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What Is Proper Drainage And Why Is It So Important For Houseplants?
By JENNY LYNCH
Plants grown in soil cannot handle standing water or mud, so having proper drainage is important. Although each plant has different watering preferences, you want to keep your soil evenly moist as if it were a damp sponge that has been thoroughly rung out, and having excess moisture is like having a soaking wet, dripping sponge.
A plant’s roots provide them with nutrients that need access to oxygen to stay healthy, and root rot is often caused by a poorly drained houseplant. Look for wilting or browning leaves and puddles of water in drainage saucers as signs of root rot, and white mold can also be brought on by insufficient drainage that can be scraped away.
Use pots with drainage holes and saucers that can catch excess water when watering. You can also double pot your plants using the original plastic grow pot and a handful of gravel or rocks between the layers to give some space for drainage, but this won’t work if you fill a pot directly with soil as it will collect at the bottom.