Plants getting too much water

[birdieluv]

I have a Mistking and I'm afraid my plants, a pothos and a schefflera, are getting too much water. The leaves seem to yellow too fast and fall off. I have rocks on top of the plants to keep Alice (veiled) out of the soil. I have spacers under the pots to get them off the floor. I'm using a ReptiBreeze cage.

I only run the Mistking 4 times a day as the cage is only the 16 x 16 x 30-Inch size and she's not full grown.

I don't know if I dare put plastic wrap over the pot. What do you do about this?

 

[sandrachameleon]

does the soil feel wet all the time? You do want it to dry out periodically.
Yes, you could cover the plant soil with plastic - aim for a dome shape /slope so that most of the water runs away.

I know someone who used plastic upside down green/brown coloured pots with a hole in the middle for the stem to come out, (slit the upside down one along one side to get it around the stem) then put rocks decoratively over it all so the plastic didn't show too much.

You could aim the water such that it doesn't spray at the plants. You could, in addition to the spacers under, put a drainage layer at the bottom inside of each pot.

have you considered that maybe they aren't getting sufficient light?
Its a bit strange that a pothos would yellow - they don't mind lots of water (unless there are fungus gnats or root rot), and they don't mind low light. I wonder if its a nutrient inadequacy?

 

[Oliviabryant]

does the soil feel wet all the time? You do want it to dry out periodically.
Yes, you could cover the plant soil with plastic - aim for a dome shape /slope so that most of the water runs away.

I know someone who used plastic upside down green/brown coloured pots with a hole in the middle for the stem to come out, (slit the upside down one along one side to get it around the stem) then put rocks decoratively over it all so the plastic didn't show too much.

You could aim the water such that it doesn't spray at the plants. You could, in addition to the spacers under, put a drainage layer at the bottom inside of each pot.

have you considered that maybe they aren't getting sufficient light?
Its a bit strange that a pothos would yellow - they don't mind lots of water (unless there are fungus gnats or root rot), and they don't mind low light. I wonder if its a nutrient inadequacy?

I would agree- yellowing is a sign of inadequate lighting. I have such a large cage that the bottom of the plant started to yellow and I had to add another light towards the bottom. You can also try jungle dawn lighting- I've heard it is great for plants!

 

[Chameleopatrick]

4 times per day is excessive. Have you tried 2 times per day and less time per session?


There is a question on the IQ test that goes something like this;

If your bathtub is over flowing with water, what do you do first?
Pull the plug on the drain or turn off the water?

If you answered pull the plug, you may want to stay in school....

 

[kgallego]

I have a Mistking and I'm afraid my plants, a pothos and a schefflera, are getting too much water. The leaves seem to yellow too fast and fall off. I have rocks on top of the plants to keep Alice (veiled) out of the soil. I have spacers under the pots to get them off the floor. I'm using a ReptiBreeze cage.

I only run the Mistking 4 times a day as the cage is only the 16 x 16 x 30-Inch size and she's not full grown.

I don't know if I dare put plastic wrap over the pot. What do you do about this?

Add sand to your soil mixture. That'll help with draining. Also, limit the mistking times to only wet the leaves and not soak the plant.

I had the same issue - this fixed it.

 

[birdieluv]

Add sand to your soil mixture. That'll help with draining. Also, limit the mistking times to only wet the leaves and not soak the plant.

I had the same issue - this fixed it.

Thanks! I'll try the sand. I only have the mistking running for a minute 4 times a day. Do you think that's too much?

 

[birdieluv]

4 times per day is excessive. Have you tried 2 times per day and less time per session?...

It runs for only a minute each time. Should I just run it twice a day? That medium size cage is not very large.

 

[Brandonmh]

Yea, I would cut the time down to at least 40 seconds per spray. It also depends on how humid things are in the house. Right now, here in Pa, well, the humidity is up from rain and fog, but I had to turn down the my monsoon the other week because the bottom of the cage was not drying out (it also apparently dumped most of the water in it, like it did for others, but hasn't done it since. I have been keeping an eye on it and was ready to get a mist king, thinking it blew up). I have it set to cycle about every four hours for around 25 seconds. I made up a drainage system as well after the incident with the mister. I had an old, cleaned pie tin with no holes in it, I did poke a small drain hole. I have now made the hole bigger, glued in a section of aquarium tubing and poked a hole big enough thru the bottom of the screening and it runs to an empty 1 gal water jug. I know others have made different drainage systems, this one was spur of the moment and can't quite cut a hole in the bottom of the table the cage is on.

 

[Brandonmh]

Just play with the timing, keep an eye on humidity as well. If humidity is too high, you can start to grow mold and rot things as well, not good.

 

[kgallego]

Thanks! I'll try the sand. I only have the mistking running for a minute 4 times a day. Do you think that's too much?

I run mine 6 times a day, but only for 30 seconds each time. Like I said, just enough to wet the leaves and not water the plan.