Just realized my drip irrigation was drowning my tomatoes for 3 years
I always thought more water meant bigger tomatoes, so I ran my drip lines 40 minutes every morning in Albuquerque. My neighbor Ana finally asked why my plants looked sad while hers were fine, and she had me stick a finger in the soil. It was soaked 6 inches down. I cut back to 15 minutes twice a day and within a couple weeks the leaves stopped curling and I got my first real crop, 11 tomatoes off one plant. Three years of doing it wrong because I never checked the dirt, just the clock. Now I use a cheap moisture meter and it reads wet when I would have sworn it was dry. Anyone else had a plant tell them you were wrong about something basic?
I always figured brown tips meant thirsty plants, so I'd dump more water on. Killing three basil plants taught me the hard way that wet roots rot, and now I water less and actually wait.