Just the same - dry gritty is lighter than wet gritty.
Or use wooden skewer. I think after a while one will get the 'feeling' when the plant needs watering.

Thanks for sharing your experience with me Rina and Joe. How do you manage the tropicals? Do you a higher ratio of bark into your mix for those particular plants that do not tolerate drying out?

Tracy

I have not yet been blessed with that sixth sense, Tracy, and have a few large pots (training pots for bonsai as well). It sounds like the weight room at the local gym when I am lifting them, so I've relied on the skewer method. The thin, pointed skewers, to try to avoid root damage, and near the edge of the pot for the same reason.

Tracy, I don't use bark in my mix, just Turface and grit. I go with a 1:1 mix for my succulents, and 2:1 Turface to grit, respectively, for the tropicals.

Joe

<quote> I don't use bark in my mix, just Turface and grit. I go with a 1:1 mix </quote> same mix here.

I got this free plant about 2 months before while shopping at my local garden center. Immediately repotted from peat based mix and watered 3 or 4 times till today being indoor. I am yet to learn the plant need & media properties since this is my first Jade plant.

Ganesh

Hello Cincy/Ganesh, looks like you have a Crassula 'Gollum'. Search for Gollum in this forum and you will definitely find a plethora of information about caring for these plants.

Tracy

I usually go by turgidity of the leaves...if I feel like someone's getting soft, they get a dunk in the watering bowl. I'm probably overgenerous with it but thankfully with grit it's not a problem c:

I do just as k8 says.

Tracy, I still weigh them on a digital scale and keep a log if I really want to be on top of it. But when they are left for more than a week, I'll just drench the mix and at the instance I would definitely hear the sizzling sound, which is a big indication for me that the mix is definitely dry/part dry. I usually watering until I stop hearing the sizzle.

I did notice though, that some pots dry much faster than others, knowing that the plants take in more water. ie my Gollum Jade, it shows the deflation pretty easily when I neglect on my watering.

I'm with k8 as well on dunking if you want to ensure the mix is completely hydrated. Sometimes I can still hear the sizzle after my 4th time watering the mix.

- Bernard

With terra cotta pots if the clay itself is still wet that means it's still moving moisture from the inside of the pot to the outside. So that tells me something about the rate at which that pot is drying out. Does it tell me when the mix is completely dry? No, but at that point I can go by leaf turgidity and thanks to the gritty mix I'm not too worried about over-watering anyway. :-)