Community

Posted 3w ago by @TutorOnion

Advice with watering a range of plants!

I think a range of my plants’ soil has become hydrophobic, but how can I be sure? They’re still growing new leaves (albeit slowly given the time of year) but when I use my moisture meter the reading keep coming out dry even if I sit them in water for an hour (water level is at least half way up the pot). Any advice on what to do? I’m struggling with half my plants such as my #calathea #aloevera #ficus #arrowhead #peacelily #minirose #watering #help
@TutorOnion so what I have to do, I plunge the pot into water so the water comes up through it and hold it. Sometimes you can see the whole lot of soil and plant try to float. If you have rocks or pebble you can put them at the base of the plant stalk to keep them sunk. But usually I have to leave hydrophobic soil soaking for over an hour in water that’s almost to the top of the outside of the pot.
Oh! Also, if all your soil is hydrophobic, you may want to water smaller amounts more often to keep it from getting so dry you have to do this.
@TutorOnion I just had to do exactly what @TheOddAsity says with my calatheas as I saw they started to dry out immediately after wateringπŸ™ˆ The water just ran straight through. Gave them some time in a bucket with the water up to the rim, and let it drain thoroughly. Note that the next watering will not correspond to the previous scedule πŸ™ˆπŸͺ΄
@TutorOnion
Hi Tara!
My lemon-was doing the same thing. So, I began bottom watering for a couple of hours and then top watered.
I finally figured out that the real reason he's hydrophobic is because...HE NEEDS TO REPOTTED INTO A LARGER POT, WITH FRESH SOIL!
The best thing is a full repot with fresh soil! But you can also do two more things (along with all the great suggestions above!) You can do a watering with hydrogen peroxide which will bubble and air out the soil (I d never done this but it came to mind so I don’t know details); additionally you can manually aerate the soil, making gaps where water can soak in. It’s a very technical process in which you randomly stab the soil with a chopstick or skewer 🀣 go slowly, and know that you will probably break a few small roots, but that is OK. οΏΌ
Try with the water slightly higher than the top soil? That's what I always do with my succulents and cactuses.
@MockingJay that usually happens when the soil gets so dry and dense he water just runs over it. U can tell because there’s absolutely no time b/w the watering and the draining. Soaking it will rejuvenate the soil to learn to accept it as the life-giving ingredient it is