Office Plant Care Guide

This guide exists because the most common question we get after a large gifting order is not about pricing. It is a message from an HR team in week four saying several plants look unwell.

Almost every time, the cause is the same. Somebody has been watering them every second day.

The three rules that matter most

Rule one: check before you water

Push a finger about two centimetres into the soil. If it feels damp, do not water. If it feels dry, water. That test replaces every watering schedule you have ever been given, because how fast soil dries depends on the season, the pot material and where the plant is sitting.

Rule two: empty the saucer

Water that sits in a saucer keeps the bottom of the root ball permanently wet, which is exactly how root rot starts. Water the plant, wait ten minutes, tip out whatever has collected.

Rule three: rotate the pot

Give the pot a quarter turn every fortnight. Plants grow toward light, and a pot that never moves produces a plant leaning permanently at the window. Thirty seconds a fortnight keeps it symmetrical.

Watering by plant type

Light, and how to judge it honestly

Bright indirect light

Within about two metres of a window, but not in the direct beam. This is what most indoor plants mean when they say bright indirect. A desk beside a window that gets morning sun is close to ideal.

Medium light

Three to five metres from a window, or beside a window with a blind that is usually down. Peace lily, aglaonema and syngonium all manage here.

Low light

An interior desk with no line of sight to a window. Only snake plant, ZZ plant and lucky bamboo genuinely cope. Everything else survives for a while and then declines.

The window test

Hold your hand about thirty centimetres above the plant at midday. A sharp defined shadow means bright light. A soft fuzzy shadow means medium. Barely any shadow means low light, and you should choose the plant accordingly.

Common problems and what they mean

Yellow leaves

Usually overwatering. Stop watering, let the soil dry out completely, then restart at a longer interval. If only the oldest lower leaves are yellowing slowly, that is normal ageing.

Brown crispy leaf tips

Dry air, which is common under air conditioning, or a build up of mineral salts from tap water. Move the plant away from the vent, and flush the soil with plenty of water once every few months.

Leggy stretched growth

Not enough light. The plant is reaching. Move it closer to a window, or accept the shape and prune it back to encourage bushier growth.

Small flies around the pot

Fungus gnats, which breed in permanently wet topsoil. Let the top two centimetres dry out fully between waterings and they disappear within a fortnight.

White crust on the soil surface

Mineral deposits from tap water. Scrape off the top centimetre of soil, replace it with fresh, and water with filtered water or water that has stood overnight.

What to do before a long holiday

Under a week

Nothing. Water normally before leaving. Every plant in our catalogue handles a week.

One to two weeks

Water thoroughly, move the plant away from direct light so it uses less water, and move it away from air conditioning vents. Succulents, snake plants and ZZ plants need nothing at all.

More than two weeks

Move the plant to a self watering pot if you have one, or stand the pot in a shallow tray with about two centimetres of water and a cotton wick running into the soil. For an office wide shutdown, group all plants together away from windows, which raises local humidity and slows water loss.

Reviving a plant that looks finished

Before discarding anything, check the roots. Slide the plant out of the pot. Firm white or tan roots mean the plant is recoverable. Black, soft, foul smelling roots mean root rot, and you need to cut away everything affected, repot in fresh dry soil, and not water for a week.

Snake plants, ZZ plants and succulents recover from surprisingly severe neglect. Ferns and flowering plants generally do not. If in doubt, try, because there is nothing to lose.