Water From The Top, Or Let The Plant Suck It Up From The Tray?

i have never personally watered solely from the bottom. don't know or care what way is "better", but here's my take on watering.

something that i didn't see mentioned is pots that have gone too long without water and are "over dry".
in this situation if you pour water on the top of the soil a lot of it will trickle right through the dry channels and just run out the bottom WITHOUT saturating the soil.

IN THIS SITUATION i let the pot "sit in its own runoff" for a half hour or so. what ends up happening is the runoff WILL soak its way back into the pot from the bottom. now that the bottom half of the pot is saturated, i can pour more water on top and instead of running out the bottom it will stop when it gets to the "saturated" half and just soak itself into the top half of the soil. at this point i discard the runoff because the pot is saturated. whether or not my plant is "overdry" i let it sit in the runoff. my thought is that if it can't soak up any more, then it won't. if it can, let it drink.

interestingly, my pots get a ring of what looks like salt buildup from letting them sit in the runoff, although it could be lime buildup as well. my plants are healthy and happy so i really don't give a shit what the ring is comprised of.

in conclusion, i think it matters a lot less HOW you water. the concern should be whether or not you are getting the soil completely saturated without dry pockets.

PeyoteReligion said:

You your reaction is to call everyone an asshole that doesn't agree with you? Seriously guys?
P.s. I happen to know exactly what I'm talking about. But you can of course take it with a grain of salt. Continue the battle with...hating?

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Well, since you used the "quote" feature I'd sure love to understand where you got the idea that I called anyone an asshole?

You started off by implying that only one way is proper or "ideal" and that anyone who does it any other way is somehow cutting corners and their finished product would show that. Did you not start with that? How experienced are you? Your threads make it seem like you first grow was underway 4 months ago. You scrapped a grow due to mights and I don't see a link to your current grow in your signature. Don't come around talking about shit with which you have no ACTUAL experience. You could have simply stated that you prefer watering from the top and why and left off the BULLSHIT part about watering from the bottom being the lazy man's way or somehow less effective. It's clear you've never done it, you've never seen it done and you don't have first hand experience with it.

P.S. If you believe you know exactly what you're talking about, you'll never learn.

LT1RX7 Drifter said:

funny how no one likes any comment you post, but yet i have three, hows that for 5th grade Godslave?

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The only likes you got except for one, was fromPeyoteReligion, coincidentally the other person being a jerk right off the bat.
Funny how that is, huh?

You better check again, because I have plenty of likes. And Laser has even more than me, probably because he was a bit nicer than I was, or because he was the one offering the expert advice. At any rate, Laser and I both got more likes than you (since it's now a contest like 5th grade again), proving that people agreed with what we were saying.

lol, ok, this is my last post to you, I will not respond to you anymore, I don't have time in my life to deal with people like you. If I could block you from this thread, I would.

I'm gonna be your 5th grade teacher now, so listen up:

Your very first post was: (Oh and nice spelling and punctuation by the way, I give you an F lol) :

LT1RX7 Drifter said:

hows this the movement of water from the top to the bottom of the pot acts as a piston and drives out old air and pulls new air into the soil, your wickin theory doesnt do that, besides the weight and surface tenstion that water has by character would make for a poor method of watering from the bottom up, go to any nursery or highend greenhouse, all watering is done top of the pot, also nature doesn't distrubute water from the bottom up when it rains, plants water from the top will develop a root system quiker as well

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And my response to you was:

GodSlave said:

I do see what you are saying, but there are also times when plants grown close to creeks, rivers, etc, in drought states like mine, do rely on water absorption for their needs. And following that line of thinking out, wouldn't a plant grown close to a creek and absorbing water mostly, be wicking up good nutrients from deeper soil?
All I know is I've been doing it for about 3 weeks now and have seen no ill symptoms, and there are other growers saying they have used the same method without problems.
Idk what's right or wrong really, I'm just thinking out loud and sharing personal experience
GS

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Your second post was:

LT1RX7 Drifter said:

boy for a ex hydro grower your a idiot, and if you have to ask why then thats all the proof anyone needs.

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This is, for obvious reasons, where we had our falling out.

I'm not going to quote our comments anymore, because frankly at that point, whatever I said to you was deserved.
Sooooo, I can't really see how anyone with half a brain could construe what happened between us, as my fault. If anyone on this board can look at the above conversation and blame me, then you must stop smoking weed NOW!, in your case the pot IS burning your brain cells.

I am a peaceful man until you cross me, and I will forgive anyone who apologizes. If for any reason you would like to apologize and have a decent dialog, then it will be water under the bridge with me.
Otherwise, screw off.
That's all I have to say on this matter, and PeyoteReligion, the same thing for you. I believe, as well as others, that you came here and in your very first post started talking down to me, and that is where everything went left. I can't see how you being smart and condescending with me, is somehow my fault. If you do think it's my fault, screw off. If you would like to have a respectful conversation like the others never happened, then just admit you're wrong and we're all good.

DONE, FINAL, THIS IS IT. I WILL NOT RESPOND TO EITHER OF YOU AGAIN UNLESS WE WORK THINGS OUT.

canefan said:

I don't have any degrees in ag or the sciences but have been farming and growing plants my entire life. Ok, that said I do water from the top and also from the bottom watering trays or buckets for the girls. As to whether which is better I couldn't say other than IMHO it is more about thoroughness over method. I water my girls when they are dry, slight wilt to the leaf dry and then soak in the mix of the week, whether it be solutions or plain water. I have found over the many cycles, only been growing girls in containers 5 years before only in the ground, that I have healthier roots this way have the ease of letting the soil get rid of dry spots which can happen from the top down.
If you are on that likes to water plants often then I would say again just my two cents, then I wouldn't advise this method. I say this as it can be easy to keep the soil too wet for healthy roots. Many ways to get to same end, just a matter of finding a method or combination of methods work best for you. In watering from the bottom I have found that about every 3rd or 4th watering I pour the solution into the bucket and then place the container in, allow to soak a few minutes and then pouring the solution which wasn't immediately soaked up over the top. I use a small cup and can easily flood the surface area before the bottom has drained. This flooding usually forces all the air pockets out of the soil.
Thanks for the thread it is a very enjoyable read.

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Great personal experience there, thanks for sharing!

Total Head said:

i have never personally watered solely from the bottom. don't know or care what way is "better", but here's my take on watering.

something that i didn't see mentioned is pots that have gone too long without water and are "over dry".
in this situation if you pour water on the top of the soil a lot of it will trickle right through the dry channels and just run out the bottom WITHOUT saturating the soil.

IN THIS SITUATION i let the pot "sit in its own runoff" for a half hour or so. what ends up happening is the runoff WILL soak its way back into the pot from the bottom. now that the bottom half of the pot is saturated, i can pour more water on top and instead of running out the bottom it will stop when it gets to the "saturated" half and just soak itself into the top half of the soil. at this point i discard the runoff because the pot is saturated. whether or not my plant is "overdry" i let it sit in the runoff. my thought is that if it can't soak up any more, then it won't. if it can, let it drink.

interestingly, my pots get a ring of what looks like salt buildup from letting them sit in the runoff, although it could be lime buildup as well. my plants are healthy and happy so i really don't give a shit what the ring is comprised of.

in conclusion, i think it matters a lot less HOW you water. the concern should be whether or not you are getting the soil completely saturated without dry pockets.

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Excellent point man about the dry pots and water running through. I started to say something to that effect once before, but those guys had me so razzled I never did. But you are correct, sir, sometimes when you water it just finds a channel, usually along the sides of the pot, and goes straight through. But, wow, wholey moley, it does this weird thing and sucks it back up. Imagine that. Lol I'm sending the sarcasm your way Drifter and Peyote... two shows, 9 and 11...

Thanks again for your thoughts, much appreciated!

A BIG THANKS TO ALL WHO HAVE CONTRIBUTED POSITIVELY!
GS

Well I haven't been growing hydro for 10 years nor do I own an autopot. But I do however know for a fact autopots will work with soil. So yeah...

supchaka said:

Well I haven't been growing hydro for 10 years nor do I own an autopot. But I do however know for a fact autopots will work with soil. So yeah...

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AutoPots are the bomb dude, you should get one! I've used them for flowering and veg, growth rate is phenomenal, almost identical to hydro. Currently I use mine for my mama's
GS

My point was that they are advertised to work with soil, so it would prove what you are wanting to do with your other plants but yeah I've researched them quite a bit. I like the idea of being able to leave my plants alone for extended periods.

supchaka said:

My point was that they are advertised to work with soil, so it would prove what you are wanting to do with your other plants but yeah I've researched them quite a bit. I like the idea of being able to leave my plants alone for extended periods.

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Right on, I got your point. And yeah, the auto feed for min 1 week is an awesome feature. In fact, it's one of the main reasons why I got them, second to the growth rate being so awesome.
GS

Unfortunately the 2 pot one is an inch too wide for my current cab, I'd probably go for it, or will in the next box

supchaka said:

Unfortunately the 2 pot one is an inch too wide for my current cab, I'd probably go for it, or will in the next box

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Ahh, bummer