Using an ice cube(s) for watering after first sprout?

i live in the south east and its hot down here plus i have an 150watt HPS light so the temp hovers between 80-90, or 90-95 (in my grow closet) on especially hot days which are yet to come. this is a beginning grow that im growing from a random bagseed, i planted it 2 days ago and it has already sprouted. i was wondering that instead of giving it a 5 ml of water ever 6 hours i could just put a 1 cubic inch ice cube on top of the soil and near the sprout (but not touching it) that way the ice cube will melt, cool the soil somewhat, and be like an extended release type of watering.

good or bad idea?

Sounds like it should work. My only concern would be that the plant might go into shock if the water is a lot colder than the soil/roots.......but it sounds like if you let it drip slowly it should be fine.

Bad idea..

why?

indianaman said:

why?

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I dunno, I'm just in a strange mood. It should be fine, but a 1x1 inch ice cube in a 95 degree room will take about what 5 min?

hes right it sounds like a bad idea to me , you say that you intend to sit a cube / cubes on the soil well the proper soil temps are about 24c the ice cube is below 0. even after it melts and runs through the soil it may not be frozen anymore but only slightly. it only has to raise above 0 to melt. your worried about the roots getting to hot well the temps you describe are only slightly out . put those cubes in there and you'll be way off base. you risk shocking your plants , frost burning your roots . cold temps can lock out certain nutrients , im sure the list goes on........

if you could find a way to put a bigger cube in a container and have a hose running to the plant it might work. that way by the time it gets to the plant the water will be warm enough to not shock the plant. ive actually thought of doing this myself at an outdoor grow. Plus i could make the tube go through the ground and have it just drip at the end instead of being a constant stream.

maybe wrap a few cubes in a hand towel and make it hang over the plant. That will slow the melting down and raise it's temp once it does melt.

ice is frozen so people can't water plants with it or drink it and for myriads of other reasons, what you are implying sir goes against nature, thus it is not a good idea.

shenanigans .

yeah but doesnt that defeat the point of using ice in the first place , if you don;t let it warm up you shock them if you do , then why bother with the ice , id just use slightly cold water.

indianaman said:

ice is frozen so people can't water plants with it or drink it and for myriads of other reasons, what you are implying sir goes against nature, thus it is not a good idea.

shenanigans .

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What about Freezing Rain? lol, j/k

i decided ice cus i dont have the patience to sit and drip water slowly for 5 minutes. but that was yesterday when my air conditioner wasnt working. i fixed it so its fine now. a hot humid environment messes with my head and makes me think of all sorts of things