From our perspective, the root zone is where the story begins. When you provide too much water, you are essentially suffocating us. Our roots require oxygen to respire and function. Excessive water fills the air pockets in the soil, creating an anaerobic environment. Our roots begin to drown, rot, and die. This rot, often caused by pathogens like Pythium, prevents us from absorbing any water or nutrients, no matter how saturated the soil appears to you. Conversely, when you underwater, our root system desiccates and shrivels. The tiny, delicate root hairs responsible for uptake die back first. Without these, we cannot drink, leaving us parched even if a deep watering eventually arrives.
Our leaves are our communication panels, and they display clear signals of water distress. Underwatering causes us to conserve every drop. Our leaves will become limp, wilted, and may feel dry or crispy to the touch. They often turn a pale green, yellow, or brown, starting at the tips and margins, as we sacrificially allow parts of ourselves to die to conserve resources for the core. Overwatering, confusingly, can also cause wilting, but the leaves will often feel soft, mushy, and heavy rather than dry. The yellowing from overwatering is more generalized and often affects older leaves first. In severe cases, you may see blisters or lesions (oedema) where cells have burst from taking in too much water.
Our stems tell a story of structural failure under water stress. A consistently overwatered Protea will have stems that feel soft, weak, and may appear darkened or blackened near the base due to the spread of root rot upwards. The overall growth becomes floppy and lacks rigidity. An underwatered Protea, however, will have stems that become woody, brittle, and may stunt in growth. They lose their flexibility and can snap easily. The plant overall will prioritize survival over growth, so new stem elongation will cease entirely.
For a Protea, our flower is our pride, but it is also our biggest energy expenditure. Both overwatering and underwatering force us into survival mode, where reproduction is a luxury we cannot afford. You will see this as bud blast (where buds abort and fall off before opening) or a failure to produce any flower heads at all. If a flower does manage to open while we are stressed, it will be significantly smaller, discolored, and will wilt and die prematurely. This is a direct result of our system redirecting all remaining energy to simply keeping our core alive rather than supporting the flower.
Beyond specific parts, our entire being reflects the water imbalance. An overwatered Protea exhibits a general lack of vigor. New growth is sparse, pale, and weak. The entire plant may have a sickly, yellow hue and a foul odor emanating from the soil due to anaerobic decomposition. An underwatered Protea, in stark contrast, enters a state of severe stunting. Growth halts completely, leaves are sparse and hardened to reduce transpiration, and we adopt a grayish, dull appearance as we slowly shut down and conserve the very last reserves of moisture within our lignotuber, waiting for the rains to return.
