Happy Monday! String of Hearts Q
Good Monday morning #TheWateringHole gang!! I hope this week brings you peace, joy, and.. growth! 🌱 I do wish we were all sitting around sharing some coffee (or tea!) on this chilly NYC morning. I have a question for our String Of.. veterans. I’ve had mine for about 2 weeks now, and I am decidedly not a succulent grower (yet!), so I wanted to hivemind my plan of attack here. This String of Hearts was watered 7 days ago, has not been repotted from plant store as it was stringing so much in their care. Greg is telling me it’s due for another water, which I’ve read it should be more on par with 1.5- 2 weeks. I am blasting the crown for about 1.5 hours every day with a grow light to make sure it stays happy up there after I noticed a couple yellow leaves last week, and happy to report no yellowing this week and multiple growth points on the strings. The strings get the grow light the rest of the day. The pot feels very light and taco test definitely looks like it’s ready for a water. When I took it down, it looked a little dark so I tried both the finger test AND a water meter (the water meter is new, so I don’t fully trust it yet). I’m confused why taco test could be so definitive yet there’s apparently still water to be had in the soil. I’m a little scared to repot because I read the roots are rather shallow. But maybe those shallow roots aren’t grabbing the water below? What say yall? Give it more time to water? What is your normal water rhythm for your home, and is that with grow lights?
0ft to light, indirect
4” pot with drainage
Last watered 1 day ago
15
What kind of water meter is it? It looks kind of fancy but most water meters dont actually measure moisture, they measure the electrical resistance of your potting medium, so different mediums could actually give you wildly different results. If the top of your soil is dry, then put the back of your knuckle against the bottom drainage hole (more sensitive than finger tips). Is it still moist there? Or dry?
@jho Also, the roots being shallow could mean that they don’t go down all the way in the pot? There’s no way to tell , without repotting, where the roots sit in the soil. But if they’re only up on the top that would explain that it needs water even though the moisture reads moisture probably further down in the pot.
Such a sweet SOH🩷💚🤍🥰 little Elle is coming along nicely. I don’t 💯 trust water meters either although yours looks very fancy! 🤭 And with my SO anythings I can’t touch test the soil once they get mature & full. So if I suspect it’s not ready for water then I will use a meter and my gut feeling. Better to delay a day or 2 than 💦 too soon. I don’t use the taco test, I’d overthink it for sure 🤪 But what’s worked for me is shallow pots. I lost many a SO anything from exactly what you said - shallow roots that never got to the bottom & consequently weren’t getting water. I had saturated soil at the bottom and frail little roots at the top. I switched to shallow plastic pots, specifically “azalea” pots which are shallow and wide. And I use a combo reg potting soil mixed with succulent mix. For my SOP’s I slowly drizzle the top with water, let that soak in and then repeat until it looks and feels sufficient. No more SOP bottom watering here🙅. For SOD 🐬 they also get top watered although they get a good 🚿 in the kitchen sink - all over their little 🐬🐬🐬 strings too. Hope that helps! Btw had to look up hive mind 🤫🫣. And I sooo wish we could all sit together with a hot beverage on a chilly NYC morning and chat plants too!!!🌸🌴🌿🍃🌱🌵🎍🪻🪴. Wouldn’t it be fun if we could have road trips to everyone’s houses to chat and see their setups in person! 🤗
@DreamMachine so I got the water meter moreso because I wanted to test soil pH on my begonias and the water and stuff was all bonus. I didn’t know a good brand and just tried to grab one not too expensive and with good reviews, and I JUST got it last month. I went to Amazon to grab the name for you and it’s frickin gone already. 🙃 So that makes me trust it less. That is a great tip about using your knuckle. It unfortunately won’t work with this style of pot (it’s like little squares along the bottom but with the deep saucer attached) , but it is filed away for future use!! @MariansOasis @Amghou @BeeBalm this is exactly the kind of anecdotal info I was looking for, thank you! I can read all I want but at the end of the day, just seeing how other people that are thriving is how I learn best. I will look up these azalea pots, because @slayonium Luca gave me some great info on soil (have you SEEN their oasis??)! Maybe repotting this weekend.. again..! 😂 Thanks again guys.
@Jho @MariansOasis Of COURSE I’ve seen Luca’s @slayonium oasis. Every time I do I end up saving pictures of gorgeous beautiful rainbowy succulents that shall never be mine, with sunlight that I will never have. 😂 Ok a little dramatic, but yes, Luca your oasis is amazing and I’m jealous of your sunlight.
I’m just fine.
…if anyone needs me I’ll be clutching my calatheas and crying in my cold dark rainforest swamp over here.
I’m just fine.
…if anyone needs me I’ll be clutching my calatheas and crying in my cold dark rainforest swamp over here.
@DreamMachine it does MOVE between slightly alkaline and acidic as I water, etc, but I’m very hesitant to trust it now without verifying with a backup. So disappointing when there’s a fly by night company.
@MariansOasis I’m so excited to learn about Azalea pots! I have several plants that I think would really like them!