Today’s #plantfailfriday post is about THE WORD “overwatering” and why it has failed to impart good house plant understanding (I’ll try my best to keep this brief because I could write a book about it…well actually a good portion of my book-in-progress is about this).
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Ambiguous definition: if you say someone is over-eating, it can mean this person ate too much at once and/or this person is in the habit of eating more than is healthy. Over-doing anything is typically defined as both doing too much at once and too much for an extended time. This is why the word “overwatering” can legitimately be interpreted in either sense. Any good house plant care guide will expand on this further and tell you “overwatering” refers to the prolonged condition of overly moist soil, but the ambiguity still exists – not everyone will search for further clarification.
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Root cause analysis: because “watering” is the action taken by the plant caretaker, saying that you killed the plant by overwatering gives the impression that the ROOT CAUSE of death was this action of watering. We know that in nature, rain can last for days and yet, there aren’t mass die-offs of rainforest plants so clearly there are other factors involved. In order for plants to work, they need the right light. In order for roots to be healthy, the soil structure needs to hold water and have some airflow (hint: soil aeration when you don’t have worms indoors). Therefore, proper watering can only be achieved in the presence of the right light and the right soil structure.
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The word “overwatering” will not scare you when you understand how plants work – they only do their work when the light is right.
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