newgen Here is answer to your question - Al (tapla) answering someone else on House Plants forum (thread: Watering issues): Posted by tapla z5b-6a mid-MI (My Page) on Fri, Mar 22, 13 at 9:53 One of the most significant benefits of using soils that allow you to water copiously with no concern about potential root problems related to excessive sogginess is the fact that the ability to flush the soil at each watering prevents dissolved solids (salts) from building up in the soil. Ideally, when you water you would allow the effluent passing out of the drain hole to run down a drain or collect in a saucer. When it DOES collect in the saucer, the container should be lifted above the effluent, so after it exits the pot, there is no way the dissolved solids contained in the effluent have any chance of getting back into the soil. I set my pots up on little 1-1/4" blocks that rest in the saucer. I don't need to empty the collection saucer because the water that collects there can't get back into the pot. It evaporates and contributes to the area humidity, but you could empty the collection saucer if you like, or water over the sink. The higher the level of dissolved solids in the soil solution, the more difficult it is for the plant to take up water. So a soggy soil that impairs water uptake combined with a high level of salts in the soil solution is a double whammy for a large fraction of growers who use heavy soils that don't allow them to water so they're flushing the soil. This problem is always most prevalent in the spring, after a long winter of watering in sips, or in your case, of pouring residual salts back through the soil, which ensures a gradual but continual increase in the level of dissolved solids that affect water uptake AND nutrient uptake. If you're using a fertilizer that might not be a problem if you're watering properly, it can quickly become a serious problem if you're NOT watering properly. We know the impact of dissolved solids on the uptake of water also limits the ability to take up nutrients, but when dissolved solids accumulate the ratio of nutrients to each other in the soil can quickly become skewed, which has the effect of one nutrient present in excess making it difficult or impossible for the plant to take up another nutrient. This is very common when using fertilizers with too much phosphorous, and is quickly exacerbated when the soil isn't flushed regularly. Al Posted by tapla z5b-6a mid-MI (My Page) on Fri, Mar 22, 13 at 15:57 If you're using the gritty mix, there is very little possibility that you're over-watering, or that flushing the soil thoroughly would create a problem, so I would do that. If you didn't screen the mix carefully, and there are fines in the soil, then use a wick and tilt the pot after you flush - then water normally. I use a level 1/4 tsp/gal of FP 9-3-6 every time I water, and I've been well pleased with the results ever since I settled on that amount, so I'm thinking you could cut back on the amount of fertilizer you're providing. I'm pretty sure that with the 1/2 tsp/gal + the recycling of the effluent, that your plants are seeing some fertilizer burn. There are some advantages to fertilizing every time you water, and at 1/4 tsp/gal, you get about 800 gallons of fertilizer from a quart of fertilizer. @ $25/qt for the fertilizer, a gallon of solution costs about 3 cents per gallon. Most people would hardly think twice about buying and paying for the electricity augment light levels for their plants - and that's a much more significant outlay than the small amount of fertilizer that might get discarded after passing through the soil. If you want to, collect the effluent in a bucket & spread it on the lawn or your garden/beds. Plants that are fertilized at higher rates (luxury levels) often show symptoms of deficiencies when the concentration of nutrients in the soil returns to the adequacy range, so that's one + of fertigating @ each watering (it won't happen). Another is, even in nature, nutrient uptake is very closely linked (almost directly) to water uptake, the primary modifier being temperature, which isn't a particularly significant factor when houseplants are the topic. I said that so I can say there is some benefit in not having to keep track of what needs fertilizing when. I fertilize and water everything at nearly the same intervals, and at the same fertilizer rates, and for the last 15 years or so, my plants have all been practically free of blemished foliage. You're trying to do essentially what I (and many others) have been doing, so I expect that once you get the bugs worked out & get your dosages refined, you'll begin to see how easy it can be. I'm pulling for you! ;-)

I made a fountain but I am having trouble with water flow because of the end of the spigot. It is larger than 1/2 inch tubing and then inside the spigot it narrows down to a much smaller hole. I had to put a dowel in that smaller hole and then attach tubing to that. The spigot end is so shallow the holes were showing so I had to buy an extender for the spigot. I hope someone understand all this. Jean, does the epoxy putty help the tube fit in the spigot and I was confused by the screening you mentioned. How is that used? Do I need to shop for another spigot. This one was just bought in Lowes. Thanks for any help. Donna

I wish I could claim the pine cone idea, but I can't. It came from a friend in Bon Secour Alabama who ownes a wonderful historic house there. Lots of wood (a whole 'nother story) and lots of porch bases to protect from splash. He found the idea and his porches are surrounded by berms of pinecones. He even has found sources for pine cones of different sizes and grades his pine cone splashes to cut down all splatter. (It keeps his paint jobs in great condition for a lot longer that any other method.) Greta, I used to use pine needles for mulch on my roses in Houston and later in New Orleans. I knew when the needles would be dropped and I knew to go to the neighborhoods that were piney and collect the bagged up pine needles on late Sunday afternoon after the home owners had raked them up and bagged them for the city to take to the landfill. I'd ask permission and it was never denied. In New Orleans with heavy rainfall and heat the needles would be half gone by the following needle drop; they did act to acidify the clay. The cones were much longer lasting five or six years...so any good they'd do would be long term. With the rainfall down there, the needles were the key to pH manipulation. Ann

If it's a small area, you could clean it by hand with a bucket of water and have no run-off. Other options are to talk with the apartment management. Or do it on a rainy day.