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Over or under watered?

Kelly
last year

I can’t figure out what I’m doing wrong.. the plant was good all spring/summer then this suddenly started happening on the lowest stalk and is spreading to the top. The dirt never feels too wet or soggy, I thought I underwatered if anything but then when I water it, it seems like the leaves get worse

Comments (5)

  • ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
    last year

    The dirt never feels too wet or soggy,


    ==>>>


    wet is wet .. when do you let it dry..


    what does soggy feel like??? ... to touch??? .. do you lift the pot to see how much water weight is in the pot ...




    was it outside for summer.. was it stressed bringing it indoors for winter???


    is it on the floor.. how cold is the floor.. where are you.. big city name ... is there a furnace running.. is it near a door that opens often to frigid outside temps???


    you need to use a tell for when to water .. and Al can tell you all about that ...


    ken


    ps: mother earth is soil.. pot media is in the pot.. and dirt is what is all over you when you play in either of them ...


    media is a water management system in a pot.. hold the requisite water the plant needs.. and then shedding excess .. once you accept all that.. then you can learn how to properly water a pot ...

  • tapla (mid-Michigan, USDA z5b-6a)
    last year

    Hi, Kelly. Does the pot have a drain hole? If not, that's almost certainly the underlying issue ....... along with a hand too heavy on the watering can. It looks like too much water and too little air in the grow medium. Read below about using a "tell" to "tell" you when it's time to water. It is very helpful and will help keep you on track insofar as proper watering intervals go. How do you determine when it's time to water?

    Among conventional container gardeners, "soil", the word, is a perfectly acceptable label for what a plant's roots call home, as are additional synonyms 'medium', 'grow medium', and 'substrate'. Among container gardeners, "soil" does not carry the connotation of being a mineral soil. When people call what their plants grow in "dirt", so what. We know what they mean. The best way to change their mind about what they call soil, is by repeating the more appropriate descriptors over and over as we welcome them to the fold and do what we can to help them increase the amount of reward they get for their efforts.

    Using a 'tell'

    Over-watering saps vitality and is one of the most common plant assassins, so learning to avoid it is worth the small effort. Plants make and store their own energy source – photosynthate - (sugar/glucose). Functioning roots need energy to drive their metabolic processes, and in order to get it, they use oxygen to burn (oxidize) their food. From this, we can see that terrestrial plants need plenty of air (oxygen) in the soil to drive root function. Many off-the-shelf soils hold too much water and not enough air to support the kind of root health most growers would like to see; and, a healthy root system is a prerequisite to a healthy plant.

    Watering in small sips leads to avoid over-watering leads to a residual build-up of dissolved solids (salts) in the soil from tapwater and fertilizer solutions, which limits a plant's ability to absorb water – so watering in sips simply moves us to the other horn of a dilemma. It creates another problem that requires resolution. Better, would be to simply adopt a soil that drains well enough to allow watering to beyond the saturation point, so we're flushing the soil of accumulating dissolved solids whenever we water; this, w/o the plant being forced to pay a tax in the form of reduced vitality, due to prolong periods of soil saturation. Sometimes, though, that's not a course we can immediately steer, which makes controlling how often we water a very important factor.

    In many cases, we can judge whether or not a planting needs watering by hefting the pot. This is especially true if the pot is made from light material, like plastic, but doesn't work (as) well when the pot is made from heavier material, like clay, or when the size/weight of the pot precludes grabbing it with one hand to judge its weight and gauge the need for water.

    Fingers stuck an inch or two into the soil work ok for shallow pots, but not for deep pots. Deep pots might have 3 or more inches of soil that feels totally dry, while the lower several inches of the soil is 100% saturated. Obviously, the lack of oxygen in the root zone situation can wreak havoc with root health and cause the loss of a very notable measure of your plant's potential. Inexpensive watering meters don't even measure moisture levels, they measure electrical conductivity. Clean the tip and insert it into a cup of distilled water and witness the fact it reads 'DRY'.

    One of the most reliable methods of checking a planting's need for water is using a 'tell'. You can use a bamboo skewer in a pinch, but a wooden dowel rod of about 5/16” (75-85mm) would work better. They usually come 48” (120cm) long and can usually be cut in half and serve as a pair. Sharpen all 4 ends in a pencil sharpener and slightly blunt the tip so it's about the diameter of the head on a straight pin. Push the wooden tell deep into the soil. Don't worry, it won't harm the root system. If the plant is quite root-bound, you might need to try several places until you find one where you can push it all the way to the pot's bottom. Leave it a few seconds, then withdraw it and inspect the tip for moisture. For most plantings, withhold water until the tell comes out dry or nearly so. If you see signs of wilting, adjust the interval between waterings so drought stress isn't a recurring issue.

    Al


  • Tiffany, purpleinopp Z8b Opp, AL
    last year

    In addition to the stuff about soil and amount of water, please know that Dracaenas are also sensitive to fluoride. If they never get a break sometimes with a flush of some rain or distilled water, the cumulative exposure to fluoride can make them ill.

  • getgoing100_7b_nj
    last year

    It is advisable to keep it on the dry side as temperatures and daylight dip.  If it isn't wrong combination of temperature and watering then it may have a fungal infection. Closely observe the stalk stem, check if the bark peels and if there is black fungus below the bark. I had a large rescue with three stalks that was lush but started yellowing over winter. Eventually, I found the fungal infection. I couldn't save two of the tallest of the three stalks. I did cut off and propagate the leafy shoots on them but the big logs couldn't be saved.

  • Kelly
    Original Author
    last year

    I appreciate the advice! The pot does have a drainage hole with a tray underneath, there is never water sitting in the tray but I did wonder if it only felt dry on top but had enough water deeper within. It’s always been inside away from a door and vents, I live in Detroit area, I water less in the winter and keep a humidifier going. It’s looking like it’s too late for this plant as it already spread pretty fast :/ My other 30 house plants are doing great though! Also my bad on saying dirt instead of soil

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