Good Job!

Thanks! The journey continues.

Day 13 of the great under-watering experiment continues.

This is harder than expected. I want to water these plants in the worst way. The moisture meter is now down to "dry," even on the one plant with soil that drys the slowest of the six plants I own. The " feel, and weight" tests all indicated dry soil. But, I am holding off as this test needs to continue until all indicators are confirmed.

Here's my dilemma. After 13 days of no watering, the "eye test" does not indicate a plant in need of water. The plants are not drooping, the leaves aren't wrinkled, there is no yellowing or fallen leaves and the leaves are still a waxy, deep green.

This has been a great experiment. It has laid waste to my "incorrect" notion of appropriate watering of a jade plant. My previous pots were terra-cotta, and roughly 25% smaller than current pots and could be watered weekly.

So, the question now is: "Should this experiment continue past the two week mark?" My concern from reading various websites is that yellowing/dropped leaves/root damage happen very quickly. Obviously, I don't want that to happen.

Considerations are:

1. The 6 pots were an upgrade to 7" x 6.5" and each are roughly 1.1 gallons, or .15 cubic feet of soil.
2. The 6 pots are ceramic, drain well with both hole/saucer at the base, and are filled with fast draining soil designed for succulents. I have 2" of perlite in the base of each plant.

Any thoughts out among the membership of the National Gardening Association?

I am in new territory here.

Feel the leaves. Take one between your fingers and gently squeeze. A jade leaf in need of water will ever so slightly start losing turgor. Then you water. If you aren't sure what I mean, water one plant and tomorrow, compare the leaves (by squeezing them between your fingers) on that plant to the leaves on the others.

Turgor. I've not heard that term since HS science class.

Perfect description, and great advice. "Ever so slightly start losing turgor" seems to be the key.

Common sense always provides the best direction.

Makes perfect sense. I will do this right away.

Thanks again.

OK. Day 14 of my non-watering experiment.

I took the great advice of DaisyL as I am trying to determine the "rule of thumb" about the timing of re-watering my jade plants. DaisyL suggested I water one of my 6 plants, wait a day, then compare the "turgor," or softness, of the leaves to those that have not been watered.

I watered one plant yesterday. Today, I compared the watered plants with the other five non-watered plants. The answers were less than clear.

The watered plant didn't seem to change much. All the leaves of the watered plant are firm, as they had been, and perhaps, perked up a bit? These are very slight changes.

The 5 non-watered plant seems to have a few leaves that are a little soft. None of the non-watered plants are sagging or shriveled. The large majority of leaves are still firm, green and healthy.

So, what would DaisyL do?

Feedback always appreciated.

Daisy would water.

The idea isn't to stress them, just not overwater them. That ever so slight softness BEFORE the plant droops and leaves yellow means water time.

Its the inflection point.

The reason the jade leaves turn yellow, lose their shine and wilt is photosynthesis is a chemical process needing water. No water, no photosynthesis, plant stress. We don't want stress.

Daisy would water means Mark will water.

You understand what I'm trying to do, and now I have a phrase for it. Inflection point. The point (watering) on the plane curve at which the curvature (not watering) changes from concave to convex.

The tangent has met the curve! Yes, I don't want to stress the plant whatsoever. Water means photosynthesis.

Thanks for the practical application of calculus.

And to think all those years ago, my HS teacher said I would never use calculus again.

Time to water the plants.

The drought has ended. The jade plants have been fed.

My new baseline will be two weeks between waterings. Thanks to all of you for your input, especially DaisyL, the calculus gardner. The "inflection point" analogy was memorable.

But, the questions haven't ended. Here we go.

I water each of my 6 jade plants with roughly 1 cup of water. It seems to be working, so I am of thought "Let sleeping dogs lie." But, something happened with the last watering that raises a question.

The water never reaches the bottom of the pot. I've read that I should soak each plant until a small amount of water reaches the drainage hole and the residual water is left in the saucer. Then, dump the water out of the saucer. That insures that all roots are receiving water.

Every pot has 2 inches of perlite at the bottom. I have about 4.5 inches of fast draining soil in a 7" x 6.5"" pot. But, no water reaches the drainage hole.

Should I increase the dosage of water to insure the entire root system is saturated?

The "Magic 8-Ball" has been shaken and says, "Most likely."

Thoughts?

Hi! I treat my jades like nature does, every morning I "dew' mine, which is a good spraying with a few more seconds on the soil. See-- marthastewart.com-- "Should you mist your houseplants in addition to watering" She makes a lot of good points and sure helped all of my jade and non-flowering plants as they reach to the sky for more! I'm not a pro but sure learned a lot from her!! Enjoy! Mike

Thanks Mike.

Martha Stewart is a wealth of information about a lot of things.

Misting your jades every morning. I had not considered this.

I appreciate the input.

Yes, do water until water comes out the drain hole. Next time you repot, leave the perlite and everything else (except the soil) out of the pot. If the drain holes are a regular size, place a small piece of newspaper, craft screen or window screen over the drain hole, nothing else.

By adding extra material (pebbles, perlite, pot shards...) to the bottom of the pot, you are actually causing the soil to drain and dry more slowly. New concept: Perched water tables in pots.

Don't bother to mist. The only thing you will accomplish is ruining the furniture. The humidity will only be raised for the 10 seconds of misting.

I've been enjoying this thread as I have some potted jade plants outdoors.

Would you ever advise a deep soak where the pot is placed in a basin of water and left for 15 - 30 minutes to make sure all the soil has been saturated? When I let my soil go completely dry, I will occasionally do this due to soil's tendency to become hydrophobic when it becomes totally dry. When I do the soak, I'll also add water to the top of the soil. If I see bubbles, I know dry pockets have developed and that the soaking will alleviate that problem.

Yes, any time your soil becomes hydrophobic, you either need to soak the pot to the rim or make multiple passes (water, then in 5 or 10 minutes, water again, repeat until the soil is absorbing water again). Its also the reason I use a soil with a wetting agent - no matter how dry, the soil will absorb moisture. Eventually, the soil does get old and the wetting agent fails and its time to repot. I am a notorious non-repotter and non-fertilizer. My plants go for years without new soil or fertilizer. They're lucky I remember to water once in awhile.

Good to know, DaisyL.

Next watering, I will "super-soak" the soil so that it drains into the saucer. Easy enough.

Puzzling. I was under the assumption, through way too much reading, that perlite at the bottom of the pot would insure "better" drainage and provide some needed room for oxygenation of the soil to help roots grow stronger.

Now, I learn that rocks slows drainage? I thought any rocks in the bottom of the pot would insure no "wet feet" and better drainage.

So, if I read something on the internet, it's not always the truth? Shocker!

Always good advice.

Fascinating.

Soil become hydrophobic? I get it with a forest fire, or some kind of natural disaster.

But in a pot? Wouldn't that just be compacted soil? Or just pockets of dry soil due to uneven evaporation?

Placing a planted pot in water and let it soak for 15-30 minutes is a new concept.

But then, most things are for me!

Daisyl, how interesting about the use of a wetting agent. My husband brought home a big bag of Miracle Grow potting soil with a wetting agent added and didn't want to return it, but I was leery about using it. I did add some of that soil to some cactus mix I had for a plant that could be potted with regular soil, and so far it's been okay.

I wondered how a wetting agent would effect succulents or other plants. I have a few Peperomias I replanted into terra cotta pots that seem to need watering much more often than other Peps that are smaller in size. I'm pretty sure they aren't root bound since they were repotted towards the end of the growing season (I know now that that's not the best time to repot) but I was thinking I made the soil too quick-draining.

I'll search through the forum for more discussions on wetting agents, but would like to know more about how you judge the amount to use and what product you found to be best for your needs. Thank you!

Daisyl, how interesting about the use of a wetting agent. My husband brought home a big bag of Miracle Grow potting soil with a wetting agent added and didn't want to return it, but I was leery about using it. I did add some of that soil to some cactus mix I had for a plant that could be potted with regular soil, and so far it's been okay.

I wondered how a wetting agent would effect succulents or other plants. I have a few Peperomias I replanted into terra cotta pots that seem to need watering much more often than other Peps that are smaller in size. I'm pretty sure they aren't root bound since they were repotted towards the end of the growing season (I know now that that's not the best time to repot ) but I was thinking I made the soil too quick-draining.

I'll search through the forum for more discussions on wetting agents, but would like to know more about how you judge the amount to use and what product you found to be best for your needs. Thank you!

I hate to disappoint but I use Miracle Gro soil for everything. It comes with a wetting agent. All my cactus and succulents are in Miracle Gro Citrus, Palm and Cactus soil with added perlite. The brand of soil doesn't matter as much as the consistency of use. When you always use the same soil, you will know what to expect. And when you repot, the old and new soils will be compatible.

The only Miracle Gro products I don't use are MG Moisture Control soils and MG fertilizers.