10 "Rules" You Must Break For Thriving Plants

Do you water your plants when the top two inches of soil is dry, break up the roots when repotting and only use distilled water like you've been told countless times but still find that your plants are not thriving? Well these so-called golden rules that you're reading here everywhere are holding you and your plants back so it's time to rebel and ditch them for the sake of your green babies. And thanks to Squarespace for sponsoring today's video. Repotting a plant is unfortunately one of those jobs that does need doing if we want our plants to sing. When I first started repotting I read the classic rule over and over only move your plant into a pot one size bigger. It's supposed to prevent over-watering and root rot they said but honestly I never really understood the logic. Always felt like a waste of time to move my plants just one size up. It seemed like such a tiny increase in space and I wanted my plants to have room to really grow not to be confined in a pot that was barely bigger than the one they'd outgrown. So I started going bigger two sizes or sometimes even three and you know what? It's been just fine. The key I found is making sure the new pot isn't massive. You don't want to go from a small pot to a bucket but a few extra inches are totally fine in my book. In fact I've noticed that giving my plants a little more space has allowed them to stretch their legs and grow at a healthy pace instead of being cramped in a pot that's barely bigger than the old one. As long as the pot has proper drainage and you're mindful of watering going bigger has never been a problem for me. I used to think misting my plants was the secret to giving them that rainforest glow. Even the legend Monty Don himself does it on Gardeners World when he does a bit on indoor plants. So every morning I'd grab my little spray bottle and lovingly spritz their leaves imagining I was recreating a tropical paradise in my living room. It felt so nurturing and warmed the cockles of my heart no end. But then one day I noticed something was off. My once beautiful caliphate was developing strange spots on her leaves and my beloved fiddly fig, his edges were crisping up no matter how much I misted him. At first I couldn't figure it out. Was I not misting enough? Should I be misting more? I dove into research only to discover the cold hard truth. Misting wasn't helping my plants at all. In fact it was making them worse. Those spots were from moisture sitting on the leaves too long inviting fungus to the party. And the dry edges? Misting wasn't doing anything to raise the overall humidity my plants actually needed. It just evaporated in seconds. Now instead of wasting time misting I just let my plants sit there and get used to my house humidity and if he doesn't like it in the bin he goes. One of the most common pieces of plant care advice is water when the top two inches of soil feel dry. It's simple right? Except it's not. The rule is so general it doesn't take into account the actual needs of your plants, the type of soil or even the home environment. It's like saying eat when you're hungry without considering what kind of food you need to feel your best. For starters different plants have wildly different water requirements. A moisture loving fern and a drought tolerant snake plant won't thrive on the same watering schedule. Plus what does top two inches even mean for a plant in a deep pot? That soil may feel dry on the surface while the roots below are sitting in a swampy mess. Overwatering is one of the quickest ways to kill a plant and blindly following this rule can lead you straight there. Instead I try to water based on the entire root zone. It sounds tricky I know but I do have just the thing to help you. Use a moisture meter to check deeper into the pot. I always aim for the bottom half and poke around a few times to read the whole pot. It might take longer but it avoids the pain of a dead plant further down the road. I used to be obsessed with the idea that no plant should ever be placed in direct sunlight. The conventional wisdom was clear. Direct sun leads to leaf burn, dehydration and unhappy plants. So I followed the rule religiously keeping my plants tucked away in corners with only indirect light and they seemed to be okay but they never really thrived. They grew slowly, the leaves looked a little sad and I couldn't help but feel like something was missing. Then one day I thought well what if I just broke this rule a little. So I moved a few of my plants, my snake plant, my monstera right into the path of some direct sunlight. I figured I'd keep an eye on them just in case they freaked out and to my surprise they loved it. Mr Monstera started growing faster, his leaves were larger and holier and Mr Snake Plant seemed to be loving life. No signs of burning and no crispy edges. I was skeptical at first but the results spoke for themselves. Now I place most of my plants in bright direct sunlight here in my conservatory for at least a few hours a day. Do bear in mind though that I live in a temperate climate i.e. it's cloudy and miserable for 70% of the time. If I live somewhere like the desert then I'll be on the lookout for fading leaves and whatnot. I remember the first time I decided to repot my beloved monstera. He'd outgrown his pot and the roots were starting to peek out from every drainage hole. Armed with gardening gloves and a fresh bag of soil I was determined to give my plant the best chance to flourish. Carefully I lifted him from his snug home gently teasing apart the tangled roots making sure each one had space to breathe. It felt like performing surgery on a green friend and I was proud of my meticulous effort. Days turned into weeks and I eagerly anticipated signs of new growth but instead of thriving my monstera seemed stressed. The leaves drooped and those once vibrant splits lost their luster. I couldn't understand what went wrong. I had followed every right step, breaking up the roots to encourage healthy expansion, ensuring proper drainage and providing just the right amount of water and light. Then after some research and a few sleepless nights the truth hit me. Monstera plants like many others actually prefer their root systems to remain as undisturbed as possible. Before I get into the nitty-gritty of why this is, are you looking to build a beautiful website, start an online store or even create a portfolio to showcase your work? If you are then today's video sponsor Squarespace is everything you need. I've been using Squarespace to set up and manage my website for over a year now and I really have found it a breeze to use. They've got tons of templates to help you get started and their grid system lets you drop in any text or images you need to create a stunning website in minutes. Squarespace gives you powerful analytics and marketing tools to help you grow your online presence and you've got AI to call on to help you easily create your website. Head to squarespace.com to start your free trial today and when you're ready to launch use code SHAFFIELD for 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain. So breaking up the roots can shock your plant leading to the very issues I was seeing. Instead of forcing the roots apart a gentle loosening of the soil without excessive ape handedness allows the plant to adjust naturally and continue growing strong. A few years ago I decided to create the ultimate plant paradise in my living room by grouping all my tropical plants together. I'd read about the benefits how plants naturally release moisture through transpiration and by clustering them I could raise the humidity around them. The idea sounded so simple and I was sure this was the missing piece to my plant care puzzle but my plants didn't seem to thrive any more than they had before. In fact they started looking a little off. The leaves were still crispy and some plants even seemed to be getting more pests than usual. I couldn't figure out what went wrong but then I realized something crucial. Grouping plants together doesn't actually do much to raise humidity in a meaningful way. Sure a small increase might happen in a micro environment but it's not really enough to make a significant difference. In fact what I hadn't considered was that grouping plants can actually make it easier for pests to jump from ship to ship and invade my little kingdom. So I learned the hard way that while clustering plants might look nice it's not the humidity boosting miracle I thought it would be. Now I used to be all about terracotta pots. Everyone says they're the gold standard for plants right? They're breathable, they wick away moisture, they look rustic, basically they check every box. I even convinced myself that using anything else was a plant crime. But then I started noticing a pattern. My plants in terracotta pots weren't growing as well as I'd hoped. The soil dried out way too quickly especially in summer and my plants started showing signs of stress. The leaves were drooping and I was constantly worried I wasn't watering enough or maybe too much. That's when I decided to challenge the rule and experiment. I swapped out the terracotta for plastic pots and I've never looked back. My plants started to perk up almost immediately. The soil stayed more evenly moist and I didn't have to water every five minutes. My caliphas which used to look miserable in terracotta suddenly started thriving. Terracotta isn't the miracle material it's cracked up to be. It works for some plants that prefer drier conditions of course but for others it's a recipe for stress for the plant and for me. When I first got into plants I downloaded every plant care app I could find and they all promised to help me keep my plants alive by setting up perfect watering schedules. Monday was monstera day, Thursday was for the pothos and Sundays were all about the ferns. I followed the notifications like clockwork, feeling like the most organized plant parent on the planet. At first it seemed to work but then I started noticing little problems. My monstera's leaves developed weird spots and my pothos looked droopy even though I was watering right on schedule. Confused I dug deeper, literally. The soil in some pots was bone dry while others were swampy. It turns out plants don't care about your app's notifications. Who knew? They care about the environment they're in which changes constantly. Light, temperature, humidity and even the time of year all affect how quickly soil dries out. Now I ignore the schedule and check my plants individually and these days I find the quickest way to check if a plant is thirsty is to pick him up. Heavy and I wait a few more days. Light as a feather and I've neglected him for too long. Sorry pal. A little while ago I was convinced that distilled water was the only way to go. After all it's pure, free of chemicals and supposedly perfect for delicate plants like calathea and spider plants. So I dutifully lugged bottles of distilled water home thinking I was giving my greenery the best possible care. At first everything seemed fine. My plants looked healthy and I patted myself on the back for being such a dedicated plant parent. But over time something strange started happening. Growth slowed, leaves yellowed and some plants seemed stunted. I couldn't figure it out. I was watering with the cleanest water possible. Then I stumbled across a little detail that flipped everything upside down. Distilled water can actually strip nutrients from the soil. Because it's so pure it doesn't contain the minerals found in tap water or rainwater and worse it can leach existing nutrients out of the potting mix. My plants weren't thriving because they were starving. And that's when I ditched the distilled water. Now I add a couple of drops of water conditioner to get rid of the chlorine in my tap water and my plants are singing. When I first started caring for plants I stuck to the prune only in spring rule like it was carved in stone. Every care guy told me that cutting plants back at any other time of year would stress them out, stun their growth or ruin their chances of bouncing back. So I left my straggly pothos and my overgrown purple palida alone waiting for that magical spring window to roll around. But the truth is plants don't stop growing just because it's not spring. By the time pruning season arrived my plants were a tangled mess of yellowing leaves, leggy growth and overcrowded stems. It was a nightmare. One day I couldn't take it anymore. It was autumn and my philodendron was flopping about all over the gaff. So I grabbed my scissors and pruned away without a second's thought. And guess what? It was fine. Better than fine actually. The plants started sprouting fresh healthy growth within weeks. Now I prune whenever it's needed. Spring, summer, winter or fall. As long as the plant isn't in deep dormancy or under stress a little trim here or there keeps it healthier, more manageable all year round. I used to treat healthy roots like sacred relics. The rule was clear. Never cut healthy roots. It sounded logical. Why mess with something that's working right? So every time I repotted a plant I carefully untangled the roots, gave them all the space they needed and left every single healthy root intact no matter how chaotic the root ball looked. Then I learned something that changed my approach. Sometimes healthy roots can be part of the problem. If a plant is root bound those long healthy looking roots are just circling endlessly unable to explore new soil. By leaving them untouched I was setting the plant up to continue its old habits. Now I'm not afraid to trim healthy roots when needed. A few strategic cuts encourage the plant to grow fresh roots that spread into the new pot and before you say anything this is very different to ripping the roots apart like a savage. Nice clean cuts are much friendlier. In fact this is one of 10 things plant experts do to their plants to make them thrive. You should watch this video next to check out the other nine and I'll see you there.