| The 'once a week' watering is a rule of thumb to prevent overwatering but in reality, the plant needs to be watered often enough to keep the medium slightly damp. This could be once a week or less, or every other day, depending upon your environment (if you update your profile to let us know where you are, everyone will have a better idea about what climate you're in).
Air conditioning and forced-air heating removes humidity from the air, causing plants to dry quicker.
If you're just pouring in an ounce or two of water, that's not enough; the plant needs to put in the sink and the medium needs to have enough water poured through it to make it evenly damp. Once it's through draining, it can go back to its normal spot in the home.
I'd leave the stem be for the time. If you do cut it, use very sharp scissors (sterilize first) or small bypass trimmers (again, sterilize first). Knives aren't really the right tools. |