Happy Thursday!

Here are 3 plant health tips, 2 thoughts of the week, and 1 question for you.

3 Plant Health Tips:

• …Bottom watering/butt chugging - The term butt chugging for bottom watering has always made me laugh but it has also always been a super effective way for me to water my plants. 

   

  Traditionally plants were watered from the top to recreate rain. When it rains, the water hits the foliage first and then is lightly dripped onto the surface of the soil.

   

  The issue when we top water is its hard to recreate that light drizzle on our house plants which causes soil compaction and run off down the sides of the pot; leaving soil not fully saturated (this is when soil becomes hydrophobic and you think you're watering your plants but their still dry in the root zone).

   

  The beautiful thing about butt chugging is it recreates how water flows from underground up to plant roots. In nature plants both get water from above and below. When watering from below, soil pulls the water up to the top allowing the entire growing medium to become saturated.

   

  Majority of larger roots are lower in the soil so having that part more saturated and less saturated at the forces the roots to grow downward, and keeps the top layer of soil more dry. This creates a less hospitable place for pests like fungus gnats! 🦟 When coupled with a form of mulch, your plants will be unstoppable after a good butt chugging!

• …Protozoa - If you’ve never heard of these guy, I don't blame you.

   

  They are a soil microbes that is not nearly talked about as often as bacteria or fungi. BUTT (apparently a butt themed email 😅) protozoa need some well deserved props from the plant community. These little guys are responsible for over 90% of the nitrogen a plant receives from the soil in their lifetime.

   

  Bacteria is amazing at digesting nutrients in your soil and turning them into a plant available form in their stomach. Protozoa will eat these bacteria and then poop them out which is super potent plant fertilizer 😎.

   

  Soil food web is something I want to get into more with you and will definitely make a topic on this in the coming weeks. Protozoa, bacteria, and fungi are part of this soil food web that feed on each other, helps each other, and ultimately is the onlyreason plants can grow.

• …Matric Water - I remember the first time I read about Matric Water in a growing book I had bought called: Teaming with Microbes (highly recommend if you want to dive into the world of soil biology).

   

  Originally I thought that when soil was bone dry, all of the microbes will die but this isn't necessarily the case thanks to Matric Water. This is basically a microscopic water that becomes bound to soil particles and can only be removed via the consumption from microbes, or evaporated at high temperature.

   

  This means that even when your soil is bone dry, there is water supporting life within the soil until you remember to water again. This is super important because we want to maintain our microbial cultures to ensure healthy plants.

   

  This doesn't mean that microbes in the soil won’t die because of the lack of moisture, they absolutely will but they will release offspring in the form of spores before they die that will come back as the 2nd generation when water is reintroduced. 🐣

2 Thoughts of the week:

• ...Patience with yourself

   

  You may have noticed that last week I did not send out a 3-2-1 email.

   

  There were things going on in my life that were truly draining me and I just did not have it in me to give you my best.

   

  So instead,

   

  I decided to take a step back for a week.

   

  It wasn’t easy because I feel a sense of guilt for “letting people down” but instead I saw it as being patient with my feelings. Allowing myself to feel them, process and learn at my own pace rather than forcing it or having an expectation about how I should feel or how long it should take to feel okay.

   

  Expectations and rushing do not allow for growth and to truly move forward, you must be patient with yourself. Allow life to unfold in front of you without expecting something from it and you will eventually look back and realize how strong you’ve become. Every flower blooms at its own pace 🌸