Soil won't dry?

I'm having a hard time letting my soil dry out.

I was under the impression that you were supposed to be feeding every 3-4 days (2 times a week) but the last time I fed was on Saturday (23rd) and the soil is still pretty damp. I'm misting 2-3 times a day with water and superthrive mixture.

When I water I'm using about 1/4 of a gallon / plant in 1-3 gallon pots.

The temperature is staying between 80*-87* and I have no clue what the humidity is. I'm on week 3 using 2 400w MHs for about 80 plants. I would like to switch to my flowering room which is 5 1000w HPS but I have yet to give week 3 nutes.

Any ideas? I don't think I'm over watering but....... I could be wrong I suppose.

holy crap, 80 plants?

that's a lot to manually water, I'd setup a Mr Green-style hydro system for that many plants

this sounds like a very impressive set up...5 lamp flower room..and ur having a hard time watering? heheh..would really like to see some pics..

ne ways.. wuts ur soil mix..sounds like too much dirt and not enough perlite..with it stayn that wet for that long it aint right. plus if u got all these healthy babies under MH they should be sucking containers bone dry by the 3/4th day. are u using a good premix like sunshine, or foxfarm? also most keep there ballast out of the room..or at least high up on shelving but ive heard that lll dry the shit out of ur soil as a temp fix if u keep them inbetween ur pots...just dont be splashin water on them..also keep a fan osicllating on the lowers ...but with 80 plants thats alot of fans..if problem persists..im thinking u gotta change ur soil mix ...pics please of ur many lamps and plants

I would like to see some pics as well! that sounds like a sweet setup.

Just a thought to add to what tilemaster said. If you are foliage feeding that much, maybe they aren't needing all the water in pots because they are useing what you spray on them.

tilemaster said:

this sounds like a very impressive set up...5 lamp flower room..and ur having a hard time watering? heheh..would really like to see some pics..

ne ways.. wuts ur soil mix..sounds like too much dirt and not enough perlite..with it stayn that wet for that long it aint right. plus if u got all these healthy babies under MH they should be sucking containers bone dry by the 3/4th day. are u using a good premix like sunshine, or foxfarm? also most keep there ballast out of the room..or at least high up on shelving but ive heard that lll dry the shit out of ur soil as a temp fix if u keep them inbetween ur pots...just dont be splashin water on them..also keep a fan osicllating on the lowers ...but with 80 plants thats alot of fans..if problem persists..im thinking u gotta change ur soil mix ...pics please of ur many lamps and plants

Click to expand...

I will be going hydro my next time around, but I wanted to try something a little different, and my current set up isnt as.....I would like it to be right now with how time consuming a break down of hydro set up would be.

I'm not having a hard time watering...as far as a job goes - I can't complain, I LOVE what I do.

The soil I'm using is a Miracle Grow Potting Mix - 21-7-14. The best I could find without going to a grow store and spending an outrageous amount on soil. I don't know the exact mixture of perlite but I know it was a ton. Little white balls are all throughout the soil.

I have my ballasts on the wall about 5 feet up, so theres no potential of them getting soaked. I have one fan on them now which is circulating and moving all of the plants a decent amount...but should I hang more up? The room is... 10x13 I believe.

I will post pics as soon as my flower room is finished. Still hanging ballasts, wood and getting everything light proof and whatnot.


Another Question - Is it worth it to spend the money on mylar/reflective flim, or just invest in some white plastic to cover the walls? I would like to avoid painting the walls if possible..

Thanks for your quick replies!

Just to clarify, when I say Im "watering" I mean misting - just misting the leaves every few hours... When I'm "Feeding" I'm feeding with nutes every 3-4 days, or atleast thats what I thought the timing should be.

Right now the pictures wouldn't be anything too impressive I've actually got them in a red room while I decide what I want to put on the walls. Theyre sitting on a blue and silver tarp, lights are around 12 inches above them, lights are about 2.5 feet apart. Wood covering the windows with a fan screwed into one of the wood pieces.. Nothing expert right now haha

im not sure that u want to be giving them any food at all in the mG mix ur using..my impression wuz that mg soil substained plant growth for 3 months approx the time it takes to veg and flower erb..u would be running out of nutes towards the 5th 6th week of flower, needing to feed them a bloom booster if anything..altho im def no mg expert..maybe some1 will chime in that uses that stuff.. i typically spend the money on bales of sunshine only like 30 bucks , or buy a little more costly foxfarm soil..its way worth it tho, as foxfarm i dont give anything but plain water to my plants for entire first month if using foxfarm...seems to work brilliantly..i wasnt sayn ur gettn ur ballast wet 5 feet in the air..i wuz sayn if ur in veg and uve got ur medium way too wet...u could place ballasts inbetween plants potters, and in a day or so theyd be dry...

as far as mylar..im runnin that right now..it suks unless ur walls are completly flat and then it still suks..not for reflectivity..for hadling, mounting , cleaning..getting water on it..or humity..spend the extra money and buy the more expensive...much more whit poly..much better..or use ur panda

If your misting that often, maybe the plants just aren't sucking up any of the moisture in the soil. Stop misting for a while and see if that helps dry up your soil. Also if your misting that many times a day, careful those MH's aren't burning your leaves right off.

post some pictures

^ This was from 2009 idk if your gonna get the pics you want..

NM. 5 year old thread..... I would be damned suprised if they had a successful batch.

Yea, after reading that it would be super surprised too.