Green Cross
Well-Known Member
As long as I'm flushing: Here are a couple watering/flushing tips:
Before I begin; It's important to add some pearlite or other porous material (1") to the bottom of your container, so that you have good drainage, or you will have problems with over watering.
I routinely flush about every 6 weeks just to remove toxic salts from the soil, again at the beginning of flowering (to remover excess nitrogen), and again 2 weeks before harvest to remove excess fertilizer.
Wait until your container is really dry before watering and especially before flushing. I used to grow trophy African violets, and they can't handle drought, but MJ on the other hand can't handle too much water. You will never kill a MJ plant watering it a little too late, but water too soon and you can cause the deadly root rot. Let them dry out thoroughly between watering's, especially in flower. The best way to tell if your plant needs water, it to dig your finger into the medium, and if you feel any moisture wait. Eventually you may get a feel for watering, just by lifting the container, judging by the weight of the container when wet/dry.
When you water, do so thoroughly. Some times its necessary to drench the medium twice - 10 minutes apart - before the soil can absorb enough water. Water enough so that 20% runs out the bottom, and you won't have to worry much about salts (from fertilizer) building up in the soil.
Use some common sense here: if it's 100 degrees, and the water runs right through the pot, you should be watering in 2 steps - as explained above. If you have a seedling in a 5 gal container, you'll want to water less, so it doesn't take 10 days to dry out. This is one of the reasons I increase the container size gradually - A seedlings roots will develop better when it goes though a fast wet/dry cycle.
After drenching the container, let it drain, and then tip it up on edge, so that all the excess water can drain out one of the drainage holes. MJ doesn't like having wet feet. This also draws O2 into the root zone.
Don't flush or water again, until the medium drys out again.
The amount of water to use when flushing depends on the amount of fertilizer in the soil, and the density of the soil, but a 1 to 1 ratio water to soil should be enough to remove most the excess fertilizer. If you need to detoxify the soil, due to improper fertilization and watering methods, you may want to use 3 gal of water to 1 gal of soil, and then transplant to a healthy soil mix.
Before I begin; It's important to add some pearlite or other porous material (1") to the bottom of your container, so that you have good drainage, or you will have problems with over watering.
I routinely flush about every 6 weeks just to remove toxic salts from the soil, again at the beginning of flowering (to remover excess nitrogen), and again 2 weeks before harvest to remove excess fertilizer.
Wait until your container is really dry before watering and especially before flushing. I used to grow trophy African violets, and they can't handle drought, but MJ on the other hand can't handle too much water. You will never kill a MJ plant watering it a little too late, but water too soon and you can cause the deadly root rot. Let them dry out thoroughly between watering's, especially in flower. The best way to tell if your plant needs water, it to dig your finger into the medium, and if you feel any moisture wait. Eventually you may get a feel for watering, just by lifting the container, judging by the weight of the container when wet/dry.
When you water, do so thoroughly. Some times its necessary to drench the medium twice - 10 minutes apart - before the soil can absorb enough water. Water enough so that 20% runs out the bottom, and you won't have to worry much about salts (from fertilizer) building up in the soil.
Use some common sense here: if it's 100 degrees, and the water runs right through the pot, you should be watering in 2 steps - as explained above. If you have a seedling in a 5 gal container, you'll want to water less, so it doesn't take 10 days to dry out. This is one of the reasons I increase the container size gradually - A seedlings roots will develop better when it goes though a fast wet/dry cycle.
After drenching the container, let it drain, and then tip it up on edge, so that all the excess water can drain out one of the drainage holes. MJ doesn't like having wet feet. This also draws O2 into the root zone.
Don't flush or water again, until the medium drys out again.
The amount of water to use when flushing depends on the amount of fertilizer in the soil, and the density of the soil, but a 1 to 1 ratio water to soil should be enough to remove most the excess fertilizer. If you need to detoxify the soil, due to improper fertilization and watering methods, you may want to use 3 gal of water to 1 gal of soil, and then transplant to a healthy soil mix.
