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How Easyplant's self-watering pots take the hassle out of indoor plant maintenance

Easyplant offers a variety of low-maintenance plant options to choose from that work well with my busy schedule thanks to the self-watering pot.
Illustration of Writer watering her Easyplant
Easyplant’s self-watering pots need to be filled up only once a month and carry the water directly to the plant’s root.Courtesy Mili Godio

I’ve never been one to have a green thumb. I admittedly have trouble keeping the most low-maintenance plants alive and healthy — even my most neglect-friendly succulents and cactuses end up dead after a few months. There are a few reasons for my plant parent woes: For one, I struggle with knowing exactly when to water my plants and how their watering needs change with the seasons, so I’ll usually end up overwatering them over time to make up for underwatering them. I also travel quite a bit, which means I’ll usually come back to wilted, yellowing or outright dead leaves after a week or two when no one is around to take care of them.

I’ve always been committed to adding some greenery to my apartment, but I needed something to help with my time constraints and general lack of plant care knowledge. A few months after moving in, I was gifted an Easyplant to brighten up my living space, and its self-watering pots have kept my plants thriving for six months with minimal effort.

Easyplant is a lot like other DTC plant delivery services: It offers dozens of indoor plants to choose from that are delivered right to your door. But what sets them apart is that each plant comes pre-potted in a ceramic self-watering pot with a reservoir for water — the pot utilizes a proprietary mechanism that slowly carries the water from the reservoir directly to the plant’s roots, according to the brand. Since the plant only drinks water when it needs it, Easyplant says its pots practically eliminate the chances of overwatering or underwatering your plant. As a chronic overwaterer, this process helps me out a lot — I simply open a small tab at the top of the pot to take a look at the reservoir’s water level and fill it up with lukewarm water whenever it’s low. Instead of having to physically water the plant every 2-3 weeks with no indication of whether I’m giving the plant too much or too little water, I just fill up the reservoir once a month and let it water itself (which works out great when I’m traveling, too).

Easyplant Marble Pothos

With a variety of unique plant options to choose from, ranging from Money Trees to Ponytail Palms, it was pretty difficult to pick just one plant for my apartment. I decided to start off with the Marble Pothos, a relatively low-maintenance indoor plant that has beautiful marbled specks on its leaves. Aside from being visually stunning, it’s a great option for my very small yet well-lit New York City apartment: It grows long so it can be hung on a wall or shelf and thrives best in indirect natural light, according to Easyplant.

Easyplant Heartleaf Philodendron

Unfortunately, my Marble Pothos package arrived looking like it had been manhandled in transit, so the pot had a crack running down its side. I contacted Easyplant and the company quickly and painlessly sent over a replacement of my choice at no cost: a Heartleaf Philodendron that, as its name suggests, has adorable heart-shaped leaves and long, flowing vines. Using some super glue, I was also able to haphazardly repair my Marble Pothos’ pot — fortunately, the self-watering mechanism works despite a few cracks still remaining.

Easyplant White Sansevieria

After a few months of watching my plants thrive, I decided to add a White Sansevieria — which is often called a “snake plant” due to its tall, thin leaves that taper at the ends — to my growing collection. Easyplant describes this plant as “tolerant and hard to kill” since it can adapt and thrive in almost any conditions, the brand says. Unlike my other plants that have had the occasional yellowing leaf or dead stem, the White Sansevieria has managed to grow with no visible issues or imperfections.

Easyplant lets you choose from four plant sizes: Small, Medium (which can also come with a stand), Large and Huge. The size you’ll need will depend on how tall the plant is expected to grow, which is displayed on the product page for each individual plant. All three of my plants are small with a 6-inch-wide pot, so they don’t take up too much room in the limited space I have. Easyplant also offers its pots in multiple colors to fit your home’s aesthetic, ranging from muted white, olive green and gray to brighter colors like yellow, pink and turquoise.

If you’re in doubt about how to care for your plants like I was, the brand also offers a Plant Care section on its site that explains the environment in which each plant grows best, the amount of sunlight it needs, how toxic it is when ingested (for homes with children and pets) and other important tips for keeping your plant happy and healthy. While my plants are consistently growing, I don’t have to worry about rehoming them any time soon: Easyplant notes that they can live in their self-watering pots for at least 18 months before they need to be repotted.

Other low-maintenance plants to consider

Whether you’re looking for a self-watering mechanism or are hunting for a plant that doesn’t require a lot of effort to keep alive, we’ve compiled a few low-maintenance options to consider that we’ve previously covered.

The Sill ZZ Plant

Similar to Easyplant, The Sill offers dozens of low-maintenance indoor plants that can be delivered to your home. Aaron Steil, a consumer horticulture extension specialist at Iowa State University, previously recommended the ZZ Plant as a drought-tolerant succulent that thrives in medium indirect light. Since the retailer doesn’t offer self-watering pots, the ZZ Plant should be watered approximately every three weeks or when the potting soil is completely dry, according to Steil.

AeroGarden Harvest

If an indoor garden is more your speed, the AeroGarden Harvest can grow fresh herbs using 20-watt LED lights and a hydroponic system that provides the plants with a nutrient-rich solution. Similar to Easyplant’s self-watering mechanism, the AeroGarden Harvest equips a reservoir that you can fill up with water and plant food — a touch-sensor control panel will then indicate when you should add more water. It can grow six plants up to 12 inches high using seed pods, which allow you to grow everything from salad greens to cherry tomatoes. Select editor Christina Colizza said she likes the AeroGarden’s compact size, but advised spreading out the seeds at the beginning to avoid overcrowding.

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