Wednesday, June 8th, 2011 | 2 Comments »
We all make mistakes in the garden. We’ve made a ton of them ourselves. But like anything else in life, the trick is to learn from your mistakes and hopefully try not to make them again. One of the most common mistakes made by the home gardener is over watering.
Common symptoms that occur from over watering are dropped leaves, yellowing of the plant, rotting, or the plant simply drops dead.
Believe it or not, watering too much will kill the plant faster than giving it too little water. Plants thrive with moist soil – poorly drained and soggy soil is what they don’t like. If the roots are water logged from over watering, you may find your plants wilting on a sunny day.
The proper way to check to see if your plant has enough water, is to stick your finger in the soil about an inch near the base of the plant. If your finger is dry, the plant needs to be watered.
2 Reader Comments
April 20, 2012 at 1:50 pm
Plants in pots may need to be watered more often, especially your red ceiling wax palm which is not drought tolerant.
February 19, 2012 at 2:07 pm
Thanks. This makes me feel comfortable and confident to not water my plants too much. I tend to water them three times a week although the soil is a little bit moist. I have a red ceiling wax palm tree (still small, in 3 gallon container), and Areca palms, (in 1 gallon container). I can probably get away with watering them 1-2 times a week instead of three.