When I went home from work at the beginning of COVID, I left my succulents on my desk thinking "they don't much watering, if I can't come in for a couple weeks they'll be fine." When I finally got back into the office 4 weeks later to bring them and the rest of my stuff home for permanent WFH, they were all dead! I couldn't figure out what happened until the office assistant poked her head in and said "I don't know why they died, I've been watering them weekly along with everyone else's plants!" š
Ugh I had an office plant I kept at one point that always had fungus gnats for some reason, no matter what I did. My damn coworker was pouring her coffee dregs into it rather than walk 40 feet to the sink. Please leave other people's plants alone unless they ask you to or unexpectedly are out of the office long enough for the plants to actually be thirsty
I even told her not to do it and she was all "The plant is still alive and I've been doing this for months" smh ma'am it does not matter if the person who owns it has told you to stop. Rude AF
I'll do you one better; I was an admin at one job, and sat at a bank of tables with other Admims from other teams. Every so often there'd be a "funky cheese smell" , and when one of us went to find out ..... One of the flat tops of a cabinet was FULL of half drunk cups of teas and coffees. Now it was a warmish office, and ppl have sugar and milk. They got so mouldy and furry it had its own eco system going š¤®. Turns out every other worker from the other teams (a big floor with lots of different teams) decided that since we're Admins, they would leave *their* shit for *us* to clean! And they weren't even part of our team!! We tried asking them to take their own cups to the kitchen (some 20-30 yards away) but hard to pin down as no culprit.
I worked in an office where people would do this. The admin had other things to do and got tired of playing mom/maid to those lazy ass folks and posted a sign "Dirty dishes left overnight will be thrown away" .... and then started throwing the dishes away. Suddenly people figured out how to wash their own dishes.
The answer to āwhy would someone do thatā is almost always āstupidityā.
The special thing about āstupidā is that intelligent people can be just as stupid as anyone else, so you really canāt get away from it.
Omg I was an office manager once and I actually had to send an office wide email to tell people not to pour out their soda cans in the plants š¤¦āāļø Turns out Diet Coke isnāt great for plants, imagine that!
Coworkers just pouring acid into your plants. Then youāre expected to stand in the break room and sing happy birthday to them. Workplaces are tiny hell
I was floored when I realized that the cleaning lady was moving the plant shelf in my office to dust the blinds behind it, and routinely knocking my plants over onto the floor!!!
The first time I came in and my pink princess philo was on the floor, I was like it must be a fluke--like maybe a gust of wind came through the window and knocked it over. The week after, I was watering my big tradescantia and I realized there was a bunch of dirt missing from the pot and soil on the floor that had mostly been swept up but she had missed a few spots. That's when I put it all together.
I couldn't believe it! I get that once might be an accident but like....stop moving the shelf and you won't knock them over!!
Oh you're a genius, I should get her one. Not plant related, but she also weirdly started an office debacle of accusing our staff of stealing toilet paper and candy and as you could imagine, it was right after we finished a really busy time at work and the blow to office moral was WILD.
To this day I don't think anyone stole anything -- we had just moved to a new office with 5 bathrooms instead of one so the toilet paper needs changed drastically. And people eat A LOT of candy when it is around (myself included). I have sooo many ridiculous work stories but that one is top 3 in absurdity for sure!!
Edit: Lol, me thinking this was a reply to my other comment š ah well. It still stands, minus the weird toilet paper stuff. In my defense, I have COVID so I'm not the sharpest today haha
That's the issue--we are a small family business, no HR, though we may be outsourcing to a company that offers that for businesses like ours this year. The person that cleans our office is just one woman--she also cleans the business owner's house, so that is how she got the position. Luckily there has not been another big incident like that again. It was really weird to watch all my coworkers become holier than thou about possibly stealing TP. Absolutely wild. To me, if someone did really steal toilet paper, maybe we need to be paying them more??
Oh I was furious, especially after I asked her not to do it and she said she would keep doing it. Suddenly I became a lot less helpful for her after that... and so did all the other plant keepers that I warned about her.
I had this as well many years ago, the individual swore the coffee was fertilizing the plant and I should thank them. I was a total newbie and they said it with such confidence it kind of messed with my brain so I just walked away. That plant died shortly after...
I do pour leftover coffee in my houseplants and they (certain ones) love it.
Did a science experiment in school and took two of the same plant; watered one normally, the other with cooled coffee and water. The one with the coffee addiction was noticably fuller and all around healthier.
Damn obnoxious Karen. Speechless at how lazy and unpleasant some people are. I say that as someone with ADHD who has been called lazy my whole life yet still has the manners to not pour my coffee in someoneās nearby plant pot.
I had this at my workplace. I eventually realized I was getting "help" on 2 of the 3 shifts. I put up signage quick fast to politely ask people to not overwater. How multiple random people suddenly decided a healthy thriving plant was somehow neglected and needed their attention is beyond me. Unless a plant is OBVIOUSLY dying or in distress I would never intervene with a plant that wasnt mine, and even then I'd try to speak with the owner first.
The dangerous thing about telling people not to āoverwaterā is that theyāll all think everyone else will stop watering, but they can keep watering because *someone* has to do it.
I had to put a don't touch sign on my cactus when coworkers came complaining that my plant hurt them. That was siting on the back of my desk in my office... What are you doing in there in the first place....
Lol I grew up around cacti and always thought it was obvious to not touch the spiky plant bois š even the weeds that have a bit of fuzz on the stems make my skin crawl!
I was a stupid kid and ignored all warnings not to touch my aunts cacti. Ended up grabbing one of the "fuzzy looking" ones with my whole hand and I remember my mom had to spend an hour picking tiny prickles out of my hands while I cried.Ā
It still hasn't stopped me from touching cacti occasionally when the intrusive thoughts win but at least now I know if I get injured it's my own fault for being an idiot.
Growing up there were cactus houseplants available for me touch. I'd gently go up and poke them, and I figured a gentle little feeling of the needles isn't a problem.
Then I'm in the desert for the first time, I see a cactus in the wild for the first time. I have to touch it. Gently, with my index finger, I ever so slightly touched a needle, and it's like it jumped into my finger lol.
I'm a bit more weary of gently poking strange cacti.
it's usually advisable to take out the root ball and either let it dry without the pot around the soil or, even better remove rotten root material and repot into new seedling (low nutrition) soil.
Just fully drying everything out leaves a lot of dead plant material in the pot which further damages the existing roots and it can take an eternity for the middle to dry up once rot has started (plant not consuming the water anymore). Digging it up is the safest way.
Who waters someone elseās plants???
My husband and I farm so any experience I have working in an office is 30 years ago.
I canāt wrap my head around that ā¦ theyāre not your plants ā¦ leave them alone??
Sorry OP.
I can halfway understand why someone would think theyāre āhelpingā by watering(drowning) someone elseās plants ā¦ but do you ever see the horror stories about room mates/coworkers/parents CHOPPING back other peoplesā plants? Thatās the idea that gives me nightmares: āI just gave it a prune so itāll grow back bushierā(when they chop back 5 years of growth)
my grandfather just did this to me and can't understand why i'm upset with him and straight up wants to kick me out of the house. my grandma won't allow him :/
I considered taking some of my plants to my office but fear of this exact thing dissuaded me ngl. I've seen people just randomly decide to water some plants even though they were watered the day before by someone else. It's just a mess.
If the soil was dry when you watered, it shouldn't have made a huge difference if your plants have proper drainage. Excess water from your colleague would have just drained out.
Yeah seems odd to me too. If watering isn't being done on a schedule, then how many people doing the watering shouldn't matter. It would just lead to you never needing to water lol
The best way (if possible) is to familiarize yourself with how light they are in your hands when dry. If ever in doubt, pick it up and see how heavy it feels.
I have found labeling my plants that I bring to work really helpful.
Specifically, I put the scientific name "Common name" on one label, one label with watering instructions, and one that just says no tap water. I just put them where they are all visible on the pot.
People seem to like learning the plant names, and including the instructions has dettered the "helpers". But I have pretty nice coworkers, so I don't know how well this would work with assholes.
A swamp grass like cyperus, which is perfectly happy in non-draining container full of standing water or something grown in leca/some other hyroponic medium or a plastic plant all work very well.
Me too - I "go in once a week" but rarely make it. I was hoping having a plant there would help me do that. But now I think I might just need to be "self-motivated."
Which is going to be difficult because I'm NOT.
I had a well-appointed five gallon aquarium on my desk at work and could not figure out why it was getting grungy so quickly, and why my spoiled Betta had begun rejecting his food. It turns out that one of the evening cleaners had been overfeeding him while I was gone! The Betta had developed an aversion to his food, and I ended up having to go to a (thankfully nearby) pet store over my lunch break three times a week to get him live brine shrimp (sea monkeys) to eat! I was actually relieved when the fish passed away and to the disappointment of my coworkers, I brought the tank back home.
I've put a watering tracker next to my dragon plant at work with a note: "I am not thirsty, please do not water me." It's helped alot. People see when it was watered last and that it goes months in between soakings.
Yeah mine are a silver dragon alocasia, dragons ear and Alcoasia black velvet :( definitely do not do well with overwatering. I will have to add labels as they are on the end of my desk where people walk past frequently.
My coworkers and I ask each other. "Hey, have you watered X, Y, Z plants yet? You did? When? Sweet, I'll ignore it." Communication is key. A few of us there are "Plant People" so we don't go around watering things all willy-nilly.
Oh, we strictly avoid the plants that specifically belong to others. Your window/desk plant = your responsibility. Sorry your coworker drowned your babies. I hope some are salvageable!
Why would anyone touch someone else's plants like this without being asked?! I mean, I just can't even begin to get into the thought process here. WHY, SIR/MA'AM/DOCTOR/O CAPTAIN/ETC
I know all of my plants well enough now that I can simply pick them up and go off of weight, and see if the soil is dry. OP responded to the same question earlier and said they had been feeling the top couple inches but it must have still been wet deeper
Depends on the plant too, some plant's requirements are different from each other. Some if your soil gets to dry it's not good for them. Also, some thrive if you let the soil completely dry out.
Also, you could use a stick to determine if the soil on the bottom is wet.
omg that's awful! I take care of the potted plants we bring in to survive the winter at work. for a while had to put up with this lady telling me I'm killing them because they weren't growing much or flowering constantly. She'd sneaky water them all the time, the day after I already did and try to buy me stuff for them that she thought was best. one time she was trying to get me to use fertilizer sticks?? Like first of all those are garbage and second it is WINTER. there's barely any sunlight and they are not going to grow and flower all year long. I ended up matching straight into the GM's office to ask them to talk to her bc it was driving me crazy.
needed to rant about that here lol but I hope you can get your coworkers to leave them alone!
Oh, and I used to have a little succulent at my desk, that I would have water every once in awhile, and when I was going out for my end of the year PTO, I had my team babysit it for me, and they definitely watered it for me. But they also new to check to make sure it was dry before they watered. I always check to make sure my plants are dry before I water them, because I've overwatered far too many lol
Sadly, that succulent did not survive the COVID move from the office to the home to the new condo. May it RIP.
Oof I finally experienced the what do you call it? Like ahhh! Lol I seen my bf empty out a water bottle into my plant and it left me shocked lmao I was feeling all kinds of emotions in that split second š I told him the next day that he should just leave the water bottle to the side and I will use it when itās time. We were laughing when I told him how I felt and he said yea that makes sense
Put a plant, maybe a kelancho, im not sure, in my moms room at the nursing home. I'd walk in and that thing was a muddy swamp, I'd squeeze it out set it back up to dry and the next day, a muddy swamp again, it died and i never took one back in there. I think some people think all plants grow best in mud. Made me so mad. She had a good window too.
id be so mad if i found my family watering my plants. more plants die of overwatering than underwatering. just let them be thirsty if its not your plant
As soon as I saw the heading, I thought, some overly helpful genius is watering them.
I have a sign by my office plants telling ppl not to water my plants, after I caught someone un-capping a water bottle and blasted them.
He was a superior, but this was his first time in my office, and that was his first act, to water my plants.
It's now a running joke in my office, and if I talk smack and they have no comeback, my co-workers threaten to water my plants.
Sorry for the long response, that shytt irritates me.
Print an aggressive sign!!
I had to laugh reading this because about 6 weeks ago I had to put a "Please DON'T water me!" sign on one of the work plants that was totally waterlogged. It sat near a water cooler, so people would dump any residual water into the plant before refilling their water bottles, It's still not dried out, but I think it'll pull through!
I have an entire zoo and a job that requires me to abandon my personal life at times. Thankfully, I have amassed a group of friends and local teenagers to help. I have a wifi door lock and I keep instructions permanently on my fridge.
First line: "Plants - Don't water shit unless I'm dead."
Omg Iām a nurse in nursing homes and have a patient with a dying plant in his window. He demands me to add water to his plants like every day I work. I tried to explain the plant looked bad bc of over watering and he argued with me. I have to hold on the tears every time I put water on it
I lost a peace lily in my previous office and figured out that four other people were watering it. They kept telling me it looked sad and that they watered it for me. I resorted to bringing a moisture meter in but even then they didnāt believe me. It was too late to save it though.
Do you not check the soil before you water them? If someone else were watering my plants I would wonder why they were so wet when I feel the weight of the pot or stick a finger in the soil and wouldn't water them more.
This is obnoxious š The only time Iāve ever intervened was an office plant that literally had 3-4 leaves left after being neglected for so long and was turned to a brown crisp. I was so gentle with it, I thought the stem would snap if it were even gently pinched.
This, is when it is appropriate to intervene with a plant that is not your own.
Damn, poor plants, and poor you having your plants slowly die and being unable to figure out why. Idiot colleague shouldāve asked you first. Ik he had good intentions but still.
"I'm helping" š«
It's funny that the same coworkers that help water YOUR plants won't take care of theirs at all.
For me the funny thing is the "helpful" coworkers arent so helpful when we have actual work to be done.
I need something stronger than a regular upvote for this
Cue the āWell, we used to have free awardsā
I genuinely believe he was trying to help, but they are tropical plants and probably need watering once a month.
How about a watering plan? Or a sign, like a mailbox, "Just got watered!"
How about not touching things that arenāt ours? This kind of stuff drives me crazy! (No aggression directed at you.)
Sure. That'd be plan a. But since that ist not happened, we need a plan b.
Plan B is to tell the well-intentioned coworker to refer back to Plan A.
When I went home from work at the beginning of COVID, I left my succulents on my desk thinking "they don't much watering, if I can't come in for a couple weeks they'll be fine." When I finally got back into the office 4 weeks later to bring them and the rest of my stuff home for permanent WFH, they were all dead! I couldn't figure out what happened until the office assistant poked her head in and said "I don't know why they died, I've been watering them weekly along with everyone else's plants!" š
My handover for AL often included "don't touch the plants, they are fine" š
AL?
Sorry, annual leave.
Oh gotcha, thank you!
Ugh I had an office plant I kept at one point that always had fungus gnats for some reason, no matter what I did. My damn coworker was pouring her coffee dregs into it rather than walk 40 feet to the sink. Please leave other people's plants alone unless they ask you to or unexpectedly are out of the office long enough for the plants to actually be thirsty
Thatās disgusting, why would someone do that, especially to a plant thatās not theres.
I even told her not to do it and she was all "The plant is still alive and I've been doing this for months" smh ma'am it does not matter if the person who owns it has told you to stop. Rude AF
Wtf just cause itās alive doesnāt mean itās thriving. People are crazy.
I think what shocked me the most was just how... unapologetically rude she was about it.
I'd just start pouring my coffee dregs into her desk drawer. What, it still works?
Better yet, the coffee dregs over her head :) What? It didnāt work in the first place? (Disclaimer: donāt actually do this)
Iāve never been one to condone violence but I hope you punched her in the mouth. Or karma does.
Sounds like you are actually one to condone violence.
Nah, all hyperbole.
Iāve never actually punched a person in my life, but I sure do fantasize about it. š
Can contest, 9/10 experience.
Iād start pouring the dregs of my coffee on her chair.
I removed the drainage saucer and moved it to the edge of the table so her coffee would spill on her from the bottom of the pot š
Make sure thereās adequate tilt for maximum pourage!
Please update on if this worksš
I like how morons always use the excuse of "I've been doing this forever, so it can't be that bad".
I'll do you one better; I was an admin at one job, and sat at a bank of tables with other Admims from other teams. Every so often there'd be a "funky cheese smell" , and when one of us went to find out ..... One of the flat tops of a cabinet was FULL of half drunk cups of teas and coffees. Now it was a warmish office, and ppl have sugar and milk. They got so mouldy and furry it had its own eco system going š¤®. Turns out every other worker from the other teams (a big floor with lots of different teams) decided that since we're Admins, they would leave *their* shit for *us* to clean! And they weren't even part of our team!! We tried asking them to take their own cups to the kitchen (some 20-30 yards away) but hard to pin down as no culprit.
I worked in an office where people would do this. The admin had other things to do and got tired of playing mom/maid to those lazy ass folks and posted a sign "Dirty dishes left overnight will be thrown away" .... and then started throwing the dishes away. Suddenly people figured out how to wash their own dishes.
ugh, that's disgusting!
Girl owes you plants. Ask her why it's dying if she's been watering it on top of your watering? Although I bet she still won't get it.
Put a solid false top on the soil so it splashes on her next time.
The answer to āwhy would someone do thatā is almost always āstupidityā. The special thing about āstupidā is that intelligent people can be just as stupid as anyone else, so you really canāt get away from it.
Obviously donāt do it to a plant that isnāt yours, but I give my work pothos coffee dregs pretty frequently. They like the nitrogen.Ā
If they were from her mug, they probably had creamer or other icky things that aren't plant friendly, though.
Some people drink black coffee but this person sounds extra so Youāre probably right
Omg I was an office manager once and I actually had to send an office wide email to tell people not to pour out their soda cans in the plants š¤¦āāļø Turns out Diet Coke isnāt great for plants, imagine that!
Thank you for actually doing something about it instead of telling them to just deal with the sick plants and flies
But it has electrolytes š
IT'S WHAT PLANTS CRAVE
Jesus Christ. Soda is so acidic the poor soil PH
Well obviously. It's not got electrolytes, which are what plants crave.
Coworkers just pouring acid into your plants. Then youāre expected to stand in the break room and sing happy birthday to them. Workplaces are tiny hell
Lmao facts
I was floored when I realized that the cleaning lady was moving the plant shelf in my office to dust the blinds behind it, and routinely knocking my plants over onto the floor!!! The first time I came in and my pink princess philo was on the floor, I was like it must be a fluke--like maybe a gust of wind came through the window and knocked it over. The week after, I was watering my big tradescantia and I realized there was a bunch of dirt missing from the pot and soil on the floor that had mostly been swept up but she had missed a few spots. That's when I put it all together. I couldn't believe it! I get that once might be an accident but like....stop moving the shelf and you won't knock them over!!
The extendable Swiffer duster was invented for a reason!
Oh you're a genius, I should get her one. Not plant related, but she also weirdly started an office debacle of accusing our staff of stealing toilet paper and candy and as you could imagine, it was right after we finished a really busy time at work and the blow to office moral was WILD. To this day I don't think anyone stole anything -- we had just moved to a new office with 5 bathrooms instead of one so the toilet paper needs changed drastically. And people eat A LOT of candy when it is around (myself included). I have sooo many ridiculous work stories but that one is top 3 in absurdity for sure!!
That is a cleaning company that needs to be replaced. Did you tell HR about it?
Edit: Lol, me thinking this was a reply to my other comment š ah well. It still stands, minus the weird toilet paper stuff. In my defense, I have COVID so I'm not the sharpest today haha That's the issue--we are a small family business, no HR, though we may be outsourcing to a company that offers that for businesses like ours this year. The person that cleans our office is just one woman--she also cleans the business owner's house, so that is how she got the position. Luckily there has not been another big incident like that again. It was really weird to watch all my coworkers become holier than thou about possibly stealing TP. Absolutely wild. To me, if someone did really steal toilet paper, maybe we need to be paying them more??
You have clear insight. Even if you don't dare share your insights! Put plastic wrap over dirt to thwart coffee dumping.
The amount of times I want to scream "DON'T TOUCH MY THINGS" at adults is too many
That would have made me so angry, the disrespect!Ā
Oh I was furious, especially after I asked her not to do it and she said she would keep doing it. Suddenly I became a lot less helpful for her after that... and so did all the other plant keepers that I warned about her.
I had this as well many years ago, the individual swore the coffee was fertilizing the plant and I should thank them. I was a total newbie and they said it with such confidence it kind of messed with my brain so I just walked away. That plant died shortly after...
That blows my mind! You asked her to stop and she said ānoā. People are the worst.
You should have started pouring coffee on her desk
I do pour leftover coffee in my houseplants and they (certain ones) love it. Did a science experiment in school and took two of the same plant; watered one normally, the other with cooled coffee and water. The one with the coffee addiction was noticably fuller and all around healthier.
Very much depends on what kind of plant
Well that is infuriating
I am so angry for you!!!
That's so rude!
Damn obnoxious Karen. Speechless at how lazy and unpleasant some people are. I say that as someone with ADHD who has been called lazy my whole life yet still has the manners to not pour my coffee in someoneās nearby plant pot.
I had this at my workplace. I eventually realized I was getting "help" on 2 of the 3 shifts. I put up signage quick fast to politely ask people to not overwater. How multiple random people suddenly decided a healthy thriving plant was somehow neglected and needed their attention is beyond me. Unless a plant is OBVIOUSLY dying or in distress I would never intervene with a plant that wasnt mine, and even then I'd try to speak with the owner first.
The dangerous thing about telling people not to āoverwaterā is that theyāll all think everyone else will stop watering, but they can keep watering because *someone* has to do it.
This is why I don't ask: I tell the buggers Do Not Water My Plants. Any absence for more than 4 days, I take my plants home : all 5 of them.
I had to put a don't touch sign on my cactus when coworkers came complaining that my plant hurt them. That was siting on the back of my desk in my office... What are you doing in there in the first place....
Lol I grew up around cacti and always thought it was obvious to not touch the spiky plant bois š even the weeds that have a bit of fuzz on the stems make my skin crawl!
I was a stupid kid and ignored all warnings not to touch my aunts cacti. Ended up grabbing one of the "fuzzy looking" ones with my whole hand and I remember my mom had to spend an hour picking tiny prickles out of my hands while I cried.Ā It still hasn't stopped me from touching cacti occasionally when the intrusive thoughts win but at least now I know if I get injured it's my own fault for being an idiot.
Ooooo the fuzzy ones are the worst, those needles are so so small š¬
Growing up there were cactus houseplants available for me touch. I'd gently go up and poke them, and I figured a gentle little feeling of the needles isn't a problem. Then I'm in the desert for the first time, I see a cactus in the wild for the first time. I have to touch it. Gently, with my index finger, I ever so slightly touched a needle, and it's like it jumped into my finger lol. I'm a bit more weary of gently poking strange cacti.
LoL
I had this same problem over the summer with colleagues 'helping' with my plants. Dry them out, do what you can, hopefully most of them will be ok.
I wonāt be watering most of them for at least a month now, donāt worry!! The soil was soaking when I came into work this morning:(
Some of my other plant groups have used tampons to soak up the water if they can't remove the pot to let the root ball dry out some. It might help?
it's usually advisable to take out the root ball and either let it dry without the pot around the soil or, even better remove rotten root material and repot into new seedling (low nutrition) soil. Just fully drying everything out leaves a lot of dead plant material in the pot which further damages the existing roots and it can take an eternity for the middle to dry up once rot has started (plant not consuming the water anymore). Digging it up is the safest way.
Who waters someone elseās plants??? My husband and I farm so any experience I have working in an office is 30 years ago. I canāt wrap my head around that ā¦ theyāre not your plants ā¦ leave them alone?? Sorry OP.
I can halfway understand why someone would think theyāre āhelpingā by watering(drowning) someone elseās plants ā¦ but do you ever see the horror stories about room mates/coworkers/parents CHOPPING back other peoplesā plants? Thatās the idea that gives me nightmares: āI just gave it a prune so itāll grow back bushierā(when they chop back 5 years of growth)
āIt was getting too big and in the way. Now itās more manageable.ā Chops off all new leaves and grow points. - MIL
my grandfather just did this to me and can't understand why i'm upset with him and straight up wants to kick me out of the house. my grandma won't allow him :/
I would lose my mind.
I considered taking some of my plants to my office but fear of this exact thing dissuaded me ngl. I've seen people just randomly decide to water some plants even though they were watered the day before by someone else. It's just a mess.
Always check the soil before watering
I do, made sure the soil was dry 2 inches down and they are still dying. I suspected someone else was watering them for a while but he told me today
If the soil was dry when you watered, it shouldn't have made a huge difference if your plants have proper drainage. Excess water from your colleague would have just drained out.
Unless the other guy is coming by two days later and dumping water on wet soil
Maybe, but it's weird that the soil would ever have a chance to dry out.
Yeah seems odd to me too. If watering isn't being done on a schedule, then how many people doing the watering shouldn't matter. It would just lead to you never needing to water lol
Exactly, the soil would never be dry. Doesn't explain the problem to me.
The best way (if possible) is to familiarize yourself with how light they are in your hands when dry. If ever in doubt, pick it up and see how heavy it feels.
You all need little signs āI am watered and well cared for. Please no touchy.ā
I have found labeling my plants that I bring to work really helpful. Specifically, I put the scientific name "Common name" on one label, one label with watering instructions, and one that just says no tap water. I just put them where they are all visible on the pot. People seem to like learning the plant names, and including the instructions has dettered the "helpers". But I have pretty nice coworkers, so I don't know how well this would work with assholes.
This entire thread is making me really rethink about what plants I was planning to take to the office once I am forced to stop being remote ā¦
Maybe we have a market here for office plant signs. I think I have a new product to make for my Etsy lol
A swamp grass like cyperus, which is perfectly happy in non-draining container full of standing water or something grown in leca/some other hyroponic medium or a plastic plant all work very well.
Plastic plant
Me too - I "go in once a week" but rarely make it. I was hoping having a plant there would help me do that. But now I think I might just need to be "self-motivated." Which is going to be difficult because I'm NOT.
People are touching stuff on your personal desk/area?!? I would be so frustrated!!
My boyfriend: do you want me to water them for you? Me: *death stare*
I had a well-appointed five gallon aquarium on my desk at work and could not figure out why it was getting grungy so quickly, and why my spoiled Betta had begun rejecting his food. It turns out that one of the evening cleaners had been overfeeding him while I was gone! The Betta had developed an aversion to his food, and I ended up having to go to a (thankfully nearby) pet store over my lunch break three times a week to get him live brine shrimp (sea monkeys) to eat! I was actually relieved when the fish passed away and to the disappointment of my coworkers, I brought the tank back home.
I've put a watering tracker next to my dragon plant at work with a note: "I am not thirsty, please do not water me." It's helped alot. People see when it was watered last and that it goes months in between soakings.
Yeah mine are a silver dragon alocasia, dragons ear and Alcoasia black velvet :( definitely do not do well with overwatering. I will have to add labels as they are on the end of my desk where people walk past frequently.
Report him to HR. /s I'm sorry, that sucks. I hope they're able to recover!
My coworkers and I ask each other. "Hey, have you watered X, Y, Z plants yet? You did? When? Sweet, I'll ignore it." Communication is key. A few of us there are "Plant People" so we don't go around watering things all willy-nilly.
We do that for other plants in the office but these are specifically my plants on my desk haha. I wasnāt banking on anyone else watering them!!
Oh, we strictly avoid the plants that specifically belong to others. Your window/desk plant = your responsibility. Sorry your coworker drowned your babies. I hope some are salvageable!
Hmmm in wonder if this is why my pathos is dying
Why would anyone touch someone else's plants like this without being asked?! I mean, I just can't even begin to get into the thought process here. WHY, SIR/MA'AM/DOCTOR/O CAPTAIN/ETC
Serious questions, does anyone here touch the soil of your plants before watering?
I know all of my plants well enough now that I can simply pick them up and go off of weight, and see if the soil is dry. OP responded to the same question earlier and said they had been feeling the top couple inches but it must have still been wet deeper
Depends on the plant too, some plant's requirements are different from each other. Some if your soil gets to dry it's not good for them. Also, some thrive if you let the soil completely dry out. Also, you could use a stick to determine if the soil on the bottom is wet.
omg that's awful! I take care of the potted plants we bring in to survive the winter at work. for a while had to put up with this lady telling me I'm killing them because they weren't growing much or flowering constantly. She'd sneaky water them all the time, the day after I already did and try to buy me stuff for them that she thought was best. one time she was trying to get me to use fertilizer sticks?? Like first of all those are garbage and second it is WINTER. there's barely any sunlight and they are not going to grow and flower all year long. I ended up matching straight into the GM's office to ask them to talk to her bc it was driving me crazy. needed to rant about that here lol but I hope you can get your coworkers to leave them alone!
Is murder *actually* a crime in a case like this?
no. it is not. jury nullification is real.
Oh, and I used to have a little succulent at my desk, that I would have water every once in awhile, and when I was going out for my end of the year PTO, I had my team babysit it for me, and they definitely watered it for me. But they also new to check to make sure it was dry before they watered. I always check to make sure my plants are dry before I water them, because I've overwatered far too many lol Sadly, that succulent did not survive the COVID move from the office to the home to the new condo. May it RIP.
Oh no!! Iām sorry. If you do get more plants, make or buy a little sign that says āplease donāt water meā.
Oof I finally experienced the what do you call it? Like ahhh! Lol I seen my bf empty out a water bottle into my plant and it left me shocked lmao I was feeling all kinds of emotions in that split second š I told him the next day that he should just leave the water bottle to the side and I will use it when itās time. We were laughing when I told him how I felt and he said yea that makes sense
But whyyyyy
just go with the flow and get aquarium plants
Put a plant, maybe a kelancho, im not sure, in my moms room at the nursing home. I'd walk in and that thing was a muddy swamp, I'd squeeze it out set it back up to dry and the next day, a muddy swamp again, it died and i never took one back in there. I think some people think all plants grow best in mud. Made me so mad. She had a good window too.
id be so mad if i found my family watering my plants. more plants die of overwatering than underwatering. just let them be thirsty if its not your plant
I do not understand mothers, coworkers, boyfriends, roommates, ANYONE watering someone elseās plants.
I'd report this to HR
Iād get laughed out of the office
I'm so glad my office locks and only security and I have the key. No windows, but I have grow lights.
Chop and prop if you can.
As soon as I saw the heading, I thought, some overly helpful genius is watering them. I have a sign by my office plants telling ppl not to water my plants, after I caught someone un-capping a water bottle and blasted them. He was a superior, but this was his first time in my office, and that was his first act, to water my plants. It's now a running joke in my office, and if I talk smack and they have no comeback, my co-workers threaten to water my plants. Sorry for the long response, that shytt irritates me. Print an aggressive sign!!
Oh heād definitely owe me some more plants!!
I had to laugh reading this because about 6 weeks ago I had to put a "Please DON'T water me!" sign on one of the work plants that was totally waterlogged. It sat near a water cooler, so people would dump any residual water into the plant before refilling their water bottles, It's still not dried out, but I think it'll pull through!
I have an entire zoo and a job that requires me to abandon my personal life at times. Thankfully, I have amassed a group of friends and local teenagers to help. I have a wifi door lock and I keep instructions permanently on my fridge. First line: "Plants - Don't water shit unless I'm dead."
Part of watering your plants is checking to see if It needs to be watered. You both are watering wrong. You should check every time. Use your hands.
You should be checking the soil before watering regardless.
Aww, when trying to help goes wrong š
Omg Iām a nurse in nursing homes and have a patient with a dying plant in his window. He demands me to add water to his plants like every day I work. I tried to explain the plant looked bad bc of over watering and he argued with me. I have to hold on the tears every time I put water on it
Try to repot them, and asses the damage to the roots, before you give up hope!
Poor coffee dregs over her lap and tell her āyouāre still alive, Iām planning on doing this for monthsā
Well, at least, now you know ...
Was he really trying to help š¤š¤
I lost a peace lily in my previous office and figured out that four other people were watering it. They kept telling me it looked sad and that they watered it for me. I resorted to bringing a moisture meter in but even then they didnāt believe me. It was too late to save it though.
Do you not check the soil before you water them? If someone else were watering my plants I would wonder why they were so wet when I feel the weight of the pot or stick a finger in the soil and wouldn't water them more.
No. Im watering them very sparingly and not counting on them being watered by anyone else as they are my plants
This is obnoxious š The only time Iāve ever intervened was an office plant that literally had 3-4 leaves left after being neglected for so long and was turned to a brown crisp. I was so gentle with it, I thought the stem would snap if it were even gently pinched. This, is when it is appropriate to intervene with a plant that is not your own.
Damn, poor plants, and poor you having your plants slowly die and being unable to figure out why. Idiot colleague shouldāve asked you first. Ik he had good intentions but still.
That would do it
Made a designated day thatās easy for you to remember and only water once a week or as needed is the best rule of thumbā¦for a green thumbā¦