There are so many beautiful and varied foliaged Philodendron – and frankly, I’m adding to my collection of those variations monthly, it seems. But to get the absolute best results for any Philodendron, the plant needs to be fully watered and allowed to have the soil dry out a bit (down an inch or more).
Now, of course, if you’re growing your Philodendrons in nothing but water, then… you already have your plants settled the way you want them to be. Philodendrons do well in only water, but that’s the subject of another post. 🙂
I’ve tried both ways. For me, using the traditional method of pot and drainage saucer gives me the best-looking, longest-living plants. My biggest drawback to tending to my plants is underwatering and not remembering to check on them more often. This is why I went to self-watering pots for many of my plants. Yet, it’s been a learning experience to see for myself which plants do well in self-watering pots… and which ones do not.
Frankly, I replaced more Philodendrons while using the self-watering pots than I ever did by using the pot and drainage saucer method. That was a wake-up call because a few of those Philodendrons were expensive. And it hurt when I lost them to having far too much moisture in their soil… I was able to propagate from some of those plants, so it wasn’t a total waste, but it was significant when I lost the “mother” plant because of my mistakes.
So, in my opinion, to get the best results from your Philodendrons:
- Use a pot and drainage container
- Water fully
- Empty excess water from drainage container
- Allow the soil to dry out down 1 or 2 inches in the soil before watering again
- Good plant fertilizer is a huge help to these plants
