Sign up for my weekly email 👉 newsletter.sheffieldmadeplants.com

The most important thing we've learned here is that Richard now sleeps with his moisture meter.

A couple of years back all my plants died when I was, unexpected, more than a month in the hospital. Your channel motivated me to start again. At the moment I’ve got two cuttings on hydro. One Hoya linearis, and another one that came with the Hoya cuttings. I don’t know what kind of plant it is, but it has beautiful light green leaves.

One of the best plant purchases! I love my water meter, even got one for my daughter. 🥰

Water when the soil is dry.😂😂😂. You are so right. I learned the hard way. Thanks for the great tips.

Dude, you just saved my life and the one of my plants!

For any doubters.....I followed his watering tips from last year. If anything, I let the plants dry out a little too much before watering, but they've never looked better!

Love watching you and you are only one i can stay and learn so much thank you.

I enjoy your videos. I also got a moisture meter and it is a total game changer. I have found that even though the top of the soil looks dry, it is important to still check it. Sometimes the soil is wet down deep and it shows you shouldn't water just yet. I now suggest to everyone who wants to have healthy plants to get one.

So happy you have over 200k subscribers Love that your videos shorts and very clear You’re doing great, thanks for sharing your knowledge

Yep, inspired by you ive bought loads for family and friends.. the moisture meter. You do make me larf, love your videos

So glad i jumped on your recommendation of purchasng the water meter, my plants thank you from the bottom of their roots 🙌🏾

I told myself, this summer, I would not have as many plants this winter... Is it really possible to physically part with something for one has such an affinity? I definitely have more this winter. 😜

The moisture meter is the best investment Iv'e made in years (and it's pretty cheap) I've gifted one to both my sister and my niece and they're super happy with them. My niece is just 16, but she was a serial plant killer already 🤣

Love your videos! Also, love my moisture meter. Bought one after you've recommended it a couple... three... hundred times and haven't looked back. Best money I've ever spent. Well, except for new plants. And that's always a Good Thing.

Also, let's not forget the importance of the right size of the pot if the soil doesn't dry out quickly enough. I root pruned my peace lily this summer and put it back into the same pot with some fresh soil and perlite, but the soil took forever to dry out. So I put it into a slightly smaller pot and also added some pine bark and charcoal in it, but still the pot seems to big because it takes weeks for the soil to dry out. I usually bottom water it but the other day the plant was starting to droop although the moisture meter (I'm a good student of yours, adding perlite, bottom watering and checking the soil with a moisture meter) so I top watered it a bit and it recovered from the drooping. I'm misting the foliage with Root Ultra every now and then for the roots to grow, but perhaps that's in vain. And now I cant decide whether to repot it or not, but that would be the third time in less than six months and now it's November🙄🤦‍♀️

Got meter. Signed up for your tips and tricks. You are the best teacher. Your voice is so easy to listen to. Will always lister to your advise. You give us advice with great humor. Thanks you

I do the soil poke technique, too! Works well! I have also started using more perlite and it works better!

I so wanta be part of the Mr Sheffield cult

There's another way to finding out whether you need to water: just grab a pot and if it's light as a feather, it means the soil is dry. I'm doing it for all my epipremnums and hoyas, or basically any plant that you can pick up.

Here's a trick I do to check moisture for small potted plants. I get a toothpick and poke underneath the hole pot. When it still wet then it mean it still has moisture but if the toothpick remains dry then thats the time I water them(Extra note if your plant is water demanding,I do not recommend this method from experience😅)

Great analogy! Like a fart in an elevator. 😂😂

I followed all your recommendations..and they are the best on You Tube…

The simple moisture meter is a godsend, I probe about halfway and then near the bottom, wait until its in the red and then bottom water, they all seem happy and so am i.

Mr. Sheffield, Frittonia aka nerve plant and my day lilly hate drying out. Especially the nerve plant. I have 3 colors in a huge pot, red, pink, and white. I have chopped and propped many pots from it. 😊 it gets limp if the soil dries out more than one inch down into the soil. You do mention there are exceptions, this one is mine. 😊

A moisture meter would have saved many plants back in the day. I just got one for all my daughters I think its a game changer!

I have that moisture meter and I love it. Before I used the finger method and that was iffy at best. But I still have some issues with under watering because I used to kill them with too much water and thought I wasn’t good at houseplants! Now I have a sunroom filled with beautiful plants and love to sit among them and watch KZfaq videos 😀❤🪴

Love all the good information you put out on your videos

I agree. Overwatering means watering too often, not giving the plant too much water. Succulents are a "soak and dry" kinda plant so you need to drench them completely. I stand mine in a large container of water for an hour (less for diddy plants) with some water purifier (thanks for the tip) and a tiny bit of Baby Bio. I also always report the plant using a lot of perlite and use a moisture stick to know when to water. Sometimes, you may think it needs watering if the pot is light but the stick says otherwise! I used to kill plants but now I research what they need and put them where they will thrive instead of buying what I liked the look of and putting it where I wanted it to go. It's kinda obvious now but it took a long time to learn! I'm also really fussy about the kinds of plants I own now. I want healthy relatively low-maintenance plants. I don't want ones that die off in the winter or ones that wilt if you just look at them wrong. I just don't have time for that kinda thing. If they start to give me aggro then I rehome them.

Mind that if you have a very chunky mix, the meter can have problem making a correct reading.

Always learn and enjoy your videos,thanks…

Thank you for sharing beautiful and amazing houseplants lovely collection

I can give a tip when watering sensitive plants, such as alocasias or succulents. Don't water them late in the evening. They can't use up the excess water that is given during the night time when there's no sun to help absorb some of that water. They end up guttating, releasing excess water, and that is what causes the leaves to look like they're melting. All plants transpire every day but guttation doesn't happen all the time like transpiration.

I now have the moisture meter and what a game changer! This little tool really does take the guess work out. So glad I found your channel 👍

Thanks to you ,we bought two moisture meters. No more over watering here.

I ordered the meter off your link, its a reasonable price and really been nice to have!

Have you been able to help a plant with root rot without removing it from the pot? I’ve heard of some people using a hydrogen peroxide + water mix to help kill the rot. I’ve had to repot my spider plant a few times and it stresses it terribly. Obviously I need to get this meter 🤦‍♀️

Thanks!

I 'm thinking of a new project to try with plant watering (doubtful readings from moisture meter, maybe mine is faulty?) which is to experiment with weighing the whole thing before and after, starting from a long dry spell. Definitely not a solution for every plant parenting style, but could be interesting if you like data!

Hey there! I enjoyed this video a lot! I just wanted to say that I've doubted the 'water in the morning' rule since I started w/ houseplants way back in my teens! I used to argue (discuss not fuss!) w/ my Mama about it! My reply to her was, "But Mom! It doesn't rain only in the mornings! It rains at night too!" If nighttime watering is bad, why does God do it? Your explanation makes sense to me! I'm adopting your bottom watering plan, so perhaps I will stop losing so many plants! Although, to be truthful, that's not the only thing I need to change!

I use the app as a reminder to check my plants with my moisture meter.

my first moisture meter had a black background which was harder to read in low light. yours has a nice white background :)

Feels like great advice, I’ll try it ….. (thks !!)

So excited, my water meter is coming today that I ordered from your Amazon shop 😊 PS: Love your sheets 🪴

Great Video!! ❤️ I got a moisture meter based on your recommendation and it’s made a huge difference - takes out variations. And I’ve used chopsticks to open the soil for years - actually leave them in the soil and I loosen the soil in 3-4 places each watering, each plant. I’ve also given meters to several others who “ can’t keep a plant alive” and the results are promising. Now, watering - dry, drench, drain, loosen soil. Easy and your plants won’t recognize you.

I’ve got one of them water meters you mentioned that once. It’s ok! Lmao! X

Every considered a discord server? I think viewers of your videos would make a nice plant community.

😂😂😂 I love your commentary

I still like to use Planta for keeping track of all my plants so no one gets forgotten. But I basically check all the plants that it tells me to water and if any are damp soil I snooze them. There are certain ones that it is always too enthusiastic about so I snooze those a few times without even checking ... I am probably able to adjust the notification "aggression" but I cant be bothered

I'm a bit hesitant to try this for all my plants. I've got a coffee arabica plant whose soil often remains feeling a little damp, but if I don't water it every 2-3 days, its new leaves start to shrivel and dry out! It's the same with my fern, it'll look like it hasnt been watered a day in its life while the soil still feels moist. I am a little worried about accidentally causing root rot, though..

Perhaps the easiest thing is just to make sure the soil matches the conditions? So, if you water 24/7, make sure your soil can match that and is able to provide oxygen 24/7. A ton of perlite at the base or little oxygenating tubes can help the ultra-lazy among us.

Heh, "good fingering" he says... it's actually quite true. Thanks for making that innuendo. I instantly have SO much more respect for you, buddy!

Great video, it's always a treat when you put something out!

When bottom watering it is drawn up through the soil profile via capillary action and adhesion from the water molecules. This is the transported to the leave through the xylem where it will then undergo transpiration.

my tradescantia HATED the bottom water I gave it.. 2 mushy stems :(

thanks for reminding me to pour out water from my peace lily's tray. (yes, i took a break during your vid to do that lol)

Laughed out loud at the clip of sleeping with the moisture meter. But probably the best $15 i spent for my plants. No more guessing

“Drench that sucker” 🤣🤣🤣 I rescued a ZZ plant from B&Q, couple of the lower leaves had gone yellow, and I thought it might be over watered. No probs eh? Despite drying it out like a Saharan mirage it rotted and died, what a pong! I guess it was the bacteria that killed it, maybe I should’ve tried using a disinfectant like hydrogen peroxide?

Great video again! Thankyou :D Could you do some plant comparison videos please? Eg Monstera vs. tetrasperma, Ficus elastica vs. Ficus lyrata, that sort of thing? Sort of like a plant-off :D

My second viewing of this video. Missed the tip about loosening the soil the first time around. I have a cactus whose soil's like concrete. I'm loathe to change it because the plant always manages to "get" me. I'm going to try your tip in self defense.

I learned this a hard way. Literally, I was killing plants for years because I would water every two days and give a little bit of water. And my conclusion was that I'm not for plants and that I kill plants. One plant was soo stinky because of the root rot and I almost completely decided to stop getting plants. Now, I know what I was doing wrong 😄 I'm waiting for the soil to dry and pour the water through the soil. Currently, my oldest living plant is Monstera Adansonii and she is one year and a half :) also, I started bottom watering because of you, and it's working for most plants. But I have pretty chunky mix for Adansonii and two of my Pothos plants, so I like to shower them every once in a while. I noticed that Adansonii leaves started to yellow when I transferred her to bottom watering, so I'm back to just pouring the water in the soil. And she is growing like crazy 😊 Sorry for the long comment. but this whole watering thing is really working. don't water your plants every two days, and just a bit xD it leads to root rot, believe me because I was there! listen to this guy 😃

I have tried that exact modifier meter and it did not work. If I had followed it, all my plants would be dead. I’m sticking with the good ole, (basically free), chopstick.

Oh no. You're one of my favourite plant dudes but I can't reconcile how someone from Yorkshire doesn't pronounced it "skawn." 😭

So the reason my inside Pothos stayed wet is because it didn't need water? What if I just give plants a little splash of water?

I find watering when the moisture meter reads as dry is still too frequent (I’ve killed dozens of plants over the past year this way). I finally figured out that it needs to read dry, and then I need to wait 3 to as much as 7 more days before watering.

I think succulents evolved because in deserts its doesnt water frequently, but when it does it pours. So when the rare but heavy rain occurs it can store all of that water in its stems or leaves so it can survive the long drought period.

videos help alot thanks :) The one plant im alwasy battling with is a "Blechmum silver lady fern" it's a nightmare to keep happy and pointers for this type happy? i water arouind once a week and it gets good filtered light and it still voteing mutiny

I've experienced plants developing root rot from being moist for too long. How does one combat this? If the soil is retaining too much moisture?

He's right, guessing is gambling. Knowing is power. Get a moisture meter. They're great!!!

I have a monstera that I bought really young a few years ago. I had it in a 19cm pot for a long time even though it was very root bound because I couldn't find a big enough pot that wasn't ridiculously expensive. I repotted it during the summer into a 32cm pot but now I'm worried the pot is too big because the soil isn't drying out and it seems to be doing worse than it was in the tiny pot. Is there anyway I can tell if the roots are okay without removing the plant from the pot?

I've the moisture meter you recommend. Have you had any issues where this device stops working correctly? Mine seems go always read Dry whether I've watered recently or not.

I wish this video was out when i had my water melon plant! I have this African vilot that ive had for over a year. And no matter what i do i can't get it to bloom. So i'm going to give it one last chance through you. What should i do?

When checking for anaerobic soil conditions one of the best things you can do is sniff it, if anaerobic conditions are present it will smell a bit like rotten eggs.

Hehehe, so as a Hobbit, I can water my plants after whichever meal I choose. Good to know. 😉😅

what if the wet meter is showing dry on top soil but if you stick it deep in it shows wet? is it time to water or not?

Hi prof. Would you kindly advise if I should worry too much or not at all for my snake plant 60cm height in 16cm pot with severe root bound and unarranged shoots which I repotted recently and tried to avoid pressing on the new soil with lot of perlite rather than previous clay soil, in order to let the stalks settle well and also watered it afterwards because most of the roots were tangled and had to split without breaking the under soil orange root but some of the hair roots were lost too as I saw in the clay soil remains, still remember my question ? Should have I done it differently??

Hey Sheffield! I'm a new subscriber and have a quick question. The moisture meter comes with a guide page, it showing different species of plants and a corresponding number related to the meter. Should I just wait until the meter reads dry or go by the little guide page?

What about big heavy plants ? The water go in the saucer and it becomes a nightmare to discard it

I do that use a lot of perlite in my soil😂

💚

Hey so straight tap water isn’t good for plants, you live in a rainy climate, do you use rain water?? I like to collect rain water, what do you think of that??

The cult thing made me laugh so hard!

I bought a moisture meter but it didn't work:( even when I freshly watered and the soil was WET, it would always stay in the red and say "dry" ... so I returned it :c

This confuses me. I thought you bottom water. I see you do top watering a lot too. Please explain. Thank you!