How do you bring soil back to life? One of my plants dried up a while back and now when I try to add water it just drains out and doesn't absorb any water :(

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The standard, slow way, is to put a tiny bit of water in (sitting on the surface as a droplet, early on) wait for it to soak in, and repeat. The idea is to avoid giving it a path to drain out. I have mixed luck with this. I suspect adding a wetting agent (e.g. yucca extract) would help but I have never tried it.

A strategy I've used successfully is to literally submerge the pot in water that's deeper than the pot. You'll need to hold it under the surface, since the soil will otherwise float. You may need to use a hand to hold the soil in the pot since otherwise it may try to float out of the pot as water comes in the drainage holes. (The plant can remain above water and probably should.)

Hold it there for a little while and the trapped air will bubble out, and eventually it won't be trying to float much (it may still float a little bit if there's a lot of perlite etc in there that's lighter than water, that's fine). At that point take it out and let it drain *thoroughly*. It should be pretty much set at that point but poke around and make sure, and repeat as necessary. Wipe off any leaves that got wet and you're all set.

It's a bit messy, and may be impractical for a large pot, but it does the job.

🫡

Needs organic material if it's hydrophobic

Personally, I use a combination of compost and tree bark that you would use for cacti

It sounds like that thing where plants dry out and the soil contracts, so then when you water it just drains down the side of the pot. What you can do is really saturate it, and that may cause the soil to expand back and behave normally. If you think the soil is really just dead, get some new potting soil and repot the plant.

Do you think mixing it with some potting soil would help?

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