I bought a water meter for my houseplants and was surprised to see what was
actually happening in pots I thought were wet or dry. It sounds as though
you may have a salts build-up on the top of your plant soil. You may want to
take off the top layer and replace it. Also another trick with indoor
plants is to pull them out of the pots to see what is happening with the
roots. If a potted plant is rootbound, watering it is difficult. Some of my
very large plants are turning into bonsai simply because I can only provide
so big a pot. Eugenia, zone 6, two towns west of Boston
"JMH" m wrote in message
...
Hi,

I would like to know what is the best way to water potted, water from the
top
(i.e. not african violets, etc.) plants. I have a problem in that either
the
soil stays too wet, or it dries out too much, both of which are hard on
the
plants. Drainage is fine, humidity in my apartment varies.
I have watered with a can, most generally every other week. This tends to
let
soils dry out, but generally stay a bit damp if I stick my finger down in
the
soil. This causes the top of the soil to get weird though, it is almost
hard,
and coated, not soft and slightly airy like below the surface. The plants
grow, some do better than others, but they stay alive. However, I dont
thik
that my weatering schedule and plan is what is best for keeping plants
indoors.
I am thinking that I should water lightly every other week, and then spray
the plants and soil with a spray bottle every week, or every half week.
Is this a good routing for most plants that are kept inside?
Any help would be most appreciated. Thanks

JMH