The Proper Way To Water A Potted Plant

[Jon]

The big lie that is told over and over and over again by the online "gurus" is that transplanting or uppotting can be stressful to the plant. I have never seen a plant stunt when properly transplanted, to the contrary, there is always a tremendous growth spurt immediately apparent the next day. These plants love to be uppotted and no one can convince me otherwise. I call myth on that one. I like to go solo cups to 1 gallon, then to 3 if I am moving up or 5 if it is a final. If I am going bigger than a 5, I would jump all the way from a 3 to a 7 or 10. The rewards of giving the plants a charge of fresh soil on the uppot as well as forcing a rootball at each stage are tremendous, and well worth the effort to produce. I am proving in my grow right now, lazy gardening is giving me lazy buds. If you want those big hard honking dankest of the dank... you got to work a bit.

I've been considering your clear Dixie cup/inner Dixie cup concept. I'm taking that idea and doing it like this: I'm gonna cut the inner cup that the dirt goes in completely in half, top to bottom, including the base of the cup. So I'll have a Dixie cup cut in halves. Then I'm going to cut about 1/16" from each interior cutline of the cup halves. Then I am going to drop the two halves into the clear cup. That is going to accomplish all the things it's supposed to in your idea, but it's also going to make the physical act of transplanting MUCH easier, as all that will be necessary to remove the cup will be to simply pull off each side. Easy peasy. Now all this is theoretical as I haven't done it yet, but doesn't that make sense? Another upside is that I will be able to view/assess my growing roots in the Dixie cup from both the sides and the bottom, as the end result of my cuts is that I will have an 1/8" groove to observe with that goes all the way around.

 

[Emilya Green]

Here is a tip that will help you on your way to establishing your next rootball. I refer to it in my original article but I really haven't highlighted the practice much, yet. I call it watering around the edges... making sure that the outside edges of your container remain the wettest place in the whole container, at least for a while. The timing is all important.

I have recently transplanted these plants, and they are still working on draining the containers so as to need another proper watering. I let them work on that for a couple of days, and then each morning since then I have come back with less than a cup of water, and lightly watered just around the outside edge. This is where I want to entice the roots to head toward, and when they hit the edge in a cloth smart pot, the root splits as if it were topped, and then there are two roots where once there was one. It is very important to cause lateral growth of your roots by enticing them with water.

You can force the plants to do things they normally wouldn't do. You can, simply by watering intelligently, cause the plants to get bigger than they would have, by concentrating on building that rootball, at every stage. Be smarter than your plants. You are the gardener and you control where the roots go. Spend the extra time to make the right things happen in your garden. Garden like a boss. Make sure the edges are the wettest places in the container to actively expand the roots and create a true rootball.

 

[SaltyDog]

I've been watering like you suggest Em, and I have to say it works like a charm. I use the clear cups and just look at the roots and smile... I am about to switch from General Hydroponic three part to GeoFlora Veg and Bloom. I want lazy man's weed! I want to say thanks for the advice from reading your journals.

 

[Tbe]

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 applies to at least 3 gallon containers and bigger. Please realize that this special plant of ours does not grow like anything else you have ever tried to grow, and no matter how good you are at growing peas, beans and tomatoes, you will have to change your methods to grow a weed.


The first rule of watering is to always water slowly, using no more than a quart at a time, pausing often to let the soil suck air in behind the water as it pools on the top. For me, that involves a routine of watering each of my plants with 1 quart, then taking a nice relaxing drink of whatever beverage I have brought with me to the tent. Then I take a deep breath, making sure to exhale deeply onto this plant, letting her know that I love her. After this, I take a nice big hit off of the pipe that also followed me into the tent, and then after a nice pause and maybe another drink, I go back to plant #1 and repeat the cycle. For 2 rounds, I water the entire surface of the soil, watching it pool up and get sucked down.


After this initial wetting of the top, my watering method changes a bit. Now, I want to do whatever I can to make the outside edges of the container, the wettest areas. Still only using a quart at a time, I now carefully water only there, all around the plant, only on the edges. While doing this, I slow down a bit so that the water doesn't pool as much in the center, always concentrating on the edges. The center will end up getting some too, and that's fine, but the wettest areas of the pot will be on the outside edges and you will be driving nutrient rich soil into the dense original root ball. Continue this, again going slow, maybe with a deep breath in the middle of it, and then continue all around, taking drinks, deep breaths and hits in between each round. Continue until you see the first signs of runoff, and then stop.


Look carefully at the surface of your container now. You will clearly see where the root ball is from your last transplant, because it will now be sticking up just a little bit above the original outer rim. Very fine soil has been driven through the original root ball with the flow of water and soil from the outer edges. This micro fine soil is very rich with nutrients because of its mobility. When you water from the outside edges, you force this micro fine sludge into the dense root ball, where it can do the most good. Once you establish this flow pattern in the container, you can be assured of totally replacing the micro soil in the center of the root ball with new soil, every time you water. Watering in the normal way does not create his circular flow, and root growth cannot be nearly as aggressive.

Lastly, take one last quart of water, and water very very slowly, just in the raised area where the original root ball is. As you do so, watch what happens at the outer edge of the original root ball.

You will see the very finest soil, almost a mud, migrating out of the old root ball, and into the middle! This completes the process of soil exchange in the container. In this manner, all the roots get to take advantage of the nutrients in the soil, and the roots follow the migration of the nutrient rich soil, toward the outer edges, creating lateral growth. I strive to actively drive the soil out of the middle, making room for the roots to grow more dense and bigger there, and as they do, the lateral growth also has to increase. Using this method, I have seen a steady increase in the amount of water needed to get to run off throughout the grow and by the end, plants watered in this way use approximately 30% more water than is seen using standard watering techniques. Watering in the manner I have described allows for a constant circular flow of soil throughout the container and will create an extremely dense root ball.

Now it is time for a truism. It is best to water the roots, not the plant. A healthy and robust root system means a happy and productive plant. Neglect the roots and your plants can die, and certainly will be less than they could have been.

When do we water?
By far, one of the most common plant problems that I see with new gardeners is a lack of understanding as to when to water. New people get it set in their mind that watering every day or every other day is best, or that somehow, mysteriously, they know in their own human minds exactly how much water the plants need. These well-meaning new gardeners will determine that they will give exactly one quart or some other random amount, each time, no more... and no less, and really believe that they are doing a good thing for their plants, making these decisions for them.
Just as bad as these over-thinkers are the tomato gardeners, the "stick your finger in the ground" crowd, who proclaim: it's time to water when it is dry below the second knuckle. What they fail to realize is that when the top 2 inches is dry, the lower half of the container could still be saturated with water. Both of these common mistakes in watering methods are quick ways to drown your plants. These methods are not correct for growing weeds, and using them can actually kill your plants.


Marijuana is a weed, and the main thing that this scientific term refers to, is a class of plant that thrives in adversity. In order to grow it well, you need to understand that this incredibly robust plant works differently than other, less hardy plants. It is an extremely aggressive grower if you allow it to be, and to grow prize winning pot, you need to use its abilities to send out new roots to your advantage.


Watering incorrectly is the most common mistake that new weed farmers make. This plant needs a clear wet/dry cycle in order to thrive. If you keep it moist, you will kill it. The roots will aggressively chase your water, whatever you give them. If you just give a small amount every couple of days, that water will drop right to the bottom of the container. Your roots will follow, and will cluster on the bottom, instead of growing laterally throughout the container, and since they continually sit in the nutrient rich water, the plant sees little need to grow additional roots. How you water makes a huge difference in the formation of the root ball, and how this development happens is up to you.


There are many ways to tell when it is time to water, and if you wait long enough the girls will actually tell you that they are thirsty. They do two things when they see that they need water, they throw out a smell, and they begin to wilt, starting at the bottom, moving up. You can also use the lift method to tell when the container is dry, and almost always you will "feel" a dry container, before the above mentioned wilt and fragrance pump happens. Rusty Trichome taught me an important lesson; every time I think that I need to do something to my plants, I wait a bit... and I try to move at the speed that my plants are moving. "Patience, above all else." --Rusty


If you have a moisture meter you can also use it to find where the wet/dry (water table) line is in your container, and you can watch that wet/dry line move down over time. I used to graph my water table level by day, so that I could project ahead when the wet dry line would reach the last inch of container. Your wet/dry line will never go lower than that last inch or so, because once you get down in there, you are in all the big tap roots and mass at the bottom, and it tends to stay wet there longer because of capillary effect. Again, if you wait for the first sign of wilt and that perfume pump that happens at "water me" point, it will usually be just a bit longer than your measurements would indicate. Once the water table line is anywhere in that bottom inch is ok to water. You have dried out 95% of the water by that time and the roots have been chasing it as the wet/dry line progresses both downward and outward. The suction caused by the diaphragm that is the water table, will have pulled oxygen down deep into the container, and filled any voids. The roots will be happy.


Why do we up-pot?
The art of successive up-potting is important in growing a healthy root system. People like to be lazy. I am constantly seeing new gardeners take a little sprig of a weed and put it in a big 3 or 5 gallon container, thinking that they have done a good thing, and are now done with it... it's on to harvest time! The problem is, this doesn't work, because it gives you zero control over developing the roots, and without crazy watering techniques, almost no chance of a solid root ball forming. It is imperative to successively up pot your plants through stages so that the root system can roughly take on the same size and shape as the plant in order to get the maximum productivity. The roots grow aggressively in these weeds, and if you confine them to a container the size of the plant, they will fill that space in a short time with a dense root system. Putting a plant in an oversized container can and often does, result in all the roots going to the bottom, drowning the plant, root rot and overall poor health because of a lack of a root ball, and certainly less than optimum harvests. It is important to force these weeds into producing a root ball at various stages, to give the plant the ability later on to take in the massive amounts of nutrients needed to produce lots of quality buds.
The plants in the smaller containers can also more directly show you when they are thriving or more importantly when they are not. A strong healthy plant will eventually outgrow its container and an observant gardener is carefully watching the length of time between wet/dry cycles, and directly relating shorter cycles with more robust roots. A smaller container also gives the gardener the ability to see when the moment arrives that the amount of soil the plant is in is no longer large enough for the plant's abilities to be happy in it, because it will be obvious when the plant can drain the water that soil is able to hold, in less than 24 hours. Your soil and your container at that point have ceased at that point to be a good enough buffer, and it is time to double the space the roots have to work with. Let your plant show you when that time is, and try not to make decisions for her.


Why is pH important?
Some people claim that pH is not important, and if you are a pure organic gardener, never applying chlorinated water or salt based synthetic nutrients at your plants, pH indeed is not important. For the 99.9% rest of the world, a very important lesson for the new gardener to learn is the importance of pH. There is a scientific reason why a proper pH allows the plants to use synthetic nutrients, and why being outside of the proper range can cause deficiencies. If you want to grow pot using chemicals, you need to invest in a method to test the pH of any water going into the plant, whether it is plain water or water mixed with nutrients, and whether it is applied to the roots or sprayed on the leaves. If you neglect the pH, you can easily create deficiencies in your plants, and if left unchecked, you can even kill them. If you spend a lot of money on nutrients, it makes sense that you would want to also create the proper environment so that the plant can use these nutrients, but with a pH way out of the 6.3-6.8 range in soil, a lot of those expensive nutrients will just sit there, not doing the plant any good. If you are in a soilless mix, pH in the range of 5.5-6.1 is necessary. It is only within these ranges that all the nutrients are mobile, are able to be broken free of their salt bonds and be in the form that can go into the plants. Most soils and systems are designed so that you can apply liquids at a lower pH and then the soil or the soilless mix causes a drift, so that the pH can visit each spot in the usable pH range for that medium, and all of the 17 needed nutrients will be picked up, each in its turn.


I hope that this study on containers, watering and pH helps someone who reads it. This paper was a result of having to explain these same concepts over and over and over again to new growers at they hit the forums, until finally I put all these thoughts together into this paper. Some of the thoughts previously given have also been refined for this publication, as questions were asked and answered the last time I posted it, and I have learned better ways of explaining my thoughts. Here, I give you, approximately draft 10 of this paper.


Be well everyone and blessings from my garden to yours,
Sense Emilya

Its day 6 since water, and i smelll that smell 'i think

 

[grow boy420]

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 applies to at least 3 gallon containers and bigger. Please realize that this special plant of ours does not grow like anything else you have ever tried to grow, and no matter how good you are at growing peas, beans and tomatoes, you will have to change your methods to grow a weed.


The first rule of watering is to always water slowly, using no more than a quart at a time, pausing often to let the soil suck air in behind the water as it pools on the top. For me, that involves a routine of watering each of my plants with 1 quart, then taking a nice relaxing drink of whatever beverage I have brought with me to the tent. Then I take a deep breath, making sure to exhale deeply onto this plant, letting her know that I love her. After this, I take a nice big hit off of the pipe that also followed me into the tent, and then after a nice pause and maybe another drink, I go back to plant #1 and repeat the cycle. For 2 rounds, I water the entire surface of the soil, watching it pool up and get sucked down.


After this initial wetting of the top, my watering method changes a bit. Now, I want to do whatever I can to make the outside edges of the container, the wettest areas. Still only using a quart at a time, I now carefully water only there, all around the plant, only on the edges. While doing this, I slow down a bit so that the water doesn't pool as much in the center, always concentrating on the edges. The center will end up getting some too, and that's fine, but the wettest areas of the pot will be on the outside edges and you will be driving nutrient rich soil into the dense original root ball. Continue this, again going slow, maybe with a deep breath in the middle of it, and then continue all around, taking drinks, deep breaths and hits in between each round. Continue until you see the first signs of runoff, and then stop.


Look carefully at the surface of your container now. You will clearly see where the root ball is from your last transplant, because it will now be sticking up just a little bit above the original outer rim. Very fine soil has been driven through the original root ball with the flow of water and soil from the outer edges. This micro fine soil is very rich with nutrients because of its mobility. When you water from the outside edges, you force this micro fine sludge into the dense root ball, where it can do the most good. Once you establish this flow pattern in the container, you can be assured of totally replacing the micro soil in the center of the root ball with new soil, every time you water. Watering in the normal way does not create his circular flow, and root growth cannot be nearly as aggressive.

Lastly, take one last quart of water, and water very very slowly, just in the raised area where the original root ball is. As you do so, watch what happens at the outer edge of the original root ball.

You will see the very finest soil, almost a mud, migrating out of the old root ball, and into the middle! This completes the process of soil exchange in the container. In this manner, all the roots get to take advantage of the nutrients in the soil, and the roots follow the migration of the nutrient rich soil, toward the outer edges, creating lateral growth. I strive to actively drive the soil out of the middle, making room for the roots to grow more dense and bigger there, and as they do, the lateral growth also has to increase. Using this method, I have seen a steady increase in the amount of water needed to get to run off throughout the grow and by the end, plants watered in this way use approximately 30% more water than is seen using standard watering techniques. Watering in the manner I have described allows for a constant circular flow of soil throughout the container and will create an extremely dense root ball.

Now it is time for a truism. It is best to water the roots, not the plant. A healthy and robust root system means a happy and productive plant. Neglect the roots and your plants can die, and certainly will be less than they could have been.

When do we water?
By far, one of the most common plant problems that I see with new gardeners is a lack of understanding as to when to water. New people get it set in their mind that watering every day or every other day is best, or that somehow, mysteriously, they know in their own human minds exactly how much water the plants need. These well-meaning new gardeners will determine that they will give exactly one quart or some other random amount, each time, no more... and no less, and really believe that they are doing a good thing for their plants, making these decisions for them.
Just as bad as these over-thinkers are the tomato gardeners, the "stick your finger in the ground" crowd, who proclaim: it's time to water when it is dry below the second knuckle. What they fail to realize is that when the top 2 inches is dry, the lower half of the container could still be saturated with water. Both of these common mistakes in watering methods are quick ways to drown your plants. These methods are not correct for growing weeds, and using them can actually kill your plants.


Marijuana is a weed, and the main thing that this scientific term refers to, is a class of plant that thrives in adversity. In order to grow it well, you need to understand that this incredibly robust plant works differently than other, less hardy plants. It is an extremely aggressive grower if you allow it to be, and to grow prize winning pot, you need to use its abilities to send out new roots to your advantage.


Watering incorrectly is the most common mistake that new weed farmers make. This plant needs a clear wet/dry cycle in order to thrive. If you keep it moist, you will kill it. The roots will aggressively chase your water, whatever you give them. If you just give a small amount every couple of days, that water will drop right to the bottom of the container. Your roots will follow, and will cluster on the bottom, instead of growing laterally throughout the container, and since they continually sit in the nutrient rich water, the plant sees little need to grow additional roots. How you water makes a huge difference in the formation of the root ball, and how this development happens is up to you.


There are many ways to tell when it is time to water, and if you wait long enough the girls will actually tell you that they are thirsty. They do two things when they see that they need water, they throw out a smell, and they begin to wilt, starting at the bottom, moving up. You can also use the lift method to tell when the container is dry, and almost always you will "feel" a dry container, before the above mentioned wilt and fragrance pump happens. Rusty Trichome taught me an important lesson; every time I think that I need to do something to my plants, I wait a bit... and I try to move at the speed that my plants are moving. "Patience, above all else." --Rusty


If you have a moisture meter you can also use it to find where the wet/dry (water table) line is in your container, and you can watch that wet/dry line move down over time. I used to graph my water table level by day, so that I could project ahead when the wet dry line would reach the last inch of container. Your wet/dry line will never go lower than that last inch or so, because once you get down in there, you are in all the big tap roots and mass at the bottom, and it tends to stay wet there longer because of capillary effect. Again, if you wait for the first sign of wilt and that perfume pump that happens at "water me" point, it will usually be just a bit longer than your measurements would indicate. Once the water table line is anywhere in that bottom inch is ok to water. You have dried out 95% of the water by that time and the roots have been chasing it as the wet/dry line progresses both downward and outward. The suction caused by the diaphragm that is the water table, will have pulled oxygen down deep into the container, and filled any voids. The roots will be happy.


Why do we up-pot?
The art of successive up-potting is important in growing a healthy root system. People like to be lazy. I am constantly seeing new gardeners take a little sprig of a weed and put it in a big 3 or 5 gallon container, thinking that they have done a good thing, and are now done with it... it's on to harvest time! The problem is, this doesn't work, because it gives you zero control over developing the roots, and without crazy watering techniques, almost no chance of a solid root ball forming. It is imperative to successively up pot your plants through stages so that the root system can roughly take on the same size and shape as the plant in order to get the maximum productivity. The roots grow aggressively in these weeds, and if you confine them to a container the size of the plant, they will fill that space in a short time with a dense root system. Putting a plant in an oversized container can and often does, result in all the roots going to the bottom, drowning the plant, root rot and overall poor health because of a lack of a root ball, and certainly less than optimum harvests. It is important to force these weeds into producing a root ball at various stages, to give the plant the ability later on to take in the massive amounts of nutrients needed to produce lots of quality buds.
The plants in the smaller containers can also more directly show you when they are thriving or more importantly when they are not. A strong healthy plant will eventually outgrow its container and an observant gardener is carefully watching the length of time between wet/dry cycles, and directly relating shorter cycles with more robust roots. A smaller container also gives the gardener the ability to see when the moment arrives that the amount of soil the plant is in is no longer large enough for the plant's abilities to be happy in it, because it will be obvious when the plant can drain the water that soil is able to hold, in less than 24 hours. Your soil and your container at that point have ceased at that point to be a good enough buffer, and it is time to double the space the roots have to work with. Let your plant show you when that time is, and try not to make decisions for her.


Why is pH important?
Some people claim that pH is not important, and if you are a pure organic gardener, never applying chlorinated water or salt based synthetic nutrients at your plants, pH indeed is not important. For the 99.9% rest of the world, a very important lesson for the new gardener to learn is the importance of pH. There is a scientific reason why a proper pH allows the plants to use synthetic nutrients, and why being outside of the proper range can cause deficiencies. If you want to grow pot using chemicals, you need to invest in a method to test the pH of any water going into the plant, whether it is plain water or water mixed with nutrients, and whether it is applied to the roots or sprayed on the leaves. If you neglect the pH, you can easily create deficiencies in your plants, and if left unchecked, you can even kill them. If you spend a lot of money on nutrients, it makes sense that you would want to also create the proper environment so that the plant can use these nutrients, but with a pH way out of the 6.3-6.8 range in soil, a lot of those expensive nutrients will just sit there, not doing the plant any good. If you are in a soilless mix, pH in the range of 5.5-6.1 is necessary. It is only within these ranges that all the nutrients are mobile, are able to be broken free of their salt bonds and be in the form that can go into the plants. Most soils and systems are designed so that you can apply liquids at a lower pH and then the soil or the soilless mix causes a drift, so that the pH can visit each spot in the usable pH range for that medium, and all of the 17 needed nutrients will be picked up, each in its turn.


I hope that this study on containers, watering and pH helps someone who reads it. This paper was a result of having to explain these same concepts over and over and over again to new growers at they hit the forums, until finally I put all these thoughts together into this paper. Some of the thoughts previously given have also been refined for this publication, as questions were asked and answered the last time I posted it, and I have learned better ways of explaining my thoughts. Here, I give you, approximately draft 10 of this paper.


Be well everyone and blessings from my garden to yours,
Sense Emilya

my favorite post i have wver seen..thank you!

 

[Emilya Green]

my favorite post i have wver seen..thank you!

Thank YOU!!

 

[parrajara]

Hey growers. I made a thread seeking help, and Emilya kindly and generously stepped in. She, like always, hit it dead on. She was able to figure out exactly what my mistake was, and how to go about fixing it. I am so thankful.

Without going into toooo much detail, I was following Emilya's watering guide - but there was something in the guide that I did not understand until she put it the way she did in the following quote (see below). I encourage you all to read carefully, as she makes some incredibly valuable points here. I'm not sure if more backstory is required to make sense of this post, as it is specific to my plant - but I feel it has general knowledge that is applicable for any grower. If anyone has questions about my plant that would help them get a better perspective of where Emilya was coming from, please feel free to reach out.

Thank Emilya, don't thank me.

ok, honestly now... when you water after feeling the topsoil, you say that the container is substantially lighter. If you filled up another 5 gallon container and filled it with dry soil, would yours be THAT light? I already know the answer. I have identified you as a chronic overwaterer. You are and have been probably since you transplanted, been watering before the plants have drained the containers all the way to the bottom and dried out that soil so that it was as dry as the Sahara Desert from top to bottom. When soil is dried out properly in veg the soil will be pulling away from the sides of the container and there might even be cracks along the top of the surface. If you tried watering with any amount at all when the soil is this dry, the soil will repel the water and run out of the sides. It is actually difficult to water a properly dried soft sided container.

You have described this and aloe was suggested to help break that initial surface tension, as well as add some silicate to the feeding plan. But that isn't the problem, just an annoyance that you have to deal with every time you water. The problem is that a 5 gallon container by this time should be on a 2 day watering cycle. You are not. When you first put a plant in a 5gal and water it properly to runoff, the plant can usually go about a week before it would need watering again, but you can speed it up a bit by giving a bit of water around the outside edges every 3 days or so to send the roots out that direction. But, the first watering cycle will be quite long, waiting for that container to get so dry that you are going to think that you are killing your plants and the container gets as light as a feather, and you need to wait for that to happen. You should never water the plant to saturation in veg until this happens... and you have not done this... you are consistently watering too early, right from the very start in that container.

Roots need to see oxygen between waterings almost as much as they need the water itself. If they don't, the roots have no choice but to protect themselves from the flood waters until they recede. At first they coat themselves with a protective shield and while shielded, their ability to suck up water is greatly reduced. This causes the inability for the plant to raise its leaves above horizontal, and most of the time all of the leaves will be hanging below horizontal. A healthy plant that is able to get the water pressure it needs in the trunk of the plant can raise its leaves well above the horizontal plane, so as to point themselves at the sun. An active healthy plant moves around quite a bit during the day, but one with root problems simply lays there.

So you came along that very first time after transplanting, before the water was drained at the bottom, and you watered again, 4 days later. Because of gravity, the water that was still in that soil had collected in the bottom third of the container, an underground lake. The lower tap and feed roots were still underwater, and you watered again. You added to the lake, and much sooner than would happen with a dry container, you achieved runoff and knew the soil was once again as full of water as it can get, as I advised in my watering article, watering to saturation.

So the lower roots didnt get oxygen that time, and you repeated this over and over again, watering before the container was truly empty. Now, the lower roots have begun to atrophy... they have been unused for too long and your plant is now having a great deal of difficulty not only draining the container as it once did but also in getting nutrition.

So what is happening right now is very instructive. Your plant is still able to use water, in the top spreader roots. There are two sets of roots in this weed, the top spreader roots that hang out in the top 3-5 inches of the container, and then the bottom feeder roots. Your problem is gravity. After you fill up that soil, the plant is happy for a bit because the top of the water table is still in the top spreader root system, but about 3 or 4 days later, the water table drops down below the top root system, and since the lower roots are dying, the plant begins to wilt, as if it was out of water... and the way you have trained it to not have active lower roots, it essentially is. You are properly reading the plant in that regard, but not understanding the frequency as being a problem.

If instead you had allowed the plant to drain the water between waterings, the roots would aggressively grow out trying to find every last drop in that container before it ran out. Forcing the roots to grow makes them strong and in a cloth container they really branch out, and by LIMITING the water you can force a rootball to grow. That first watering after the transplant might take a week, but that time for the plant to drain the soil to Sahara Desert status will steadily decrease with each cycle. The next time the plant typically drains the container in 5 days... then 4... then finally down to 3 and as the roots get as strong as they can in that sized container, you should be able to settle in on a 2 day watering cycle. Imagine how much more water and nutes a plant on a two day cycle can get when compared to a 4 day plant!

To recover from this (and you really should before going into bloom) start being very stingy with that water. Every 3 days, since you have trained the plant to only use the top spreader roots, water around the outside edges of that container with about 1/2 L of water.. no more... you DO NOT want to add to the water table sitting down below. Force your plant to use all of that water in the bottom and pull oxygen down there and to the central root core. It might take 10 days the first time... but stick with it. Force that plant to activate those lower roots. Once you have achieved Sahara Desert, water again very slowly to saturation, or runoff. Use however much water it takes. Come back 20 minutes after you have achieved runoff, and see how more you can add before you achieve runoff again. Now you have really saturated the soil.

I promise, the next time it won't take 7 or 10 days, the plant will have shaved off some of that time, and it will every time you successfully go through a real wet/dry cycle. When you get to about a 3 day cycle, flip to bloom, and during stretch the roots continue to aggressively grow. By the time budset occurs, you should be on a 2 day cycle.

Let me mention this too... because there are those out there that tell you to never let an organic grow go dry, especially as dry as the Sahara Desert! You will kill your microbes they cry! If microbes were that tender life would have died out on Earth a long time ago. There are spots in the soil, little holes in the perlite and other organics where water still remains, and so do microbes. Also microbes can go into a hibernation mode when the water goes away, and they pop right back up into active reproducing as soon as the water hits again. Don't forsake proper watering practices just because some online guru is concerned for your microbes.

I hope you are able to save this grow; I know you have been struggling with this for a while. I feel confident now that this has been sorted and that you will soon be seeing recovery. Good luck, and remember... with a weed you have to be cruel to be kind. A coddled weed is a lazy weed.

 

[Dogboy01]

Outside of us 1st timers making the mistake of over or under watering our plants Id say the next big hurdle regarding this issue is finding accurate information on;
1) Did I over or under water and what are the signs, what does the plant look like when this occurs?
2) What are the possible remedies for both situations?
3) What to expect during the remedy period?
This information has been terribly difficult for me to obtain (except for here) over the internet as Im constantly getting mixed information.
For you reg long timers you'd think this was a silly thing, but its not...at least for me.
The oroig post is worth its weight in gold..or bud if you prefer.

I'm a mid 60s outdoor vege grower and a 1st time (indoor tent) weed grower. I thought it would be easy to transition. My life's experience has helped me see problems before they are critical but it has been a steep learning curve. 1st grow to be harvested soon and should be pretty good. 2nd grow should be phenomenal with the treasure trove of info here. Your questions are the same ones that I need answers to. Glad I found this.

 

[Azimuth]

So, Emilya,

What would you do different when watering a smaller container, as I note you caution that this watering approach is for 3 gal containers and up.

 

[Emilya Green]

So, Emilya,

What would you do different when watering a smaller container, as I note you caution that this watering approach is for 3 gal containers and up.

Everything is the same in a smaller container except for the bit about migrating micro soil around inside of the rootball. You still establish a wet/dry cycle and you still make sure to dry out all the way to the bottom and you still water the outside edges and you still wait for the plant to be able to drain the container in less than 36 hours before up-potting.

 

[Azimuth]

Everything is the same in a smaller container except for the bit about migrating micro soil around inside of the rootball. You still establish a wet/dry cycle and you still make sure to dry out all the way to the bottom and you still water the outside edges and you still wait for the plant to be able to drain the container in less than 36 hours before up-potting.

Perfect! Thanks.

 

[Jon]

Hi Emilya -

I am getting ready to transplant the girls in the photo below. All five of them have tap roots coming out the bottom and roots visible top to bottom on both sides of the cup. Even the little two are ready enough to transplant, and the three bigger ones are obviously ready. I have one gallon pots prepped for them to go into. I have read your stuff repeatedly and feel I have a handle on the watering methodology. But I am unclear about what condition the soil should be in at the time of transplant. My "logic" says the plant Dixie cup "pot" should be close to dry and the soil in the gallon pot they are going into should be moist. Is that correct? Can you possibly post a quickie opinion on this please? It would really help me out. Thanks!

 

[Emilya Green]

Hi Emilya -

I am getting ready to transplant the girls in the photo below. All five of them have tap roots coming out the bottom and roots visible top to bottom on both sides of the cup. Even the little two are ready enough to transplant, and the three bigger ones are obviously ready. I have one gallon pots prepped for them to go into. I have read your stuff repeatedly and feel I have a handle on the watering methodology. But I am unclear about what condition the soil should be in at the time of transplant. My "logic" says the plant Dixie cup "pot" should be close to dry and the soil in the gallon pot they are going into should be moist. Is that correct? Can you possibly post a quickie opinion on this please? It would really help me out. Thanks!

Hi Jon, thank you for the question!
First let me say that roots coming out of the bottom or roots visible on the sides is absolutely not indicating that it is time to transplant. If you transplant this early, you are NOT following my system. The whole idea of starting in a solo cup is to gain control of the wet/dry cycle and force that plant to build its first solo cup sized rootball. The few puny roots you can see through your clear cups, and the roots you have enticed to flow out of the bottom drainage holes chasing the water are not signs of needing to be uppotted. The only way to tell if there is a rootball in there is by monitoring the time it takes the plant to drain that cup of all water and make it dry as the Sahara and light as a feather. If the plant has not been able to do that for even the first time in 36 hours or less... you do not yet have a rootball, and there is no justification to uppot. I typically leave my plants in the solo cups until they have been topped one time, much longer than most growers do... and I get the results from having that extra helping of patience when dealing with these plants. It is not a race to see how fast you can transplant, because you could do it now and not harm the plants... but should you? I say don't do it.

Now, how to transplant. If you actually have a rootball, everything will hold together, wet or dry, as you slide it out of that cup. Even so, I tend to transplant when things are just a bit moist, but not wet... about half or 3/4 of the way through a wet/dry cycle would be perfect, but again, if you have a real rootball, you can transplant wet or dry... the plant doesn't care.

When you build your new larger container. stick an empty solo cup in there and build the soil around it so you have a hole exactly the size of your soon to be uppotted plant's rootball. Then water that new soil just a bit, just so it will hold the shape of that solo cup when you remove it. After you remove your plant from the cup and drop it in that hole, then carefully and slowly water the entire container to runoff, as this will merge the two soil regions together.

 

[irocu88]

Emilya,

Thank you for posting this topic, this is my fourth grow, and wish I had read this in the beginning....I have used this method so far, and I believe it has made a difference. I am not sure I am there yet (lol). Does it matter when I water? as in when during the photo period do you water when they need water? I have been watering around the middle of the period. My girls are happy and looking good at week 3.

 

[Jon]

Hi Emilya -

I am getting ready to transplant the girls in the photo below. All five of them have tap roots coming out the bottom and roots visible top to bottom on both sides of the cup. Even the little two are ready enough to transplant, and the three bigger ones are obviously ready. I have one gallon pots prepped for them to go into. I have read your stuff repeatedly and feel I have a handle on the watering methodology. But I am unclear about what condition the soil should be in at the time of transplant. My "logic" says the plant Dixie cup "pot" should be close to dry and the soil in the gallon pot they are going into should be moist. Is that correct? Can you possibly post a quickie opinion on this please? It would really help me out. Thanks!

Thank you so much! You're exactly right - I was feeling a bit "rushed" to transplant. I see I can relax. You are correct about the roots as you described them. Not a real rootball yet but a good start. I have been waiting to water until the plants are bone dry, as measured by comparing a Dixie cup of dry soil to the plants and not watering until the numbers match. So far so good. So regarding leaving them in the Dixie cups until topping - someone here told me it's better to top from five nodes down to 3 1/2 rather than topping the fourth as soon as it's big enough, because the root ball will then be more established. Do you agree with this? And if that is indeed the case, do you believe based on what you see in the picture that I'll be able to wait as long as the fifth node to be ready to pop without root bounding the plants? AND, if all that is true, would I then allow the plant a few days to "recover" from the topping and then transplant to the one gallon pots?

Sorry for all the questions. I really appreciate your willingness to help. Thank you.

 

[Jon]

Emilya,

Thank you for posting this topic, this is my fourth grow, and wish I had read this in the beginning....I have used this method so far, and I believe it has made a difference. I am not sure I am there yet (lol). Does it matter when I water? as in when during the photo period do you water when they need water? I have been watering around the middle of the period. My girls are happy and looking good at week 3.

Wow, those girls look like the picture of health. Beautiful.

 

[Emilya Green]

Emilya,

Thank you for posting this topic, this is my fourth grow, and wish I had read this in the beginning....I have used this method so far, and I believe it has made a difference. I am not sure I am there yet (lol). Does it matter when I water? as in when during the photo period do you water when they need water? I have been watering around the middle of the period. My girls are happy and looking good at week 3.

Hi @irocu88 and thank you for the feedback! Careful observation of your plants throughout a 24 hour period will provide the answer to your question. You will observe that slightly before the lights go out, the plants droop a little and go into a night mode where other things happen in the plant. The plant has gathered light and preformed photosynthesis all day long, and now the products of that labor get distributed all about the plant. The plant is in a different mode at night and the water pressure in the xylem is reduced (providing that nighttime droop) and the roots are not sucking in nearly as much water during that time.

In proof of their sentience, the plants anticipate the coming dawn, and about 20 minutes before the lights go on, the pumps re-start. The roots start sucking in water and the water pressure rises in the plant, allowing the plant to lift its leaves up toward the anticipated light (praying). As that daylight hits, the plant is sucking up water harder than any other time.

Dawn, is the very best time to water because of the plant's day/night cycle. The plant will actually suck up an additional 5-10% of water if you water at this time, and because of this I would recommend watering to runoff at daybreak and then one hour later, come back and water again to runoff, filling the soil back up with what the plant just drank.

 

[Emilya Green]

Thank you so much! You're exactly right - I was feeling a bit "rushed" to transplant. I see I can relax. You are correct about the roots as you described them. Not a real rootball yet but a good start. I have been waiting to water until the plants are bone dry, as measured by comparing a Dixie cup of dry soil to the plants and not watering until the numbers match. So far so good. So regarding leaving them in the Dixie cups until topping - someone here told me it's better to top from five nodes down to 3 1/2 rather than topping the fourth as soon as it's big enough, because the root ball will then be more established. Do you agree with this? And if that is indeed the case, do you believe based on what you see in the picture that I'll be able to wait as long as the fifth node to be ready to pop without root bounding the plants? AND, if all that is true, would I then allow the plant a few days to "recover" from the topping and then transplant to the one gallon pots?

Sorry for all the questions. I really appreciate your willingness to help. Thank you.

More good questions, and well beyond the basics!

First, a word on rootbound. This is not the crisis some make it out to be. In a bad situation, being a little rootbound can cause your lowest fan leave to freak... but again, this is just an indication of what is going on, but it doesn't at all mean your plant is in trouble. Other symptoms of being rootbound is that water usage drastically slows down too, so the entire metabolism slows down, again reducing the ability for this problem to exponentially multiply. If you carefully monitor your water usage rate however, you should not ever have this problem, and as soon as you see the first little spots on your lower fans, you are also seeing water usage drop... so you know exactly what the problem is. Plants in solo cups will hit the 24-36 hour benchmark once, and once only... and if you don't properly react to it then, the plant slows down (the point of diminishing returns) and you slide into showing the symptoms of being rootbound.

That being said, I would never use the state of the rootball to decide when or where to top. Topping is an art, and where you top defines the shape of the plant to come. Here are the rules:

• If you top between nodes 4 and 5 or anywhere higher on the plant, you will get 2 main kolas.
• If you top between nodes 3 and 4, the topping there confuses the plant and it acts like a FIM... sometimes you get 2 kolas, most of the time 3 kolas, sometimes 4 and occasionally 5 kolas will result from this odd topping. Resolving this mess takes the longest of any cut and severely shocks the plant for a couple of days.
• If you wait till the 5th node is just rising up, and then you chop it all the way down between nodes 2 and 3 (Uncle Ben's Method) you always end up with 4 main kolas. This chop is the start of mainlining and quad training and is very popular due to the short yet high producing plants it creates.

 

[irocu88]

You will observe that slightly before the lights go out, the plants droop a little and go into a night mode

I have noticed this, about 20-30 min. before the lights go out they start to droop a little, I just assumed the opposite happens before the lights come on at 4 am(I don't see this lol). This makes sense, and I will adjust accordingly....thank you.

Wow, those girls look like the picture of health. Beautiful.

Thank you Jon. This grow seems to be doing better than any I have had so far. I do think the new bulb I am using is part of it, I recently replaced my bulbs with the hortilux blue, exspensive but boy does it have a nice spectrum for a MH, I noticed a deeper green after just 2-3 days of switching. Hopefully it will continue, in the past...the last month is where I seem to get off track and start seeing problems. I am actually following a feeding schedule this time.

I never said I was smart...lol

 

[Jon]

More good questions, and well beyond the basics!

First, a word on rootbound. This is not the crisis some make it out to be. In a bad situation, being a little rootbound can cause your lowest fan leave to freak... but again, this is just an indication of what is going on, but it doesn't at all mean your plant is in trouble. Other symptoms of being rootbound is that water usage drastically slows down too, so the entire metabolism slows down, again reducing the ability for this problem to exponentially multiply. If you carefully monitor your water usage rate however, you should not ever have this problem, and as soon as you see the first little spots on your lower fans, you are also seeing water usage drop... so you know exactly what the problem is. Plants in solo cups will hit the 24-36 hour benchmark once, and once only... and if you don't properly react to it then, the plant slows down (the point of diminishing returns) and you slide into showing the symptoms of being rootbound.

That being said, I would never use the state of the rootball to decide when or where to top. Topping is an art, and where you top defines the shape of the plant to come. Here are the rules:

• If you top between nodes 4 and 5 or anywhere higher on the plant, you will get 2 main kolas.
• If you top between nodes 3 and 4, the topping there confuses the plant and it acts like a FIM... sometimes you get 2 kolas, most of the time 3 kolas, sometimes 4 and occasionally 5 kolas will result from this odd topping. Resolving this mess takes the longest of any cut and severely shocks the plant for a couple of days.
• If you wait till the 5th node is just rising up, and then you chop it all the way down between nodes 2 and 3 (Uncle Ben's Method) you always end up with 4 main kolas. This chop is the start of mainlining and quad training and is very popular due to the short yet high producing plants it creates.

Hmmm....okay. Understood about the rootbound "non-issue" (lol). No problem. Carefully monitoring doesn't begin to describe my obsession, and I completely understand the 24-36 hour benchmark as you've explained it (I think). Regarding the topping: The "rules" as you describe them are pretty clear and easily understood. I notice you did not offer your personal opinion/preference of these three or which one you use. So my follow up questions, if you don't mind, are:

- Which of these three lends itself best to a photoperiod scrog grow? That is my intention with the five photo plants in my picture. I actually spoke with the Humboldt folks (these are all from their seeds) about which specific strains were similar enough in all regards to work well together in a scrog employing multiple strains in one tent, and these three was their suggestion. Just background info. I am also wheelchair bound, which must be factored in. I have help as necessary, but short plants and as low a scrog before flowering as possible is best case scenario for me. In consideration of these factors, my logic says the best thing to do is use Uncle Ben's method. You say short and high producing, and that is exactly the target. It also seems logical that the veg cycle would then take longer, which is also a preference. My first grow I switched to 12/12 on day 58 of veg. I'd like to keep the plants in veg for around 60 days if I can maintain a workable height and not overpopulate a scrog screen for that long. If these guys continue their pace of growth for the whole grow I'm not sure that will be possible, lol. I know I could "make" it happen with supercropping and such if necessary, but I'm not a huge fan of that technique on plant strains I don't know. Regardless, the point is that using Uncle Ben's method will allow for more veg time, yes? How could that NOT be the case?

- Is there a similar list of "rules" you can list for topping autos? Haven't decided yet about that. Read your stuff on it and spoken to many others. No matter what it appears reality is that this is one of what I call a 50/50 thing, meaning there's no obvious consensus on whether to top autos or not to top autos. In fact quite the opposite. And many argue this point with the same passion and logic as you do. That said, I'm not scairt! If it appears topping is a good idea once I see them at about 15 days (today is Day one, they just broke ground, you can see in my grow journal if you like, Jon's Second Grow - First Grow Journal - Autos/Photoperiod Soil Grow is the name, both tents, photo and auto, are in the journal, today is Day 11 of photo/Day 1 of auto), I'll top them. But I have zero experience with autos and if there's a similar list of rules that would be very helpful.

- Which of these methods do you personally prefer? And does it depend on your choice of grow style (nothing/let them go, scrog, sog, etc...) for a particular grow? As tempting as it is to top between 3 and 4, get a bunch of main colas, and take a chance on severely shocking the plant for a few days as you say it does, it is also the first time I have heard you refer to actually "shocking" the plants, a condition you often say is usually an overblown concern. That tells me it's serious to the plant, and I'm not sure I want to induce that stress when it's just as easy to use Uncle Ben's method. BUT...it also sounds like using the second method on your list, despite the stress, might work very well for a scrog grow. Is this the case?

- So given that I'm going to wait on that 24-36 hour benchmark before transplanting, and the fact that today is Day 11, it is obvious they will still be in the cups in 4 more days, up to and a little beyond Day 15. I was going to begin my feeding (nutes) on Day 15. Is there any reason I can't do this while they still live in the Dixie cups? If that's a dumb question, sorry. I can't think of any logical reason why it would matter, but I've learned to subjugate my ego and ask a question even if it makes me look a bit like a dolt. Lol. There's simply a lot of stuff about growing GOOD weed that to me is counterintuitive, so I ask.

Other than that, thank you VERY much, your assistance is invaluable. And GREATLY appreciated. If I lived near you I'd buy you an ice cream cone. Lol. And I love the cup in the moist dirt to keep the exact shape of the transplant thing. PERFECT.

Muchas Gracias!!