From my perspective, the soil you provide is my entire world. When you give me too much water, that world becomes a suffocating, airless swamp. My roots are not just for drinking; they need to breathe oxygen from the air pockets in the soil. Constant saturation fills these pockets with water, creating an anaerobic environment. This slowly suffocates my root system, preventing it from functioning. The first thing you will notice is my leaves becoming soft, limp, and unusually heavy, wilting from a lack of oxygen rather than a lack of water. More critically, the lack of oxygen causes the delicate root hairs to die and rot. Once this root rot sets in, I can no longer absorb water or nutrients at all, no matter how wet the soil is. The wilting you see is me literally drowning, and the leaves may also turn yellow, starting with the lower ones.
Conversely, when you forget to water me, my world becomes a barren desert. My search for moisture is frantic. Without a consistent water supply, I cannot maintain my internal water pressure, known as turgor pressure, which is what keeps my stems upright and my leaves firm and open to the sun. As my moisture reserves deplete, this pressure drops, and I begin to wilt. This is my most dramatic and visible distress signal to you. The wilting from thirst is distinct: my leaves and flower spikes will become dry, brittle, and crispy to the touch. They may curl at the edges and feel papery. The soil will pull away from the edges of the pot or feel dust-dry deep into the ground. While I am a hardy plant, prolonged drought will cause my growth to stunt, my blooms to suffer, and my leaves to turn brown and die.
To understand what I am trying to tell you, you must look beyond my wilting leaves and investigate my environment. Please, do not just add more water on a schedule. Instead, touch the soil that sustains me. Insert your finger about two inches down near my base. If the soil feels cold, clings to your finger, and is decidedly wet, then you are overwatering me. The pot may also feel abnormally heavy. If the soil feels warm, dry, and crumbly, and the pot is very light, then I am desperately thirsty. Another sign is the condition of the leaves and soil surface; mushy, yellowing leaves with potentially moldy soil point to overwatering, while dry, crispy leaves and cracked, pulling-away soil point to underwatering.
Your corrective action depends entirely on your diagnosis. If you have overwatered me, please stop watering immediately. Move me to a spot with better air circulation to help the soil dry out more efficiently. If I am in a pot without drainage, you must repot me into a container with drainage holes using fresh, well-draining soil. If root rot has set in, you may need to gently remove me, trim away any black, mushy roots, and repot. If you have underwatered me, I need a deep, thorough drink. Water me slowly at the base until you see water run freely from the drainage holes, ensuring the entire root ball is rehydrated. Avoid getting my foliage wet to prevent fungal issues. Going forward, water me only when the top inch of soil feels dry, providing a deep watering each time rather than frequent sips.
