Quote:
Originally Posted by tanstaafl72555
Seriously, though. How much is overwatering? I try to let water "stand" about a quarter inch and then quit, but I do that every morning. I am totally clueless here
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To get an index on the current water situation, STOP watering and time how long it takes for the plants to wilt. They wilt when they are out of water.** It won't hurt them; they'll pop right back. Then start watering much as you do now, but space out waterings over some fraction of the wilt time. Say it took the plant 7 days to use all the water in the pot. Water every 5 or 6 days.
As the plants grow and it gets hotter, the wilt time will decrease, but you will see this quickly as they will have wilted by the scheduled watering time, and you can adjust accordingly.
At the height of summer, my thirstier plants want water at least twice a day! But if I watered that often now they'd never live until summer. Figure out where on the schedule yours are.
This is all part of learning your plants - knowing how they are doing by how they look.
** They also wilt when the roots drown and can't take up enough water to supply the foliage, but assume you're not there yet.