How often to water Chinese money plant

The interval

A Chinese money plant is watered about every 7 days in the growing season and about every 12 days in winter. Growing season means the warm, bright months from spring to early autumn, roughly March to September in the northern hemisphere and September to March in the southern. Winter is the cold, short-day part of your own year. The Royal Horticultural Society says plants in a cool room need water less often than plants in a warm one, and this plant, which NC State Extension says comes from shady, cool mountain areas of Yunnan, is a clear case of it.

Check the top 3 cm of compost with a finger and water when it is dry at that depth. Then lift the pot, because the RHS notes that drier pots feel lighter than wet ones. The plant gives you a third signal as well. The leaves droop and the stems soften when it is thirsty, and it recovers within hours of a drink, so a droop is a request and not an emergency.

Water from the top until water runs from the drainage holes, wait ten minutes and empty the saucer. NC State Extension advises a moist, well drained mix and says to avoid wetting the foliage, because wet leaves can spot. Humidity is medium for this plant, so ordinary room air does. Turn the pot a quarter turn each week while you are at it, so it grows evenly.

Too much water is the way to lose one, and NC State Extension warns that it is susceptible to root rot if overwatered. A pot of wet compost is slow to dry, so wait for the finger test before you water again. Too little gives the droop above.

What is particular to this plant is its pups. Small plants push up around the parent and along the stem, and left in place they crowd the pot with roots so that the compost dries within a day. Take the pups off when you repot, into their own small pots, and a pot that dried too fast becomes an ordinary pot again.

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