Watering question?

[JoeD1rt]

I am sure folks have different techniques for watering plants, I'm curious if I can see plant improvement utilizing a different method? My 2 plants are 2 weeks old and about 5 in. tall. By the way, my method or technique is the "pour about 2-3 cups of water on em" slowly way of doin it. Thanks for your input.

 

[jesus of Cannabis]

i bury a solo cup, with holes in the end, in the dirt at different spots and different levels in the dirt and fill them with whatever, it makes sure water is going down tot he roots making them dig for the water instead of top feeding, pouring on top.

 

[JoeD1rt]

i bury a solo cup, with holes in the end, in the dirt at different spots and different levels in the dirt and fill them with whatever, it makes sure water is going down tot he roots making them dig for the water instead of top feeding, pouring on top.

I am assuming you use large pots, that's the only way i am picturing what you do. Nice idea.

 

[Southerner]

I take a pitcher of water and pour it into the pot. When I am feeling froggy I water straight from my bucket!!

Ok, enough of that. Using the drip pans to bottom feed is really awesome if you have problems with fungus gnats and is also useful for preventing nutrient washout for super soil grows.

 

[JoeD1rt]

I was reading that some people will give a little water on top, wait an hour or two, then pour the remainder. I just don't know the benefits of this.

 

[jesus of Cannabis]

I am assuming you use large pots, that's the only way i am picturing what you do. Nice idea.

7 gallon pots but it can work for any size pot, just need the right size tubing

 

[jesus of Cannabis]

water moves to the dry areas with gravity, with less dry area/soil to work with it moves with to the path of least resistance, further down the pot and to the dry parts.......?

 

[JoeD1rt]

thanks for your help. I'm starting to think my watering habits may be sufficient, but perhaps my soil is not usable for cannabis. It's Miracle Grow(I know) with time release nutrients. Should I be watering more often but less quantity, to activate the nutes, or scratch the whole setup, and go to other soil. Ultimately, I will use quality soil but for now I was just trying to get practical knowledge under my low budget operation.

 

[Squidbilly]

The benefits of watering slowly are to avoid 'dry pockets' in your soil.

If you dump water on top as fast as you can it will create channels in your soil. Water takes the path of least resistance, just like water carves streams out of bed rock.

Usually if you water slowly for the first 1-2 weeks(and for the first 1-2 weeks each time you pot up) it conditions your soil and you can water more evenly, much faster without creating pockets.

I've seen plants pulled out of soil where there was dry spots in the medium, and no roots grew there. They weren't big, but there was a handful of them in the 5 gals of medium, maybe golf ball size. I bet there was 1/2-1 gallon of soil with very little root development, essentially wasting that much space. Why plant in 5 gal container if your roots are only able to take up 4 gals of it because of dry pockets?

I think bottom feeding actually helps condition the soil to wick water up evenly, like a sponge. Another reason I believe, IMHO, people that water from the bottom swear by it's effectiveness.

I think it's good to water slow, but you don't need to water THAT slow. If your growing in a 5 gal container, split your water into 3 doses and give yourself a couple mins inbetween each dose. This is more then adequate.

 

[Squidbilly]

Also, do some reseach on PROMIX, it's a soiless mix they sell at HomeDepot that is just as cheap as miracle grow. You don't see a lot of people using it anymore, but many an old timer swear by it and some have been growing for 20-30years with it and use it exclusively.

I use it to grow my tomatoes every year. Since it's a soiless mix with no nutes, all I do is ammend it with lime(to keep ph stable since it's peat based, something peat based growers have to deal with), and water them with my run-off I collect from my indoor grow. All the old italians on my block want to know my secret : )

Check out Dr. Gruber's grow journals, he uses promix and jacks classic fertilizer to grow TREES. It's not my style, but you can grow quality cannabis on a budget with stuff MOSTLY found in big box stores.

 

[Squidbilly]

Sorry for posting so much, but I keep thinking of things...

Here's a tip for miracle grow. The fertilizer is slow release. This means that the more often you water, the more the nutrients will leach out of it.

When you water I would saturate your soil slightly more then you have been and try to wait as long as you can in between waterings. When people start trying to flush miracle grow, or water to often, they burn their plants. This is why I believe a lot of newer growers who buy miracle grow burn their plants-they not only over water them, overwatering them releases way to much fertilizer.

 

[JoeD1rt]

The benefits of watering slowly are to avoid 'dry pockets' in your soil.

If you dump water on top as fast as you can it will create channels in your soil. Water takes the path of least resistance, just like water carves streams out of bed rock.

Usually if you water slowly for the first 1-2 weeks(and for the first 1-2 weeks each time you pot up) it conditions your soil and you can water more evenly, much faster without creating pockets.

I've seen plants pulled out of soil where there was dry spots in the medium, and no roots grew there. They weren't big, but there was a handful of them in the 5 gals of medium, maybe golf ball size. I bet there was 1/2-1 gallon of soil with very little root development, essentially wasting that much space. Why plant in 5 gal container if your roots are only able to take up 4 gals of it because of dry pockets?

I think bottom feeding actually helps condition the soil to wick water up evenly, like a sponge. Another reason I believe, IMHO, people that water from the bottom swear by it's effectiveness.

I think it's good to water slow, but you don't need to water THAT slow. If your growing in a 5 gal container, split your water into 3 doses and give yourself a couple mins inbetween each dose. This is more then adequate.

yea, thanks for your reply. i generally water slowly, never considered getting dry pockets, so that's good to think about. I'm looking for wicking techniques now to try when I transplant. If I start bottom feeding, using the time released soil currently in use will no longer work correctly. Right?

 

[JoeD1rt]

Sorry for posting so much, but I keep thinking of things...

Here's a tip for miracle grow. The fertilizer is slow release. This means that the more often you water, the more the nutrients will leach out of it.

When you water I would saturate your soil slightly more then you have been and try to wait as long as you can in between waterings. When people start trying to flush miracle grow, or water to often, they burn their plants. This is why I believe a lot of newer growers who buy miracle grow burn their plants-they not only over water them, overwatering them releases way to much fertilizer.

Hey cool buddy. The first plant I ran, I believe I did burn it with some over often watering, then realized and let it dry up more before watering. I guess I have it figured out, I'm just impatient and trying to make something happen.

 

[Squidbilly]

It's SO hard not to be, especially when you first get into the hobby. I think I would just stare at my seedlings for hours sometimes, followed by episodes of running to my computer to do research every time I had a question or concearn. I killed plenty of plants and made almost every rookie mistake.

It's funny though, I forced myself to be patient and not love my plants to death and I saw how they responded. Now I'm nothing but patient because I know patients=results impatients=bad results.

 

[Squidbilly]

No bottom feeding will sill release the nutrients. Everytime you saturate the soil it will release some of them, wether from the top or bottom.

Every time you water it releases them though, so if you water once a week, they get 1 dose, twice a week two doses, etc. You can see how it becomes very easy to burn your plants. Less water is really more in miracle grow.