Too late for this now, I know, but I've learned the hard way to leave at
least 2 inches at the top of really big pots so that the water has room to
"fill it up" the rest of the way. That way, the water can't run anywhere
even if the soil is really dry. (Of course, the soil can shrink around the
edges, but I can make a dam if needed around the edge to allow the water to
pool.)

Another item that might help is a deep-watering irrigator. We use them for
new trees -- they are easy to find at a garden center and are not very
expensive. You could try one if your pot is big enough. One of these would
let you water under crusted surface of your big pot.

--
-- pelirojaroja
"Valkyrie" wrote in message
news:1053366869.668868@yasure...
I have a few HUGE pots that have dried out pretty bad during a short
absence. My watering person missed them completely. These are HUGE pots
and
impossible to lift let alone put in another pot to soak as I did with the
smaller ones. Is there anything I can put in the water to make it soak in
better instead of just flowing over the top and down the sides. I can't
get
to the drainage hole so I can't do a soak and drain maneuver that way
either. I tried tilling up the surface soil and that helped a bit but not
very much.

Val