Mariwannna
Well-Known Member
Has anyone ever reused the water that runs through your pots when watering? I have and angled shelf that drains the water into a bucket and I was curious if it was good to use. Thoughts? Experience?
Reusing run off water
- Thread starter Mariwannna
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Curly Beaver
Well-Known Member
NO, all kinds of nasty.
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Mariwannna
Well-Known Member
Good to know, Curly. Thanks! It didn't look good, but it could be considered "filtered," right? 
mikeyxb
Well-Known Member
You can water it down to the proper ppm but what's the point lol
wiley420
Well-Known Member
I reuse mine on smaller plants I water it down a bit but Iam running coco coir in fabric pots so it's fairly clean. But I only reuse it once then toss it out. Hasn't hurt my plants at all. Run off ph is the same as going in so I feel safe doing it. If growing in soil I wouldn't reuse it though
I use all of my run off and I never have a problem. I don't call it watering, I call it irrigating. I grow in rock wool cubes and as soon as the pot is root bound, I transplant to the next size pot. I do this until my plants are in the size pot I want them to flower in. During his veg stage I do not reuse runoff. Once into flower, all runoff is reused. My pots sit in an elevated drain tray with a reservoir underneath one end where the water drains. When ready to water, a pump runs nutrient water through tubing to a drip ring to each plant. Only this water sprays out, which means no clogging. This runs for at least five minutes. This irrigation system flushes all unused nutrients out of the pot and thus there is no build up of salts, etc. The water runs back into the reservoir. I have minimal pH fluctuations and the water is depleted from the reservoir before ppm fluctuation would be a problem. Whatever water is left is minimal so I just top it off and mix my nutrients in, and adjust pH. Of course I have perfected the amount of nutrients I use. And I no longer use RO water. But I do use a 3 stage filter and it seems my ppm starts of between 200 and 250. This is a very clean system. Doesn't sound like it would work, but it does! But the only way you can irrigate is if your pot is full of roots. Otherwise you run the risk of root rot. So you are saving on nutrients, but using more rock wool because of all the re-potting. And it works best with House and Garden line of nutrients, specifically Aqua Flakes A and B, along with a few other things from their line. I have tried several brands of nutrients and this seems to be the cleanest in my opinion. I only flush for about 3 days and by then the water is crystal clear. Excellent bud, smooth and potent smoke with no cough.
I have been wanting to try this with coco. I think I would have to put a layer of rock wool in the bottom of the pot to hold in the coco and filter the runoff a little. Just starting the research this.
I grow similar to the Capn style. You can check it out at Dude Grows Let's do it Captain Style, baby! Part 1 - Dude Grows
Pistol03
Active Member
I use coco with a Wilma.. I just put an inch or so of clay pebbles at the bottom.. it does the trick .
Why Doe
New Member
I use mine for my tomato plant outside. It was almost dead and that stuff brought it completely back to life!
wiley420
Well-Known Member
I use my run off both veg an bloom for outdoor plants I have in soil. No sence wasting it an the plants outdoors seem to like it as I see better growth.
i know this is an old post but i dont see why you couldnt , your doing drain to waste just fresh nutes whats and ebb n flow do ? drain and reuse
Canachris
Well-Known Member
Yes old thread, but why start a new one. My plants are in coast of Maine soil Stonington blend, I'm told I don't have to use any nutes for at least the first 8 weeks. So can I reuse my drain-off water... isn't it the same as a compost-tea.
I don't know whether it could be considered the same as a 'compost-tea' but I understand what you are getting at.
One way to look at it is if 90% the water and nutrients going in is OK for the plant then the 10% or so that runs though and is collected is the same basic nutrient mix that went in plus whatever it picked up on the way. And if it is OK to pour the stuff on to begin with then why not 're-use' it.
The down-side that occurs to me is that reusing the water increases the fertilizer strength in the container since it was used a second time instead of clean water with no added nutrients. And, if it is salt based or non-organic nutrients that might mean an extra flushing session or two is needed by harvest time.
Most of the time I water until the minimal amounts of excess water show up in the saucer and stop. Whatever is there has been sucked back into the soil or taken in by any small feeder root in the area of the drain holes. Use it to feed outdoor tomato plants as mentioned or any potted flowers if you have some.
Emilya Green
Well-Known Member
In an organic grow (without using chelated salts) I see no harm in recycling the runoff. It is common for me to leave containers sitting in the runoff so they can suck it back up. If you were using synthetic nutes though, there is a high concentration of these salts in that runoff, and I would not use it or allow plants to sit in it.
was just gonna post the same .
Read through the thread and especially the msg just above yours. What you do with the water is going to be your decision.
In the end it really depends on what fertilizers have been used.
Mazar kush
420 Member
Hi Dude
Been reading your comment and I’m interested in your setup, if you don’t mind, can I do the same thing in coco coir, as I’m growing in Canna Coco Coir & Canna classic A&B , I have been putting alot of time and effort in to these girls ,
I have 6 of them and their 1 month old from seed, Afghan Kush & Bruce Banner, I’m feeding at 0.8 EC and runoff is 0.8 , I feed and water together every 24hrs Ph 5.8 my tent average VPD is 0.85- 0.90 kpa, we’re in summer here so temps over 100f - 35c but I do my best to keep the lungs room under control.
The other day my runoff EC was a bit out of wack because I had just transplanted, so I gave them a good flush and all that water and nutrients, I flushed with was just wasted, I didn’t know I could reuse it, now since I have seen you comment, I will surely reuse my runoff as I’m getting clean and exactly same EC as I feed.
If you have any other suggestions it would be much appreciated.
Thank you
I have used it on my Mother’s bushes and flowers. They absolutely love
it but I wouldn’t use it on my plants. CL
Trump
Well-Known Member
Maybe I've just been lucky but my plants sit in a tub on the floor. No bottom aeration from the cloth pots. When I water I water to around 10% - 20% runoff depending on how thirsty the girls are. I use to remove the runoff and feed them to my veggies but I noticed leaving the runoff in the tubs just gave them more water to suck up.
After around 5 - 10 minutes all the runoff is gone. Does it hurt the plants? So far I haven't seen any detrimental issues come up because of it so my response would be go ahead and reuse it. Not sure what nasties it would wash out and hurt it if those same nasties were in the media in the first place but I see no issue in reusing solution that has gone through the media.
After around 5 - 10 minutes all the runoff is gone. Does it hurt the plants? So far I haven't seen any detrimental issues come up because of it so my response would be go ahead and reuse it. Not sure what nasties it would wash out and hurt it if those same nasties were in the media in the first place but I see no issue in reusing solution that has gone through the media.
Trump
Well-Known Member
Your VPD is too low. You're not pushing your plants hard enough.Hi Dude
Been reading your comment and I’m interested in your setup, if you don’t mind, can I do the same thing in coco coir, as I’m growing in Canna Coco Coir & Canna classic A&B , I have been putting alot of time and effort in to these girls ,
I have 6 of them and their 1 month old from seed, Afghan Kush & Bruce Banner, I’m feeding at 0.8 EC and runoff is 0.8 , I feed and water together every 24hrs Ph 5.8 my tent average VPD is 0.85- 0.90 kpa, we’re in summer here so temps over 100f - 35c but I do my best to keep the lungs room under control.
The other day my runoff EC was a bit out of wack because I had just transplanted, so I gave them a good flush and all that water and nutrients, I flushed with was just wasted, I didn’t know I could reuse it, now since I have seen you comment, I will surely reuse my runoff as I’m getting clean and exactly same EC as I feed.
If you have any other suggestions it would be much appreciated.
Thank you
I typically run my VPD in Veg at around 1.3kPa - 1.5kPa. I can see you running at a lower VPD if you were running HID but I'm assuming you are providing photons with an LED fixture.
Air temps in my tent through veg typically hover around 80F/26C - 82F/28C and 55% - 65% humidity with leaf temps about a degree or two below.
If you're running LED lighting the girls tend to like a higher temp vs HID.
You mentioned your seed pop is a month old. Is that from the time you started germinating or once they germinated? If it's once they germinated then you should have at least 5 nodes if not more at this point so the girls can take some pushing now that they are becoming teens.
This is a link to the current journal I have going. Check the stats on each post so that you see how hard you can push your girls to be able to get as much accelerated growth as you can out of them.
Trump Growing Jan6 OG
Not really. Just thought it would be funny if there was a strain like that to grow!!🤣 Growing some Florida Strawberry clones I clipped off my mother. 11/15/2023 Temp - 81.5* Humidity - 58% VPD - 1.59 kPa DLI - 41 Leaf Temp - 80* Netted the girls as they were getting too tall and the branches...
www.420magazine.com
If you're monitoring VPD you should also be monitoring leaf temp as that is actually more important than the air temp in the tent. Depending on the difference between air and leaf temp you can check what your VPD should be by downloading the VPD charts from Dimlux.
Vapor Pressure Deficit VPD Calculator - Dimlux Lighting - The Best Grow Lights
Vapor Pressure DeficitCalculator Calculate both Room VPD and Leaf VPD automatically Just enter the value below to generate the VPD values for your room and your plants. You’ll need to know the room’s temperature, relative humidity, and the plant’s temperature. We recommend calibrating your...
www.dimluxlighting.com
