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About watering plants
Q. If you have a 6 potted plant, which would you say is the correct amount of water:
a) cup, b) pint, c) quart?
A. Most say a cup. THAT IS INCORRECT. Read on.
Q. If told to give a 6 pot a gallon of water TODAY, would you say that is over-watering? A. Most say emphatically YES. That is
wrong.
It is not the QUANTITY of water that over-waters, it is the FREQUENCY that causes over-watering.
Giving a 6 plant a gallon of water TODAY will not over-water because the pot cannot hold that much water. Giving it 10 cups of
water today is not over-watering. But keeping it wet today, tomorrow, the next day and so on is OVERWATERING.
When a pot is filled with water, the air is displaced. As the water is used or evaporated,
air goes back into the soil. Roots need an exchange of air and water. When a plant needs water it makes roots looking for water. It is a fact that plant roots grow towards the water source.
If the
soil has no air, the roots suffocate (drown) and when that happens there is no way to transport water from the soil up to the leaves. So when the leaves get no water because there are no roots left, the
leaves WILT, and people think it needs more water. Guess what? They water some more, adding insult to injury.
So dont be afraid to water well when it is time to water, THEN BE SURE TO LET THE SOIL
DRY OUT before watering again. The leaves will tell you when they need water.
When a leaf is full of water, it is TURGID. When the cells use or lose water, the cells collapse and the leaf droops
[wilts].
If a plant has been allowed to get overly dry, plunge the pot in water until air bubbles stop coming out. PROOF that water displaces air.
If a plant does not get enough water, a common
sign is the tips/edges turn off color because that is the part of the plant that is the farthest away from the roots.
If a plant looses its roots, it starts to cannibalize itself by taking
nourishment from the leaves closest to the root system (which is now dead), thus the lower leaves turn yellow first. Leaves turning yellow at all levels of the plant can be several factors, but one could
be the leaves the farthest away from the roots are losing stored food.
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