What does it mean if my plants don’t seem to suck up water? I’ve read about the soil being hydrophobic, but it’s new and I made my own mix of succulent soil with perlite for my indoor plants who like well-draining conditions. I usually shake the pot to settle the soil when planting, not tamp it down. What could this be then? The water sits on top for a while when I water them the first couple times after repotting, too.
I would recommend trying to poke a very small pin through the bottom of the stem of your plant it helps the water go up and to through the plant. I would recommend researching what type of soil your plant likes too.
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Is the soil compacted too much? If it’s too dense it could take a while to soak up the water. You could poke holes with a toothpick to break it up. Also, if the soil was hydrophobic it would most likely fall straight through to the bottom (as I’ve learned.) have you trialed bottom watering?
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I have the same problem with some of my plants even though its a chunky soil. Perhaps it needs for be more chunky? The plants that are in really really chunky soil the water goes straight out of the bottom very fast. So maybe find a happy medium 🤔
1 LikeI recently learned that chunky soil mixes don't do well for bottom-watering, if that's what you're doing. I've had the same experience when top-watering my snake plants that are in chunky mixes. I now have them in clear pots so I can see where the water trickles down and what parts are being missed. When it's time to water them, I basically keep pouring until the soil is fully saturated.
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