"Please explain how you determine when it's time to water, and what you mean by the statement. Are you saying you fertilize every time you water?"
We water when the soil is dry or if a plant is meant to be watered in specific ways then we follow those general instructions. We have a probe to know what the state of our soil is. What I meant by the fertiliser comment is that when we use fertiliser, we use a regular fertiliser product and use it as per instructions. Not that we use it each time. The fertiliser is 24-8-16
"Did your pot/plant blow over and then become exposed to direct sun."
No there was nothing like that that happened at all. These are plants that are in pots on a 4ft x 8ft balcony.
Thuja - "How do you determine when it's time to water? " We water once a week because we had read on several sites that that was good for thujas and out of fear of overwatering because they are in shade. The soil was always dry when we went to water.
Do your pots have drain holes? Yes, and we use a one inch layer of clay pellets to avoid clogging the drainage hole.
Does your home have a water softening system that uses salt as the exchange medium? No.
Tell us about how you approach nutritional supplementation/ fertilizing. What product(s) do you use? Please include the NPK %s. - Miracle Grow's "Plant Food" 24-8-16. We follow the instructions.
" flush the soil " - Can you tell us a fool proof way to do this? Is it pouring water with a watering can until all the soil is drenched and then lettting it run dry?
Current state of concern...
Gardenia leaves have stopped turning yellow but there are some brown spots in the buds and leaves. Some leaves dropping.
Thuja - still dry in patches with browning.
Worth noting: we feel that things started to turn bad when we topped the pots with a layer of the compost that is made by the gardener of our building who uses it on the grounds for several cushes flowers, plants etc and that we have free access to. But this could just be a coincidence of timing, we have no verifiable proof of this.
Thank you so much for your help!
