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Hey guys! New plant dad here, and I get horrible anxiety for my… | Pests, diseases and problems | Planta community

BigJoDanglelol

Hey guys! New plant dad here, and I get horrible anxiety for my plants when I feel something is wrong. And yes, I’ve been googling, but perhaps someone has more useful knowledge here. I have plants in my window, and they’re doing great. However, I have a shelf of plants that use a grow light, as my window options are filled up. However, these grow light plants seem to have the soil stay wet for much longer… too much longer in fact. I keep hitting snooze on Planta multiple watering days due to soil being quite wet still. Am I giving them too much water? Or is the evaporation of my grow lights just not cutting it? Any advice would be nice because I obviously want to avoid root rot. Thanks for reading!

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21 comments

  1. Sunny

    Photos? In general, the typical LED grow lights don’t get hot enough to help evaporate the soil like old school shop lights that add heat to a garage or singe you when you get too close. 😆 Another aspect could be the lights are not intense enough or close enough to the plants to be effective with photosynthesis. Less light means the plant will use water because photosynthesis slows. Check the soil. Dense soil and soil with peat moss takes longer to dry especially if there is less aggregates like perlite which helps with drainage. It’s likely your environment is not matching the Planta watering algorithm. You can snooze or customize the schedule to match each plant. 🪴🍀

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    • BigJoDanglelol

      You’re right, my bad, photo added

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  2. Phil

    Difficult to answer without a lot more info or a pic. It could be low wattage lights, could be pots are too big for plant, could be incorrect soil for those plants, could be drain holes, etc.

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    • BigJoDanglelol

      Photo added, apologies!

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  3. Phil

    Sunny gave you a nice explanation. Pretty much what I said. I’m just blunt, and not as nice.

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    • BigJoDanglelol

      I appreciate the response! Like I said I’m only a few months in with plants. And there’s a lot of micro knowledge you need, and I find talking to people is better than the internet, because google just gives the same list of things that could be wrong everytime and shrugs it off. Whereas other people have overcome the issues I’m having and it can be a lot more useful info

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  4. Leafy

    I read airflow can help plant soil dry, so as long as the plants aren’t draught sensitive. Maybe having a small fan nearby to move the air around from time to time might help and encourage evaporation for your shelf plants. Also it might be obvious but make sure the plants aren’t left in standing water for too long, if the soil is retaining water maybe it needs a little help to remove any liquid it doesn’t want. I have a bad habit if overwatering and for me double checking that the plants aren’t in water they couldn’t absorb has really helped.

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    • BigJoDanglelol

      Yeah, I’ve also heard about the fan thing, I may need to do that, and I know. I’m worried about them sitting in water, but I do have quite good drainage on them… as far as I can tell. And they seem to be reasonably healthy still, but I just don’t feel comfortable with how long they’re staying wet

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    • Sunny

      Good air flow helps a lot with evaporation.

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    • Leafy

      From the picture it looks like they’re healthy and happy plants. You’re doing the right thing pausing the watering until they are able to dry. One thing I’ve learnt with houseplants is coming to terms with the trial and error that comes with being a plant parent. Some things like which plants work best for your room environment can only be learnt first hand. I definitely sympathise with the stress and anxiety though😅 Hopefuly some of the suggestions help, best of luck to you and the plants 🍀🪴

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  5. Sunny

    Not enough lights. Each level of the structure needs a light over every plant or a bigger light that covers more area at each level See the photo. Lights not close enough to the plants. I’ve found that the intensity drops exponentially when the lights are more than one foot away from the top of the plant. The exception are those rather expensive higher intensity lights sold by notable companies like Sansi and Barrina. The pot the spider plant is in is too big unless the roots already fill the entire pot. There is too much soil for such a small plant. See my old photo of a curly spider plant in an 8” wide pot on my bbq pit. There are about 20 plants in that pot, if I remember correctly. Your single plant can’t use up all the water in that much soil.

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    • BigJoDanglelol

      Thank you! This is awesome! I do have more lights I’ll add. and yes, the spider plant was my very first plant, and mistakes were made, he’s been through it, but had also recovered quite well! Perhaps I will downsize him. Thanks for your time and info!

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    • BigJoDanglelol

      Thanks for the advice! I’m hoping this new set up will work better for everyone, thanks again for your time and advice friend

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    • Sunny

      That’s a much better lighting set up since you’ve added more light.

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  6. Ryan B

    Love the set up BigJo! Sounds like a little overwatering to me, i’d definitely lay off watering them for a week or so and see how it goes. Most plants can deal with less watering, whereas over watering is way more harmful.

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    • BigJoDanglelol

      Right, I follow the guidelines of “water until it comes out of the drainage holes” but I’m thinking for certain pots/plants it may be too much

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    • BigJoDanglelol

      PS, if you like this set up, check out the shelf I custom built for my back window, a little nicer if I do say so myself

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    • Ryan B

      I personally water for a couple of seconds for most of my plants and that has done them so well recently, that way I can always add more if needed too!

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    • Ryan B

      That looks killer! I love it 🔥

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    • Sunny

      You should water until water freely flows out the drainage holes to ensure all the roots get watered. You can also bottom water using a container of water until the top soil is moist. Then, completely drain the excess. Always verify the plants need water before watering. Don’t follow a strict schedule. Use your finger or a tool like a meat skewer/chopstick to check for moisture at the bottom of the pot.

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