Yup, it is.... but have you checked the batteries in your probe? What types of tropicals do you have? (Got pictures?)

By the way, welcome to the forum, Jimmy! You'll find that we're a bunch of friendly people who are eager to help each other with house plant & gardening issues (& most of us are looking for help with ours, too... Maybe you have some ideas & gardening experiences that you'd care to share with us.) We're like 1 big family here, & we look forward to getting to know you!

If you have the time, please stop by the New Member forum & introduce yourself... or just jump in on a topic & join our gardening "family"!
Hope to see you again soon... & often!

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Ah, one thing I forgot. If the meter is showing wet does that mean I should stay away from watering? At one time I was watering twice a week because I thought once was not enough. I know the most common mistake is to overwater so I am trying not to do that. I believe when I thought once was not enough it was less humid around here. Now maybe once a week is too much with the humidity level being higher lately.

Thanks Patty, I will see what I can do about pictures in the future but I am not making any promises right now. It sounds as if you are saying that I could actually go weeks without watering these plants, except for the capella. I must have lots to learn about taking care of these plants.

I actually noticed today that my plants don't look as well as they have for the last couple of weeks. I am wondering if doing the wrong thing is something that doesn't show up for a while. Here is the scenario. I was watering once a week for a long time. The plants did not look as well as I thought they should. I would get a few leaves turning brown on the edges of the cane. A few leaves falling off the capella, and a few leaves turning yellow and holes appearing on the braids. I thought maybe there was not enough humidity.

The thing I love about these sites with advice for taking care of your plants is that the problems that show up, whether it is brown leaves, yellow leaves, or falling leaves, is they all say it could be too much water, not enough water, too much humidity, not enough humidity, too much light, not enough light. WELL GEE, thanks a million!!!! If it could be too much water or not enough water than how in the world am I suppose to know how to fix the problem?

Anyway, then I started watering twice a week in the hope that it was not enough water. I was assuming that watering too much was referring to people who water everyday. All of a sudden my plants started to look better, actually very good until today. It has been humid around here lately so the humidity level in the house has been good for them, about 50 to 55 percent humidity. However, today I forgot to open the blinds before I left and they sat in very low light all day. I don't think that would be enough to all of a sudden make them look a little wilty.

The moisture level is still high in the soil even though I have not watered for 9 days now. I had two leaves fall off my capella, one leaf turn yellow on one of my braids, a couple of holes appear on the braid as well, and some brown edges appear on two leaves of my cane.

I don't know what to think anymore!

P.S. I only have gravel on the bottom of my aloe planters. I did not place gravel on the bottom of the pots with my tropicals. I put soil all the way to the bottom. They do have drainage holes though and I do not let them sit in the water. They are taken out of the saucers and placed outside when watered so the water runs through for a few hours before they go back to the saucer.

Thanks Patty, I guess you are saying that I can't just wait for the soil to dry out? It seems amazing to me that everything was good for the last couple of months and now I haven't watered in the longest and the soil won't dry. I am going to give it a few more days and hope for the best, if they don't dry I will have to repot. Dang it!

OK, you have the right kind of soil in the pot, but it does need to have better drainage.

quote:

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...everything was good for the last couple of months and now I haven't watered in the longest and the soil won't dry.

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We might be back to the subject about things not reacting right away. Like anything else, plants will sometimes tolerate less than perfect conditions for just so long, before they can't ignore them any longer. I hope that when you repot, to get the rocks in there, you don't find mushy, water-logged roots that stopped taking in moisture.


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Thanks Patty. I hope the roots are ok when I take them out. I think these plants are in pretty good shape right now. I am sure they will be fine. I wanted to add another plant anyway so rearranging some of them in different pots was going to take place regardless. I will do what I can as far as pictures. I actually lost my digital camera on a trip a little while ago so I have not taken many pictures lately.

I respectfully disagree with much of what already has been said.

Water meters are notoriously unreliable. They don't measure moisture levels but rather, soil conductivity, which can be affected by several factors, of which moisture level is only one. Other factors include soil composition, the presence of minerals, pH levels. More reliable is to poke your finger deep into the soil to test moisture or use a soil probe which takes soil samples and provides aeration at the same time.

Contrary to conventional wisdom, placing gravel in the bottom of the pot can compound the problem. The physics is a bit complicated but the gravel or pebbles can cause the lower soil to remain moist too long, placing plants as risk for root rot. Always pot plants in pots with drainage holes.

Watering by the calendar is never a good idea as factors such as amount of available light, pot size, humidity levels, even the health of the plant can all affect how long it takes soil to dry and different plant species have unique water requirements. If you think the decorative moss is retaining too much moisture, you might want to experiment by removing it to see if it makes a difference.

JimmyGreen, Often, I have gotten bags of soil from HomeDepot, Lowes, and a local nursery and they ARE wet if it's been raining in the area within the past two weeks. More often than not, these bags are stored outside. I have even gotten bagged mulch that was mouldy in the center of the bag.

Does this "10" soil you just tested hold together when you squeeze it in your hand? Spread some of it out to dry, pack it in a cup and try your meter again.

Please don't write off a moisture meter. It is merely a guide in addition to other efforts we all make in determining when to water.

Tending potted plants is trial and error. If at first we don't succeed, we try something different until we do succeed

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Tomacco

That coffee was so strong, it swallowed the cream...
http://s98.photobucket.com/albums/l268/Tomacco1/

Initially it seems counterintuitive that adding pebbles could impair drainage but the science supports it. Principles of gravity, cohesion, and adhesion all interplay in the drainage of water in potted plants. A simple but good explanation can be found in this forum's archives http://www.thegardenhelper.com/cgi-bin/ubb/cgi/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=27;t=001130;p=0

Sorry for the typed out URLs but the UBB code doesn't seem to be working, at least on my computer.

Happy reading!

Thanks, Star! I'd never given any thought to the principles you mentioned (or to surface tension) in relationship to "drainage rocks" in a plant pot. VERY interesting... I'll have to mull it over for a while, so it can sink in!

I've never had a problem with plants such as my Dracaena, Spiders & Lipstick, & I do have rocks in their planters. As this new information sinks in to my teeny brain, I'm wondering if my using lava rock has something to do with why I haven't experienced any root rot. (Many of my Orchids came in lava rock, & I think I might understand why, now! I've always thought that bark media was better, so I've repotted them!)

I haven't used the lava rock "on purpose", FOR the plants, though... When we bought this house, all the pathways were filled with that stuff & I hate it, because I'm always barefoot & it's murder to walk on! I've given a lot of it away, raked the rest into a big pile behind the house & replaced it with sand. (It's easier on the feet & makes weeding the pathways a breeze!) ...So, when I've needed rocks for plant pots, it's just meant that many less to step on!

Thanks also, for finding that thread hidden in the archives! I'd never seen it before... (entertaining, too)!

**By the way, Jimmy said that he replanted in clay pots. Uhhh, I don't think that was a good thing.. what do you think, Star? (Sorry Jimmy... I know it was a lot of work, but you might have to do the whole thing over!)**

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OK guys and gals, I will go over the entire set up since it seems you all may be picturing something different based on my lack of providing full info. For one I didn't mention the drainage holes and that may have led to confusion.

I have 6 pots and all of them are what I would call clay-based. I don't know too much about pots. Is there anything other than clay and plastic? These are what you would typically find at home depot. Polished on the outside but rough on the inside. They all have 3 to 4 drainage holes on the bottom. They all sit on top of a saucer. I have now placed a level of rocks in the bottom.

Now based on what Star said about the science behind the gravel, which sounds highly probable, I still don't think that would cause a problem because I do have the drainage holes. My soil is not going to be affected by being packed into the drainage holes because of the barrier of rocks and the rocks are not going to let the water sit because there is drainage. I see that this should be the best possible way to water and get the water to flow through.

I have not given up on the water meter although I will also test with the finger. The soil I bought was at home depot and it was in the area of the tropical plants. It was not outside where it could get rained on and it was on one of their typical pallet set ups where it probably had been sitting for a while. It is the greenhouse area which I am sure is a little more humid than the rest of the building but certainly should not have had water hitting it. It must be that the conductivity and minerals in it make the reading high. It is pre-fertilized mix. When you take it out of the bag it is black and a little moist. You can't make a mud ball with it but it isn't exactly dry powder either.

Star dancer, if it isn't too much trouble I would like to inquire you on the soil probe you talked about. I am becoming more unsure of the moisture meter. This is what I typically see. The soil looks only slightly moist at best. Even a little dry and light brown on top and as I put my finger down an inch or two I find it to be slighty moist at best but it still does not stick together like a mudball. The moisture meter reads moist at two inches and then wet the farther I go down. I believe now that this is because of mineral composition and not the actual water level. How does the soil probe work and are they available at most places like Home Depot?

Thanks Star. I am starting to regret the repotting using the rocks if it is going to mean repotting again. Arrgg! I bought another plant and forget the name now but it is a three stem plant with long green leaves with reddish streaks thoughout. Nice looking plant. After a couple weeks it has the bottom leaves starting to wilt and some of those becoming pale. I am wondering what is causing that. I also have a leaf or two on my braided plants turning pale green once in a while and I am wondering if that is normal or not. It happens every 2 to 3 weeks or so. There seems to be a couple of different things happening and I don't know enough to know whether these things are normal.