Watering 101 i am sooooo confused:)

i tend to love my plants WAYYYY too MUCH...i overwater....; sticking
my finger in the pots didn't really tell me alot....so i got one of those water
meter things....; so visually i see something that look marginal....but still
has moisture look to it and my meter sez it is dry; my nursery owner lady
told me to feel some soil one day at her nursery.....it had a tiny bit of moisture
to it....we were talking about floral plants....she said, in general if they
have that much moisture then don't water.....; yet when i put my meter
in them they say dry;

now granted, alot is a 'feel' or judgement call and some plants are really forgiving
.....but some aren't so forgiving...what the heck kinda guideline can i use....??

Are you talking about indoor plants? If so, what kind? That will help a lot as to how much.

no i am talking about outdoor plants....and right now i am talking about petunias....impatiens.....most of my other stuff will take overwatering

I always watered mine once a day, in the morning. In a pot, right?

yes in a pot....but they are looking awful...yellow foliage

Any impatiens I ever had didn't like a lot of sun. What about fertilizer? I know the garden center I go to a lot told me to fertilize my potted outside plants every other week.

impatiens in shade...; the petunias are the ones that have yellow foliage...will fertilize....

I haven't done annuals in a long time, I'm sorry I couldn't help you more! ;)

petunias, begonias, impatiens are my only annuals....have to have um tho...thank you for your help:)

I decided to do a little searching and I came up with this site. The problem is yellowing petunias, they're in a wooden barrel, but the message is still the same. Go down to where it says OLD problem.

http://lists.topica.com/lists/Gardenwise/read/message.html?sort=&mid=1701777946

here's another one

http://en.allexperts.com/q/Annuals-706/yellow-leaves-petunias.htm

I'm guessing that you have holes in the bottom of the pots and that you let the water run thru and out. So, in that regard, I really think some fertilizer and maybe some pinching back would help.

Ah, I feel better now! I feel like I've helped you at least some! ;)

wow that is a great site....since i have tried almost everything they said....ie not enuf water...too much... ; i have been using rain water to water them.....but the one thing i haven't done....fertilize....i will do that tommorrow...this happens to me every year...and i love petunias i buy 3 flats of them so i can smell the fragance....so hopefully this is the answer!!! thank you so much;)

You are so very welcome! I hope it works too!