It looks dehydrated. How long since the previous watering?

The soil felt slightly moist when I watered it.

Thanks for that info.

Oh, such an ingenious method, the tell! I've been struggling with the finger test with small pots and more generally. Many thanks for suggesting this technique!

Like inserting a toothpick to test a cake's doneness.

For growers with plants in small pots who are concerned their plants' soil might be overly water-retentive, there's a VERY simple way to rid your pots of excess water. Putting Newton's First Law of Motion to work (an object in motion stays in motion with the same speed and in the same direction unless acted upon by an unbalanced force) is as simple as moving the pot up and down over the sink after you've watered to beyond the saturation point. Make sure the soil has been fully saturated and an extra measure of water has been added after the saturation point - so you're flushing the soil when you water. Immediately, or after the pot has stopped draining on its own, hold the pot securely and move it up and down over the sink or a container. You'll immediately note that on the reversal from downward to upward, some of the water keeps moving downward and out of the drain hole. That's because water in motion stays in motion with the same speed and in the same direction unless acted upon by an unbalanced force. You'll also note the sharper the reversal from downward movement to upward, the more water exits the put until all excess water has been expelled. The ideal state of moisture retention is a damp or moist medium - about what a wrung out sponge would be like. You can fix ALL of your excess water woes by way of that simple act. It won't fix soil compaction or lack of aeration, but it will be VERY helpful if you're using a soil that holds too much water.

More 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.

Al

Thanks for the explanations Al, I have learned so much about caring for my plants from your post! I really appreciate the time you take to educate and share your knowledge about plants and how to take care of them.

Thanks, Ellen. We all enjoy being able to believe we're making a difference by helping others get more from the growing experience. When I first started trying my hand at bonsai back in the 80s, I was new to growing in containers...... and a spectacular failure at it. There was no internet back then, so everything I needed to know wasn't at my fingertips. After failing, I put the trees aside for 3-4 years while I read/studied texts centering mostly on soil science and plant physiology. I figured the things that made a failure of me are probably stumbling blocks that trip up a large fraction of growers, and that has proven to be the case. Providing information that helps others to sidestep the inconspicuous pitfalls just seems like a natural extension of the growing experience to me. I find it very rewarding, and as a bonus, I've 'met' a lot of great 'plant people' by way of the back & forth. Hope you're having a good weekend!

Al