I was dunking, I thought I doubled it. 1 gal pot, 3 ml trans and 2 ml of tea. On my 7 gal I use 10 ml of drench for top feeding. A rescue drench, is that 1 oz of trans per plant or all 6. That 45 ml for a 1 gal pot, that's what puzzled me, or is it 2 oz's per plant if dunking
Remember, when we dunk, most of the product is left behind in the bucket so each plant isn't getting anywhere near as much as it seems......and yes, 1oz per gallon of water for the Rescue Drench.
The problem is that we've got some growers who grow one single plant and understandably wish to conserve the products, using just enough each time........and on the other end, there's me who has hundreds of gallons of each product laying about the place, and I usually feed 10 or more at a time. A single 5 gallon bucket can dunk about 12 plants quite easily.
So, here's what I'm trying to reconcile and figure out SO THAT EVERYONE UNDERSTANDS IT:
If I'm feeding 20 plants, I'll mix up 5 gallons of water and an ounce an a half of Transplant with 5 or so mils of Tea, put half in each of two buckets and dunk 'em two at a time. It would work the same if I dunked one, single plant in that 5 gallon bucket, it would just be very wasteful.
If I was going to do just a single plant----which I never do cuz I've got more than one at all times....I'd find a bucket with different dimensions so I can use less water and have less waste.....but the ratio of product needs to be the same. That's why we went with the Mils/gallon of soil thing. It seemed it was working out that way for most folks we talked to.
But do you see the problem here? putting 45 mils in a 5 gallon bucket is how I would do it. But someone else might only want 3 or 4 mils of drench to feed a single plant. Obviously, if they put that amount in 5 gallons it would quite different.
When we first started, I let everyone do their own math. So when I said 1 oz per 30 square feet (which is how it would work in a raised be outside and also how it works for 6 large plants occupying a 4x8 tray) I just left it at that and people figured out on their own how to adjust it for larger or smaller sizes.
That approach has drawbacks.
The "add exactly this much" approach also has major drawbacks.....so I'm desperately trying to thread the needle between the two so folks don't have to think so much and can just follow a formula.
But all along, I've always said that the drenches can be mixed MUCH STRONGER without ill effect and that feeding on the high side is better than on the low side and most importantly that people need to become familiar with the products and how they work so as so just "know" how much to use based on experience.....which is what I do and most of the people who actually use my gear better than me also do.
So, for a single, one gallon pot: if I was doing a normal feeding I'd find a bucket that the one gallon pot could be submerged in....fill that bucket with a gallon of water and 2 to 3 mils of the drench and 3 to 5 mils of Tea and let the soil wick up as much as possible, then drain.
This comes very close to the directions on each bottle....but you can't add the same amount to 5 gallons of water and get the concentration the same in the soil.
Does this make sense? Some folks can easily convert numbers and amounts......others are not so adept and natural this way. It's not easy trying to get each type of grower to understand all of this.
That's what this journal is for! Everyone can see in real time what I actually do and while there might be confusion, at least we know the answer! It's a matter of correcting the math.
The easiest thing for people who simply can't get it would be to top water only. Then, the instructions on the bottles would work great.
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