Bottom Watering

WyoGrow

WyoGrow

Active Member
I'd like a little experienced input specifically pertaining to marijuana on this. Will bottom watering my little plants help them develop a good deep root system in their starter container faster than conventional top watering??

I garden every year, starting everything possible from seed and have found that some crops when seedlings like to be bottom watered more than others. Some almost demand bottom watering to send roots to the bottom of the starting container. Bottom watering is good for plants that are prone to leaf fungal issues because you aren't getting water onto the leaves. Keeping the top inch or so of the medium dry helps prevent many pests as well and prevents algal growth on the surface of your soil.

I only use this watering method when the seedlings are in their starter pots. I pre-germ all my seed and then place sprouts into 4" square starter pots. This is what I am currently doing for my first MM grow. From the 4" pots I'll go to 2 gallon smart pot's and finish the plant in them. Just wondering if anybody has tinkered with bottom watering vs just pouring water on top....

Just curiosity asking..... that shit happens a lot when i am medicated. Fuckin suprised I navigated my ass to this point.... much less laid out a comprehensible question.
 
smokinrav

smokinrav

Well-Known Member
Bottom watering is an example of another way to water/feed your plants, but as long as you saturate the soil and allow a good drying out period afterward, it wont promote more, or different, root growth vs. top watering. All things being equal, of course.
 
drolove

drolove

Well-Known Member
i think as long as their watered they would be fine. also plants may have a hard time pulling their nutes up to the top of the soil in comparison to gravity helping it with top feeding.
 
sandiegojack2

sandiegojack2

Well-Known Member
NO!!!!! when you water the girl's you want flow down through the soil to aid the root's with oxygen uptake! from the bottom would make salt's build in soil! Want to help root's use mycorrhiaze when you transplant beneficial fungus aid's root's in nutrrional uptake! Contrary to your post root's do not follow water they will find it but not actively seek.If root's grow in one direction and don't find water they will change direction to try to find it. certainly no need to pre-germ..but that doesn't matter.for plant's with fungal issues use sns 214(siera national sience 214). it build's in plant tissue to take care of that issue..Keeping the top soil dry is really a problem for the plant's as they like water just not there feet in a puddle!!Frosty!!.jpgabout 10 more day's to mature!!.jpgwall to wall top to bottom!.jpg
 
WyoGrow

WyoGrow

Active Member
Capillary action would wick water up to the root zone in the container from a lower water level. So long as there isn't anything acting as a surfactant. When you remove the planter from the bottom watering dish then the excess water drains out pulling fresh air into the root zone.

It's been my experience with plants with aggressive root structures is that they tend to be lazy and only go as far as the most abundant water w/o getting soaked. With bottom watering you make sure the best environment for the roots is at the bottom of the starting container. Because that is where the water is. I have seen a lot of beautiful seedlings (non weed) killed because they were top watered frequently enough to keep the top of the soil moist yet not enough to create runoff. And the root structure just developed at surface. When they were transplanted they couldn't deal with new dryer conditions at the root zone and died.
 
WyoGrow

WyoGrow

Active Member
BTW, I am not using nutrients. The nutes are in my soil mix. All I do to my water is RO/DI it and then pH it to neutral. No possibility of building up "salts" if I am not introducing them.
 
WyoGrow

WyoGrow

Active Member
sandiegojack2 said:
Contrary to your post root's do not follow water they will find it but not actively seek.If root's grow in one direction and don't find water they will change direction to try to find it.
Click to expand...
Ummm... if they change direction looking for water than aren't they actively seeking it then therefor be "following" the water..... seriously
 
drolove

drolove

Well-Known Member
well when bottom watering how do you know when to stop to leave the top layer dry? that seems like hard part. ive thought about bottom feeding as well. i bottom water my clones in rockwool. i just leave the rockwool cubes in a dish with a small layer of water in the bottom and let them be just adding a little water here and there and they do great!
 
Nutes and Nugs

Nutes and Nugs

Well-Known Member
I bottom water (passive hydroponics) from clone to finish.
I use plastic clothing totes. The tricky part is learning how much water to add at first.
New clones take very little, maybe a quart a week. As they get older 1/2 gallon a week then as needed.
Flowering pots (4 per tote) take 1 gallon per week.
They suck the water up over 2 days and the top soil gets lighty damp then drys out.
Once you get their schedule down it's easy. Nute one feeding and plain water the next.
Two weeks b4 harvest just plain water to 'flush'.
Works for me.
This clone is very ready to be transplanted.
Roots all over the pot but mostly on the bottom.
roots.jpg
 
WyoGrow

WyoGrow

Active Member
drolove said:
well when bottom watering how do you know when to stop to leave the top layer dry? that seems like hard part. ive thought about bottom feeding as well. i bottom water my clones in rockwool. i just leave the rockwool cubes in a dish with a small layer of water in the bottom and let them be just adding a little water here and there and they do great!
Click to expand...
I guess I am sort of high tech about it.... I use a soil hygrometer. Just stick the probe in and shoot a reading half way into the container. Then I put the planters in a dish with an inch of pH'ed water in it and watch. If your soil has excellent drainage that means it will also wick water up pretty fast as well. Usually only take 5-10 minutes to soak the soil up to the probe. Then I pull them out of the water dish and allow them to drain for 30min.
 
H R Puff N Stuff

H R Puff N Stuff

Well-Known Member
i bottom water with neem oil to keep pests away i use sand on the top works great. but i water and feed from top.i like a little runoff when watering .
 
R

Ryante55

Well-Known Member
I bottom water about half the time it works fine. Look up sip planters it's the same idea. some farms plant near rivers so the tap root will reach down to water they just water a couple time when first planted and the rest of the season the plants naturally pull water from the bottom. Anyone who says there is something wrong with this method hasnt tried it....and probably hasn't ever grown anything
 
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