How To Water Hanging Plants

Beautiful hanging baskets filled with gorgeous flowers and foliage are the perfect way to spruce up your patio or front door. Hanging plants of different colors and varieties look stunning. Once you hang them throughout your landscape or around your home, you should consider how to take care of your hanging baskets. Proper watering is crucial to properly caring for your hanging plants. It determines whether your plants in the hanging basket will grow successfully or not. Water these plants too little or too much, and they will die. A consistent watering schedule and other care tips will ensure a lovely blooming hanging basket throughout the season.

Discover how to water hanging plants efficiently for healthy growth.

Watering Hanging Plants with Automatic Drip Irrigation

Drip irrigation is the most efficient and time-saving way to water your hanging plants. Installing an automatic drip system can help you achieve consistent moisture for your plants on time without the need to manually water daily. This is also super helpful for watering hard-to-reach plants at different heights.

Install drip tubing to deliver water directly to vertically hanging plants, flowers, herbs, or large plants like tomato vines. Install a drip emitter or sprayer for each container, set the timer, and then forget about the worry of daily manual watering. You won't have to rely on someone to water your plants when you're on vacation.

This is a low-pressure irrigation system that uses emitters to gently water your hanging baskets. Emitters slowly drip water on the soil around the plant's root zone. Also, some emitters can spray or mist water. This allows you to customize your drip system for specific plants.

How to Install Drip Irrigation for Hanging Plants

Installing an automatic drip irrigation system for your hanging plants will take a couple of hours. You need to grab all the irrigation components, tools, and supplies, such as drip tubing, emitters, and fittings. We recommend purchasing a convenient, ready-to-install drip irrigation kit for hanging baskets that include all the necessary components you will need for this installation.

Here are the steps to install a drip irrigation system for your hanging plants.

1. Consider the size of your porch or patio to determine how long tubing you'll need for your system. Most hanging plant watering systems use ¼ inch tubing to provide gentle water flow. The tubing carries water to your containers or baskets. A large porch or patio will require a larger supply line, like 1/2", to cover the area.
2. Connect the tubing to the outdoor faucet or other water source. A controller or timer is optional for your drip system, but it offers the convenience of automation to your watering system. Attach the timer to your faucet and program its settings to turn on the watering at a particular time of day.
3. Run the tubing to reach all your hanging baskets. Use tubing clamps to hold your tubing in place. If you're installing the system on your porch, try to hide the tubing by running it along the skirting or under the siding.
4. Cut the tubing at the place of each plant and insert a T-shaped fitting to branch it off from one basket to the next. Attach an emitter to the end of the tubing to water on your hanging basket. Choosing the right type of emitter for your plants depends on the type of plants you're watering.

Tip: Pressure-compensated emitters are the best choice as they ensure even water distribution from the start of tubing to the end, preventing overwatering.

Once the installation is complete, slowly turn on the water supply to test for leaks. Make sure the emitters produce a steady supply of water. Inspect your system regularly for any damage, clogging, or blockage.

Manually Watering Hanging Plants

You can manually water your hanging plants and herbs using a watering can, sprayer, watering wand, or nozzle. These handy tools give you control over the watering frequency needed and used. However, the drawback is that you must always need to be there to water your plants.

Bottom Watering

Take your basket or container down and place it in a pan, tray, or bucket filled with shallow water. This bottom watering method allows plants to absorb water through drainage holes at the bottom of the container until the topsoil feels hydrated. Let the basket soak for 10-15 minutes. When it's time to remove it, you can see it because the soil will appear darker and moist.

How Much Water Does Hanging Plants Need?

Plants in hanging containers or baskets must be watered regularly because potting mixes are well-drained, light, and dry quickly. On hot, sunny summer days, water plants once or twice a day. During spring and fall cooler months, you might not need to water your hanging basket daily. Water your hanging containers until 10% of the water starts running out of their bottom, so you know it has reached through the soil.

How do I tell when my hanging plants need water?

The easiest way to determine whether your hanging plants need water is to place your hand on the bottom of the container and lift it slightly to feel how much it weighs. Wet or moist soil will be heavy, and dry soil will be light. If the planter lifts easily, your plants probably need some water. Moreover, insert your finger in the soil to your second knuckle and feel it. This will also help you determine whether your plants need water.

The Bottom Line

Hanging plants add beauty, color, and flair to vertical spaces in your home. Keeping these plants looking their best throughout the season requires consistent watering. We discussed multiple ways to plant your hanging containers, from watering the plants efficiently and automatically using drip irrigation to using the watering can or dragging a hose to your porch. Drip irrigation is the best and most cost-effective way of watering hanging plants on your patio or porch. Whether you must go on vacation or busy hours in the office, you don't have to worry about manually watering your plants.

DripWorks provides convenient and affordable hanging basket kits to set up a drip irrigation system on your patio or porch. These ready-to-install kits will make your DIY gardening project simple. By installing automatic drip irrigation, you can enjoy the beauty of your hanging plants without worrying about your plants' unique watering needs!