The Proper Way To Water A Potted Plant

[SolMJ]

Great thread by the way. I would like to seek some advice if I may;

I grow in 11L fabric pots with soi universal potting soil (50% white sphagnum & 50% black peat moss limed) mixed with some polystyrene (didn't have perlite). We are about 45 days into flower & up until recently I was watering with 3L every 4/5 days. I noticed less & less runoff late veg but continued with 3L until I recently increased to 4.5L & still not that much runoff (I guess about 300-400ml). I water 0.5L in the centre, then 1L on each side.

I feel I can easily water with 5L or even 6L every 4/5 days. What puzzles me is that my fabric pots are only 11L so 5L would be 45% of pot size which sounds a lot but isn't, seemingly. Plus the temps are pretty decent. Bear in mind also they vegged about 56 days making it 101 days so far or 3.6 months. Another 4-5 weeks to go.

 

[Emilya Green]

Great thread by the way. I would like to seek some advice if I may;

I grow in 11L fabric pots with soi universal potting soil (50% white sphagnum & 50% black peat moss limed) mixed with some polystyrene (didn't have perlite). We are about 45 days into flower & up until recently I was watering with 3L every 4/5 days. I noticed less & less runoff late veg but continued with 3L until I recently increased to 4.5L & still not that much runoff (I guess about 300-400ml). I water 0.5L in the centre, then 1L on each side.

I feel I can easily water with 5L or even 6L every 4/5 days. What puzzles me is that my fabric pots are only 11L so 5L would be 45% of pot size which sounds a lot but isn't, seemingly. Plus the temps are pretty decent. Bear in mind also they vegged about 56 days making it 101 days so far or 3.6 months. Another 4-5 weeks to go.

It sounds like to me that the confusion is happening because of the arbitrary and humanly determined amount to water each time. Deciding to water with exactly 3L each time and then watching to see how much runoff you get seems like it could run you into problems, and as you stated, you recently upped your input by 1.5L, because the runoff stopped happening?

What you are doing with this method is trying to think for your plants and tell them how much water they need. It is far better to let the plants determine this for themselves. The plants water needs do increase over time, and a plant vegged for 56 days will just because of its size, develop quite a need for water. Then in flower, the needs increase yet again, and here it is imperative that we keep up with it. In flower we do not want to tease out the water for our plants, it should be our goal to give them every last drop that they can take.

Soil can hold up to 70% of its volume in water weight... it really is remarkable how much water you can suspend in a container of soil. This should be your goal when watering, to see if you can get that very last drop in that soil suspension, before anything additional would run off. This can not be done by quickly dumping water on the soil; it has to be done slowly, and almost like building a jenga tower... gently adding water until that last drop. The goal actually is to not have a lot of run off, but it is also to fill that soil up ever so slowly and see just how much water I can get in there. If she took 3.5L one day, expect her to take 3.6 the next, and watch her needs increase over time. Also, by not watching this number, the amount of water you can get in there, you can not see as easily when she slows down. Slow downs can indicate all sorts of things, including the need to flush when using salt based nutrients. If you just dump the same amount on them every time, it is a lot harder to see these things.

 

[OlderGrower]

Good morning Em
Just getting caught up on the latest info. I know you are a bit of a guru when it comes to watering and when it comes to putting it down on paper as how to do something, I find your instructions simple, clear and to the point which is always enjoyable. I would love to see you start a similar thread but instead of watering in a pot, watering in soil for the outdoor grower who plants directly into mother earth. Watering in a container has always been pretty easy for me to grasp but I confess when it comes to growing directly in the ground I have always flown by the seat of my pants. I would love to hear what your thoughts are on watering plants that are grown directly in the ground.

 

[Emilya Green]

Good morning Em
Just getting caught up on the latest info. I know you are a bit of a guru when it comes to watering and when it comes to putting it down on paper as how to do something, I find your instructions simple, clear and to the point which is always enjoyable. I would love to see you start a similar thread but instead of watering in a pot, watering in soil for the outdoor grower who plants directly into mother earth. Watering in a container has always been pretty easy for me to grasp but I confess when it comes to growing directly in the ground I have always flown by the seat of my pants. I would love to hear what your thoughts are on watering plants that are grown directly in the ground.

Thanks for the compliments OlderGrower, and let me think about that one for a bit and get back to it. I have almost zero cannabis experience outside, but I am an experienced outdoor vegetable gardener... I just need to think about what I would do to adapt my cannabis growing techniques to an outside garden that I was able to properly maintain. It looks like we may be going legal here soon, so I need to think about this anyway. Thanks for the question OG, I will get back to this as my busy weekend settles down.

 

[SHRuuM]

Good morning Em
Just getting caught up on the latest info. I know you are a bit of a guru when it comes to watering and when it comes to putting it down on paper as how to do something, I find your instructions simple, clear and to the point which is always enjoyable. I would love to see you start a similar thread but instead of watering in a pot, watering in soil for the outdoor grower who plants directly into mother earth. Watering in a container has always been pretty easy for me to grasp but I confess when it comes to growing directly in the ground I have always flown by the seat of my pants. I would love to hear what your thoughts are on watering plants that are grown directly in the ground.

As a guerilla farmer for over 30 yrs I think I can be of some help. There are a few variables:1. heat, anything after 82 degrees the plant just aspirates water, and growth is still happening but minimally. 2. the size of the plant, and is it in veg or flowering state, and 3. the soil, is it sandy, gumbo, clay or mixtures there of. For example, here in Texas in the dead of summer where temps reach consistently in the high 90's to low 100 degrees, and there is a gumbo sandy mix,a 6 ft plant, in veg, requires a minimum of a gallon and a half of water daily. But if the same plant is in flowering with the same variables you're talking 2 to 2.5 gallons daily. That's why I'm a big fan of polymers. They are your plants last line of defense if she needs more moisture or nutes and evaporation doesn't play into the formula. Hope this helps.

 

[Nulife]

Hi, Nunu here... Wow, I didn't realize at all how important "how you watered" was a thing. Thank you for taking the time to create this tutorial for us newbies. Are the techniques you mention for watering soil the same for soilless like coco/perlite mixes? Also are they the same for air pots like the "Rootmaker" pot that has holes on the sides for lateral rooting? Lastly, would you say that plants in a 3gal pot (rootmaker pot) usually gets watered twice a week, or do you ever find that once a week is more likely. I was watering my soil plant every few days, I was doing the pick up the pot method. When it was light as heck I'd water it. Now with soilless I'm finding twice a week seems to be working, Weds water/nutes, Sunday just water. Definitely making sure ph is correct especially in soilless. Just trying to find out if I'm on track or if there's a problem brewing ahead, though they seem and look fine now. Thanks for your help.

 

[Timmo]

Welcome to 420mag, Nulife.

I can't answer your questions about soilless mixes or different pot types, but the watering gurus will tell you to throw away your calendar and stick with the "pick up the pot" method. Water your plants when they tell you they're ready for water, not when the calendar does.

 

[Emilya Green]

Hi, Nunu here... Wow, I didn't realize at all how important "how you watered" was a thing. Thank you for taking the time to create this tutorial for us newbies. Are the techniques you mention for watering soil the same for soilless like coco/perlite mixes? Also are they the same for air pots like the "Rootmaker" pot that has holes on the sides for lateral rooting? Lastly, would you say that plants in a 3gal pot (rootmaker pot) usually gets watered twice a week, or do you ever find that once a week is more likely. I was watering my soil plant every few days, I was doing the pick up the pot method. When it was light as heck I'd water it. Now with soilless I'm finding twice a week seems to be working, Weds water/nutes, Sunday just water. Definitely making sure ph is correct especially in soilless. Just trying to find out if I'm on track or if there's a problem brewing ahead, though they seem and look fine now. Thanks for your help.

There are a couple of ways to use soiless mixes, one involves watering to runoff twice a day and aerating the watering mix so that the plants can get oxygen, and the other to do like you are doing and use it as if it were a regular soil container that needs to dry out to the bottom each time. If you are using the coco as if it were soil, then the rules for watering do not change.
The added complexities in the root system that air pots and smart pots provide, create stronger root systems than a regular container, and therefore you should notice that the plants in them are more efficient in using up the water that you provide. The rules dont change however, and the "pick it up" method works well to inform you when it is time to water, but again... rules are made to be broken.
There is a point about 3 weeks into flowering when the plants are no longer working on growing more roots. At this point in the grow, everything is about the buds and the top growth in the plant. The roots you have at this point are the ones you are taking to the end, and it is now time to use them. Instead of waiting for "light as a feather" at this point in the grow I am only looking for regular pattern... I want to keep growing at full steam. From this time until the end of flower, I start trying to push water at them as fast as they will take it, and if I have done things right, the plants will have settled into an every 2 or 3 day watering schedule. I no longer want them to dry out all the way... I want to use those roots to gather up as much water and nutes as I can get into them so that my buds are as big and juicy as they possibly can be. Timmo was right, forget the calendar... water your plants when they are ready... its just that depending on the stage of the grow, they get ready for water at ever decreasing intervals and it never seems to be a regular thing until the end when you are pushing the water at short regular intervals because they can handle it.

 

[moss1310]

Emilya- just found this thread. The info is great. I'm pretty new at this, and have definitely been watering my outdoor plants too quickly (water keeps rolling off the top and out of the container). I think I just need to be a little more patient

 

[Nulife]

There are a couple of ways to use soiless mixes, one involves watering to runoff twice a day and aerating the watering mix so that the plants can get oxygen,

Thank you so much for your reply and info. I have a question about the first thing you mentioned. watering to runoff twice a day? Did you mean twice a day or week? I never heard of this method, would you mind explaining the how and why a little more?

I have already applied your thread in practice today and would like if you can look at my journal for my "Soilless Raspberry Cough". Basically I was going to water today cause that was the schedule I thought of, but she looked perky as hell and the pot still seemed heavy. But I'm just noticed the faintest signs of yellowing on a couple of the leaves on the edges. Not sure if I should give her the nutes she needs or wait so she get the oxygen she needs. It's the last post I posted today, with pics. Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Emilya Green]

Thank you so much for your reply and info. I have a question about the first thing you mentioned. watering to runoff twice a day? Did you mean twice a day or week? I never heard of this method, would you mind explaining the how and why a little more?

I have already applied your thread in practice today and would like if you can look at my journal for my "Soilless Raspberry Cough". Basically I was going to water today cause that was the schedule I thought of, but she looked perky as hell and the pot still seemed heavy. But I'm just noticed the faintest signs of yellowing on a couple of the leaves on the edges. Not sure if I should give her the nutes she needs or wait so she get the oxygen she needs. It's the last post I posted today, with pics. Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Some people run soilless mixes as passive hydro systems. A very effective way to use coco is to put an airstone in your water/nute mix to aerate it, and then apply that, allowing the roots to get their oxygen from the solution, even while remaining underwater. With this method you endeavor to keep the container full, watering twice a day, treating your grow as if it were full hydroponic instead of simulating a soil container grow as you are doing now. Hempy would be another method similar to this, where the bottom reservoir never is allowed to totally dry out, and again you treat it as a passive hydro system. Those who use these methods claim to get the fast growth associated with hydro, along with the convenience of a closed container system.

Regarding nutes, in a soilless system, remember that the only nutes the plant can get are those that you supply. I can not see a good argument for not giving nutes every time, except when you are attempting to flush the system. That being said, I will look at your journal and try to advise you on the yellowing that you are reporting and what in my opinion needs to be done. I hesitate to even guess until I have seen the pictures.

 

[Emilya Green]

Emilya- just found this thread. The info is great. I'm pretty new at this, and have definitely been watering my outdoor plants too quickly (water keeps rolling off the top and out of the container). I think I just need to be a little more patient

Glad you found me Moss... and yes, it sounds like you need to go slower. What really helps a lot is to start off with a small amount of water on the top... like a cup or two. Just pour that on the top and walk away for 10 or 15 minutes to let it soak in deep. Once you have broken the surface tension, the next water applications will be pulled down very quickly, and although you still need to go slow to properly water, you can get by after this first soaking with adding more at a time... I have a 3 cup watering pitcher that I use. This pitcher slows me down enough so that if I systematically move around the tent, watering each plant with 3 cups at a time, by the time I get back around to the same plant, that last water has been sucked down as far as it can go before being absorbed. It literally takes me 2 hours to water 6 plants in 7 gallon containers, but that is me doing a round around the room, and then walking away, smoking a couple of bowls, chatting, playing a computer game or something to break up the time between rounds. Sure, I could dump the water on the plants... i have a good idea how much they need. The problem is, without taking the time to allow the soil and the organics in it to absorb the water, you never will fully saturate the medium, some of the water just flows through being wasted, and worse, you will never allow the microlife to fully and freely move around in that rootball, and consequently, your roots will never fully fill that space.

 

[Nulife]

Some people run soilless mixes as passive hydro systems. A very effective way to use coco is to put an airstone in your water/nute mix to aerate it, and then apply that, allowing the roots to get their oxygen from the solution, even while remaining underwater. With this method you endeavor to keep the container full, watering twice a day, treating your grow as if it were full hydroponic instead of simulating a soil container grow as you are doing now. Hempy would be another method similar to this, where the bottom reservoir never is allowed to totally dry out, and again you treat it as a passive hydro system. Those who use these methods claim to get the fast growth associated with hydro, along with the convenience of a closed container system.

I will have to find some how to stuff on what you mentioned. I'm not sure I'm getting it. My water nute mix is in a gal water bottle. Do you mean putting an airstone in the gal bottle of water then pouring that on top the coco mix to water. So many questions, definitely will need to find some good step by steps. Any one you knowing doing this methods, that might have a journal I can peek in on?

Thank you kindly for helping me out.

 

[Emilya Green]

I will have to find some how to stuff on what you mentioned. I'm not sure I'm getting it. My water nute mix is in a gal water bottle. Do you mean putting an airstone in the gal bottle of water then pouring that on top the coco mix to water. So many questions, definitely will need to find some good step by steps. Any one you knowing doing this methods, that might have a journal I can peek in on?

Thank you kindly for helping me out.

Do a search on here for "coco watering twice a day" and you will find some resources that should help. I like the one that has a youtube video on it: How I grow in coco Youtube videos and pics

 

[Nulife]

Great thanks, that will help a lot, I like reading and watching and listening to everything I can get my hands on to learn. Though hubby is starting to miss me at night cause I'm not sleeping, I'm reading or watching videos. lol I will definitely look into that.

I had a couple of questions for clarity on my soilless Raspberry Cough grow that I posted, when you get a chance.

 

[arteekay]

Great thanks, that will help a lot, I like reading and watching and listening to everything I can get my hands on to learn. Though hubby is starting to miss me at night cause I'm not sleeping, I'm reading or watching videos. lol I will definitely look into that.

I had a couple of questions for clarity on my soilless Raspberry Cough grow that I posted, when you get a chance.

How many of us do that? I slept probably 3 hours or less a night for two months straight.

That's a lot of journals to follow, are they all active grows?

 

[Gazoo]

OK Thought I would contribute my watering method, Its actually
very close to the process posted .

I use 3 gal felt pots which will hold nearly 1 gallon. I water every
2 days at flower, and every 3 to 4 days in veg depending on size/age of plant.

Watering is done automatically and SLOOOOOW it takes 1 Hr for 20 cups of water/nutes.

Basically I mix up my Nutes or use my PH water, Bring bucket down stairs, drop pump into
bucket plug in and walk away for an hour

How it works:
I am using a 3 gal bucket with a Submersible Fountain Pump & a NFT Cycle timer
(1 min on / 4 min off), Homemade Drip ring and A Drain pan with drain hose attached.
See picture below

This process is very simple and works by slowly watering for 1 minute
(approximately 2 cups each cycle) then stops for 4 minutes and then repeats
this cycle over and over for 1 hr.

The process wets the soil and allows it to soak through the pot before starting
another cycle, I believe this process is a better way to wash away the built up
salts rather than just letting the water wash over the undissolved salt,
Kind of like a rinse cycle over and over if you will.

I know she will hold approximately 1 gallon as I always add 20 cups (1 and ¼ gal)
with a 3 cup run-off And since I do HORIZONTAL Screen with LST (ScrOG to most)
with only 6 inches from soil to screen it can be difficult. Had to use my MacGyver
skills to put something together that did not take hours every other day

 

[Emilya Green]

OK Thought I would contribute my watering method, Its actually
very close to the process posted .

I use 3 gal felt pots which will hold nearly 1 gallon. I water every
2 days at flower, and every 3 to 4 days in veg depending on size/age of plant.

Watering is done automatically and SLOOOOOW it takes 1 Hr for 20 cups of water/nutes.

Basically I mix up my Nutes or use my PH water, Bring bucket down stairs, drop pump into
bucket plug in and walk away for an hour

How it works:
I am using a 3 gal bucket with a Submersible Fountain Pump & a NFT Cycle timer
(1 min on / 4 min off), Homemade Drip ring and A Drain pan with drain hose attached.
See picture below

This process is very simple and works by slowly watering for 1 minute
(approximately 2 cups each cycle) then stops for 4 minutes and then repeats
this cycle over and over for 1 hr.

The process wets the soil and allows it to soak through the pot before starting
another cycle, I believe this process is a better way to wash away the built up
salts rather than just letting the water wash over the undissolved salt,
Kind of like a rinse cycle over and over if you will.

I know she will hold approximately 1 gallon as I always add 20 cups (1 and ¼ gal)
with a 3 cup run-off And since I do HORIZONTAL Screen with LST (ScrOG to most)
with only 6 inches from soil to screen it can be difficult. Had to use my MacGyver
skills to put something together that did not take hours every other day

cool system and a great DIY; thanks for sharing! I have found too that the cloth containers need a different method than a hard sided container, where you can get the soil rotating inside the rootball fairly easily. The main thing of importance in watering a cloth container is exactly what you are doing here with your automated system... watering slowly, with small amounts at a time, over an extended period of time, making sure to saturate the rootball. Since I grow organically, I have no problems with salts building up, so I have no need to flush, and therefore I do not overwater. Since water needs are a constantly moving target, I am not sure that I would ever be able to trust an automated system to do this right, without allowing for a lot of waste in the automatic process. Because of this, although your method is much easier, I will stick to the control that I have by doing it slowly by hand. I actually enjoy sitting in my tent for 2 hours every couple of days, and I think that me being in there, breathing and practicing my zen, is good for both me and the plants.

 

[odinsmaster]

I am using this method. Thank you.

 

[Gazoo]

I actually enjoy sitting in my tent for 2 hours every couple of days, and I think that me being in there, breathing and practicing my zen, is good for both me and the plants.

Oh Yes I also enjoy the time I can spend with her. Actually very relaxing with her
especially since I also have the "Rain Forest CD with Brain Alpha Brainwave Pulse"
playing 24/7. Figured since I am playing GOD and controlling the Light, Air, Growing
Medium I might as well complete the environment and add the sound to round out
the environment. Who knows it could actually help her with stress? I know it helps me