What I think is, a very large % of issues that people come here looking for solutions for, are related directly to the results of soil choice and either the watering habits necessitated by those choices, or just plain poor watering habits. Because choosing a soil that supports little or no perched water makes it difficult for a grower to water poorly (unless they just don't water) most of the blame for poor watering practices is rightly assigned as the result of the dilemma excessively water-retentive soil present the grower. Do I water thoroughly enough to flush the soil of accumulating salts and risk the soil remaining wet for so long it affects root health/function; or do I water in sips, so the soil is appropriately moist, and suffer the consequences of a build-up of solubles in the soil. For me, it's a no-brainer. I want the soil that allows me to water appropriately any time I want to, without my having to worry about the soil remaining wet for so long it affects root health/function - no worries about root health - no worries about salt build-up ...... what's not to like? It's easy to suggest that inappropriately evaluating the level of soil moisture is the cause of these problems, but when you look realistically at the issue of how difficult it is to maintain adequate aeration in soils that support perched water, we see clearly that the bulk of the blame lies with a soil's measure of water retention, and more specifically with the ht of the perched water table. Even when you use small sips of water to water soils that support significant volumes of perched water, the water tends to accumulate at the bottom of the pot - not to mention the fact that watering in sips very often leaves the root mass dry in some places and too wet in others. IOW, it's extremely difficult to keep soils evenly moist when they support perched water. The norm is a layer of soil at the bottom of the pot that remains soggy until the water is used. It's DURING this period when the soil supports too much water that root death and depression of root function occurs. Neither of these things are desirable and should be avoided whenever possible. One robs energy from the plant because the plant has to expend energy to replace lost rootage, and the other inhibits the plant's ability to function normally. Well-aerated soils that support no or minimal amounts of perched water, do away with these negatives entirely, and offer the grower much greater latitude in the areas of fertilizing and (over)watering. ****************************************************** There are 2 ways to look at growing. Placing grower convenience at the forefront will find you growing much differently than if you place the plant's well-being foremost. Neither way is right or wrong, it's just two different ways of looking at growing. One grower might look at 'what to do with the effluent after watering a big plant in the gritty mix' as an insurmountable obstacle because it requires more effort than using a soil that absorbs and holds onto all that excess water. I don't look at it as an obstacle at all - just something that needs to be dealt with in my pursuit of maximizing plant health. Large plants are set above drainage saucers on small blocks, so after the effluent leaves the pot it cannot find its way back into the soil. All my plants, even the small ones, are watered so 15-20% of the total volume of water applied exits the drain. The effluent goes into the drainage saucer and evaporates - usually within 2-3 days, depending on the weather (humidity levels). If, for some reason, it didn't all evaporate between waterings, I'd make a note of that and remove some of the water with a turkey baster or similar after watering. So far, that hasn't been an issue. Al

Plants don't age in the same way we think of people aging. Age in people is a described on a chronological basis, where plants age ontogenetically. This might be framed as, the parts that have taken the most cell divisions to produce are the plant's oldest parts; so strangely, the most recent part of the plant (say, a new branch high on the plant) to grow is the oldest part of the plant. The youngest part of the plant will be found in the root to shoot transition zone. This juvenile part of the plant is also nearly always the most vigorous part of the plant. Plants pass through life stages until they end up at the sexually mature stage. At that point they are capable of blooming/fruiting. Whether they DO or not is complicated and not entirely understood. Blooming and other environmental reactions of most healthy plants are primarily influenced by day length (technically it's night length), but more than a few plants are triggered by other factors, like moisture availability, temperature, predation. Some plants even seem to have an internal 'alarm clock' that acts as a trigger to bloom. There are species of bamboo that bloom as infrequently as every 130 years and when the bloom occurs, all plants of a given genetic origin bloom simultaneously, en masse (all at once), and this occurs regardless of environmental influences. Now, that a plant is capable of blooms/fruit doesn't mean it will produce same, no matter how much we hope. The factors that limit a plant's ability to bloom are as complicated as those that trigger blooming. The plant's internal chemical messengers that limit blooming is first influenced by the plants ontogenetic age, but then by health, stress, stored energy reserves, a significant number of environmental factors, and sometimes seemingly no more than a built-in piqued obstinacy that can be more irritating than Justin Bieber or the Kardashians, if that's even possible. How do I get it to bloom? Keep it healthy and let it do its thing. You can search online - there might be some simple ways to coax it to bloom exactly whenever it feels like it. How old does it have to be? The only age important to plants is what growth phase they're in. They have to be old enough chronologically to have reached sexual maturity. This is also complicated because the (ontogenetic) age of the parent plant from which the propagule (that is now your plant) was taken has to be a part of the equation. Example - a hawthorn tree from seed needs to survive around 20-25 growth cycles to bloom; whereas, a cutting from a blooming hawthorn tree can be counted on blooming within a few years if its state of vitality has been generally good. Al

If you very gently tug on the yellow roots do they pull away? The brown if mushy is a bit of rot. Once you have rinsed everything and settle the plant back into its bottle, you could add a very small amount of liquid fertilizer- but very weak like 1/4 or less what the directions call for. Do this only once- not a regular dosing. What type of water are you using? City tap water has chemicals in it. Well water usually has minerals in it.. My well water tends to be on the hard side. I have a Variegated LB that prefers me to use distilled water on it. Not sure you need to go to that extreme though. What did the water look like when you dumped it out? Did it smell at all? Was there any slime to the side of the pot?

It's entirely possible that you can't help but over-water; or, a better way of organizing that thought might be to say, if you're watering correctly and your soil holds an excessive volume of water when watering chores are done, the stage is set for bouts of Oedema, which is clearly being made manifest in the plants in the image. My suggestion would be to continue to water correctly, but start using any or several of a variety of techniques that will limit the amount of excess water your soil can/will hold. Then, as your plant begins to use what water remains in the soil, monitor it carefully with a tell. More on that later. Something as simple as tipping the pot at a 45* angle after you water can eliminate a large measure of excess water. Compare line drawing B to drawing A in the image below to see the difference that makes:Also note D and E respectively to see how use of ballast and/or a wick can notably reduce how much excess water media hold. Did you know, if your pot is easy to manage, holding it over the sink and moving it downward toward the drain, then sharply upward, takes advantage of Newton's First Law of Motion, and can remove virtually ALL excess water from your pots? Something I wrote about 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 air (oxygen) in the soil to drive root function. Many off-the-shelf soils hold too much water and not enough air to support good root health, which is a prerequisite to a healthy plant. Watering in small sips leads to a build-up of dissolved solids (salts) in the soil, 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. You'll find more about dealing with water-retentive soils if you click me. Al