Ok, so going to talk about Dissolved Oxygen today as it seems as though only those that grow in Hydro even seem to know it exist.
When in fact its probably one of the most important elements in your grow.
First is you need proper soil with at least 30% aeration, worms also help tremendously as does the roots from cover crop.
Your soil tilth needs to be such that it is able to store and hold the DO so the roots can access it.
I use o2 emitters to super oxygenate my water, my goal is to get to over 12ppm DO.
My water is like a fine Guinness Stout beer when its ready to use, the water is milky top to bottom full of nano-bubbles with a head of creamy foam on top.
When I water I super charge my soil with DO, your roots need oxygen to do their thang.
The DO promotes rapid root growth especially when combined with Aloe Vera, also good to add a small pinch of bloom nutrients as a seedling because it boost root growth.
DO gives much higher density of root hairs which is responsible for water intake.
This is probably one reason why I am watering my plants every single day and most everyone else seems to be stuck at once or twice a week even in tiny little pots.
Although I think some of that is just people are too freaked out about watering and have been brow beaten to believe that dry soil is good because that's how roots get oxygen.
There can be some truth to that but only if your soil is shit and your plants aren't transpiring as well as they should.
Instead of trying to limp along forced to water just once a week because the soil can't hold oxygen thus the roots aren't strong and healthy so that they can produce copious amounts of root hairs and lots of healthy root tips which in turn supplies the plant with more nutrients.
I would much prefer to see everyone do just the opposite, I want to see you watering your flowering plants at least once a day MINIMUM.
That would mean several things and all of it good.
It would mean your soil tilth is correct and soil can hold DO.
Would mean your soil is never dry so those all important root hairs aren't being killed off in dry soil.
Would mean your roots are getting oxygen, are uptaking more nutrients, and overall plant health and vigor is good.
People need to view Dissolved Oxygen in water as a nutrient, the mother of all nutrients.
Instead it seems most view water as a necessary evil and actively try to get by with giving their plants as little as possible.
When in reality they should be striving to get that plant working like a fine tuned machine, get it to literally burn through water like a dog on prime rib.
And if not then figure out why and fix it.
I am currently watering the 20 gallon pots usually about 1-1.25 gallon a day and the 7 gallon about a 1/2 gal a day.
Thats about right for a good average should be 5 to 6% of soil volume.
I get some run off on the 7 gallon like a couple ounces but rarely a drop from the 20 gallon.
These pics I took about 30 minutes after watering, plants don't droop at all, at most they are just little bit less straight up.
Thats because they aren't starving for oxygen, if you water and your leaves flop down like you just dumped boiling water on it then something ain't right.
You also want to build up your mycorrhazae network, they largely attach themselves to the capillary roots aka root hairs, DO is key, the microbes need oxygen.
And once your roots are fully colonized your root system is now more than double even triple in size and efficiency because the plants roots are now using the tiny spider web roots of the mycorrhazae as part of its own system.
This is why it is preferable to get the plant into final pot asap, germinated seed soaked in mycorrhazae inoculate planted directly into final 15++ gallon pot is ideal but if you have a very active worm population then you need to germinate in solo cup for 7 days then into final pot. Just dust the hole really well with inoculate and Optiveg.
This gives the plant the maximum time to work synergistically with the mycorrhazae to get the largest possible root system of which the mycorrhazae are a huge part of.
If you want your roots to look like this, big and bright white then you need as much DO as possible.
My plants pretty much look just like this 12 straights hours everyday.
Little more sugar every day
this is what the oxygenated water looks like, nice and creamy, almost seems carbonated.
