How to water properly

S

stonerfromthesouth

Active Member
hello, i have a history of overwatering. trying to fix it, need some tips, (don't link me to articles about saturation of the soil because it has never worked for me)

i started 2 autos
10 liter fabric pots
terra canna professional, 20% perlite


i watered about a liter before putting the seeds in.


tips on avoiding overwatering in the seedling stage? (also i use a moisture meter)
 

The Proper Way To Water A Potted Plant

The Proper Way to Water a Potted Plant Also covered: the importance of pH and why we successively up-pot How to Water Over the last several years I have put a lot of study into this, and I feel that I can now define the proper way to water a potted plant. Keep in mind that this discussion...
www.420magazine.com
 
TorturedSoul said:

The Proper Way To Water A Potted Plant

The Proper Way to Water a Potted Plant Also covered: the importance of pH and why we successively up-pot How to Water Over the last several years I have put a lot of study into this, and I feel that I can now define the proper way to water a potted plant. Keep in mind that this discussion...
www.420magazine.com
Click to expand...
read the first line....
 
First you're in coco with 20% perlite not soil.
Thus the coco pretty much needs to stay "moist" at all times, usually coco needs to be watered daily.

And IMO the key to watering is to get your soil tilth correct from day one, if your soil is properly aerated and in a large fabric pot then it would be very hard to overwater
 
Nunyabiz said:
First you're in coco with 20% perlite not soil.
Thus the coco pretty much needs to stay "moist" at all times, usually coco needs to be watered daily.

And IMO the key to watering is to get your soil tilth correct from day one, if your soil is properly aerated and in a large fabric pot then it would be very hard to overwater
Click to expand...
wait canna terra professional is coco? i didn't know, first time i use weed specific soil
 
Nunyabiz said:
First you're in coco with 20% perlite not soil.
Thus the coco pretty much needs to stay "moist" at all times, usually coco needs to be watered daily.

And IMO the key to watering is to get your soil tilth correct from day one, if your soil is properly aerated and in a large fabric pot then it would be very hard to overwater
Click to expand...
Please check your facts before pontificating my friend.... Canna terra is a soil, with good organics in it for good measure.

@stonerfromthesouth, I am sorry that you have had problems with watering correctly. Have you seen my guide before, or is that what you referred to when you talk about methods that saturate the soil? I emphasize the importance of a wet/dry cycle, especially in veg and I have almost 200,000 people who have read my thoughts on how to properly water. I have people all over the world endorsing my method, to the point that on this forum many people use one of the lines in their signature just to point it out.

If it is my method that has been giving you trouble, lets talk about it and figure out what is going wrong. The method works very well, actually better than any other method out there, but it is easy to misunderstand and really mess up the plants too. I had so many people having troubles with small plants in large containers, I wrote a special article just to explain how to handle that special problem.

Please, give my method a try, or at least lets try to figure out what has been going wrong. If you haven't seen them yet, the links to both articles are down below in my signature lines.
 
Nunyabiz said:
First you're in coco with 20% perlite not soil.
Thus the coco pretty much needs to stay "moist" at all times, usually coco needs to be watered daily.

And IMO the key to watering is to get your soil tilth correct from day one, if your soil is properly aerated and in a large fabric pot then it would be very hard to overwater
Click to expand...
no i just checked it's not coco, Canna Terra Professional, the other is coco canna something like that
 
Emilya said:
Please check your facts before pontificating my friend.... Canna terra is a soil, with good organics in it for good measure.

@stonerfromthesouth, I am sorry that you have had problems with watering correctly. Have you seen my guide before, or is that what you referred to when you talk about methods that saturate the soil? I emphasize the importance of a wet/dry cycle, especially in veg and I have almost 200,000 people who have read my thoughts on how to properly water. I have people all over the world endorsing my method, to the point that on this forum many people use one of the lines in their signature just to point it out.

If it is my method that has been giving you trouble, lets talk about it and figure out what is going wrong. The method works very well, actually better than any other method out there, but it is easy to misunderstand and really mess up the plants too. I had so many people having troubles with small plants in large containers, I wrote a special article just to explain how to handle that special problem.

Please, give my method a try, or at least lets try to figure out what has been going wrong. If you haven't seen them yet, the links to both articles are down below in my signature lines.
Click to expand...
i've tried it many times and read over and over, but i Always ended up drowning my girls and i have no idea what's wrong.

so let's talk about what i'm working with.


outdoors

8l and 10l fabric pots

terra canna with about 15/20% perlite

canna nutrients

and 2 autoflowers


i filled up the pots with the soil and watered about 1,5 liters between the 2 pots, then i put the little seeds in.

i decided to go with the final pot as starting in the solo cup yielded me the same issues...


right now i'm spraying the top with a spray bottle until the seedlings comeout.

then i'll use a moisture meter to check for water
 
Emilya said:
Please check your facts before pontificating my friend.... Canna terra is a soil, with good organics in it for good measure.
Click to expand...
f**k I thought it was coco also :rofl: and was giving the same advice :thedoubletake: till I googled it :nomo:

Advantages of CANNA Terra Professional Plus
  • Exclusive, high grade ingredients such as airy peat moss and different types of tree bark (as a substitute for perlite) are components of CANNA Terra Professional Plus. They have an antiseptic effect and increase aeration qualities. This has a direct result in promoting exceptional root development and formation of thicker stems.
  • CANNA Terra Professional Plus is enriched with special feeding mixes, containing all the elements plants need during their first week, meaning no additional feeding is needed at that time!
  • The medium is also pH-adjusted for long-term control with a lime charge large enough to last an entire cycle.
  • It has a mineral-nutrient starter charge that adjusts the initial level of nutrients up to a good beginning charge, correcting the ratios to work perfectly with CANNA TERRA nutrients.
 
stonerfromthesouth said:
i've tried it many times and read over and over, but i Always ended up drowning my girls and i have no idea what's wrong.

so let's talk about what i'm working with.


outdoors

8l and 10l fabric pots

terra canna with about 15/20% perlite

canna nutrients

and 2 autoflowers


i filled up the pots with the soil and watered about 1,5 liters between the 2 pots, then i put the little seeds in.

i decided to go with the final pot as starting in the solo cup yielded me the same issues...


right now i'm spraying the top with a spray bottle until the seedlings comeout.

then i'll use a moisture meter to check for water
Click to expand...
alright, well let's take this step by step. So far, it sounds like you are doing well... the 1.5 L has sent some water down to the bottom, sort of as a challenge to the new seedlings when they come up, and the spray bottle is going to activate the seeds. So far, so good. Belay the moisture meter at that point though, for I can tell you what will be happening. Since the baby seedling still has not had a chance to send roots all the way down to the bottom, that 1.5L minus a little bit of evaporation, because of gravity, is sitting in the bottom of that container. No mystery there.

When the seedling breaks the surface, continue to use your spray bottle for a few days and only water in a circle around the plant out to 3x its diameter, which with the first couple of leaves, will not be that far. Do this twice a day, morning and evening. When you see the second set of leaves coming up, put the spray bottle away and start using your watering can, again out to 3x the diameter of the plant, but still not trying to saturate the soil and reduce your watering to once a day. Your goal in this early period is to develop a lateral growth of your top spreader roots, but also each day, try to put some of that water right straight down from the trunk, sending a small amount of that total water down to the bottom. The roots chase the water, so you are essentially developing the roots in two directions, sideways and straight down.

Watering out to 3x the diameter puts some water out on the outer edges of that circle, and this entices the roots to grow laterally out that direction. You should be getting a pretty wide plant by the time the 3rd set of leaves come in, and 3x the diameter is probably going to reach the edges of the container. This is your signal to start seeing how much water your girl wants and this is the first time you should soak the entire container to the point of runoff, saturating that soil.

Then you need to wait for the plant to use all of that water. The first time you go through this wet/dry cycle, it may take 5-7 days to use all of that water. To keep the plant's metabolism high, if the plant isn't ready to fully water in 3 days, give a light watering just on the top, trying to only get enough water to go 3-4 inches deep. This will keep the plant going at full speed while the lower roots work on using all the water.

When the lift method tells you the water is gone, or your moisture meter shows the water table to have fallen down into the last inch of container, it is then time to water properly again, fully saturating the soil to the point of runoff. Each time you run through one of these wet/dry cycles, the roots get stronger and the time between waterings steadily diminishes. When the plant can finally use all of the water you can get that soil to hold, in 24-36 hours, your soil buffer is gone and it is time to uppot into a container 3x bigger. If you are starting out in your final container, you should see the wet/dry cycle stabilize at around 3 days.

I am hoping that me reexplaining some of the key points in a different way, will help you to understand where you might have gone wrong before. At any rate, I am not going to let you fail this time.... lets keep working on this, step by step.
 
Emilya said:
alright, well let's take this step by step. So far, it sounds like you are doing well... the 1.5 L has sent some water down to the bottom, sort of as a challenge to the new seedlings when they come up, and the spray bottle is going to activate the seeds. So far, so good. Belay the moisture meter at that point though, for I can tell you what will be happening. Since the baby seedling still has not had a chance to send roots all the way down to the bottom, that 1.5L minus a little bit of evaporation, because of gravity, is sitting in the bottom of that container. No mystery there.

When the seedling breaks the surface, continue to use your spray bottle for a few days and only water in a circle around the plant out to 3x its diameter, which with the first couple of leaves, will not be that far. Do this twice a day, morning and evening. When you see the second set of leaves coming up, put the spray bottle away and start using your watering can, again out to 3x the diameter of the plant, but still not trying to saturate the soil and reduce your watering to once a day. Your goal in this early period is to develop a lateral growth of your top spreader roots, but also each day, try to put some of that water right straight down from the trunk, sending a small amount of that total water down to the bottom. The roots chase the water, so you are essentially developing the roots in two directions, sideways and straight down.

Watering out to 3x the diameter puts some water out on the outer edges of that circle, and this entices the roots to grow laterally out that direction. You should be getting a pretty wide plant by the time the 3rd set of leaves come in, and 3x the diameter is probably going to reach the edges of the container. This is your signal to start seeing how much water your girl wants and this is the first time you should soak the entire container to the point of runoff, saturating that soil.

Then you need to wait for the plant to use all of that water. The first time you go through this wet/dry cycle, it may take 5-7 days to use all of that water. To keep the plant's metabolism high, if the plant isn't ready to fully water in 3 days, give a light watering just on the top, trying to only get enough water to go 3-4 inches deep. This will keep the plant going at full speed while the lower roots work on using all the water.

When the lift method tells you the water is gone, or your moisture meter shows the water table to have fallen down into the last inch of container, it is then time to water properly again, fully saturating the soil to the point of runoff. Each time you run through one of these wet/dry cycles, the roots get stronger and the time between waterings steadily diminishes. When the plant can finally use all of the water you can get that soil to hold, in 24-36 hours, your soil buffer is gone and it is time to uppot into a container 3x bigger. If you are starting out in your final container, you should see the wet/dry cycle stabilize at around 3 days.

I am hoping that me reexplaining some of the key points in a different way, will help you to understand where you might have gone wrong before. At any rate, I am not going to let you fail this time.... lets keep working on this, step by step.
Click to expand...
hey, thanks for the tips

isn't spraying 3 times per day too much? i sprayed once so far because the soil was still kinda moist from the water.

also have you ever used terra canna? how is it in terms of air, i heard this soil is good for those who like me struggle with overwatering
 
I have never used canna terra but I know that most overwatering problems are simply due to not understanding the process. We are going to fix that.

At first, you want the area around the seed to be wet so the seed will germinate. Let me qualify that... if you are spraying an entire spray bottle at them, yes, that is all wrong and way too much water. I am talking 10-20 squirts at the most. Also please carefully read... I didn't say to water them 3x a day... I said to do it twice, morning and evening. The 3x is a circle 3 times the size of the circle the plant itself makes... you are trying to tease the roots to grow out in that direction, as well as down toward the bottom.
 
stonerfromthesouth said:
read the first line....
Click to expand...

I did, actually. But the thread I linked to isn't simply an article, it is a discussion thread. It's currently up to 630 posts, lol, and it's a pretty safe bet that the 629 replies (post #1 is the "article") aren't ALL simply "thank you!" posts :rolleyes: . There's some of that, of course. And some debate, probably. But there will also be some input from people who have comprehension issues and/or difficulty following basic instructions. The person who created that thread is both kind and helpful. And it is possible that other people would have encountered the same difficulties you appear to be having with reading/comprehending/following it, and already mentioned the same issues (and those issues already been addressed). My response was what it was for a reason. That thread seemed like the best "place" for you to get help, for discussion of your difficulties to potentially help others in the future (that thread is "stickied" at the top of the section that it's in - and its link is in many members' .SIGs, so a lot of people who are interested in the topic will naturally end up viewing it), and even possibly help Emilya learn how she might modify the thing to make it easier to read/follow.

No worries, though! I see that she has found this thread and is giving you some personal service. You are in good hands. . . .
 
There is nothing magical about canna terra pro plus. I use it indoors. It's very airy. I water and hand mix the first time (as is/no perlite) to make sure there aren't any dead spots and break up chunks. Maybe that's the issue. Then I put the seedlings in. I have always germinated the seeds first. Then I try and leave it alone. The soil is damp, so it has a couple of days. This is indoors, so it's controlled. Lately I've taken to developing them in rockwool first. I'm not sure it makes much difference.

PH is 5.8 for seedlings.
 
Calvados said:
There is nothing magical about canna terra pro plus. I use it indoors. It's very airy. I water and hand mix the first time (as is/no perlite) to make sure there aren't any dead spots and break up chunks. Maybe that's the issue. Then I put the seedlings in. I have always germinated the seeds first. Then I try and leave it alone. The soil is damp, so it has a couple of days. This is indoors, so it's controlled. Lately I've taken to developing them in rockwool first. I'm not sure it makes much difference.

PH is 5.8 for seedlings.
Click to expand...
why such low PH? is 6.5 ok? i heard that's usually good enough for everything
 
stonerfromthesouth said:
why such low PH? is 6.5 ok? i heard that's usually good enough for everything
Click to expand...
No. It's not regular potting soil. This link provides a good explanation.

Soil conundrum.

Look at the bottom right hand of their feeding chart. They should stamp PH 5.8 - 6.2 in big neon letters on the bag. I was part way through my first grow with it before I realised. Thankfully they are weeds and grew anyway.

Canna Neuts Schedule

Canna Neuts Schedule

 
I’ve found one way to keep from overwatering is to weigh your pot/plant on a scale. For instance; weigh your pot when you first put your plant in it. That’s your starting/target weight. After watering your plant, weigh it again. Don’t water your plant again until it is close to your starting/target weight. I do this from sprout to harvest. You’ll have to adjust your weight as the plant gets bigger.
 

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