How Often Should You Water Your Potted Dieffenbachia Plant [3 factors]

by
How Can I Tell if My Potted Dieffenbachia Plant Needs Water?

If you are looking for a way to give your living space, office, or restaurant a refreshing, quick, and low-cost makeover, get yourself some indoor potted dieffenbachia plants.

Apart from having an extremely beautiful, calming, and refreshing appeal, the dieffenbachia plant is one of the easiest to maintain and care for indoor planters.

As long as the indoor potted dieffenbachia is watered according to its needs and is kept in a cool and well-shaded environment, it will be able to retain its undeniable beauty, lush green color, and strength to remain upright.

However, although the general care routine for a dieffenbachia plant is quite easy, the indoor planter’s average lifespan can significantly be shortened as soon as it is overwatered.

At times, the owner is not as much to blame for the overwatering. Instead, the excessive moisture in the air is why the potted dieffenbachia dies and decays prematurely.

However, if the plant owner can find ways to regulate and control the external atmospheric conditions the dieffenbachia plant is grown in, the evergreen planter will be able to offer its therapeutic and healing company for multiple years.

Continue reading the rest of the article to learn what makes an indoor potted dieffenbachia plant so special and the watering and basic care guidelines every dieffenbachia plant owner needs to know.

Moreover, the article will also elaborate on what happens when an indoor potted dieffenbachia plant is overwatered.

Let’s get started!

What Makes an Indoor Potted Dieffenbachia Plant a Popular Purchase Across the USA?

Over the years, indoor planters have become quite popular in the USA and many other countries worldwide.

From tall indoor bamboo shoots to various extremely unique and different succulents, people simply cannot get enough of their indoor plants.

As a result, the new term ‘plant parent’ has become quite popular everywhere in the world, and many critics have called these indoor planters the ‘new pets’ of today’s era.

However, despite the growing global demand, many plant parents constantly complain about the challenges of keeping their indoor plants alive.

In general, most indoor plant species are far more sensitive compared to most outdoor plant species. Hence, even when people try to care for their indoor planters, they still kill them in just a few months.

However, fortunately, some indoor plant species, such as the dieffenbachia, have the unique natural ability to thrive even with less than ideal growing conditions, grow without excessive attention, and stay alive and evergreen for many years.

The dieffenbachia plant is well known for its tall height and wide dark-green leaves, with some lighter green and yellow markings in the middle.

Since the dieffenbachia is able to survive with very little care, owners of this indoor planter get to enjoy its company for a very long time.

Apart from the high tolerance, undeniable visual appeal, and refreshing aura of the indoor potted dieffenbachia plant, there are many other reasons to consider investing in a potted dieffenbachia plant.

Some of these reasons are as follows:

  • The indoor dieffenbachia plant is one of the best house planters for air purification.
  • Dieffenbachia is known to be an extremely efficient carbon dioxide absorber, and hence it gives out a lot of fresh oxygen.
  • Hence, people with different respiratory diseases requiring them to live in fresh and clean atmospheres should always invest in multiple dieffenbachia planters.
  • Moreover, indoor dieffenbachia is an excellent choice for homes or regions that do not get a lot of sunlight due to excessive cloud cover.
  • Since the plant is best suited to growing in well-shaded areas, one can easily place the dieffenbachia pot in any corner of their hours without worrying about getting the plant some sunlight.
  • Furthermore, the indoor dieffenbachia plant is also of great interest to many pharmaceutical companies for its many medicinal benefits.
  • For instance, the sap of the dieffenbachia plant is used to create the antidote against snakebites.
  • Moreover, it is also used to treat burns, warts, and even tumors.

Read How Can I Tell if My Potted Dieffenbachia Plant Needs Less Sunlight?

How Often Should You Water Your Potted Dieffenbachia Plant?

As mentioned above, one of the most attractive and unique qualities of the indoor potted dieffenbachia plant is its ability to survive and thrive on the bare minimum.

This goes for the plant’s sunlight requirements, its watering requirements, and even the amount of fertilizer it needs. Dieffenbachia can survive even with a low amount of these.

When it comes to watering the plant, the main thing you need to worry about is overwatering it since this plant can survive with very little water.

Hence, if you own a potted dieffenbachia, you do not have to constantly worry about watering your indoor plant every other day.

Instead, the dieffenbachia plant grows best when only traces of water are available. Hence, to ensure that your indoor potted dieffenbachia plant remains healthy, green, and alive, it is advised to only water the plant once every two weeks.

However, if the external environments are too dry, and the leaves of the potted dieffenbachia plant seem to be turning brown or yellow, you can water it after just seven days.

Moreover, even when you water your potted dieffenbachia plant after two weeks, remember to water it just enough to dampen the soil.

If too much water accumulates inside the dieffenbachia plant’s pot, the indoor plant’s health and well-being might be negatively affected.

Hence, the best tip is to always use a spray water bottle with a controllable spray when watering your indoor potted dieffenbachia plant to eliminate the chances of overwatering it.

Furthermore, it is also important that the water should be clean, fresh, clear of any hard metal contamination, and free of any pests or fungal spores.

Click this link: Do Dieffenbachia Like Humidity? [Signs And Process]

What Are the Other Basic Care Tips for an Indoor Potted Dieffenbachia Plant?

Apart from watering your indoor potted dieffenbachia plant just once in a two-week period, it is also important to follow the other care tips mentioned below:

  • Always keep your indoor potted dieffenbachia plant in a well-shaded area of the house so that it is concealed from any direct or indirect sunlight.
  • Always cut and trim the dieffenbachia plant’s damaged or dried-out bottom leaves to encourage new leaf growth.
  • Repot the dieffenbachia plant into a well-nourished and drained potting mix after every two-three months.
  • Always ensure that the soil of the potted dieffenbachia plant is well-drained.
  • Invest in pots that have a good drainage system.
  • Place the indoor potted dieffenbachia plant in a well-ventilated area.
  • Water your indoor potted dieffenbachia plant only after checking whether the top layer of the soil is dry to about 2.5 centimeters.
  • If there is moisture within this layer, put off watering the dieffenbachia plant.
  • Although the soil of the potted dieffenbachia plant should be well-drained, it should always be slightly moist and never fully dry.

What Happens When an Indoor Potted Dieffenbachia Plant is Overwatered?

Ever wondered why too much water can kill your potted dieffenbachia plant? This is because accumulated water will lead to the plant’s root decay.

This is how it happens:

  • When an indoor potted dieffenbachia plant is watered beyond its requirements, the roots refuse to absorb any more water than their cell capacity.
  • Hence, all the extra water remains unused and accumulates inside the dieffenbachia pot as there is no way for the plant’s roots to store it.
  • Since wet soil conditions are the perfect home for fungal growth, any fungal spores in the air can easily settle and grow inside the dieffenbachia’s soil. The soil also promotes the growth of bacteria that can eat away at the plant.
  • It usually will only take a couple of days for the fungal growth to reach the dieffenbachia plant’s soil and fully cover its roots.
  • Once the roots are covered by fungus, they will rot and die.
  • Since there will be no more healthy or functional roots to absorb the dieffenbachia plant’s necessary water intake, the entire plant will get dehydrated.
  • Due to the dieffenbachia plant’s excellent tolerance, it will usually take a few days for the signs and symptoms of dehydration to become apparent.
  • However, once the dieffenbachia plant’s leaves turn brown and dry and its stem loses its ability to remain upright, keeping the plant alive becomes quite challenging.

Final Thoughts

People who invest in indoor potted dieffenbachia plants are often pleased with the planter’s high tolerance, resistance, and unique ability to thrive on deprivation.

However, although the general care routine for a dieffenbachia plant is quite simple, frequent overwatering can cause the plant to lose its strength and die very quickly.

Hence, if you wish to enjoy the calming company and presence of your indoor dieffenbachia plant, it is important that you only water it once every two weeks, along with making sure that your living or office space is well-ventilated. Remember, a lot of plants are incredibly heavy investments. Moreover, people get plants to help them improve their mental health. As a result, losing a plant because you didn’t take care of it will take a toll on you – both mentally and financially.

Also, read more articles here: