Classic symptoms of over-watering, Emma. You can make a very useful tool that will tell you when to water if you buy a 1/4 or 5/16" dowel rod, cut it in half, and sharpen all 4 ends in a pencil sharpener. Stick it deep into the soil (all the way to the bottom) and don't water until it comes out clean and dry. You'll develop a rhythm & won't need to check so often if you mark your calendar. Water usage changes as the plant grows and with the seasons, so be prepared to adjust your schedule as changes dictate.

It's important to flush the soil (of accumulating salts) when you water, and the plant should never be allowed to soak in its effluent (waste water that exits the drain), which negates the reason for flushing the soil.

If you come back next spring and are willing to move your plant outdoors for the summer, you can completely defoliate it, which will force a new flush of pristine foliage, but for now, you should know that removing the blemished leaves would represent a set-back for the plant.

Al

Hi Al,

Among the volumes of excellent advice I've read from you I've noticed you suggesting the wooden dowel trick a couple times now and I'm a bit curious about a few things. Especially because I feel like I overwater a bit too frequently and I would like to try this technique. First, is there any concern about injuring the roots by doing this? Or is that a function of positioning as to what section of the soil you test (edge of soil or closer to the plant). Also, and this may be a silly question, but why would it be necessary to have all 4 ends sharpened?

Thank you for your help!

"..... is there any concern about injuring the roots by doing this?" Don't be concerned about the dowel injuring the roots. Plants in reasonably good health will quickly repair any small injuries to roots and will also quickly regenerate any small roots that are broken. Most people are really apprehensive about having anything to do with roots, yet they prune the top of their plants off with abandon. Too, once you find a spot where you can simply push the dowel into the soil all the way to the bottom, you can keep returning to that spot. Try to start the dowel toward the outer edge and angle it toward the bottom center of the pot. The outer edge of many containers dries out faster - which is one of the reasons you very often see long roots winding round and round the perimeter of the root mass and virtually no healthy roots in the center (in overly water-retentive soils). In well-aerated media, you get roots like this:

Thanks for the kind comment about the advice, Corey.

Al

Excellent, thank you so much for the response! Next trip to the hardware store will definitely yield the purchase of a wooden dowel. Thank you again, I (and my plants) really appreciate the help!

You're welcome - my pleasure.

Al

Al...

How do you flush your FLF without over-watering

Hold an image of a soil made of BBs in your mind's eye. Now water the soil. Even in your mind's eye, you can't see water in the large spaces between the particles. Erase that image and imagine a soil of all small particles - like peat, coir, compost, composted forest products, ...... Now water it and note how much water is retained between the much smaller particles. Particle size is what drives the kind of water retention that's unwanted. Where a soil like this

holds no water between the particles (except where the particles contact each other). Soils that consist of fine materials like those listed hold LOTS of water between particles. The finer the particles, the more water they support. It's not at all unusual to see a 4" or taller perched water table in pots filled with water-retentive media. What that means is, after a thorough watering 4-6" of the soil at the bottom of the pot might well be fully (as in 100%) saturated, and it's this excess water that is so limiting.

How do you flush your FLF without over-watering? The easiest and best way is to make sure a significantly dominant fraction of your medium (75-80%) is chunky material, preferably in the 1/8-3/8 size range so the soil holds very little or no perched water. You can also put some simple science to work in order to trick most of the potentially excessive volume of water into leaving the pot. If you're interested, let me know.

Al

I don't believe Al ever said you can't repot after Father's Day.

He mentions Father's Day as a general good time to repot.

If you repotted two weeks after Father's Day, it wouldn't make much of a difference.

I know all of us are so incredibly grateful to have you gift us with such wonderful advice. Thank you so much for taking time out of your day to help us all. ☺

Thanks for the kind words, Jennifer. I get a lot of personal satisfaction from growing things well and being able to manipulate plants into something evocative (Bonsai).

I started studying soils and how plants work long before the internet was a thing. When I think about the length of time it took me to winnow out the important stuff, and how little time is really necessary to gain a working understanding once the distilled info is in front of you, I can't help but want to contribute what I can. That works out well for me because I look at helping others in the growing community as a way to get even more enjoyment from my own growing experience.

Al