Dieffenbachia plants are stunning plants that are highly popular houseplants. These plants are relatively easy to care for, but you need to know how and when to water your Dieffenbachia to ensure it stays healthy, so here is a helpful guide on how to water your Dieffenbachia.
Watering your Dieffenbachia is relatively easy. You need to water it until the water runs through the pot’s drainage holes and then stop. Allow the surplus water to drain and then empty the tray. Do not water your Dieffenbachia from above, as this can cause fungus growth on the foliage.
Knowing how to water your Dieffenbachia plant properly is an important aspect of keeping your plant healthy, but how do you know if you are overwatering it? What are the signs that indicate you are underwatering your Dieffenbachia? How do you fix these two watering problems? Let’s find out!
How to Water Dieffenbachia Plants
Dieffenbachia plants are gorgeous plants that can add a great pop of color to any room you keep them in. These plants are some of the easiest house plants to care for, but there is one thing you need to make sure you get right from the beginning to ensure your plant stays healthy.
You need to know how to water your Dieffenbachia plant properly and what to look for if something seems to be going wrong. Let’s start with how to water your Dieffenbachia plant properly, so you know how to keep your plant happy and growing well.
When you first receive your Dieffenbachia plant, you need to access the plant’s watering needs before you begin watering it. You should observe the moisture levels of the Dieffenbachia plant to make sure you won’t be watering it when it doesn’t need the water.
When you first receive your Dieffenbachia plant, you should also try to aerate the soil a bit, as most plant nurseries will make the soil compact for easier transportation of the plants. Aerating the soil will help with soil drainage and give your plant’s roots space to grow comfortably.
Dieffenbachia plants thrive in soil that is consistently slightly moist but not soggy, as this can cause problems down the line. So, with your Dieffenbachia plant, you need to ensure that the first 1 to 2 inches of soil are always moist to keep your plant happy.
When you water your Dieffenbachia plant, you need to water it with fresh, clean water and allow the water to go until you see it dripping out of the plant pot’s drainage holes. Stop watering your plant when you see the watering dripping out the holes.
Do not water your plant from above the plant where the foliage will get wet, as this can cause problems for your plant, like fungal growth on the leaves if it happens too regularly.
Once you have watered your Dieffenbachia plant, allow the excess water to drain, and then remove it from the tray under the plant, as you don’t want your plant sitting in the water.
Place the tray back under your plant to help stop some wet soil from leaking out the drainage holes and making a mess. If you keep watering your Dieffenbachia plant this way, you will see your plant grow fast and stay healthy and happy.
How Often to Water Dieffenbachia Plants?
Knowing how to water your Dieffenbachia plant properly is only half the battle when it comes to keeping your Dieffenbachia plant healthy in your care. There are a few other aspects to watering this plant that you should know if you wish to grow a happy plant.
One of these aspects includes knowing how often you need to water your Dieffenbachia plant. Dieffenbachia plants are tropical plants; you need to ensure they don’t dry out completely before each watering session.
If your plant does dry out completely, this can start causing issues for your plant, which we will explain further in this article.
The watering schedule of your Dieffenbachia plant will depend on a few factors, including the climate you live in, the environment you keep the plant in, and where in your home you keep the plant.
If you reside in a hotter climate, your Dieffenbachia plant’s soil will dry out a lot faster than if you live in a cooler climate. Keeping your Dieffenbachia plant in a room with central heating will cause your Dieffenbachia’s soil to dry out faster.
Both of these living environments will mean you need to water your Dieffenbachia plant more regularly. However, if you keep your Dieffenbachia plant in your kitchen, for example, you won’t need to water your plant as often as the kitchen is generally a humid room of the home due to cooking.
So, the watering schedule for your Dieffenbachia plant can be very different from someone else’s watering schedule, but how do you work out your own schedule for your Dieffenbachia plant?
To do this, you will need to constantly check the soil of your Dieffenbachia plant to see when it’s drying out and when it’s still moist. You can do this by conducting a finger test. All you do is stick a finger into the plant’s soil.
If your soil is still moist 1 to 2 inches below the surface, you don’t need to water your plant. If the soil is dry, you should water your plant.
Once you know where your plant’s moisture level is, you can check it every day until you feel that it needs water, then write down when you watered it. Do this for a week or two, and you will easily see when your plant generally requires water. You now have your Dieffenbachia’s watering schedule.
How to Tell If a Dieffenbachia Plant Is Overwatered
As the beautiful Dieffenbachia plants are tropical, they enjoy staying in moist soil. However, they can still be overwatered if you are not careful with your watering schedule, leading to many problems for this plant.
Overwatering your Dieffenbachia plant can severely affect the health of your plant. If your plant is overwatered for too long, then this can even lead to the death of your plant.
This is why you need to establish a proper watering schedule for your Dieffenbachia plant to avoid overwatering it at all costs. If you are unsure if you are overwatering your Dieffenbachia plant or not, there are a few obvious signs you can look out for.
These signs are quite obvious, so if you are second-guessing yourself, then the problem with your plant might not be overwatering but something else entirely.
Overwatering your Dieffenbachia plant can cause your plant to start wilting. This is due to the plant drowning and starving as it can no longer absorb nutrients from the over-saturated soil. When this happens, your Dieffenbachia plant will look limp and unhappy.
If the overwatering continues, the plant’s leaves will start turning yellow and eventually brown as the plant slowly dies. Overwatering your Dieffenbachia plant can also lead to other problems with your plant, like root rot; it should be dealt with straight away.
Root rot is a fungus that starts growing on the roots of plants when the soil is too saturated with water. The fungus will begin to eat at the roots and stop the plant from absorbing what little nutrients it could absorb from the soil.
Root rot is contagious and can spread from root to root and plant to plant. So, you need to check your Dieffenbachia plant for root rot if you are worried about overwatering your plant, as this is a clear sign of overwatering a plant.
How to Save an Overwatered Dieffenbachia Plant
If you are concerned that your beloved Dieffenbachia plant has been overwatered, don’t worry too much as there might still be a chance of saving your plant.
There is only a chance, though, as this will depend on if there is root rot or not, and if there is root rot, how bad it is will affect your plant’s chances of survival. So, it is best to avoid overwatering your Dieffenbachia plant from the beginning, as prevention of the problem is always best.
To assess your plant’s health and survival rates and possibly fix the problems with your Dieffenbachia plant that overwatering has caused, you will need to replant your Dieffenbachia.
You will need to ensure you have a pot large enough for your Dieffenbachia plant that also has drainage holes, and you will need a well-balanced potting soil mix. When you have everything you need, gently twist your Dieffenbachia plant out of its current pot.
Then carefully remove the excess soil from around the Dieffenbachia’s roots. When the roots are visible, you need to check the roots for rot. The infected roots will look unhealthy, slightly shriveled, and will have a powdery texture.
If you see any roots with root rot, you need to trim the affected roots off the plant using disinfected, sharp scissors. If most of your plant’s roots were infected, then your plant’s chances of survival are quite low.
However, if only a few of the roots were infected, your plant should recover. Once the root rot has been trimmed away, place your plant into its new pot with the new potting soil. When your plant is repotted, place it in a location to receive direct sun for an hour or two to help dry it out.
After an hour or two, place the plant back in its original location and use the steps mentioned above to work out a proper watering schedule for your Dieffenbachia plant.
How to Tell If a Dieffenbachia Plant Is Underwatered
As mentioned earlier, Dieffenbachia plants are native to tropical environments; this means that the plant needs constant moisture to thrive and will suffer if it’s regularly underwatered.
A Dieffenbachia plant that is underwatered will develop some severe problems that could eventually lead to the death of your plant. This is why developing a proper watering schedule for your plant is extremely important.
Regularly underwatering your Dieffenbachia will cause your plant to become dehydrated. This dehydration will start drying out your plant and causing the leaves to change color. The leaves will turn yellow as they shrivel up, eventually turning brown and crumbling when you touch them.
Underwatering will also cause your Dieffenbachia plant to droop or wilt as there is not enough sap in the plant to hold it up anymore due to dehydration. You can easily tell if your Dieffenbachia plant is underwatered by looking at the plant’s soil.
If you see that the soil is completely dry, and when you do the finger test as mentioned above, and you don’t feel any moisture in the soil, your Dieffenbachia plant is most likely underwatered.
You can also distinguish between your plant being over or underwatered by the texture of the leaves. If the leaves are dry and crumble easily when you touch them, underwatering is the problem.
How to Save an Underwatered Dieffenbachia Plant
Underwatering your Dieffenbachia plant can harm your plant’s health but generally not as harmful as overwatering the plant. However, if you underwater your Dieffenbachia plant for too long, this can still lead to the death of your plant.
When you begin to notice the signs mentioned above that indicate that your plant is being underwatered, you still need to act quickly to ensure your plant’s survival. You need to water your Dieffenbachia plant more when you notice the signs.
However, you cannot start watering it with more water; you will need to gradually increase the amount of water you give it over a period of 3 weeks. You will need to water your plant almost daily for the first week during this time.
Then you can move to water it once every second or third day for the second week, and then once every four days until your plant starts to perk up. Then follow the guidelines set out earlier in this article to develop your own watering schedule for your plant.
Final Thoughts
Dieffenbachia plants are not difficult to care for or water. You need to get into your own watering routine with your plant and check it throughout the week to see if it requires more water or not.
Watering your plant correctly is important as not doing so can seriously affect your plant’s health, so follow the procedures in this article to develop your watering schedule. Good luck with your Dieffenbachia plant!
Growing up with a mom who filled her home (inside and out) with all sorts of plants, Lisa got her start in gardening at a young age. Living now on her own with a home and yard full of plants (including an indoor greenhouse), she shares all the gardening tips she’s gained over the years.