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Wilted Leaves- Does Your House Plant Need Watering?
Posted On 2009-07-17 , 11:10 PM
During the summer we may see the leaves of some of our house plants appear to be wilting. We immediately think of watering them, but this may be the wrong thing to do. It may actually harm the plant.
In the heat of the summer more water will evaporate from the leaves. In a room that is not air conditioned, the temperature may rise to over 80oF. At that temperature the house plant may be unable to move enough water up from the roots to the leaves to replace the water being evaporated. Peace lilies are one of the first house plants to show this condition.
To determine if the house plant needs watering, we need to see if the soil in the pot is dry. Test it with your finger. If so, water the plant. If not the houseplant does not need watering and we need to take other measures.
The cause of the wilting is too much water evaporating from the leaves. The rate of evaporation can be reduced in two ways.
Firstly, we can reduce the rate of evaporation by increasing the humidity around the plant. The humidity can be raised by using pebble trays around the plant. Place pebbles in a tray and fill the tray with water nearly to the top of the pebbles. Place the plant in its pot on top of the pebbles. Do not let the bottom of the plant pot stand in the water.
The best way however is to reduce the temperature of the room to a temperature the houseplant is more suited to. This is normal room temperature at other times of the year. The plant is developing to live in this temperature as it grows, building a root, stem, leaf balance suited to this temperature.
If the temperatures outside the house are lower than in the room, the temperature may be lowered by opening windows and providing more ventilation.
Drapes or awnings can be used to stop the sunlight from shining directly into the room. Glass windows not only let in the light, they also allow the heat of the sun's rays inside. Covering windows on the sunny side of the house will help keep interior temperatures lower.
Before you water that wilting houseplant, find out if that is really what it needs.
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