Just like any other living thing on Earth, your plant needs the correct combination of a few elements in order to grow and thrive, make beautiful flowers or leaves. The key elements for plants are: soil, light, water and warmth. This is everything your plant will ever need. Now out there in the open each plant only grows where the conditions are best for it. You won't ever see a cactus in a bog, or an Ivy in the desert. We have to keep the same thing in mid when we take care of our plants.
Before I go into the details of watering I want to give you an insight into how a plant lives, just a few words not the whole process. So if you are here just to get some quick tips, scroll down over this next paragraph.
A plant nurtures itself by photosynthesis. That is the equivalent of humans eating. The way this works is that water breaks down the organic material and minerals in the soil and it carries them through the root system to the plant's leaves. The plant's leaves use the light of the sun and it converts that light into chemical energy that breaks down the chemicals into the nutrients the plant’s needs. While doing this it also converts the CO2 in the air into carbohydrates and oxygen. Note that this is a brief description of the whole process, but you can read more about it on wiki.
You can see that all the elements are important for a plant to feed itself, now let's take a closer look at watering your plants. There is no strict rule about this as it depends a lot on other factors: the pot, the potting soil, the temperature in the room, airflow etc. Even the plant itself influences this, as some of them like more damp soil other like it dry.
When to water your plants:
When you first get a plant do a Google search to see what are the conditions that particular plant needs. There is a simple and effective way to check and see how wet the soil is. Just looking at the pot will not do the trick, because in many cases the top soil dries out and the soil underneath is still wet. Put your finger in the pot! If you planned on gardening without getting your hands dirty, you're gonna have a bad time. Stick your finger 1 - 1 1/2 inches in the pot's soil (up to your second knuckle), than check how wet the soil is at the top of your fingertip. If it's too dry for the conditions your plant needs, then it's time to water the plant.
Water your plants and flowers in the morning. It has been proven that plants retain moisture better in the morning. Try to avoid watering your plants while they are under direct sunlight and always be careful not to water the leaves. If your plants have hairy leaves than that's the worst thing you could do to them. In this case you could try to put water only in the retainer underneath the pot. But as a general rule plants don't like their leaves wet. They either get sunburned: because water droplets will act like small magnifying glasses or they can get fungus or other diseases to grow on the leaves, and you don't want that.
Plants will sometime show you if they need watering or if you water them too often. Try to keep an eye on them and see how they react to different conditions. If your plant's leaves start curling or twisting, if leaves or flower drop and the leaves turn yellow, then you need to give it more water. If you see brown spots on the leaves or notice the roots become brown color and sort of rotted then you are over watering. Try to avoid both.
Keep in mind that terracotta pots will suck the water out of the soil and need more frequent watering, while metal, plastic or emailed pots hold the moisture in possibly causing your plants to "drown".
How to water plants:
After you establish that your plants needs watering you can go ahead, take your pot and water them. It’s best if you water the plant until you see the water coming out of the bottom of your pot. Usually root systems run deep and spread out so you want to be sure that you get the water all the way down to them, not just at the top of the pot. Take your time and water them slowly, give the soil time to retain the water, don't just go and pour a bucket of water in your pot.
In great lines there are 3 types of plants:
1. Plants that like damp, wet soil. Those plants will need constant watering and you must be careful never to let the soil dry out and at the same time don't over-water them.2. Plants that like dry soil: You still need to water the soil regularly, just pour less water than normally.
3. Plants that like to dry out between watering: You water them as normal plants, but between watering you make sure the soil has gotten dry.
What should you do if your pot soil has dried out completely? This is a very common problem for beginners. The peat in the potting soil once it dries out it becomes hard to re-hydrate and water will just run by it. You will be able to see that the potting soil is gathering up and leaving a gap between it and the pot. If you water now, the water will not go in the soil, just poor down. You have 2 solutions for this:
1. If your pot is small just take it and submerge it under water until it stops bubbling.
2. If your pot is big, poke some holes in it with a stick, water it slowly and make sure the water runs into those holes. Make them deep, but be gentle, you don't want to ruin the root system when you do this.
In both cases you will have to be patient, water it little by little 5-6 times a day, give the soil time to absorb all the moisture.
Also you can read our article on ways to water your plants while on vacation to find out some cool ideas of self watering installations either bought or DIY. (will be coming soon)
I hope this helps you, and if you have any more tips or questions just leave a comment below, we will add it into the article. Thank you and have a wonderful day!
0 comments:
Post a Comment