Lack of drainage can be fatal to your plant, and it's one of the most common reasons for unhealthy and dying plants. If your plant has been overwatered due to the lack of drainage holes, you should repot your plant as soon as possible.
Repot your plant in new soil
Sometimes letting the soil dry out takes too long and your plant is showing serious overwatering symptoms. If you let the soil dry out, it could take days and your plant might not be able to survive days in the soil. In this case, you can repot your plant in dry soil.
To dry out soil quickly, you can apply hydrated lime to the soil, add compost and then turn the soil thoroughly to aerate it.
The good news is that most plants will bounce back between 7-14 days if they're given proper care (which includes rehydration). If this isn't possible because major damage was done or little healthy root system exists then expect about 2 weeks until improvement can be seen.
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.
The main ways to make soil dry faster are to increase light, heat, and ventilation for your plant, ensure the soil and pot are draining well, and choose an appropriately sized pot for your plant. Consider moving to a pot made of a porous material such as terracotta, and make sure to drain the pot well after watering.
Using a hairdryer directly on the soil is an easy way of removing that excess moisture easily. However, there are some things to take into consideration when doing so. When directed at the soil the dryer will only remove the moisture from the surface having the rest of the soil wet.
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).
1. If a plant is overwatered, it will likely develop yellow or brown limp, droopy leaves as opposed to dry, crispy leaves (which are a sign of too little water). Wilting leaves combined with wet soil usually mean that root rot has set in and the roots can no longer absorb water.
However, Epsom salt can still help a tomato plant where the soil is too alkaline or one that has been overwatered. In this way, it helps boost absorption as well as improving photosynthesis in the existing foliage.
For most tropical houseplants, if the soil is dry and due for its next watering, go ahead and water it thoroughly and let it drain completely before you begin to repot. If the soil is already wet, you can skip this step.
You can either go for the bath method and bottom water, or thoroughly top water. I prefer to give plants a bath (bottom water) as step one, a day or two before I repot, then I like to thoroughly top water drench after repotting, as top watering also helps flush out excess dirt and silt from the new substrate.
Wet the soil before planting. This helps reduce root desiccation because of dry soils and “dilutes” salts contained in the soil. Water transplants thoroughly immediately after planting in wet soil. Do not rely on just the drip system to water plants after planting.
Make sure soil in a new pot is damp already, and water again after transplanting. If you're moving to a new spot in the yard, fill the new hole 3/4 full with water before setting the plant in. Let the water soak in around the plant a bit, pack the soil in, and water again.
Water Only When Needed
Push it into the ground around your plants. You want the top 2 or 3 inches of the soil to be dry, and the soil below that to be moist.
After a drought, it's much better for the soil to get a slow and steady rainfall than a heavy amount of rain in a short amount of time. When the soil is too dry, it cannot absorb water in a quick amount of time, which can lead to flooding.
Q. How often should plants be watered? Water once or twice per week, using enough water to moisten the soil to a depth of about 6 inches each time.
It is possible to use diluted dishwashing liquid or dish water/laundry water as a soil wetter, the surfactants in the detergent act to break the surface tension in the water in a similar way to wetting agents (use caution when using detergents on your garden, be sure to use environmentally friendly/biodegradable ...
To stop that from happening, just add a tiny drop of liquid soap to your watering can or a teensy squirt of soap on top of the dry soil in your pot before you point a hose at it. The soap breaks the surface tension of the water and that lets the moisture soak into the soil mixture rather than beading up on top of it.