I personally do not have any examples of overwatered plants, but I have seen this over and over again as I help out new growers who come in here looking for advice. When the lower roots begin to shut down because of overwatering, the symptoms showing on the leaves can look like all deficiencies, all at once, because that in effect is what it is... the nutrients can't get up into the plant through the damaged roots.

Once you repair the damage through proper watering all you really have lost in a photoperiod plant is time... and as long as you give her the time she needs to rebuild, there is no reason that the once abused plant couldn't produce as well as a plant who never suffered.
How about this added with the liquid 5 in 1 . So that way i don't have to use too much 5 in 1 . Just a 3/4 dose of liquid 5 in 1 and a full shot of the potash ? Sound ok ? Should boost the p and k without adding more nitro into the equation?

Screenshot_20210613-231909_Chrome.jpg


Screenshot_20210613-231904_Chrome.jpg


Screenshot_20210613-231857_Chrome.jpg
 
lol, so many ways to get there, but yeah, you get it. Sort of the man in a hurry's way of watering to saturation, and like a man with a platinum man card, it is done with duct tape. The only way to improve on this would be to advise people to use WD40 to remove the tape at the end.
:laughtwo::laughtwo:
 
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.
soil_with_arrow_640_1_.png

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.
proper_potted_plant_number_2.jpg



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
Answers alot of questions. Thanks
 
Hi, Emilya, Does this watering method work for a mix of Coco coir and hummus as grow medium?
Hi Colatl, I hope your grow is going well! To answer your question, It depends on the mix. Roots organic 101 is a good soil that is a mix of coco and humus, and since the soil part of that mix is predominant, I would treat it like soil. The general rule is whatever part is 70% of the mix, takes precedence. If your mix is 50/50, then I have no clue how you should run that... you could probably go either way. If yours is mostly humus (soil) then treat it like soil and everything I say here would be valid... if yours is mostly coco, then hydro rules apply and almost nothing I have presented here will apply to your grow.
 
Hi, Emilya, thanks again for the advise... I had another question... I'm in mid flowering, and wanted to know if the burned tips are a bad sign of the plant being fed to much PK... I think I saw a post from you regarding something similar, bit yours is organic... Can you give me an advice regarding nutrients feeding in flowering, I have soil medium at the moment...
IMG_20210630_070249.jpg


IMG_20210701_105745.jpg


IMG_20210701_105743.jpg


IMG_20210630_070246.jpg
 
Hi, Emilya, thanks again for the advise... I had another question... I'm in mid flowering, and wanted to know if the burned tips are a bad sign of the plant being fed to much PK... I think I saw a post from you regarding something similar, bit yours is organic... Can you give me an advice regarding nutrients feeding in flowering, I have soil medium at the moment...
IMG_20210630_070249.jpg


IMG_20210701_105745.jpg


IMG_20210701_105743.jpg


IMG_20210630_070246.jpg
A burned tip is not always an indication of too much nutrient... oftentimes it is showing that there is a deficiency. In your blooming plants this looks to be the case. I see the tips that are being cannibalized and also yellow leaves starting at the bottom and moving up the plant. I also see a plant that is a pale green, indicating that it is not getting enough of other things too, including a little bit of nitrogen. These symptoms together are indicating a mobile nutrient deficiency and it looks like a lack of potassium is the main culprit. In your efforts to not overfertilize because you thought you saw "burning" you have reduced the amount you are feeding them and have managed to starve them of the much needed potassium. I suggest going back to the manufactured recommended feed amounts for your nutes.
 
Hi OGeMann! I am glad you asked this question because lately I have noticed that there are lots of people confused about this matter. I have been playing with supersoil for quite a number of years and have learned a thing or two about the keeping of microbes, for that is essentially what we are doing when we grow organically... we are working to keep the microbes going. Everything we need nutritionally is already in the supersoil, so our job as gardeners is simply watering the plant efficiently and making sure that we keep the microbes alive.

I have found that in practice it is very hard to kill off microbes. If they died simply because things dried out, there would be no need for chlorine in our water supply. Plumbers would simply make sure your pipes dried out when not being used to move water, and there would be no problem with a buildup of microbes... they would be easily killed by the lack of water. We would find that in deserts, volcanoes, during a drought and in our dry containers, microbes would be non existent.... but in reality, microbes can live in all of these places. When our containers go mostly dry (not so dry that our plants are dying) there is still quite of bit of water still left in there. Even at the point of wilting, there is still moisture deep down in that rootball and hiding in the organics and the millions of little holes in the perlite... and in those hiding places are the mighty microbes that keep everything running. Some of these critters can reproduce every 20 minutes, doubling their population shortly after watering. Microbes are a lot more hardy than we give them credit for. Even taking them down to the point of dry as dry can be... let's imagine that you left a plant in the desert sun for 3 weeks without watering and fried it to a crisp. Take that soil and give it some water and guess what happens... microbes appear! Somehow they survive by going into a stasis hibernation stage where seemingly dead according to all the rules we know, they come back to life with the application of a little water.

So I feel it is a myth that the soil needs to be kept moist in an organic (or any other type) grow. I still allow my plants to get pretty darn dry, right up to the point of wilting, especially in veg, but even in bloom I do this about every 4th watering. This seems to not be a problem, and I see no reason to vary my watering methods simply to protect a critter that does ok without my help. Especially when using regular compost teas, recharge or a product that brings along its own microbes with each watering like @GeoFlora Nutrients, I see no need to concern myself with a few microbes going immobile due to a lack of water, because I am constantly bringing in more of them... and even if I wasn't, the ones remaining in my mostly dry soil will come back with exponential growth as soon as I water again. Instead of concerning myself with a few microbes, I find it much more important to use the water to tease out better roots in veg by forcing a wet/dry cycle, and while I do push more water at the plant in bloom, I still see it as critical to periodically introduce drought to the plant by letting it dry out an extra day several times during bloom so as to build more trichomes... and I see absolutely no danger to the microbes in doing so.
I would like to comment on this: In 2019, right before my second ever grow, I happened to drive by Sohum Living Soil's offices in Denver and was intrigued by the sign and name and on a whim I stopped and went in and wound up leaving with 2 bags of Sohum living soil. I had never heard the instruction to keep the soil moist but I had recently read your watering article so I followed your instructions on how to water on all 6 of my plants in the Living Soil in my 5 gallon Smart Pots and everything came out great! I never had one sign of any kind of deficiency through the hole grow from planting the clones in May, to harvest in November. And I had a huge harvest with applying only water with your technique in the living soil. So the drying out process obviously had no effect on the microbes. BTW, I fertilize my lawn with an organic lawn fertilizer that is guaranteed to have beneficial microbes and it is bone dry in the bag but makes my lawn super green and grow like crazy
 
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.
soil_with_arrow_640_1_.png

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.
proper_potted_plant_number_2.jpg



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 Emily
Hey Emily, great read, very glad I saw this! Will be paying closer attention to my watering next grow, thank you for taking the time to do this, you rock!
 
I would like to comment on this: In 2019, right before my second ever grow, I happened to drive by Sohum Living Soil's offices in Denver and was intrigued by the sign and name and on a whim I stopped and went in and wound up leaving with 2 bags of Sohum living soil. I had never heard the instruction to keep the soil moist but I had recently read your watering article so I followed your instructions on how to water on all 6 of my plants in the Living Soil in my 5 gallon Smart Pots and everything came out great! I never had one sign of any kind of deficiency through the hole grow from planting the clones in May, to harvest in November. And I had a huge harvest with applying only water with your technique in the living soil. So the drying out process obviously had no effect on the microbes. BTW, I fertilize my lawn with an organic lawn fertilizer that is guaranteed to have beneficial microbes and it is bone dry in the bag but makes my lawn super green and grow like crazy
Thanks to both of you for this discussion, cuz just by chance, @jokerlola, I just grabbed my first ever bag of Sohum living soil. It's on it's way. Up to now I've been doing the Fox Farms soil thing, which is fine and makes the weed taste great. But I know it can be much better (and easier, potentially) with living soil. So I thought I'd give it a shot and start small. I'm just going to try one auto in it and see how I do. That way if I screw it up, no loss. Lol. I may loop back to you at some point with a question or two about this particular soil if you don't mind. And @Emilya, awesome writeup as always. I am an editor for a living. Your writing is impressive. Very clear, very concise, and presented in a way that is easy for even the commoner like me to understand. Thanks, as always. You're the best.
 
Thanks to both of you for this discussion, cuz just by chance, @jokerlola, I just grabbed my first ever bag of Sohum living soil. It's on it's way. Up to now I've been doing the Fox Farms soil thing, which is fine and makes the weed taste great. But I know it can be much better (and easier, potentially) with living soil. So I thought I'd give it a shot and start small. I'm just going to try one auto in it and see how I do. That way if I screw it up, no loss. Lol. I may loop back to you at some point with a question or two about this particular soil if you don't mind. And @Emilya, awesome writeup as always. I am an editor for a living. Your writing is impressive. Very clear, very concise, and presented in a way that is easy for even the commoner like me to understand. Thanks, as always. You're the best.
Thank you Jon! Good luck with the Sohum... you know they say that once you go organic, you never go back. I think you are going to love using it, as well as the results it gives you. Coming from a professional editor, I am very pleased to see your comments about my writing. For this, I credit 11 years of higher education and all the papers I had to write while chasing my degrees. State a thesis, develop that thesis and summarize at the end... the process has become part of my DNA.
 
Thank you Jon! Good luck with the Sohum... you know they say that once you go organic, you never go back. I think you are going to love using it, as well as the results it gives you. Coming from a professional editor, I am very pleased to see your comments about my writing. For this, I credit 11 years of higher education and all the papers I had to write while chasing my degrees. State a thesis, develop that thesis and summarize at the end... the process has become part of my DNA.
Nice. Yeah, I did the Journalism major at Penn thing, worked for a few weekly newspapers, and now I edit for a company called IGlobalConnect. It's interesting, cuz I am the LEAST religious person on Earth, and this company prints nothing but religious books. One after another I edit these books and write Amazon sales writeups for them, and the whole time I am laughing my ass off. Lol. Don't mind me, not trying to hijack a thread with personal stuff. But yes, I appreciate and recognize good writing. The best and last part of the story is that I traded all that higher education in for my bass and touring with the Dead, because at some point I realized that I have zero white collar in me and that entire world pretty much makes me vomit. :laughtwo::laughtwo::laughtwo::laughtwo::laughtwo:
 
Thanks to both of you for this discussion, cuz just by chance, @jokerlola, I just grabbed my first ever bag of Sohum living soil. It's on it's way. Up to now I've been doing the Fox Farms soil thing, which is fine and makes the weed taste great. But I know it can be much better (and easier, potentially) with living soil. So I thought I'd give it a shot and start small. I'm just going to try one auto in it and see how I do. That way if I screw it up, no loss. Lol. I may loop back to you at some point with a question or two about this particular soil if you don't mind. And @Emilya, awesome writeup as always. I am an editor for a living. Your writing is impressive. Very clear, very concise, and presented in a way that is easy for even the commoner like me to understand. Thanks, as always. You're the best.
The Sohum worked out very well for me. Because of the lockdowns last year I couldn't get the the stuff they used to sell to recharge it and I couldn't get new bags for my 2020 grow so I had to run it a second time and try to re-amend it with what I had around the house and I had a another good grow with it. I grew half my plants with a second run of Sohum and the other half reusing some Dr. Earth soil with synth and organic nute samples I had gotten at the Indo Expo in January 2020 and my second run of Sohum plants performed almost as well as the nute sample plants. The nute sample plants were bigger but not necessarily better. That was the first time I ever used synthetic nutrients (and only my 3rd ever grow). My first grow, I grew organically as well. I used Dr. Earth potting soil and thru the grow I used Alaska fish emulsion, Mater Magic fertilizer, worm castings, some Dr. Earth all purpose fertilizer and Dr. Earth Flowergirl Bloom Booster. I didn't know at all what I was doing, but wound up producing some really nice plants and bud from clones.

Unfortunately (for me here in Denver) they no longer sell Sohum for $20 a bag out of their offices and now it's only available thru retailers at double or more of that price. They also don't sell that recharge kit to reuse it (because they want you to buy new bags every grow I guess). This year I am trying another living soil from Paonia Soil Company called "The Bomb". I would eventually like to try making and using the "Coot's Mix".

I think you should be able to keep living soil going for multiple grows with the right amendments although my 5 gallon Smart Pots my be too small for that.
 
The Sohum worked out very well for me. Because of the lockdowns last year I couldn't get the the stuff they used to sell to recharge it and I couldn't get new bags for my 2020 grow so I had to run it a second time and try to re-amend it with what I had around the house and I had a another good grow with it. I grew half my plants with a second run of Sohum and the other half reusing some Dr. Earth soil with synth and organic nute samples I had gotten at the Indo Expo in January 2020 and my second run of Sohum plants performed almost as well as the nute sample plants. The nute sample plants were bigger but not necessarily better. That was the first time I ever used synthetic nutrients (and only my 3rd ever grow). My first grow, I grew organically as well. I used Dr. Earth potting soil and thru the grow I used Alaska fish emulsion, Mater Magic fertilizer, worm castings, some Dr. Earth all purpose fertilizer and Dr. Earth Flowergirl Bloom Booster. I didn't know at all what I was doing, but wound up producing some really nice plants and bud from clones.

Unfortunately (for me here in Denver) they no longer sell Sohum for $20 a bag out of their offices and now it's only available thru retailers at double or more of that price. They also don't sell that recharge kit to reuse it (because they want you to buy new bags every grow I guess). This year I am trying another living soil from Paonia Soil Company called "The Bomb". I would eventually like to try making and using the "Coot's Mix".

I think you should be able to keep living soil going for multiple grows with the right amendments although my 5 gallon Smart Pots my be too small for that.
Hey jokerola, thanks so much for the detailed writeup. I greatly appreciate it when someone takes the time. We are both on our third grow my friend, which is kind of cool. Anyway, yes, I am very excited to try this out. So everything I have been able to read says it's as plug and play as it gets. Just keep it watered properly, which in my world is watering via Emilya's methodology. I hope you don't mind a few questions, cuz you'll find, I'm just like that. Can't help it. I have three easy ones for you, lol.
- So what is the best water to use if I am just keeping it watered? RO? Tap? Doesn't matter as long as I ph adjust it first? (that would be the answer I am hoping for, lol)
- And, are there any additions that are beneficial despite it being supposedly unnecessary? I'm thinking like a tea or something like that? Or do you really just water it and let the microbes do their thing?
- And, last one - what have you found to be the optimum PH for this soil, and would you simply adjust your water to that exact PH level before giving it to the plant?

All my soil is delivered regardless, so I have given up on the expense of it and just chalk it up to necessity. This stuff I actually got for a little less than the FF soil. I paid a little less than $80 for 1.5 cubic feet. It's enough for a few plants to try it out. And for delivery from out west to way out southeast in a few days I'll take that. But I hear you. You guys are so damn spoiled in Denver and you don't even realize it. (just kidding, lmao).

Would love to hear some more about that Indo Expo.

Thanks again.
 
Here's a question for Emilya.

I've been watering per the technique you described for Veg in Post #1 but now I'm at the end of third week of flowering. I'm thinking I should not be waiting for a full wet-dry cycle and start watering more frequently. Here's my current routine.

Soil in 5 gallon fabric pots. A bone dry pot I have for comparison weighs in just a tad under 10 pounds and I've been using it as test and also have a scale. I'm at the point where I can reliably judge when it's down to roughly 10.5 pounds at which point I water with a gallon and a half. Current wet-dry cycle is 4 days.

I've also read your followup about watering more frequently during flowering using the second knuckle test. Use the roots built up with the first technique to suck up as much water and nutrients as possible to fatten up the buds.

Here's my question. Since a gallon and a half of water is roughly 12 pounds and that pushes the total weight to roughly 22 pounds is there also a weight that would indicate it's time to water again? A weight that would be equivalent to the second knuckle test?

EDIT: You can check my grow journal (link in sig) for current pictures I posted as of today.
 
what have you found to be the optimum PH for this soil, and would you simply adjust your water to that exact PH level before giving it to the plant?
Unless the pH of your water is way over 8 or way under 4, there is no need to adjust pH in an organic supersoil grow. The only reason we adjust pH is so that synthetic nutes can be broken out of its EDTA salt chelation bonds and become available to the plant. If you are not running synthetic nutes, there is generally no need to worry at all about pH.
 
Here's a question for Emilya.

I've been watering per the technique you described for Veg in Post #1 but now I'm at the end of third week of flowering. I'm thinking I should not be waiting for a full wet-dry cycle and start watering more frequently. Here's my current routine.

Soil in 5 gallon fabric pots. A bone dry pot I have for comparison weighs in just a tad under 10 pounds and I've been using it as test and also have a scale. I'm at the point where I can reliably judge when it's down to roughly 10.5 pounds at which point I water with a gallon and a half. Current wet-dry cycle is 4 days.

I've also read your followup about watering more frequently during flowering using the second knuckle test. Use the roots built up with the first technique to suck up as much water and nutrients as possible to fatten up the buds.

Here's my question. Since a gallon and a half of water is roughly 12 pounds and that pushes the total weight to roughly 22 pounds is there also a weight that would indicate it's time to water again? A weight that would be equivalent to the second knuckle test?

EDIT: You can check my grow journal (link in sig) for current pictures I posted as of today.
Yes, you should water more often in bloom, it is time to use those roots. I have an easier method than the knuckle test or even weight... I just shave a day off of whatever the wet/dry cycle had gotten down to by the end of stretch, and from then on I water at that new schedule, except every 4th watering I still let them dry out that extra day, so that oxygen can get down to the lowest roots and reenergize them. As far as weight measuring goes, I am sure there would be a number, but also consider that unlike during veg, the plants are now starting to take on significant weight, so it would be hard to determine water weight from plant and bud weight.
 
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