question about lighting and watering techniques

Kcannabis

Kcannabis

Member
I have 10 plants in FF ocean forest soil that are now 13 days old since sprouting and I just transplanted them all from <1 to 3 gallon pots. I'm using a 400 watt MH light and find now that I can't fit all of the pots under the light and stay within 18 inches of the lights on each plant. Also since switching to the bigger pots, I am not sure what the best way to water these things thoroughly is. I water them and all the water puddles on top of the soil and a lot of it immediately runs down the side and out the drain holes. It doesn't seem to thoroughly get the bottom soil wet..

My questions:

Light: What can I do to fit them all under the light and stay within 18 inches? Any ideas? Should I just keep rotating them around and hope they do ok? The furthest pots are around 20 - 24 inches away from the light and I read that it should be within 18 inches.

Water: What technique do most of you soil growers use for thoroughly watering your plants in big pots? Should I just water all at once and let it flood up or try watering in 10 min intervals? etc..

I know these are pretty basic questions but I have done a lot of searching and not really found anything that helps me with these questions.
 

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Jerry Garcia

Jerry Garcia

Well-Known Member
The key with watering in soil is to make sure the entire soil area receives moisture. When a plant hasn't been watered for a few days, the soil can get dry, causing the pooling and draining-down-the-sides problem you've described.

The best way to deal with it is to water slowly. I like to use a 1 quart spray bottle with the nozzle removed so there is only a screw on cap with a small hole. I give each plant a little water near the base of the stem and wait until it has absorbed completely. Usually I'll be watering multiple plants at the same time, so I can give one some water and move on the next one, instead of waiting for the water to absorb. Once absorbed, I give it a little more the next time, working my way up until I can tell the water is being absorbed.

A general rule of thumb is to give each plant 1 quart water (or water w/ nutrients) per 1 gallon of soil...so your three gallon pots would require 3 quarts of water/nutrients each feeding. It's easiest to judge water absorption by lifting the pot and feeling the weight. You'll feel the pot progressively get heavier and heavier, at which point you'll know the soil is soaking up the water.

DO NOT water based solely on liquid coming from the drainage holes. Some liquid will inevitably travel down the sides of the pot before the entire soil mass is moistened, which is why you judge how thoroughly it is watered by lifting the pot. Do it with a dry pot and compare it to a fully saturated and it will feel like a night and day difference.

When the plants are small like yours with small root systems, it will take them a while to suck the moisture from the pot, especially one of those 3-gallon ones. Don't be alarmed if you don't need to water again for a while...wait until the pot feels light and the plant begins to wilt ever so slightly and you're ready to water again. Also, always alternate one water-only feeding between nutrient feedings. With that ocean forest though you won't nutrients for a few weeks.

Regarding light, just rotate them as best you can or add a couple CFL's or T5's or something similar to supplement your current MH lighting.

Hope that helps...:leaf:
 
stumps

stumps

Well-Known Member
Jerry bout said it all. I use about half the volume of water to pot size. 3 gal pot 1.5 gal of water. If you water slow you can get just about all the water in the pot before the run off starts. that will give you about a 10% run off.
 
Kcannabis

Kcannabis

Member
i think I need to get a new watering can then or something. It takes forever to water these huge pots. Anyone recommend some good watering cans for these?
 
SIV3L

SIV3L

Well-Known Member
Just use a large water bottle like the guy above said. The key is to feed the plant water slowly until the plant takes it. Once you get runoff just make sure you dont let your pots just sit on the floor or on a spot where the runoff goes nowhere. like my noob friend did destroying his carpet and giving me a great laugh. IDK what he was thinking to be honest he just fed the plant while it sat in the corner of his room with NOTHING to catch the excess runoff.
 
stumps

stumps

Well-Known Member
I was using a pump sprayer on my big pots. But now just use a water can and water slow. next stop some type of drip system.
 
Kcannabis

Kcannabis

Member
Jerry Garcia said:
The key with watering in soil is to make sure the entire soil area receives moisture. When a plant hasn't been watered for a few days, the soil can get dry, causing the pooling and draining-down-the-sides problem you've described.

The best way to deal with it is to water slowly. I like to use a 1 quart spray bottle with the nozzle removed so there is only a screw on cap with a small hole. I give each plant a little water near the base of the stem and wait until it has absorbed completely. Usually I'll be watering multiple plants at the same time, so I can give one some water and move on the next one, instead of waiting for the water to absorb. Once absorbed, I give it a little more the next time, working my way up until I can tell the water is being absorbed.

A general rule of thumb is to give each plant 1 quart water (or water w/ nutrients) per 1 gallon of soil...so your three gallon pots would require 3 quarts of water/nutrients each feeding. It's easiest to judge water absorption by lifting the pot and feeling the weight. You'll feel the pot progressively get heavier and heavier, at which point you'll know the soil is soaking up the water.

DO NOT water based solely on liquid coming from the drainage holes. Some liquid will inevitably travel down the sides of the pot before the entire soil mass is moistened, which is why you judge how thoroughly it is watered by lifting the pot. Do it with a dry pot and compare it to a fully saturated and it will feel like a night and day difference.

When the plants are small like yours with small root systems, it will take them a while to suck the moisture from the pot, especially one of those 3-gallon ones. Don't be alarmed if you don't need to water again for a while...wait until the pot feels light and the plant begins to wilt ever so slightly and you're ready to water again. Also, always alternate one water-only feeding between nutrient feedings. With that ocean forest though you won't nutrients for a few weeks.

Regarding light, just rotate them as best you can or add a couple CFL's or T5's or something similar to supplement your current MH lighting.

Hope that helps...:leaf:
Click to expand...
+rep, thanks for the info, very helpful
 
Kcannabis

Kcannabis

Member
what do you guys think about me switching to my GrowBright HPS bulb right now instead of the GrowBright MH? I heard HPS puts out a lot more lumens than MH and that would help with the wide coverage of light that I need right now. Do you think I would be better off with the lower lumen MH or higher lumen HPS during this veg state given my current conditions?
 
stumps

stumps

Well-Known Member
you should use mh for veg hps for flower. I use coco and water every 3-4 days same as soil give or take.
 
DaveCoulier

DaveCoulier

Well-Known Member
OP, when the top of my soil dries out, I always take a fork and break up the top of the soil. This allows the water to immediately come into contact with the less-dryed out soil below and is more easily absorbed. This will help prevent the water from pooling and running off to the sides.
 
appleseed

appleseed

Active Member
A simple trick to keep water from running down the side of pots. Run your finger around the top of the soil where it meets the pot. Drag enough to truely disturb the soil. This creates a new seal/break whatever to help prevent or minimize the problem.
 
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