How Often Do You Water Lemongrass Plant

You should water your lemon grass plant every one or two days or when the topsoil of the plant feels dry.

However, sometimes you can change the watering frequency depending on factors like temperature, humidity, soil composition, season, and type of pot, among others.

Please keep reading to learn how often you should water your lemon grass plant and other aspects concerning the healthy watering of the lemongrass plant.

How Can You Tell Your Lemongrass Plant Needs Water?

The following methods should help you establish whether your lemongrass plant needs water or not.

Test the Moisture in the Soil With a Finger Touch / Chop Stick

• This is easy to do with your index finger. Dip your index finger into the soil (near the base of the lemongrass) to the point of your first knuckle.
• If the soil feels dry and your finger comes out clean, it means that the soil is dry and it’s the right time to water the lemongrass plant.
• On the other hand, you might have to postpone the watering to another day if the soil feels wet and your finger comes out muddy.
• Don’t want to mess with your index finger? A chopstick will have you sorted. Just dip it into the soil near the base of the lemongrass plant and pull it out.
• The idea is to know what’s happening deep down in the roots as far as moisture is concerned.

Also read: How to grow Lemongrass From Cuttings

Use a Soil Moisture Probe

• A soil moisture probe is a unique tool with sensors for testing the soil moisture and gives results on a scale of 1 to 10.
• Stick the probe on the top of the lemongrass soil to test the moisture from the surface. If the sensor reads less than three, your lemongrass soil is dry and needs immediate watering.
• One advantage of using the moisture probe over the finger test is that it can tell you how evenly the moisture is spread around the plant.
• You need to test the moisture at different points around the lemongrass plant and then compare the results.
• If you get similar results from different points, you are doing an excellent job in evenly watering the lemongrass plant.
• On the other hand, getting different results implies that you need to work on distributing water evenly around the plant.

Use the Weight Technique

• Though seemingly primitive, keeping watch of the lemongrass plant pot’s weight can tell you when it’s almost time to water the plant.
• Lift the pot after sufficient watering to master how it weighs when well watered. Then lift again when the pot has almost dried completely to note how it weighs when dry, and you will note that wet soil is way heavier than dry soil.
• That way, you can guess the right time for watering your lemongrass plant by simply lifting.
• However, we strongly advocate for the above two methods since the latter is exclusively based on guesswork.

Check out: How To Grow Lemongrass From Seed Indoors

Watch for Any Wilting Leaves

• Another common sign of water deficiency in the lemongrass plant is drooping and yellowing leaves.
• However, sometimes the leaves may wilt from a disease or excess water. It is advisable to test the status of the soil to ascertain that your plant lacks water.

What Are the Best Practices for Watering Your Lemongrass Plant?

Watering the lemongrass plant doesn’t have to be hard. If you have difficulties in doing it, below are some helpful tips to help you out.

Work on the Soil Drainage

• The lemongrass plant does great in moderately drained and rich soils like loam.
• If the soil in your garden or lemongrass plant pots does not have this drainage and nutrient balance, you would have to work on their soil composition to improve them.
• For instance, if you have clay soil in your garden, you can convert it to fertile loamy soil by adding organic compounds like compost manure, farmyard manure, biological wastes, etc.
• Improving soil drainage will allow for optimal water retention, the breathability of the roots, and the absorption of nutrients.

Read: Why Is My Lemongrass Turning Purple? [Reasons & How to Fix]

Water at Specific Times

• If you live in hot regions like Florida and water your lemongrass garden in the afternoon, most of the moisture will evaporate to the sun’s heat.
• To avoid water loss, you should water your lemongrass plants early in the morning or at night during the hot months to allow the plant to absorb enough water for its processes.

Spread the Water Evenly

• When watering, ensure that you spread the water evenly around the plant to encourage maximum absorption of nutrients.
• FYI, the roots absorb nutrients with water and channel them to the rest of the lemongrass plant to facilitate growth and development.
• When you water only one side of the plant, the roots grow towards the direction of water, limiting its access to the nutrients around it.

Check: Why Is My Lemongrass Plant Dying? [11 Reasons & How to Prevent]

Keep Water off the Leaves

• The lemongrass leaves can host fungal spores. The basic conditions for the growth of fungal spores are moisture and adequate humidity.
• So, spraying water on your lemongrass leaves is like giving leeway for developing fungal infections like rust on your lemongrass leaves.
• The fungal infestation is one of the reasons your lemongrass leaves will start yellowing.

Avoid Waterlogging

• Waterlogging results when excess water on the plant’s roots. It prevents the roots from breathing and absorbing nutrients. If not addressed, nutrient-deprived plants will wilt and can die within a few days.
• You can avoid this problem by creating drain holes in your plant pot to eliminate excess water.
• If you have a soggy lemongrass garden, you can improve the drainage by adding organic compounds like compost and green manure.

Checkout: How to Grow Lemongrass From Stalk

Water To Save Water

• Like any other plant, the lemongrass plant needs sufficient water to grow into its full size and produce.
• One way of watering the lemongrass plant sufficiently without wasting any water is by installing an automated irrigation system with moisture sensors in your lemongrass garden.
• By doing so, the irrigation systems would only be letting out the water when their sensors detect moisture deficiency in the garden. Unfortunately, this may only work for gardens and not potted plants.

Read more: Hydrangea Bush Not Flowering [Causes & What to do]

How Often Do You Water Lemongrass Plants?

• The lemongrass plant thrives in moist soils and temperate climates. To mimic this climate, experts recommend watering the plant every one or two days or when the soil feels dry after testing.
• However, you might have to adjust your watering frequency depending on the following factors:

Size of Your Lemongrass Plant

• When subjected to the right conditions, the lemongrass plant spreads faster to fill the garden or whatever pot it is planted in.
• Following the increased growth, you may need to water the plant more frequently than before to fuel the growth of its multiple parts and allow for transpiration without dehydrating the plant.

Temperature

Exposure to higher temperatures fastens the metabolic activity and evaporation in lemongrass plants. You must water the plant almost daily to facilitate the two processes.

Humidity

Like a hot day, humid weather causes increased evaporation and transpiration in lemongrass plants. So you might have to start watering the plant daily if you are used to watering your lemongrass every two or three days.

Also, check: Is Lemongrass a Perennial?

The Soil Texture

• The soil texture in your lemongrass garden or pot may also influence the plant’s water frequency.
• Suppose a situation where you have two lemongrass plant pots, one with a blend of the fine clay soil and compost manure and another with a mix of the large sandy soil and compost manure.
• You may need to water the pot with the sandy soil more frequently than the one with clay soil.

The Porosity of the Pot

• The porosity of your water pot determines how fast the excess water escapes your lemongrass pot.
• Assuming other factors like the rate of water absorption and soil type constant, the pot with more or larger holes will drain its moisture faster than the one with fewer/smaller holes.
• You have to adjust your watering frequency following the rate of drainage.

Also read: Growing Lemongrass in Pots

Time of the Year

• The lemongrass grows progressively during the year’s warmer seasons, like summer and late spring and fall seasons.
• During these periods, you may need to water the lemongrass frequently to supply enough water for evaporation and plant metabolic processes.
• During winter,  the plant is almost dormant and consumes almost zero water.  However, this depends on where you live.
• In regions like Indiana, for instance, the lemongrass plant is completely dormant during winter, and you rarely need to water it.

Also, you may like some more Gardening articles:

• Why Is My Hydrangea Not Growing? [8 Reasons & How to Care]
• How to Save a Dying Hydrangea [Easy Tips]
• Should You Deadhead Hydrangeas and How To
• Is Lemongrass Safe for Dogs? Can Dogs Eat Lemongrass?
• How Do You Keep the Lemongrass Plant Healthy?
• How to Care For a Lemongrass Plant [Useful Tips]
• What to Plant With Lemongrass

Final Words: How Often Do You Water The Lemongrass Plant?

You should water the lemongrass plant every one to two days or when the soil feels dry after a finger test. However, the plant’s watering needs may change according to temperature, time of the year, and other factors discussed in the article.

Considering our discussion above, there is no specific number of times you can water your lemongrass plant.

The best bet is to check whether the plant needs water regularly. That should be easy using our three testing techniques, including the finger test, moisture probe, and weight technique.