New seedling sprout watering help

[Crianza]

I know this issue has been asked a million times and Ive read a million articles about it but I'm confusing myself I guess. I just had some seedlings emerge about 5-6 days ago. Most are no more than a couple inches tall. The top couple inches of soil are dry as of today--up to my 2nd knuckle(maybe slightly deeper)--but the rest of the pot is still moist/wet according to my moisture reader. I'm growing in 5 gallon air pots (autoflowers-outdoors). I thoroughly watered the pots before planting the seeds and haven't watered since.

I keep reading to water when top layer is dry, but the rest of the bottom half is still moist so do I need to go ahead and water the plants. They don't really look bad or anything but the top couple inches are pretty dry..pots are heavy to pick up so clearly water is in the bottom half but not the top. Thanks for any info

 

[Scientific]

5-day-old seedling 2" tall? They probably have root systems that are 2" deep at best and 1/2" around. Forget the rest of the pot. It's irrelevant. For now you're just watering that tiny little root system. If that little area is dry, it needs to be watered, regardless of what the soil 6" away is like.

 

[Crianza]

5-day-old seedling 2" tall? They probably have root systems that are 2" deep at best and 1/2" around. Forget the rest of the pot. It's irrelevant. For now you're just watering that tiny little root system. If that little area is dry, it needs to be watered, regardless of what the soil 6" away is like.

Thanks for the info, Ive received so many conflicting answers its mind boggling. This makes sense though. Someone else told me to wait until the 5 gallon pot dries out completely, but even as a rookie that didn't sound right b/c of the plant being so small

 

[Parrot99]

even a light mist at seed point works well. just enough water i guess is what trying to say

 

[Crianza]

yep thats basically what I did..thanks much