Balls to the Wall grow, Riddleme Gets Serious
- Thread starter riddleme
- Start date
Rocky Mountain High
Well-Known Member
Nice, gotta love the rain
purplecream
Active Member
Hey riddleme can you please explain making it rain to me? I've been looking through your post but i can't find what that actually is. Is it just how you water your plants or?
gumball
Well-Known Member
You flood them with 3 times soil volume with plain water on one watering, then feed with just enough water (mixed with nutes) to get run off next watering. Repeat. You can do water, water, feed, water, water. Basically you can mix it up, the point is to wash away the nutes with flooding, increasing the plants nute uptake during feeding. That's how I understand it.
Illumination
New Member
purplecream
Active Member
Ohhh ok. I have my plant in a 3 gallon pot so i would flood it with 3 gallons of plain water then with nutrients the next time around? Thanks for the help by the way.
Delux83
Well-Known Member
i dont even know how to find peoples blogs lol less i go to the home page see something interesting im just glad people still use threads, the day b4 they tried to change RIU to blogging i got in a big arguement with my ol'lady how im not a blogger what i do is completly different, then i log onto roll it up and was like damnit i have to blog now huh? glad i didnt lol ol'lady would of made lots of fun of me haha
riddleme
Well-Known Member
sorry I'm at work will explain it better when I get home tonight
purplecream
Active Member
SensiStan
Well-Known Member
Hey riddle sorry i havent been aroundmuch lately i'm a bit of a lout 
, amazing comparison pics ur thread is really living up to my expectations so +rep and good man !
I'm really loving all this rain publicity all of a sudden it kicks ass
would it be cheesey to say "when it rains it pours" ? maybe its all the cheese iv been smokin thanks to the rain it was much better.
Also i remember you saying something about lancing roots to make them grow inward and use more space in the pot. could you by any chance pm me if you know what i'm on about or refer me to where you said that.
Much love,
-SS
, amazing comparison pics ur thread is really living up to my expectations so +rep and good man ! I'm really loving all this rain publicity all of a sudden it kicks ass
would it be cheesey to say "when it rains it pours" ? maybe its all the cheese iv been smokin thanks to the rain it was much better. Also i remember you saying something about lancing roots to make them grow inward and use more space in the pot. could you by any chance pm me if you know what i'm on about or refer me to where you said that.
Much love,
-SS
riddleme
Well-Known Member
Thank you, glad I have not lowered your expectations LOL and PM sentHey riddle sorry i havent been aroundmuch lately i'm a bit of a lout
I'm really loving all this rain publicity all of a sudden it kicks ass
Also i remember you saying something about lancing roots to make them grow inward and use more space in the pot. could you by any chance pm me if you know what i'm on about or refer me to where you said that.
Much love,
-SS
riddleme
Well-Known Member
I must admit some of the info is scattered about in 3 different threads, I actually did that on purpose to get people to read them, though there is a summary on the 1st post of the calling all noob growers thread, which if you did not read the other 2 does not make complete sense to everyone. That being said,,,,,,,
It is all about how mother nature does things and with her being the absolute best gardener there is I set out to copy her style.
The PH of rain (in most places) is 5.6 so I PH my water to 5.8, to understand why you need to understand how everything works in nature and why they say soil is a buffer. This is why soil PH is somewhat important because when it is dry the PH should be around 7 or neutral. When it rains the soil takes on the wet PH of the water in the case of rain it is lowered. The acidic nature of rain activates things in the soil basically processing avaiable nutes and making them available to the plants. But at the low PH the plants can't get at them, I have attached a photo showing at what PH level the different nutes become available to the plant.
What happens is the plant is basically drowing and starving when it rains so it goes into hyperdrive to wick the water out of the ground in order to survive, Know that they transpire anyway but much harder when it rains. As they do this the soil buffers back to it's original PH slowly and as this happens nutes become available to the plant in the various ranges. (one reason you see more growth on the second day)
Most soil growers will PH their water and nutes down in the low 6's and as high as 6.8 but this does not give the hyperdrive wicking effect, they will just transpire normally and slowly if you do this. Hence the growth you see in my pics from making it rain because I basically only let them rest for one day (to dry out and get O2) between making it rain and it is very important to know how to read them to know that this is where things are at otherwise you will easily fall into the overwater trap and cause them stress and harm possibly even kill them.
It is also important that they have a healthy root system in order to be able to wick the water out of the ground faster. TIP, if they are growing fast and wanting water in short periods of time you know you have healthy roots part of learning how to read them and one of the things to be aware of.
This is also the reason that I use chemical nutes as they are readily available to the plant right away as the wicking process goes through the various PH ranges getting back to neutral, it is a slower process with organic nutes as the rain activates and the little mico critters eat and poop processing the nutes so the plant can use them.
now you must also understand that adding chem nutes lowers the PH of your soil with accumulated salt build ups, when you make it rain everytime you are basically doing what we call the flush (though in the other than MJ world it is most commonly reffered as leeching the soil) and washing unused nutes (salts) out of the soil thus allowing you to repeat the process all over again without having to worry about salt building up. Yet another reason that it is slower when going organic cause you are washing mico's out as well and then waiting for them to multiply back up and this is why I use Jack's because it is one of the best chem nutes available on the market today. JR Peters has a very good reputation and has been one of the best nutes for agriculture and gardening for many years.
The process for container gardening is simple you make it rain with the low PH water and the plant goes into hyperdrive, you watch the top 3 inches of soil for drying out and when it does you feed them nutes but only till you see a slight runoff insuring that the pot is now full of nutes. Plant remains in hyperdrive and now feeds off the readily available nutes, you then wait till the soil dries and repeat. While the process is very simple it is the learning to read them that can be complicated and cause confusion. Learning/knowing when to do things is the most important part of the process. It is also important not to overfeed them which causes nute burn and other problems, thus the reason we start out with 1/4 of what the nute package says and slowly work our way up to discover what the plant can handle.
I hope that explains it better for everyone
purplecream
Active Member
Thank you so much that really explains everything in a easy way. Last question. How much water do i use when i make it rain? I use 3 gallon pots but i may use 2 gallon pots in the future so what is the formula for how much water is needed? Thanks again and +Rep for sure.
riddleme
Well-Known Member
the general rule for flushing is 3 times the pot size, but for raining it can vary a bit ie: you can do 2 gallons of water in a 3 gallon pot, the thing is to watch the run off you want it to be clear at first it tends to be brownish and also pour the water slowly and evenly thru the pot,,,think nice slow steady rain, but a minimum would be 2 times the pot size
purplecream
Active Member
I do too! What do you use to up your ph?I use apple cider vinegar to ph down, it is an old hippie favorite
what about the stability of using apple cider vinegar as a PH modifier? I've read here on RIU and other garden forums that lemon juice, vinegar, etc.. are not stable for long term. Like, if you were going to aerate your reservoir for a few hours, and you had applied the vinegar after nutes in order to adjust PH, that coming back later the PH could've changed drastically. thoughts from your experience?I use apple cider vinegar to ph down, it is an old hippie favorite