You love indoor flowers, but noticed that the plants began to fade? Don't rush to get upset. Hot water for flowers can be a real salvation for them. The main thing is to learn how to properly water and bathe plants. In this article you will find useful tips experienced flower growers who will help turn your home into a blooming greenhouse.
Is it possible to water flowers with hot water?
Regular watering promotes normal growth and development of plants. You need to moisten the soil in the pot with water. room temperature. Experienced flower gardeners recommend, in addition to regular watering, to give the flowers a hot “shower” several times a month.
After 2-3 procedures, you will notice that indoor greenery has begun to actively develop, side buds and new leaves will appear.
Important: you cannot pour boiling water under the root, this can destroy the delicate root system
The whole point is that hot water lethal to almost all types of pests that live on leaves. In addition, it prevents yellowing and wilting of the flower, activates sap flow and accelerates growth.
Rules for “bathing” plants in hot water
Use the secrets of experienced specialists to do everything right.
First, be sure to water the flower with water at room temperature and wait 30-40 minutes.
When all the water has been absorbed into the soil, you can begin the “bathing” procedure. Flower pot put it in the bathroom and thoroughly water the leaves hot water(50−70) from the shower. If you are concerned about the health of your plants, start with warm water, but with each procedure gradually increase the temperature.
Douse everything - pot, plant, soil. Stems. The procedure should last at least 30 seconds. Recommended temperature is about 40 degrees.
After such a bath, the flower does not need to be watered or sprayed for 12-14 days. It is advisable to leave it in the bathroom overnight. During this time, it will have time to dry properly and will not stain the window sill.
Yes, yes, you heard right – it’s hot! I have heard advice many times about how useful it is to bathe your plants in boiling water.
And also a hot shower for indoor plants– a great awakening from hibernation. But not only. " Hot shower"for your plants with a water temperature of 40-50°C - a very effective procedure for caring for indoor plants. Often the result of even one such procedure can be seen with the naked eye within a week.
A hot shower is a healing jolt for indoor plants; it has a tonic and revitalizing effect on them, invigorates and strengthens them.
But, I note, Hot showers should be treated with caution, not all plants will be happy with it. As with many treatment methods, there are contraindications:
flowering plants You shouldn’t take a hot shower, it’s better to just spray the leaves with hot water from a spray bottle (bypassing the flowers);
Transplanted plants should also not be given a hot shower until they take root; they can only be sprayed with warm water;
Plants with pubescent leaves, such as Saintpaulias, gloxinias, and begonias, cannot be moistened with water at all; they may die from excess moisture. 
Hot shower technology and notes on it.
A hot shower very rarely has a negative effect on plants; I personally have not had such cases yet. To keep everyone happy, it is enough to follow a few simple rules.
The technology for conducting a hot shower for indoor plants is approximately as follows:
About an hour before the procedure, the plant needs to be watered. A hot, dry shower can “cook” the plant.
The temperature of the shower water is approximately 40-50°C. The water should be warm, maybe a little hot, but the hand should tolerate it freely.
If you do not plan to spill soil along with the leaf shower, you can cover it with cling film or a bag.
Turn on the shower, spray finer and water the plant from different angles, washing all the pores and veins that are inaccessible to rags and sponges. Depending on the size of the plant, the duration of the procedure ranges from 30 seconds to 1 minute.
After the procedure, it is important not to let the plant catch a cold: if the apartment is cool, it is better to leave the freshly washed plants in the bathroom for several hours to dry a little and come to their senses.
After watering the soil during a shower, the plants do not require watering for a week or two, depending on the size of the plant and pot.
A few more notes. On the phalaenopsis orchid, after water treatments, I shake out the water from the axils of the leaves so that they do not rot. But before the shower, I cover the soil with cling film - after all, the plant comes from arid places, so you shouldn’t flood it. Our biggest fans of hot showers are phalaenopsis, aglaonema, spathiphyllum and chlorophytum. In phalaenopsis, the turgor (density) of leaves improves before our eyes, aglaonema stopped shedding after a shower lower leaves and released several new ones, and the edges of the leaves of spathiphyllum and chlorophytum stopped turning yellow and began to form several new leaves at once. 
Hot shower for phalaenopsis orchids
Some plants like hot showers, while others are indifferent to it.
Here are the plants that can be prescribed a hot shower:
Affelandra, Alocasia, Strelitzia, Anthurium, Adenium, Scindapsus, Croton, Aglaonema, Coleus, Cordyline, Dracaena, Clivia, Zameoculcas, Gardenia, Phalaenopsis Orchid, Fuchsia, Maranta, Dendrobium Orchid, Monstera, Calathea, Eucharis, Chlorophytum, Nolina, Dieffenbachia, Citrus.
Here are a few plants that welcome this procedure with a bang:
Spathiphyllum
Scheffler
Phalaenopsis
Gardenia
Aglaonema
Maranta
Syngonium
Rose
Violet
Guzmania
The listed plants, which even felt normal without any shower, respond to hot dousing very gratefully, literally within a week they produce new leaves and shoots and rapidly begin to grow. 
Calamondin, ficus and phalaenopsis after a shower.
A hot shower for indoor plants is an excellent awakening from winter hibernation. But not only. After all, indoor plants require attention and care. Plant leaves have pores through which they breathe. Dust settling on the leaves clogs the pores and interferes with breathing. The plant can get sick, so to keep indoor plants beautiful and healthy, you need to give them a hot shower once a month!
To do this, plants in pots must first be watered; dry plants cannot be sent straight into the shower! After half an hour, put it in the bath, slightly tilt the pot with one hand, and with the other, water the flowers from the shower with hot water for 20-30 seconds. The water temperature is 50-70 degrees, as much as your hand can tolerate. The movement should not be directed, but sliding back and forth. We scald everything: the pot, the soil, the stem, the leaves on both sides.
We leave the plants in the bathroom for several hours to allow the water to drain. It’s better to leave it overnight, let it breathe some humid air.
Then you can put the plants in place or even in a new place - after this procedure they can easily survive the move.
You can not water for ten days.
After a hot shower:
Stops the falling and yellowing of leaves;
drying of the tips and spotting of the leaves stops;
New leaves quickly appear and unexpanded ones straighten;
plants quickly recover from stress.
Of course, you may not feel any visible benefit from one procedure. This should be done regularly, but not more than once a month. And then you can stop spraying the plants.
As with many treatment methods, there are contraindications:
Flowering plants should not be given a hot shower; it is better to simply spray the leaves with hot water from a spray bottle (bypassing the flowers);
Transplanted plants should also not be given a hot shower until they take root; they can only be sprayed with warm water;
Plants with pubescent leaves, such as Saintpaulias, gloxinias, and begonias, cannot be moistened with water at all; they may die from excess moisture.
houseplants. I will give reviews from flower growers that I read on the forum on the topic “Hot shower for indoor plants”:
Svetlana: I give my houseplants a hot shower once a month and they love it! And calathea, and spathiphyllum, and ficus are simply transformed!
Alina: Two days ago I gave a dying spathiphyllum a hot shower. He simply died. The leaves hung like rags. And nothing helped: neither replanting nor root removal. 5 hours after the shower, the leaves stood like young ones! And today, for the first time in 1.5 years, the first bud appeared! I'm happy!
Oksana: My plants like hot showers. I see that if a plant stands and does not produce new leaves for a long time, I give it a hot shower. After a few days, new leaves appear.
Natalya: My ficus began to wither, and after a hot shower I can already see young leaves.
Zhanna: After a hot shower, my Decembrist threw away so many buds that I lost count. A hot shower is a MIRACLE!
Love: I saved many of my flowers with a hot shower - the begonia did not grow at all, and after the hot shower it even bloomed, one rose froze and then the hot shower helped - I’m waiting for the flowering. Then I gave all my flowers a hot shower and, apparently, they were happy!
I also want to note that spraying from a spray bottle does not give the same effect as a hot shower. The spray bottle sprays water into very fine droplets, which cool in the air. And when you arrange a shower, you get a steam room in the bathroom, the leaves are washed, they gain moisture, and when you take them out of there, they are like cucumbers.
In any case, flowers will enjoy a hot shower; they love care. It definitely won’t be too much!
Shower, and a hot one at that, for indoor flowers... When we first came across such information, we were somewhat surprised. But the eyes are afraid, the hands are doing. We searched, systematized, tested in practice. Bottom line: it is possible and necessary.
The procedure is useful and effective. It allows you to stimulate the growth of flowers, prevent the death of weakened plants, and get rid of pests.
The main task when bathing is the right approach and mandatory completion of certain steps.
Two things that need to be done religiously:
- Before bathing, be sure to spill the soil with water for irrigation, about half an hour before the bath. The roots will have time to soak up water and will not cook in the future.
- After bathing, leave the plants in the bath until completely dry. We usually bathe in the evening, and the flowers remain in the bathroom until the morning. They will have time to dry, and a sharp change in temperature in different rooms will not be. A Russian person can dive from a bathhouse into an ice hole, and then back again. This trick will not work with plants.
So listen...
Bathing plants under running hot water is an excellent shake, bringing internal and external health to the flowers and can revitalize, tone, improve, and strengthen your green friend. Even after a single procedure, after a few days you will see the effect produced. In addition to everything, the exit from hibernation will speed up, which is no less important, especially in our northern conditions.
First of all, you need to water the plant well so that its roots get water. This way we will eliminate the possibility of scalding the root system. Watering should be done half an hour before the start of the water procedure. It wouldn’t hurt to pre-steam the bathroom, turning it into a steam room for a while to make it warm and humid.
To protect the plant's soil, we recommend covering it with plastic, especially if you bathe the flower every two weeks. Plant shower with open ground It perfectly washes out unnecessary salt deposits, but at the same time organic matter is also washed out. If you plan to shower once a month, no problem; if more often, then be sure to use film or plastic bags to prevent the leaching of beneficial substances from the soil.
The water temperature should be in the range of 38-50 °C. For plants that you bathe for the first time, the water should be made cooler (37-38°C); for subsequent bathings, you can use warmer water. Often the temperature is determined by eye, so that the hand is hot enough, but tolerable and comfortable. The shower head itself must provide soft streams, otherwise fragile shoots can be damaged.
We water the plant at different angles, slightly tilting the pot. We try to make sure that water gets into hard to reach places. Do not hold the watering can itself from above, the water should slide over the leaves, and the hand holding the nozzle should make such movements “back and forth.” The duration of watering depends on the size of the plant. For small ones - 10-15 seconds, for large ones - from 30 seconds to a minute.
After washing, leave the plant in the same room for at least three hours, and preferably until the morning if you organized a shower in the evening. This is much more convenient, and it is not recommended to open the door to the bathroom to avoid a sudden change in air temperature. Under no circumstances should you immediately take the flowers out of the steam room into a cool place; the flowers may catch a cold.
After shower procedures, especially if the soil has not been covered, do the next watering after the soil has completely dried and focus on the required watering regime (in general, a pause in watering is from one to two weeks).
Which flowers benefit from a hot shower?
There are a number of plants that are incredibly responsive to bathing in indoor steam rooms. These are spathiphyllums, scheffleras, chlorophytums, aglaonemas, gardenias, arrowroots, calatheas, syngoniums, guzmanias, fittonias.
Bathing in hot water will not harm various dracaenas, ferns, chlorophytums, some types of succulents, nolins, orchids, citrus fruits, ficus, hibiscus and many others.
In just a few days, new shoots and leaves appear, and the flowers themselves begin to grow. Even the fat plants are transformed, showing everyone their bright glossy leaves, on which all the specks of dust have disappeared. Calatheas, usually suffering from the dry air of city apartments, after bath experiments practically do not require spraying, and the angle of lifting of the leaves before bed increases sharply.
Flower contraindications
Firstly, do not test the strength of plants with double pubescent leaves: Usambara violets, gloxinias, some begonias, pelargoniums.
Although regarding pelargoniums, we have positive experience with hot dousing. After shaking with water, plants begin to grow actively, and unsettled chlorinated water has no effect on appearance plants.
Secondly, hot water procedures will not benefit flowering plants. They can easily drop their buds.
Third, you cannot apply high-temperature douches to newly transplanted flowers. You should first wait until they are completely rooted, and before that, only spraying them with a sprayer is permissible.
And remember that such shock therapy in some cases it may not be beneficial. There are both capricious species of plants, and capricious representatives of even the most unpretentious species. Observe, remember, analyze, and over time you will come to understand the language of flowers.
Surprise your flowers, you won’t regret it
You can bathe roses in such a shower about once a month. The main thing is not to overdo it, otherwise the plants will like it too much. They will ask to go to the bathroom a lot and often)))
We have been carrying out such procedures for two years now, the growers are happy, and so are we.
“Scalding” indoor plants is best done in the evening. Make sure in advance that your pet in a pot has good drainage, otherwise the roots of the plant will simply cook.
Half an hour before “bathing”, water the plant generously. Then you need to bring the pot with the plant into the bathroom, taking with you plastic bag or film. We cover the stem of the plant or just the ground with this film or bag. Covering the ground and stem, you can “scald” twice a week. You can do without covering by watering the trunk, leaves, stems and soil at the same time - hot water removes all excess salts from the substrate.
When I talk about scalding, I don't mean boiling water. Of course, the water should be hot, but such that your hand can tolerate it. The first hardening of indoor plants with a hot shower is best done at a water temperature of +40 degrees, then, gradually, from time to time, you need to increase the temperature by 5 degrees, and so on - up to +60 degrees.
Depending on the size of the plant, we select the duration of the procedure. To a little flower It is enough to stay under such a shower for 10 seconds; we treat adult plants for up to 30 seconds. After a shower, it is better to leave the flower in the bathroom so that excess water drains and the soil dries out. And then you can put the flower back in place.
After a hot shower, you should not water or spray the plant for up to 12 days, but this is on average - a lot depends on the size of the pot and the size of the plant itself. When the soil in the pot is completely dry, you can begin regular watering.
Let us repeat the basic rules for “scalding”:
- Be sure to water the plant before it “scalds.”
- When watering for the first time, the water should not be too hot.
- The shower stream should be soft.
- You need to take a hot shower at arm's length from the plant.
- The plant should be under a hot shower for no more than 30 seconds.
- Leave the flower in the bathroom after the procedure for at least three hours. During these hours, it is better not to open the bathroom door so as not to create a temperature difference, otherwise the plant may catch a cold.
- After the soil has completely dried, you can feed the flower with complex fertilizer so that the soil does not become depleted.
- For plants affected by pests: first wash the leaves, then put the plant under a hot shower. To wash the leaves you need to use non-aggressive detergents, and cover the soil on the surface of the pot plastic film.
- For those who decide to bathe plants in a hot shower more than once a month, be sure to cover the surface of the soil with plastic film so as not to wash out organic matter from the soil.
- After scalding, do not place the plants on cold window sill, protect your flower from sudden drops in temperature and drafts.
How does scalding help?
Of course, having decided to use such a risky and responsible procedure as a hot shower, you want to know what it does to the flowers? So, let's talk about the results. Firstly, the plant quickly emerges from stress state, leaves that have not yet unfolded straighten out, new ones quickly appear, premature wilting and falling of leaves stops. Secondly, plant growth increases, leaf tips stop drying out and spotting goes away.
Of course, a hot shower is not beneficial for all plants; here, each indoor pet needs to be approached individually. But here are the plants that, judging by my personal experience, “scalding” certainly did not cause harm if the rules were followed correctly. These are gardenia, spathiphyllum, aglaonema variable, dracaena and dracaena marginata, arrowroot, guzmania, syngonium, fittonia, calathea, ferns, dieffenbachia, hamidorea, violet.
Inna Semirod, Chernigov
