Sandy soils cannot hold a large amount of water and have the lowest amount of TAW, whereas, medium texture soils, such as silt loam and silty clay loam have the largest TAW. Therefore, sandy soils need to be irrigated more often than loam soils.

Water-holding capacity is controlled primarily by soil texture and organic matter. Soils with smaller particles (silt and clay) have a larger surface area than those with larger sand particles, and a large surface area allows a soil to hold more water.

clay

Soil moisture variations occur predominantly in the first metre below the surface. The water content in very sandy soil may vary from 3% to 10% from the driest (wilting point) condition to the wettest drained state (field capacity), or from 20% to 40% in a clay soil.

Percent soil moisture is the available water for the plant divided by the total water holding capacity of the soil profile. It is useful for determining if the soil profile has enough water for crop development.

Generally, soil moisture will range from 10% to 45%, but can be higher during and after watering. The water in your soil is stored on the surface of the soil particles, as well as in the pores, which are holes or gaps between individual soil particles. Pores will contain both water and air/oxygen.

Tensiometers are devices that measure soil moisture tension. They are sealed, water-filled tubes with a porous ceramic tip at the bottom and a vacuum gauge at the top. They are inserted in the soil to plants’ root zone depth.

Insert a trowel into the soil, then tilt the trowel to check the moisture of garden plants. You can also insert a wooden dowel into the soil to determine the depth of soil moisture. If the dowel comes out clean, the soil is dry. Damp soil will cling to the dowel.

Setting a Water Schedule For most plants, only water when the soil is dry — not just surface dry, but 2-inches-deep dry.

1. Mulch, mulch, and mulch some more! Cover your soil with a blanket of organic material such as straw, leaves, shredded paper or cardboard, or bark. This will moderate soil temperature, prevent runoff and evaporation, and hold moisture in the for longer periods between waterings.

What Kind of Water is Best for Your Plants?

• To give your plants the absolute best, rainwater and bottled spring water are your best options.
• While distilled water won’t actually harm your plants, you will notice that your plants won’t grow as quickly or as tall as plants watered with rainwater or bottled spring water.

1. Carbonated water. Carbonated water induces plant growth as the bubbles are carbon dioxide. As a result, if you want your plant to grow faster, you can use carbonated water.

Milk is a good source of calcium, not only for humans, but for plants as well. It contains beneficial proteins, vitamin B, and sugars that are good for plants, improving their overall health and crop yields. The microbes that feed on the fertilizer components of milk are also beneficial to the soil.

Soda water can also affect soil pH in ways that are beneficial for some plants. In experiments at the University of Colorado, some plants given soda water grew faster than those given ordinary tap water.

It seems logical to assume that if we add sugar when we water, we would increase the growth of the plant. However, too much sugar can actually cause reverse osmosis to occur, making the plant lose water and eventually die.

Yes, there seem to be good, relevant reasons for using Epsom salts for plants. Epsom salt helps improve flower blooming and enhances a plant’s green color. It can even help plants grow bushier. Epsom salt is made up of hydrated magnesium sulfate (magnesium and sulfur), which is important to healthy plant growth.

A yellow leaf on a house plant is unlikely to turn green again UNLESS the yellowing is caused by a nutritional deficiency, which if rectified, could cause the green colour to return. Usually though, say goodbye to the green. Hell, make your peace and put the whole leaf’s affairs in order. Never mind.

10 Ways to Keep Your Garden Healthy

1. Examine plants carefully before buying. Good roots Bad roots.
2. Use fully composted yard waste.
3. Keep an eye on your bugs.
4. Clean up in the fall.
5. Apply the correct fertilizer.
6. Plant disease-resistant varieties.
7. Prune damaged limbs at the right time.
8. Choose and site plants appropriately.

The direct cause of chlorosis isn’t a mystery, though. It’s the visible result of too little chlorophyll, the pigment used by plants to trap sunlight for photosynthesis.  Since chlorophyll gives leaves their green color, an inadequate supply turns plants a pale green, yellow or yellowish white.

Soil treatments, spraying applications of micronutrients to foliage, and trunk injections merely treat the symptoms and not the basic causes of chlorosis. Soil fertilization treatments produce the best results, but are usually the slowest to respond. Soil treatment is best done in early spring through mid-May.

Yellow leaves on a green plant can indicate a number of problems, including lime-induced chlorosis. The symptoms of this condition are yellow leaves with darker green veins. It occurs on the new growth and when it’s severe it can cause the whole leaf to become pale yellow or almost white.

A frequent culprit for yellowing leaves on ivy plants is excess water. Ivy plants like to dry out a little between waterings. If you stick your finger into the soil near the roots, you want it to be dry about 25 percent of the way down the roots.