I disagree. There is no reason not to water in small sips and sidestep excessive water retention via that practice if you're only going to flush the soil once yearly, a self-defeating practice. Soils need to be flushed regularly - the more often, the better. This is especially true when using the high-P(hosphorous) fertilizers disguised as 'houseplant food'. It only takes 2 fertigations using the common/popular Schultz 10-15-10 houseplant fertilizer for the nutrient ratio in the soil solution to become so badly out of balance that antagonistic deficiencies of Fe are pretty much assured. It's not only the EC/TDS of/in the soil solution that warrants consideration, it's the ratio of nutrients, each to the others, that also should be taken into account.

If containers are allowed to sit in the effluent that exits the container drain hole, the soil solution quickly reaches a state of isotonicity (balance between the salt levels in the effluent and the soil solution). This is something we should work to avoid by making sure that once the effluent has passed through the soil, there is NO pathway for the effluent or wastes it contains that leads back into the soil. Allowing a container to sit in the effluent in a collection saucer completely negates any potential positive inherent in flushing the soil when we water.

Ideally, the main pot would be lifted so it's always above the level of the effluent. The effluent should either be removed or allowed to evaporate, but it should not come in contact with the soil or anything that can wick water back into the soil.

Also, I'm not sure how advice on fertilizing frequency can be meaningful w/o knowledge of soil type and watering habits. While a person who grows in heavy (water-retentive) soil and waters in sips might only need (or be able to, w/o doing harm) to fertilize semi-annually, even during periods of robust growth and maybe not at all during the winter, the grower who grows in a fast soil (highly aerated and fast-draining) can/should fertilize VERY frequently - at each watering or weekly - all year long.

Soils that allow the grower to water properly (so they are flushing the soil at each watering) eliminate a plethora of problems waiting to happen. Flushing the soil is like hitting the fertilizer reset button - eliminating not only the accumulation of salts, but the lopsided nutrient ratios that are ensured when we water in sips and exacerbated when we use fertilizers with ratios divergent from the ratio at which the plants actually USE the nutrients.

Thanks for the kind words, Beth!

Al