You can get waterlogged or overwatered soil to dry out by either repotting the plant or creating an environment that encourages the plant to lose water through evaporation. You could also try relocating the plant to an area that receives more sunlight or has better ventilation overall.
To dry out soil quickly, you can apply hydrated lime to the soil, add compost and then turn the soil thoroughly to aerate it. Adding hydrated lime and compost will help absorb the water in your soil, and turning it all will help distribute the water in the waterlogged soil throughout your garden.
The duration of the rain is the first aspect that impacts how quickly the ground will dry. If the rain was brief, such as 15 minutes, the ground may dry up in 6 hours and you may be able to work on it afterward. However, if there is continuous rain for 4 days, the ground may take longer than 4 days to dry up.
Wet soil can mean the death of many landscape plants — due not only to excess water but also to lack of oxygen. Plants that can't tolerate such conditions usually die of suffocation. Improving drainage in the area is always a plus; consider installing a French drain, a wet-weather bed or raised beds.
When it rains, water falling to the surface of the soil will either infiltrate into the soil or run off along the surface. Part of the water that infiltrates into the soil will be absorbed by the upper soil layers and part will seep down into the deeper soil layers.
Waterlogged soil A waterlogged soil is wet, with lots of water in the pores of the soil structure. The opposite is a aerated soil.
It may take an hour or more to thoroughly re-wet the soil. Be careful not to leave pots soaking in standing water continuously. Check them after an hour or two and remove them when they are hydrated.
Poor Drainage
No matter what kind of indoor plant you grow, drainage holes are essential. A container or pot with inadequate drainage or no holes is bad for the health of the plant. Wet soil is most frequently caused by pots without any holes in them.
SATURATED SOIL can lead to problems with roots of trees and shrubs, and ultimately contribute to death or uprooting of trees. When soil becomes saturated through over-watering or heavy rains, plants cannot develop new fine feeder roots that are responsible for uptake of nutrients.
The impact of millions of raindrops hitting the bare soil surface can be incredible, dislodging soil particles and splashing them 3 to 5 feet away . A heavy rainstorm may splash as much as 90 tons of soil per acre.
Water supply through soils is vital for both plants and soil organisms—they need water to survive. Soil water contains nutrients that move into the plant roots when plants take in water. Water enters the soil through large pores (macropores) and is stored in many small pores (micropores).
Heavy rains can damage tender plants, wash away mulch, and erode soil from around plant roots. Injured or dead plant parts should be pruned immediately after a storm to allow the plant to recover. Too much rain, combined with our warm summer temperatures, creates an ideal environment for bacterial and fungal problems.
Sand drains water very well, while clay does not. However, that does not mean that adding sand will help your lawn drainage.
Adding Sand Not the Solution
Unfortunately, the combination of mud and sand results in a consistency akin to concrete. Although the mixture may stop part of a mud problem, it prohibits drainage even more than when sand wasn't present, resulting in standing water and harming grass health.
Some of those reasons include problems such as one's lawn not receiving enough sun, grading problems, and improper filtration. Sometimes a lawn's moisture persists because the soil of someone's lawn contains smaller particles that hold in more water than other types of soil.
If you just stop tilling, the soil will be hard and it will take many years for it to recover. Eventually, nature will cover the soil on its own if you just leave it alone. However, since we are talking about gardening, a no-till garden needs to be covered.
Saturated conditions occur when all of the voids, spaces, and cracks are filled with water. Unsaturated conditions occur when the voids, spaces, and cracks between soil, sand, gravel, or rock are filled with a combination of air and water.
Overwatered plants can sometimes recover on their own, but it depends on the plant and the extent of the overwatering. If the roots have rotted, the plant will likely not recover. However, if the overwatering has only caused the leaves to wilt, the plant may be able to bounce back.
Signs of root rot are slow growth, mushy stems, and wilting, yellow, distorted leaves (especially when the plant has been well watered, as wilting leaves can also be a sign of a dry plant).