation, which is just like sweating. Throughout the day, transpiration occurs. This process is where the roots absorb nutrients and moisture from the soil. Then it moves the water and fertilizer to the stems and each leaf, feeding your plant. By the end of the day, your plant will have taken in all it can and may be left with excess moisture. That's when guttation starts.

The water needs to go somewhere, so it exits your plant through the pores on the tips of its leaves. However, there must be lots of pressure for moisture to seep out like this. That's why you'll only notice it on vascular plants like ferns, pothos, and philodendrons. You'll usually see the water droplets when you wake up in the morning because transpiration stops at night, so that's when guttation begins. Then, throughout the day, it'll evaporate from your plant.

There are two primary reasons why your houseplants will go through guttation: humidity and overwatering. The environment has a significant effect on your plants. If the room you keep them in is more humid than usual, you'll likely notice water droplets on their leaves. This can be because of the seasons changing from winter to spring and summer, especially if you open your windows a lot. Although, even using a humidifier in your house can cause this to happen.

The second reason for guttation is that you may be overwatering your plants. Following a watering schedule can leave your collection over or under-watered because the weather isn't always the same. Depending on the season, the temperature, humidity, and severity of sunlight will be different. These aspects affect how long it takes for your plant's soil to dry out, so you should always check how moist it is before watering it. If you notice guttation occurring and it's not because of a humidity change in your home, you should reduce how frequently you water your collection.