Why “touch the soil” beats “water now”
A fixed schedule is often wrong: the same plant drinks more in summer than in winter, more in a small pot by a window than in a big pot at the back of the room. Apps that say “water every 7 days” end up drowning plants.
Too much water is the number one killer of houseplants. The roots run out of air and rot, the leaves turn yellow… and you water even more to “help”. Pothy does the opposite: it asks you to touch the soil, and you only water when it’s dry.
It learns each plant’s rhythm
As soon as you add a plant, Pothy starts from the rhythm advised for its species. No need to remember when it last drank: its soil will tell you. On the day, you answer with one tap:
- Watered: the soil was dry and you watered. Pothy records the plant’s real rhythm.
- Still moist: too early. It checks again in two days and stretches that plant’s rhythm.
After two or three answers, every plant has its own rhythm, rounded to stay simple: “every 2 weeks”, not “every 13.4 days”. It follows the seasons (less water in winter), and when your answers disagree, it always picks the longer rhythm. When in doubt, it waits.
One message a day, not one more
Not a notification per plant at random hours: one message, at the time you choose (9 am unless you change it). When several plants need a check, they come together, and you answer straight from the notification.
- The Today screen shows the day’s plants, even if a notification gets lost
- Quiet hours: never a message at night
- Holiday mode for the whole garden, or a pause for a single plant (resting in winter, say)
- Lots of plants? A checklist, to log them all in one tap
How to water a houseplant: the essentials
With or without an app, these few habits work for most green houseplants:
- Push a finger into the soil: if the top 2 to 3 cm (about an inch) are dry, it’s time.
- Water slowly until water runs out of the drainage hole, then empty the saucer after fifteen minutes.
- In winter, most plants drink much less: space it out.
- Soft yellow leaves, soil that stays wet, a musty smell: that’s too much water.
- Drooping leaves, a very light pot, soil pulling away from the edge: it’s thirsty.
Cacti and succulents are the exception: their soil should dry out completely between waterings. Pothy knows these differences from each species’ care sheet.
For cuttings too
A cutting in water doesn’t need watering, it needs clean water: Pothy reminds you to change it every week. In soil, it asks you to check the soil instead. All about tracking cuttings