Plant Care Articles

Elementary school children are taught in their science classes that plants basically need 3 things to live: sunlight, air and water.  Most people fundamentally know that water is very important to plants, but how important is it?  Without water, plants could not use the energy from the sun to photosynthesize.  Water fills each of the plant cells like balloons to make them stiff and upright (this is why plants wilt when they are dry; they cannot hold themselves up).  Without water, plants would be unable to grow taller.  Water is also needed to carry other nutrients from the roots to the leaves and flowers.  Water is so important that plants that are native to desert conditions will go to extraordinary lengths to hoard their water.  Cacti are filled with water, which is why most cacti are covered with prickly spines to ward off any potential usurpers.

Water is an important enough nutrient that plant owners should take more care when irrigating. Gardeners who haphazardly irrigate their plants may notice that their plants look decent enough. Chances are the “decent” looking plants could look better.  Luckily, proper watering techniques can promote better, more flourishing growth in plants.  The first thing that the gardener should know about how to water a plant...

BE AWARE OF THE WATERING NEEDS OF THE PLANT

Some plants do best when they are submerged in water (like in swamps or bogs). Other plants may need the soil to completely dry out before being watered again.  Most plants do best when the soil is kept moist, but not waterlogged, which is the type of plant this article is focused on.

The primary goal of irrigating plants is to recharge the soil or potting mix with enough moisture so that the plant will have enough water to last until the next watering or rain.  Pouring the remnants of a half-drunk glass of water over a plant is generally a bad idea.  It is true that this will provide limited soil moisture for the plant, but continually watering with this technique can cause problems. It is generally best to...

THOROUGHLY SOAK THE ENTIRE ROOTZONE

This is important for several reasons. Partially wetting the soil will provide water to only part of the roots. This is kind of like providing gasoline to only a few cylinders of a V8 engine. Sure it still works, but not nearly as well as it could be.  Providing water to only a portion of the roots can dramatically decrease the roots performance.  Partially wetting the roots is especially bad if the plant is grown in a container.  If not properly soaked first, container media can repel water rather than absorb it.  If part of the container media never gets water, it will never fully wet.  This will significantly reduce the volume of usable space for the roots.  Growing roots will not grow into soil that is completely dry.  Another reason to thoroughly wet the soil is because partially wetted soils will cause salt accumulation in the soil profile.  Much like the pillars of salt of the Dead Sea, continual and repetitive evaporation can cause a buildup of salts.  High concentrations of salt by the roots can be very detrimental to the average plant.  Of course, if the plant is going to be harvested very quickly and the soil is not needed for very long, than causing a salt buildup is not that big of an issue.

DO NOT WATER FASTER THAN THE SOIL CAN ABSORB IT

Running the hose over a vegetable garden while it spews water at full-bore can do some significant damage to the soil structure.  It takes time for the soil to sufficiently absorb water.  It is surprising to watch how slowly water seeps down a soil profile, especially one that has been dry for a long time.  Supplying water faster than the soil can absorb it increases the chance of erosion.  As the topsoil erodes away, so does the most nutrient rich portion of the soil profile.

KNOW WHEN TO WATER THE PLANTS

This can be difficult even for experienced gardeners.  An informal study was performed on the campus of the University of California, Davis where people ranging in experience with gardening from beginner to enthusiastic were asked to determine whether or not potted plants at different soil moisture concentrations needed to be watered or not.  Regardless of gardening experience, the survey subjects determined that potting soils that were too dry were sufficiently moist and did not require water.  When compared with soil moisture sensors, human judgment tends to err on the side of dangerous for the well-being of a thriving plant.  The “finger test” (poking your finger into the soil to test for moisture) is not nearly as accurate as soil moisture sensors are.

Fortunately, the EasyBloom Plant Sensor comes equipped to monitor soil moisture.  The same technology that NASA used on the Phoenix Mars Lander that successfully sensed moisture in Martian soil is used with the EasyBloom.  Both the NASA and EasyBloom soil moisture sensors are designed to penetrate the top inches of soil.  Those top few inches can dry and form a crust that potentially seals moisture into the soil but can mislead a gardener to the true level of soil moisture.  The soil sensor very accurately quantifies the concentration of water, which the EasyBloom uses to determine when to water a plant.  Additionally, the EasyBloom can be programmed to know the specific watering needs of any plant in the EasyBloom database.  By setting the EasyBloom Plant Sensor to monitor a specific plant, a gardener is solving 2 problems that can arise while watering: knowing the watering needs of a plant and knowing when to water a plant.