Bedroom plants for people who forget to water
The plants that survive a busy life are the ones that forgive neglect. Choose from a short list of them, check the soil once a week, and let a timer handle the light.
If you have a history of buying a plant for the bedroom, watering it with great enthusiasm for a week, and finding it brown and crisp a month later, the plant was probably wrong for you, not the other way around.
Some plants want attention on a schedule. Others will sit through two weeks of being forgotten and look the same when you come back. For a bedroom, and for anyone whose week does not have much room in it, the second kind is the right kind.
Here is how to choose them, where to put them, and the one weekly habit that keeps them alive.
The forgiving list
These plants forgive a missed watering and less-than-perfect light:
- Snake plant. Stiff upright leaves, content in a corner, and fine going two or three weeks between waterings.
- ZZ plant. Glossy leaves on thick stems, with potato-like rhizomes under the soil that store water. It handles low light and long gaps between drinks.
- Pothos. A trailing vine for a shelf or a dresser. It droops when it is thirsty and perks up after a drink, so it tells you when it is time.
- Cast iron plant. Named for how hard it is to kill. It tolerates dim corners where little else grows.
- Spider plant. Arching striped leaves and small plantlets on long stems. It prefers bright, indirect light but puts up with less.
- Parlor palm. A small, soft palm that copes with lower light.
Buy them at a local garden center, where you can see the plant before it comes home and ask how much light it needs. Shipping is hard on living things.
If you have cats or dogs
Check every plant against the ASPCA’s list of toxic and non-toxic plants before it comes home. On that list, snake plants and pothos are marked toxic to both cats and dogs. Spider plants, cast iron plants and parlor palms are marked non-toxic.
Look up anything else, the ZZ plant included, before you buy it. If a pet is a determined chewer, keep every plant out of reach anyway.
Light matters more than you think
Low light on a plant tag does not mean no light. It means a plant that can live several feet from a window instead of right beside one. In a bedroom with one small window, or one that faces north, even a forgiving plant may grow very slowly and start to drop leaves.
The fix is a grow bulb that fits a regular lamp. A balanced-spectrum grow bulb looks like ordinary white light, so the room does not glow purple, and a plug-in timer switches it on and off every day without anyone remembering. Set it to come on in the morning and go off in the early evening, around twelve hours, so it is never on while you sleep.
Overwatering is the real danger
More houseplants die from too much water than from too little. Soil that stays wet keeps air away from the roots, and the roots rot. By the time the leaves yellow and droop, the damage is already underground.
Three rules prevent most of it:
- Every pot needs a drainage hole. A decorative pot without one should hold a plastic nursery pot that has one.
- Water deeply, then wait. Water until it runs out of the bottom, empty the saucer, and leave the plant alone until the soil dries out again.
- Check before you pour. Push a finger two inches into the soil, or use a moisture meter. If it feels or reads moist, put the watering can down.
Snake plants and ZZ plants want to dry out completely between waterings. Pothos, spider plants, cast iron plants and parlor palms like to dry out only partway.
Self-watering pots, for the thirsty ones
A self-watering pot has a reservoir at the bottom and a wick that draws water up into the soil as it dries. It smooths out the gap between waterings, which suits a plant that does not like to dry out all the way.
Use them for pothos, spider plants and parlor palms. Do not use them for snake plants or ZZ plants. Those two want dry spells, and steady moisture is exactly what rots them.
One check a week, on a day you already have
Pick a weekly anchor you never miss: Sunday coffee, laundry day, the night you change the sheets. That is plant day. Walk to each plant, check the soil, and water only the ones that read dry. Most weeks, that means one or two plants and three minutes.
In winter, plants grow slowly and drink less. Keep the weekly check, but expect to water even less often.
What to actually buy
The plants themselves are best bought in person. These four make them harder to kill.
The moisture meter. A battery-free soil moisture meter with a probe that reads from dry to wet on a 1 to 10 scale. It also reads light and pH, but the moisture reading is the one you will use.
The self-watering pots. A six-pack of 6-inch self-watering pots with a reservoir in the base and a cotton wick, for the pothos, spider plants and parlor palms.
The grow bulb. A two-pack of LED grow bulbs in the standard bulb shape that fits a regular lamp, with a balanced spectrum that looks like ordinary white light.
The timer. A two-pack of plug-in mechanical outlet timers that switch the lamp on and off at the same times every day, set in 30-minute steps.
Who this is not for
- If your bedroom gets strong afternoon sun, you have more choices than this list, including plants that want bright light.
- If you love fussing over plants, these may bore you. They are built to be ignored.
- If you travel for weeks at a time, ask a neighbor to do one soil check halfway through the trip.
Start on any Monday
This week, look at the light in your bedroom at midday. Notice where the window is, which way it faces, and how far the spot you have in mind is from it. Take those notes to a garden center and choose from the forgiving list.
Then pick your weekly anchor and write “plants” next to it on the calendar. The first check takes five minutes. After that, it takes three.