Should You Water Until It Runs Out the Bottom?

The most common question we get daily in our greenhouses is "How much should I water?" And it is not only logical to ask, but probably the single most important technique to learn correctly if you want to have beautiful plants and flowers.

So it's a great question that we love to answer, but it's complicated. The answer is never..."Oh, just give it 2 quarts of water every day" and certainly never ever "Just water the basket until it runs out the bottom." That is a recipe for dead flowers.

So let's take a look at just how important it is to learn the proper technique and mentality when it comes to watering.

And to clarify, for now we are talking just about your outside flowers, so your hanging baskets, containers and pots.

The mentality that you need to have with your flowers is that you are giving them just right amount of water to live and flourish for 24 hours. Don't try to water them for the week or month, it doesn't work like that for your outside flowers. They need daily care that has to be adjusted for the weather for that day. Heat, humidity, strong winds, etc. all affect how your plants will react to the day and having some sort of plan for the day will keep them looking great all season long.

It's no coincidence that flowers start to fail shortly after the care taker's good watering habits start to wane.

So using the 24 Hour Mentality ensures that you are giving the proper amount of care each day and appropriately adjusting to meet that plant's needs. Some days you may be watering a lot, some days you may only water a little, if any at all. But for sure you are not taking the same exact approach day after day, unless the weather where you live absolutely never changes.

Simply put it this way...you cannot just pour X amount of quarts of water every day on your hanging basket and expect that to be the right amount each day for the next 30 days.

So how much water should you give your flowers? Answer: Whatever they need for the day.

You will have to learn how much water they take and adjust accordingly. This is something that will take practice and an open approach to learn. Watch what your plants are doing daily. Did they droop? Did they perk up or look healthy?

The gardeners with the most beautiful flowers are putting time into them and learning what it takes. Nobody that has a big beautiful display of flowers is just taking a haphazard approach to their care. They are putting effort and a lot of care into it to get the flowers to look that way.

Don't expect your flowers to thrive and be beautiful if you are unwilling to put the care into those flowers, and step number one is learning how to water and how much to water.

You may kill your plants...try again. Keep learning and you will get it right.

You can watch the full video here: