Book Pre-Order details: Go to amzn.to/2VIK1Ze and order, then forward your receipt to kevin@epicgardening.com with your address and I'll send you some heirloom, organic seeds from my friend Brijette at San Diego Seed Company!
I love that elephant foot plant! The leaves are just gorgeous. The watering tips are great. Hopefully it'll stop me from wanting to over water plants. It's an addiction that I need to stop already. LOL
How come nobody ever seems to use the soil level line on pots? That space from the bottom line to the top is just the right size for the exact amount of water that size pot needs, if you have lots of pots it makes watering much faster and more precise with less waste.
Great video, nice work! Maybe you need to keep in mind and also inform others that plants loose water to the atmosphere mainly through their leaves and this is actually the reason why dry wind makes your plants dehydrate. Just a tip, a reminder from another agriculturer. Keep it up!
Great info! Definitely helped me out a lot!! What I also noticed is look at the leaves of the plants. For example, a succulent vs an asparagus fern. You can tell which ones doesn't need a lot of water and which one needs more water than other plants.
Hi , Just found your channel and immediately subbed. Good tips for watering. Once the hydro box is settled , how often do you have to water and how do you check for watering need?
Awesome detailed video of taking in different considerations of temperature, size, and type of plants and pots when it comes to watering and how often.
What about outdoor container gardens? I have tons of plants in different sized terracotta planters and have a hard time knowing if I'm over or under watering through the hot summers. I have mostly low water native plants (but a few that need lots of water) but don't want them to die if they get too hot in the summer. Buuut I also don't want to kill then from over watering haha please help!
The only one I disagree with is leaving the water in the saucer. I live in a desert and I water my tomatoes on top every other day until I see trickles into the saucer, and on the days in between I water the saucer so tomatoes can soak up water as they need.
Currently researching & binge watching your videos. You uploaded the fungus gnat video recently & it was the same time I got infested w/ them. Trying neem oil atm and then I saw this video today in my recommendations. How convenient! I have a better understanding about watering and how to prevent those pest in the future. Thanks again!
What do you think of people that say that dirty aquarium water is good for plants? I am new to plants but not new to fish and it would be super nice to recycle water especially because the fish water was treated.
I feel a bit confused about the strictly removing the water from the saucer and those bottom watering pots. Isn’t there also higher risk about root rot by those kind of pots?
Depending on your growing conditions, many plants will soak up that water that has pooled up in the drainage plate. So in many cases you can leave that water in the drainage plate because the plant soaks that up within a couple hours or less. But Kevin is right about how we need to be mindful of "root-rot"
Getting a split rock succulent, Pleiospilos nelii I believe, really broke my habit of overwatering. They only need water in the growing seasons! It was SO tempting to water it at first, but I’ve only watered it twice since getting it a few months ago and it’s doing amazing!!!
My potting medium gets compacted after awhile so I do the water wait water method too. I've also started throwing in a few earthworms to help loosen it. Not sure if it's a good idea but so far they're doing ok.
I think a very important thing when determining how much you need to water your specific plants is recognizing the signs of over or under watering. I'm very new to this and i had a very brown thumb for very long. My poor orchid had to endure my ignorance. I moved it around a lot. Not enough light here, too much direct light there. Too much water, too little water, not enough feeding. Finally after 3 months my orchid has finally stopped 'dying' lol. Down to only two large leaves, one of which that was yellowing, it has now finally settled. The yellow is going away and becoming a very nice green again. It was a birthday gift so i was absolutely determined to not kill it. I've learned how to read its signs. The same story with my one trailing succulent. Its leaves were turning purple and shriveled. So I finally figured out that unlike all the advice i was given this particular one likes more shade and more water. My other succulents get watered once a week, but this guy needs water 3 times a week, contrary to all the advice i was given. Its leaves are greening up again.
Lol. Thx for all the valuable information, im still getting used to utilizing the web for info, back in my day, I had to learn the hard way 😅 youtube didn't even exist yet, I barely relaised there were people like u on here doin things like this in the past few yrs! Bless your soul!😄❤
Why am I getting white fungus on top? I'm using miracle gro soil and a plastic pot. I'm definitely not overwatereding. It's a pothos. I don't understand why?😮
I respect Dawkins belief including everyone on his side but it is so ironic and shocking to believe the scientific impossiblity that nothing(nothing at all) created everything nevertheless Dawkins was laughed at by the audience when he made such a senseless claim, we all have made mistakes and there is no one good among us(lie, cheat, steal,porn, lust) and just like a judge whether you believe in justice or not, has to judge the offender and so God will judge you but God made a way for you and me so that we could have life through Jesus Christ who died and payed for your sins(just like someone who pays your fine in a court) and so you can have life Joh 3:16-19 GW 16 God loved the world this way: He gave his only Son so that everyone who believes in him will not die but will have eternal life. 17 God sent his Son into the world, not to condemn the world, but to save the world. 18 Those who believe in him won't be condemned. But those who don't believe are already condemned because they don't believe in God's only Son. 19 This is why people are condemned: The light came into the world. Yet, people loved the dark rather than the light because their actions were evil. I Am not supporting religion, mormonism, catholicism, etc but about life when you read the bible you will find a huge difference between the bible and religion Please watch this video it will make more sense ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-ChWiZ3iXWwM.html
These days I like to water in the manner where I start watering generously until the plate under is filled to the brim. Then I wait and see how fast the soil pulls the water up saturating the soil. If it disappears under my very eyes, I know I'll fill it again until the pull is slow. If there is water left much later (especially if it's a lot), I empty the plate. This way I don't need to make small watering rounds repeatedly. I feel like this combines the good sides of top and bottom watering - the top soil won't become a hard crust and the bottom watering part saturates the whole soil evenly. And I make sure that the soil has plenty of perlite and possibly almost 50% coco coir too depending on which plant is in question. For plants that are more goldilocks and don't want to be wet, it's plenty of perlite and a lot of coco coir. For the ones that like being moist it's mostly soil and a lot of perlite to give air with the moisture. And always using moisture meter poking if I'm not confident that the plant is not fussy about watering. I've dried and overwatered same plants without being able to figure out what changed or went wrong, they seemed to be doing fine and the environment seemed to be consistent until suddenly they were no more and there was nothing to be done - no longer with the moisture meter. Like my alocasia almost died last year, had a single branch left. Then it started thriving and grew multiple leaves quickly until suddenly everything died for good.
Hey Kevin! How does the HydroBox not cause root rot but the water in the saucer does? I was somehow under the impression that water in the saucer does sort of the same thing as the HydroBox - wicking water up through the roots. Thank you for all your amazing content!
Will the porosity of terracotta pots (incl. terracotta dishes) cause moisture stains on the shelf/furniture they are on, and do I need to protect the surface?
I just saw your video on plants I just bought one and am in the process of re potting it. I have these replacement filters for my Mainstays compost pail and they look the very same as that black material you were putting at the bottom of the pot so I will use them there charcoal filters.
Yeah, I have been a bad plant parent. I started with plants that had no drainage so I didn't need to give that much water. Now I have plants with drainage and still watering them the same amount. :(
Really great work here, it's so cool that you wrote a book, and those hydrobox pads are sooo cool. I'm not a huge fan of using things that aren't specifically made for the purpose. Like you mentioned spounges or gravel really don't effectively accomplish the goal, repurposing in those ways always feels a bit untidy for me. I do repurpose here and there, but definately perfer to just get the product for the job.
your videos are really well done and informative, i'm sometimes an over waterer and other times an under waterer so hopefully my next potted plant will make it lol i found your channel looking for information on pothos but not as a pot plant. i heard pothos was a good plant to keep in a fish tank (not fully submerged) to take in excess nutrients from the water, but it turns out its not cat safe and i have a cat who loves eating plants :/ would aluminum plant grow with its roots submerged in water like pothos does?
Eric this is a great episode. You're right the watering question is asked so often by my customers. This episode help to answer so many of those questions.
Awesome ideas for watering and SUCH a great approach to teaching. Thank you! I'm struggling with my spider plant and after watching this and your rescuing a sickly (spider) plant and I realize my fault was leaving the dish too full under the pot post watering. On another note, whereee do you get such nicely shaped terra cotta pots? (the one you used to demo the hydrobox) All the ones I've seen around are the basic shape like they have at Home Depot lol
Hey Kevin….I notice that it appears that you only water on top of the perimeter of the pot but not directly in the middle of the plant? Should we avoid watering directly on top of the center of the plant, as well? Asking because that might be why I over-water many of my plants.🤦🏽♀️
Peace Plants aren't supposed to need too much water, but for some reason mine sucks up water like CRAZY! I often have to water it a couple times a week or it'll get super dry & the leaf tips will dry up. My indoor plants actually do too well ... I gotta pot-up again ... I'm outa pots ... sigh...
Can you bust the misnomer "cocopeat"? naturally processed sphagnum moss comes from peat bogs, and it's called peat moss because not everyone can pronounce "sphagnum", and coconut coir does not come from peat bogs~
I've had a water-retaining, poorly-draining soil mix that was dry in the top half, but still very wet in the bottom half, and my kalanchoe roots had rotted. It was in a pot with drainage holes and I poured the excess water from the saucer out after watering. Now I only water my succulents after I check if the soil is dry in the drainage hole or use a moisture meter to measure the whole depth
I have thyme and rosemary in the same indoor container. I have an eastern lake view, and a complementary set of growing lights on the opposite side of the plant (to have 360 coverage). My rosemary is growing just fine; slow, but I heard that rosemary doesn't grow very fast. My thyme, however, is about 6-7in call, maybe 6in in diameter as a bush, and it is drying out, not really growing. Am I under-watering it? I don't want to throw too much water to not damage rosemary, but also thyme shouldn't need a lot of water as a Mediterranean plant. Any tips?
Hi 👋🏼 Kevin. I’ve been watching you from way back. and all the informative info on the, do’s and don’ts. Absolutely applied to my potted plant’s 🌱. I don’t see you very comfortable on your chair. 🌱🤔. Lol
I used to have really bad luck with indoor plants...... until I got a moisture meter. Its changed my life. No more accidental overwatering and rotting plants. I’d recommend it for anyone.
@epicgardening it's a new reply to an older video but all the same I hope I get a detailed reply, sir. First, you made me laugh calling the galvanized nail a screw. Kudos to always adding humor. Main question. When describing the negatives to leaving water in potted suacers. You stated that leaving water leaves you vulnerable to root for, extremely so. My question, how do you combat root rot in hydroponic conditions or is there a difference?
Fern - once I grew a sad little plant into a giant in the bathroom. I very rarely watered it but it got plenty of water from the air. (small-ish bathroom). Sadly it didn't survive our move. 😔
Only just stumbled upon this video. Will definitely apply this to our plants so they don't just survive but thrive. Excellent video! I know of people watering their plants "from the bottom up" using a saucer. They would pour water into the saucer the pot is sitting in and let the water be soaked up through capillary forces into the soil. They say it's to prevent the plant from being over-watered and to promote root growth (the roots will grow deeper to access water more easily). I haven't done it yet and was wondering about your opinion on this. Have you heard of this or tried it before?
Thank you for these videos. You present useful information in a kind way that encourages rather than overwhelms. I wonder: have you ever used Terra cotta ollas? I was thinking of making some on my children’s potters wheel. Do you have any thoughts about design such as shape, position in the planter (or pot), porosity etc? Vx
I'm a lil bit worried for my plant's roots when I aerate the soil before water. Am I going to accidentally break their roots when I poke the soil using chopsticks or any kind of aerating tools?
You mentioned that larger pots can hold water longer and therefore don’t need to be watered as often. I have a philodendron Xanadu in a large 10 inch pot, but I’m not sure up to how deep it should dry up before watering. Is it okay to water when the top 2 inches are dry, even though the bottom of the pot is still wet? Or do I wait til half the pot is dry?
should you let all your plants dry out before watering? like how much is too dry? thanks loved this video... so for the ones that grow on the forest floor. is their soil always moist? or does it dry out inbetween? and what is that condition like? thanks
I put holes in plastic bottles in my house plants soil to collect and wicker water. Ya know saving the whales was thought. What a disaster. Thanks for reminding me that old ways are not far gone.
Water stays well on a surface of newly planted or overdried soil. What I do is use this hand sprayer (not sure about the name in English - you pump it with your hand and it makes spray) right into the soil - it penetrates the soil evenly breaking the surface tension, not through one hole in the surface and it compresses the soil to the right density.
My indoor pots always gather a reddish hue on the top of the soil. Is this because of something in the tap water? The plants are ok, but this always worries me.
i dont get the water box. It acts as a water reserve some plants have naturally, but wouldnt this lead exactly to what people who over water are trying to avoid, root rot?
I have a canna lilly in a very tall pot. I gave it two gallons without seeing water come through the bottom. I have no idea how much to water it daily. : /
