Substrát musí po zálivce prosychat.

Czech has no articles, so there is no direct equivalent of a or the in the sentence.

• Substrát simply means substrate / growing medium / potting medium
• Whether it means a substrate, the substrate, or substrate in general depends on context

So Substrát musí po zálivce prosychat can be understood as:

• The substrate must dry out after watering
• A substrate must dry out after watering
• The growing medium should be allowed to dry after watering

The exact English choice depends on the situation.

Substrát is in the nominative singular.

Why?

Because it is the subject of the sentence — the thing that must dry out.

Basic structure:

• Substrát = subject
• musí = must
• prosychat = to dry out gradually / to be drying out
• po zálivce = after watering

So literally the structure is:

• The substrate must dry out after watering

Musí is the 3rd person singular form of muset, which means must / have to.

Here it agrees with substrát, which is singular:

• substrát musí = the substrate must
• if the subject were plural, you would get musí as well, because in the present tense muset has the same form for several persons/numbers

In this kind of practical instruction, musí can sound a bit like:

• must
• needs to
• has to
• sometimes even should, depending on tone and context

But grammatically, the direct meaning is must / has to.

Here po means after, and with this meaning it takes the locative case.

That is why:

• dictionary form: zálivka = watering
• locative singular: zálivce

So:

• po zálivce = after watering

This is very common in Czech:

• po obědě = after lunch
• po práci = after work
• po dešti = after rain
• po zalití = after watering

A useful rule:

• po + locative often means after

Because zálivka is a feminine noun, and after po in the meaning after, it must go into the locative singular.

The noun declines like this:

• nominative: zálivka
• genitive: zálivky
• dative: zálivce
• accusative: zálivku
• vocative: zálivko
• locative: zálivce
• instrumental: zálivkou

So in this sentence:

• po zálivce = after watering

For many feminine nouns ending in -ka, the locative singular often ends in -ce or -e.

Prosychat suggests drying through, drying out gradually, or becoming dry little by little.

That is why it fits well in gardening language. It does not just mean to become dry in a neutral way; it often suggests that moisture is gradually leaving the material.

A rough comparison:

• schnout = to dry / to be drying
• uschnout = to dry up, become dry completely, with a completed result
• prosychat = to dry out gradually, especially through the material

In plant-care language, prosychat often implies something like:

• the soil/substrate should not stay constantly wet
• it should have time to partially dry between waterings

So the nuance is important: this is not necessarily saying the substrate must become bone-dry, but that it should dry out somewhat / dry through after watering.

Because Czech modal verbs are followed by an infinitive, just like in English.

Compare:

• musí prosychat = must dry out
• může růst = can grow
• chce odejít = wants to leave
• má přijít = is supposed to come

So the pattern is:

• subject + modal verb + infinitive

Here:

• Substrát
  • musí
    • prosychat

Literally, it means after watering.

But in real gardening English, the idea is often expressed as:

• The substrate should dry out after watering
• The growing medium should be allowed to dry between waterings

So the literal Czech phrase is after watering, but the practical implication is often not staying constantly wet before the next watering.

This is one of those cases where the literal meaning and the natural practical interpretation are closely related.

No, Czech word order is fairly flexible, though some versions sound more natural than others depending on emphasis.

The neutral version is:

• Substrát musí po zálivce prosychat.

But you could also see:

• Po zálivce musí substrát prosychat.
• Substrát po zálivce musí prosychat.

These all mean basically the same thing, but the emphasis shifts slightly:

• starting with po zálivce emphasizes after watering
• starting with substrát is the most straightforward neutral statement

Because Czech uses case endings, word order often expresses information structure rather than basic grammar.

They are related, but not always identical in feel.

• zalévání = the act/process of watering
• zálivka = a watering, watering treatment, or amount/application of water

In gardening instructions, po zálivce is very natural and common. It often sounds a bit more concrete than po zalévání.

Very roughly:

• po zalévání = after the process of watering
• po zálivce = after a watering

In many contexts, both would be understandable, but po zálivce is especially idiomatic in plant-care language.

A Czech speaker would most likely understand it as a plant-care instruction meaning something like:

• The growing medium must be allowed to dry out after watering
• The substrate should dry out between waterings
• It should not remain constantly wet after being watered

So the sentence sounds natural in contexts like:

• houseplant care
• greenhouse instructions
• gardening guides
• horticulture labels

The important nuance is that the substrate should not stay permanently soggy.

A helpful approximate pronunciation is:

• pro-si-khat

More carefully:

• pro- like pro in English, but with a trilled or tapped Czech r
• sy sounds roughly like si but with Czech y, which is not exactly the same as English ee
• chat has ch as in German Bach or Scottish loch, not like English ch in chair

A rough English-friendly approximation:

• PRO-si-khat

Stress in Czech is almost always on the first syllable, so:

• PROsychat

Yes. It sounds like a general care requirement, not just a one-time command.

That is because:

• the present tense musí
• the infinitive prosychat
• the overall wording

together make it sound like a standing rule:

• The substrate must dry out after watering
• The substrate needs to dry out after each watering

If someone wanted to give a direct one-time command, they might phrase it differently. But this sentence reads naturally as a general instruction or recommendation in a care guide.