If the soil clings to your fingers and feels moist to touch, don't water. If, soil falls loosely off your fingers and is dry to the touch, then water.
As long as the weather stays dry, your soil should be workable within about a week's time. Removing large clumps of loosened dirt can give the soil more room to expand, which in turn will improve its ability to drain more completely.
Give the soil a squeeze to check for moistness. If you squeeze and the soil sticks together then it is moist. But if the soil crumbles or it remains in a loose pile as you squeeze then the ground needs more water. Now drop the soil and brush the soil off your hands.
It Grows Mold
Mold is another sure sign that your potting soil has gone bad. Mold usually grows on the surface of the potting soil and can be white, gray, yellow, or green. It can also be fuzzy or have a slimy texture. Mold will often form if the potting soil is too moist or has been wet for too long.
To fix waterlogged soil, you are going to want to remove the soggy soil or dry it up. Then, be sure that your pot (for indoor plants or outdoor potted plants) or planting area has plenty of drainage to prevent overwatering from happening again.
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.
A combination of sand, silt, and clay particles, this soil absorbs water readily and is able to store it for use by plants. Loam absorbs water at a rate between 1/4 and 2 inches per hour. Sandy Soil, because it has very large spaces, absorbs water at a rate of more than 2 inches per hour.
Excess moisture, also known as moisture stress, can be caused by inadequate water drainage or a pot without any holes. A few things that encourage the growth of fungus include dense soil, a lack of drainage holes, and the wrong pot size. There are beautiful pots with no drainage holes in some homes.
Soil not drying out is usually a sign that drainage or evaporation is insufficient, or water use by your plant is reduced. Increase light, ventilation, and temperature to increase evaporation and water use by your plants. Make sure the soil drains thoroughly and the container has drainage holes.
Water Only When Needed
Too much water can be just as damaging to plants as too little water. Before watering, check your garden's soil moisture with your finger. 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.
There are two causes for root rot, but the main cause is poorly drained or overwatered soils. These soggy conditions prevent roots from absorbing all the oxygen they require to live. As the oxygen-starved roots die and decay, their rot can spread to healthier roots, even if the soggy conditions have been rectified.
Unhealthy soil doesn't have the moisture and nutrients needed to thrive, which makes it dry, crumbling, and cracked. When you pick up the dirt, it might crumble quickly in your hands or be difficult to break apart. Proper watering and irrigation will improve the soil's condition in these instances.
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).
Hydrophobic soil occurs when a waxy residue builds up on the soil particles resulting in it repelling water rather than absorbing it. It is most common in sandy soils, dried out potting mix and soils containing unrotted organic matter. You can identify hydrophobic soil by watering it.
Soils with high amounts of organic matter can become hydrophobic when they dry out, meaning they repel water and are difficult to re-wet. This is a very common problem in containers where the water will drain out the bottom of a pot but does not saturate the soil, leaving the plant roots dry.
If your soil is no longer absorbing water, it's likely it has become hydrophobic. Hydrophobic soils repel water which will lead to many problems in your lawn and garden. You can check if your soil has developed hydrophobia by pouring water in a couple of places and watching to see whether it is absorbed quickly or not.
moist. 'High moisture' plants prefer moist soil—not wet soil. Wet soil or fully saturated soil is soil that has all pore spaces filled with water and devoid of air. For example, a sponge that is completely full of water and no air would be considered fully saturated.
The bottom line: Water deeply one or two times a week instead of short spurts every other day, said Savio and professional gardener Lauri Kranz of Edible Gardens L.A. and author of “A Garden Can Be Anywhere.”
The best time to water your garden in summer is from 6 am to 10 am—before the heat of the day sets in, giving your plants plenty of time to drink up and any moisture on the leaves to dry off before nightfall. What is this? If watering in the morning isn't possible, the next best time is from 4 pm to 7 pm.
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.