Viewing post #775136 by RickCorey

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Jan 28, 2015 12:14 PM CST
Name: Rick Corey
Everett WA 98204 (Zone 8a)
Sunset Zone 5. Koppen Csb. Eco 2f
Frugal Gardener Garden Procrastinator I helped beta test the first seed swap Plant and/or Seed Trader Seed Starter Region: Pacific Northwest
Photo Contest Winner: 2014 Avid Green Pages Reviewer Garden Ideas: Master Level Garden Sages I was one of the first 300 contributors to the plant database! I helped plan and beta test the plant database.
WhisperCloud said:thanks for telling the name.
searching the net i think i waterd it way too much that is why it is dying.
gonna water it every 2 weeks from now on.


Welcome to ATP!

I agree with the suggestion that the pot MUST have drainage holes. If not, re-potting is a very good idea. If you do re-pot, using a fast-draining mix is also a very good idea.

If you already have drainage holes, and you over-watered recently, there is a way to "un-water" or "de-water" a pot. Set the pot on top of a folded-over towel or Tee shirt, or denim. make sure that the absorbent cloth touches the soil, THROUGH the drainage holes.

Once the soil mix touches absorbent fabric firmly, a capillary connection is established that will "suck" excess water from the soilless mix, unless that mix has a lot of peat or vermiculite.

If the pot has so much water that the towel will become saturated, you can let one corner of the towel drape down 12" so that water is pulled into the towel, then drains downward and drips off or evaporates, making "room" in the fabric to absorb moare water.

P.S.
You can put paper toweling between the soilless mix and the towel, to keepp the 'dirt' out of the towel.

P.P.S.
If the pot has a layer of pebbles or broken clay pots "for drainage", that will defeat this method. The pebbles or pot shards can't maintain a capillary path, so perched water just fills the soilless mix above the pebbles, excludes air, and helps the roots rot.

Putting a layer of trash in the bottom of a container "for drainage" is only harmful, not helpful. If you need to keep mix from coming out of the holes in a pot, look for some way to make the holes seem smaller, or line them with window screening or maybe anti-static dryer sheets. You want the holes to stay as open as possible, for gas exchange.

If you need better drainage and aeration, you need to re-pot with something that has more "coarse stuff" like Perlite or coarse bark shreds. That reduces the amount of water retained, lets the excess water drain down, and holds open "pores", voids or channels so air can diffuse rapidly into the soil. If the "pores" or channels fill with water, air diffusion is slowed down by a factor of hundreds or thousands, leading to root drowning and rotting.

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