Houseplant Care and Watering Log

Who this is for

A dated line each time you do something to an indoor plant. Not a list of plants with a last-watered box, but the running record underneath it: what was done, to which plant, on what day, by whom, and what the plant looked like afterwards.

Households where more than one person waters the plants and neither is sure the other has, people building up a picture of what their own plants actually want, and anyone handing the watering over while they are away.

What this helps you track

• Every watering, feed, misting, repot, prune and move, with its date
• Which plant and which room, so a plant in a dark corner is not treated like one in a window
• Who did it, which settles the question of whether it has been done
• What you used and how much, in your own words
• What you noticed afterwards — drooping, new growth, dropped leaves

How to use it

1. Write the household, where the sheet is kept and the period it covers at the top.
2. Add a line every time you do something: the date, the plant, the room it is in and what you did.
3. Use the detail column for the amount of water, the feed you used or the pot you moved it into. Nothing on this sheet suggests any of those.
4. Initial the by column if more than one person waters, so nobody doubles up.
5. Write what you noticed in the notes column — that is the column that turns a log into something worth reading later.
6. When the sheet fills, start another and keep the old one; a year of lines shows what each plant has actually been given.

Formats

• Printable PDF (A4 and US Letter)
• Fillable PDF with form fields
• Fill in online, saved in your browser

The printable is laid out inside a box that fits both A4 and US Letter, so the two files are identical and neither one is scaled. The fillable PDF has real form fields. The online version keeps what you enter in your own browser and builds the completed PDF on your device.

How to print

Download the A4 or US Letter file to match the paper in your printer, open it in a PDF reader and print at 100% — not "fit to page", which shrinks the writing space. Both files leave a 14 mm margin, which clears the unprintable edge on home printers. To print the online version with your entries in it, use the Print this sheet button, which prints only the sheet and none of the page around it. More on printing.

Questions

How often should I water a houseplant?

This sheet has no view and carries no interval. Light, warmth, pot size and species all change the answer, and the point of keeping the log is to work out your own from what you wrote down.

How is this different from the plant care tracker?

The tracker is one row per plant showing the last time each thing was done — a snapshot. This is the running log underneath it: every event, dated, in the order it happened. Many people pin the tracker up and keep the log in a folder.

Do I need a line for every plant every time?

No. Write one line per plant you actually did something to. A row that says 'all the kitchen windowsill' is fine if that is how you water.

Can I use it for a plant sitter?

Yes, and it is one of the better uses. Fill in the first few lines yourself so the sitter can see what normal looks like, and ask them to carry on.

Does it work on screen?

Yes. The browser version saves in your own browser and prints or downloads as a completed PDF, which is easier than deciphering a watering can's handwriting.