How Much Water Should I Give My Plants?

[Starwalker]

I read in a post on this site that there should be a 16 to 20% run off in the tray below my pot after I water a plant. Do you agree? That seems like too much water for a plant to me. I keep watering a plant until the slightest bit of moisture can be seen in the tray below the pot, and then I stop. Can I get your opinion about this? I would very much appreciate it. Thanks.

 

[amgprb]

I read in a post on this site that there should be a 16 to 20% run off in the tray below my pot after I water a plant. Do you agree? That seems like too much water for a plant to me. I keep watering a plant until the slightest bit of moisture can be seen in the tray below the pot, and then I stop. Can I get your opinion about this? I would very much appreciate it. Thanks.

The way u r doing it is just fine. 20% is a bit much IMO. Dont change anything, keep doin what u r doin!

 

[Lo Budget]

I water until I get some runoff but not that much. I have to haul water into and out of the basement. I use the lift method to determine when to water. Often, the fan leaves will tell you too. They droop & perk up.

 

[Starwalker]

Lo Budget, are you responsible for listing the quote by the jackass know as jonnyquest because I find it offensive. Not all questions can be answered to one's satisfaction simply by googling. That's what this site is for. If you have any class at all, you will remove that quote from anymore of your future posts.

 

[HDPursuit]

What's with this world? Everything Is 'Offensive' to someone GET A GRIP. The man try's to help your newbie ass and you insult him. We don't play that here in the Big MO. If you had any class you would apologize and change your log on. Your superior attitude is offensive. Try using search here on RUI or read a book.

 

[Starwalker]

Lo Budget, I was wrong in criticizing you for the quote that was displayed at the bottom of your post, so I apologize to you. The johnnyquest comment still offends me, but I definitely overreacted. It wasn't such a big deal that I needed to complain to you about it, but I will continue to ask questions when I need to on this site even if jonnyquest thinks that's stupid.

When HDPursuit says that I have a superior attitude, he is wrong. I'm not that kind of person. If you ever met me, you would know that to be true. Have a good one, brother.

 

[HDPursuit]

We're Cool Starwalker, Nice apology. I can respect someone who see's their errors, Wish I could see all of mine 20 yrs ago I was determined to be an Honest Man and not to be a Hypocrite, being honest is easy, don't lie don't steal don't cheat. Not being a Hypocrite I've found isn't so easy. What little knowledge I have is yours for the asking. I started with RUI and a couple of grow books found free on the internet.

 

[Starwalker]

Thanks, HD, I really appreciate everything you said, and I might be hitting you up sometime in the future for some advice, since I'm a first time grower. Have a good one, buddy.

 

[T.H.Cammo]

Let's get back to the original question!

The reason why you want to water until you get 20% runoff (more or less) has nothing to do with personal opinion, it's a matter of practicality.

If you just barely water the soil, to point of saturation (little, or no runoff), there is no "rinsing action". All the unused salts (and everything else) is just left to collect in the soil - creating an imbalanced condition. This is not good!

On the other hand, if you allow a good 20% (or so) runoff, you are contributing to a quasi "Perpetual Flush" condition. Every watering is a mini-flush, this is a good thing!

If it were just an opinion - it wouldn't make any difference - it would just be overkill. Since it is done for a good reason, some of you may want to rethink the process.

 

[Medicgray]

like th Cammo said, mini flushes. depends on what style you go with. Soil...not really needed, organics, not really needed. Coco/synthetic. again, this depends. I run a really low EC, so I count on a bit of build-up to feed them when they demand more nutes. I go like 10% at best then if they start looking a bit off I do a good 30-40% (usually about every 2-3 weeks). If you push the EC higher and don't do a 20% runoff your begging for lockouts, nute burn, etc. commercial grower in Australia stick with 30%. I could do 20-30% runoff in coco 2-3 times a day and they'd thrive, but try that in soil and you'd drown them. learn to read your girls leaves. go for 20%, then rewater at 20% when they just start to droop. in coco you can use the lift test.(let em dry out till pot is about half the weigh between fully dry and fully wet.

 

[hbbum]

Let's get back to the original question!

The reason why you want to water until you get 20% runoff (more or less) has nothing to do with personal opinion, it's a matter of practicality.

If you just barely water the soil, to point of saturation (little, or no runoff), there is no "rinsing action". All the unused salts (and everything else) is just left to collect in the soil - creating an imbalanced condition. This is not good!

On the other hand, if you allow a good 20% (or so) runoff, you are contributing to a quasi "Perpetual Flush" condition. Every watering is a mini-flush, this is a good thing!

If it were just an opinion - it wouldn't make any difference - it would just be overkill. Since it is done for a good reason, some of you may want to rethink the process.

Respectfully, just because people can find a reason for something, does not mean it is not an opinion.

I am not a big fan of flushing, even perpetual "min-flushes". If you are not overloading your plants with fertilizer I do not see a reason to flush or mini-flush your soil. I spend a lot of time nurturing the microbes in the soil and feeding the soil to keep it healthy, the last thing I want to do is flush that out every watering.

If you use heavy fertilizers, or if you made a mistake, then by all mean flush away every watering. But for me I like to keep the stuff I am putting into the soil in there, not flush it out every 3-4 days.

This is my opinion.

 

[Starwalker]

From the perspective of this first time grower, what T.H.Cammo and Medicgray say makes perfect sense with possibly one exception. On the day after I feed my plants I will continue to water lightly with no runoff to prevent all of those wonderful nutrients from being flushed out right away. Otherwise, I will begin watering my plants tommorrow just the way they describe, since I feed my plants every Tuesday. Maybe you guys agree with me on that but just failed to mention it in your comments, I don't know. Can you or anyone else give me your opionion on the subject. Thanks.

 

[Starwalker]

Well, hbbum, I had my mind all made up, and here you come along with an opinion that contradicts that of the two other people that commented before you, and now I'm not so sure. I have been feeding my plants the way you do, and to the best of my knowledge everything seems to be going fine, but they really seemed to know what they were talking about. I wonder, is it possible that both ways could have favorable results. Let's get even more opinions so I can become totally confused. lol Just kidding, but it would be nice to hear even more opinions to help me make up my mind. Thanks.

 

[hbbum]

If your plants are happy, keep doing what you are doing. If you are burning the shit out of them with nutrients then by all means flush them. Me personally, I would rather just feed them less than let the fertilizer I spend good money on go down the drain.

 

[Starwalker]

I have to admit, your plant really looks healthy, and no, I'm not burning my plants with the nutrients I use, so at least for now, I will continue to water the same as you do. You changed this first time grower's mind again, dude. One other thing, how to you get all that great foliage on your plant? Although my plants appear healthy, I don't have nearly as much foliage as you.

 

[hbbum]

Like a lot of things, it has a lot to do with genetics. I also do a good amount of training which improves number of branches. If you want to check out my thread you can see the base stem branched out to 6 fairly early. I do not remove healthy fan leaves unless I need to to access the soil, though I have been removing some of the lower bud sites.

https://www.rollitup.org/general-marijuana-growing/674018-strawberry-dream-grow.html



You can only see 4-5 of them in the pic, but there are 6. Not as pretty as some of the amazing mainlining that some of the other folks do, but it seems to do the trick and gives a nice flat canopy when properly trained.

 

[Starwalker]

So if I understand you correctly, all that foliage has a lot to do with the fact that the strain of your plant is Strawberry Dream, and also your training of the plant. Since I hardly know anything about training plants, I'm going to your thread to see if I can get more information on the subject, and I'll also google on the net to find out about it. Thanks so much, you've been a big help.

 

[Blaze31]

I'm not having a lot of run off at all but their doing really good. If she's looking healthy your doing the righason people say 20% I just think that's a little much. Is have to give 4 gal to get that much lol

 

[T.H.Cammo]

Let me comment about what I said back in post #9. I wasn't suggesting that "it was the right thing to do" - and therefore eveybody should just do it (no matter what). I was just making the point that there is a good, logical, reason for it. Obviously, if someone has a reason to avoid mini-flushes; they should not go for 20% run-off.

All the responces, up to that point, were just "opinions"; not attached to any line of reasoning. I was pointing out that there is,indeed, a reason behind it. I don't think a lot of "Newbies" knew or understood about the flushing action that is caused by run-off; certainely none of them mentioned it up to that point. Like I said before - without a good reason, 20% run-off is just overkill.

I guess what I'm saying is that there is a big difference between just having an opinion about something and having an actual reason behind that opinion.