Archive for the ‘General Information’ Category
Top watering or bottom watering?
I received an interesting question by email this week, someone wrote to ask if there was a list of plants preferring to be bottom watered as opposed to top watered.
Most people know that African Violets prefer bottom watering and that’s about it. While I don’t know of a list of plants preferring bottom to top watering I can give you some rules of thumb:
Bottom water preferring plants:
- Plants that are tropical and prefer moist soil, including African voilets but any plant that prefers moist soil and warm temperatures.
- Plants that don’t like wet leaves, this is usually your warm weather tropicals and plants with fuzzy leaves, like Purple Passion/Purple Velvet plant.
- Bog plants including Venus flytraps, pitcher plants and other bog plants grown inside.
Top water preferring plants:
- Any plant planted in sand like cactus, the sand doesn’t wick up enough water from the bottom to water the plant.
- Any plant in bark, same as above, to bottom water a plant you need a soil that will wick the water up. So orchids in bark need water from the top.
House plants most likely to be involved in a poisoning
Philodendron ( Philodendron )
Capsicum annuum ( pepper )
Dieffenbachia ( dumb cane )
Euphorbia pulcherrima ( Poinsettia )
Spathiphyllum ( Peace lily )
Crassula ( Jade )
Toxicodendron radicans ( Pothos aka Devil’s Ivy )
Schefflera actinophylia ( Umbrella tree )
Saintpaulia sp. ( African violet )
Chlorophytum comosum ( Spider Plant )
Schlumbergera bridgesii ( Christmas Cactus )
Hedera helix ( English Ivy )
See also:
Toxic Tales, Poison Information and Toxicology Facts
