We Asked a Gardener If You Should Water Houseplants With Ice, and His Answer Surprised Us

• Garden pros say that you shouldn’t water houseplants with ice cubes.
• Ensure your houseplant gets the right amount of water by establishing a routine of checking the soil for moisture.
• You can also lift your smaller houseplants to test their moisture—the wetter the soil, the heavier the houseplant will feel.

Watering houseplants can be more complicated than it seems. If you’re not paying careful attention to soil moisture and other growing conditions, it’s easy to underwater or overwater your plants. Some plant sellers and home gardeners recommend watering houseplants with ice cubes to give them just enough moisture, but is that really a good idea?

To find out, we asked a houseplant pro to weigh in on this practice. Here’s what one expert has to say about whether you should water houseplants with ice cubes.

Should You Water Houseplants With Ice Cubes?

“No, I don’t recommend watering your plant with ice cubes,” says Justin Hancock, a horticulturist at Costa Farms. “While it does give you an easy way to control the amount of water being added, ice cubes can damage plant stems, leaves, or roots if they come into direct, prolonged contact with the ice.”

This practice may have developed at horticulture industry trade shows, where water supplies could be difficult to come by. Some houseplants, including popular phalaenopsis orchids, use the watering strategy of adding three ice cubes to the pot per week as a way to give home gardeners confidence that they’re not overwatering or underwatering their plant.

It’s thought that the relatively slow uptake of a small water as the ice melts can help avoid too much water rushing out of the inner pot as well as water accumulating in the bottom of the nursery pot, which can cause root rot.

For Hancock, keeping a close eye on your plants, even those that are more drought tolerant, is the best way to ensure you’re giving them what they need.

“Pay attention to your plants and check the moisture level before watering,” he says. “That’s the easiest way to tell if your plants are getting enough or too much water.”

Signs You’re Watering Your Houseplant Incorrectly

Too much or too little water can damage or even kill your plant, so it’s important to watch closely for signs of trouble and act quickly if something seems off. The challenge is that it can be tough to tell which is which—because both moisture issues actually create the same problem for the plant.

“Wilty plants and yellowing or browning leaves can potentially be signs of overwatering or underwatering,” Hancock says. “Unfortunately, these problems can look similar as they’re the same basic problem—the roots can’t absorb enough moisture to support the plant, either because there’s not enough moisture in the soil or because the roots are dying from drowning.”

Other common signs of watering issues include leaf drop, curling leaves, and mushy, brown, or black stems. Mold growing on the soil isn’t a symptom of plant problems itself, but it can indicate overly moist soil, depending on the plant.

Houseplant Care Tips

• Skip the watering schedule. “It’s easy to want to water on a schedule—but your plant may use more or less water at different times,” Hancock says. Instead, check soil moisture on a regular schedule and water based on what you find.
• Stick your finger in the soil. Rather than pricey (and possibly inaccurate) moisture meters, Hancock recommends getting tactile with your plant’s soil to assess moisture levels. A depth of a few inches is usually enough to tell whether your plant needs a drink or not.
• Weigh smaller plants in your hands before watering. If you’d rather not get your hands dirty, you can check soil moisture by picking up tabletop-sized plants and feeling their weight—the wetter it is, the heavier it is.
• Give plants enough light. A plant’s water needs are directly tied to the light it receives, which is why houseplants often need less water in the winter than they do in the spring and summer months when days are longer.