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Three years of overwatering my balcony tomatoes before a neighbor called me out
I moved into a second floor apartment in Austin three years ago and started my balcony garden with these cute little Roma tomato plants. Every single day without fail I would water them, because the soil felt dry on top and I thought they needed love. My plants always looked sad and leggy, and I blamed the Texas heat for why I only got maybe five tomatoes total each season. Last June my downstairs neighbor Jean yelled up asking why water was dripping through her ceiling every evening. She came up and saw my watering schedule, then pointed out the pot had no drainage holes and the soil was soaking wet two inches down. I switched to a cheap moisture meter from Amazon for $12 and now I only water when it actually reads dry. Has anyone else had that embarrassing moment where the simplest thing was the problem the whole time?
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evaperez2mo ago
Knew a buddy from work who swore by watering with ice cubes so they'd "melt slow" and never overwater. @troy_gibson43 is totally right about moisture meters though, my friend's cheap one from the hardware store would still say dry even when the pot was heavy with standing water underneath. She finally figured out her problem when her cat knocked the whole thing over and mud splattered everywhere, revealing roots that were basically swimming in sludge. Sometimes you just gotta shove your finger in there the old fashioned way.
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troy_gibson432mo ago
Yeah moisture meters can be off sometimes though, mine reads wet when soil is still damp.
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