Houseplant Care and Watering Tracker

About this template

This houseplant care tracker is for anyone with more plants than they can keep in their head, each on its own watering rhythm. Tell it how often a plant wants water and when you last watered it, and the workbook works out what is due today, this week and later.

Thirty-odd plants on a dozen different intervals is too much to remember. This file turns the whole collection into one short list each morning.

Please read: This is a tracker tool only, not financial, tax, legal, medical or any other professional advice or advisory service. It records and calculates what you enter; you are solely responsible for checking all figures, rates, dates and results and for every decision you make. By purchasing, downloading or using it, you accept these terms (your statutory consumer rights are not affected).

The dashboard

Nothing on the dashboard is typed. It fills itself from your plant list, and you can pick Whole home or any single room and the page follows.

• Thirsty now: plants due today or already late for water
• The next two weeks: waterings due each day for fourteen days, with late ones shown today
• Who needs water next: the thirstiest plants first, with when each was last watered
• Waterings a week: how many the week holds, and roughly how many a day
• The light they get: plants grouped from bright direct to low light
• How they are doing: thriving, doing fine, struggling, recovering and lost, with the share that are thriving
• Room by room: every room's plants by how they are doing

Two columns typed, the rest worked out

• How often each plant wants water, in days, and when you last watered it
• Next due and days left follow automatically, amber inside a week and red when overdue
• Thirsty today and due this week, counted before you fill the can
• Light and pot size as columns, the first two things to check when a plant starts going backwards, and pot size tells you when repotting is due
• Five colored states, with the struggling ones counted so they stand out

Inside the workbook

Six connected tabs: Start Here, Setup, Plants, Tasks, Today and Dashboard. The Plants tab has room for 200 plants with species, room and light. Today shows what needs water before you sit down, and Tasks holds the jobs like repotting, treating pests or ordering feed.

The worked example is a plant collection of 35 indoor plants across nine rooms and a balcony, on intervals from two days to three weeks: six thirsty today, thirteen due this week, and five struggling. It is a good picture of a real plant parent's week before you start your own plant watering schedule from the blank copy.

Works with

• Microsoft Excel 2016, 2019, 2021 and Microsoft 365, on Windows and Mac, and LibreOffice
• Google Sheets with a free Google account. The Google Sheets version is a real workbook you make your own copy of, not a PDF with a link in it.
• No dynamic arrays, no macros, no add-ins and no subscription

What you download

• The Excel workbook filled with a worked example
• The same workbook, blank and ready for yours
• The instruction guide, which has one-click links to the Google Sheets versions (filled and blank)
• The terms of use as a PDF

Your files are ready to download as soon as payment clears. The template is for personal and business use on your own devices, so please do not share or resell the files. Questions before or after you buy? Use our contact page and we will help.

Frequently asked questions

Can I use it in Google Sheets as well as Excel?

Yes. You download Excel workbooks for Excel 2016 or later on Windows and Mac, and the instruction guide has one-click links to make your own copy in Google Sheets with a free Google account.

How does it know when a plant needs water?

You enter how often each plant wants water in days and the date you last watered it. The next due date and days left are worked out for you.

How many plants can I track?

The Plants tab has room for 200 plants, each with species, room, light and pot size.

Can I see plants room by room?

Yes. Pick Whole home or any room on the dashboard and the whole page follows.

Does it remind me to repot?

Pot size has its own column so you can see when a plant is due a bigger pot, and the Tasks tab holds jobs like repotting.