Watering and nutrient help for first grow

[Farmr]

Hello, NewB here. Joined this fourm to learn and grow. Im on week 4 of my first grow.

I currently have a mother plant in the making. She's 4 weeks old and has been in a 4 gallon pot from seed.
She's been on a nutrient, water, nothing, 3 day feeding schedule so far. getting 1 cup of water or nutrients each feeding. She's doing really good and I havent had any problems with this so far, and Im trying to keep it that way.

My concerns:
1) Am I creating a nutrient build up in the soil? due to the 4 gallon pot never totally getting saturated with only 1 cup of water or nutrients every 2 outa 3 days.

2) That there is an easyer smarter way.

Sick of watching youtube videos. Thanks for the input, Farmr

 

[Farmr]

I want to start filling up the pot completely during feedings. So how do I go about it specifically? Next feeding she gets nutrients. So can I totally saturate her pot with nutrients next feeding? Should I use full strength nutes?or should I just use water the first time filling her up?
Or do like a 1/2 strength nutes? Shes just started full strength nutes last feeding. Anyway thanks again

 

[exile19]

Well with nutes you use 1 cap full per gallon until it gets bigger, like in 4 or 5 months you can use more but dont over nute that can kill and is as bad as overwatering. Pics would help, seeing what you are working with would help

 

[Smokemupm8]

Hi Farma.. How are ya..Look at the early stages of growth i provide little nutes until she is established and i feel is ready for em. As Exile(again)lol, said only light nutes at first then boost some as she builds. I use soil, well a potting mix,sand n pea straw mulch as my soil medium and my girls are happy and don t really need nutes for first few weeks, her leaves are always reaching up for the light and is a nice green color, i usually wait til she bout 1 1/2 to 2 ft b4 nutes, i grow to 5 ft so yeah.. But you may want to water your entire pot, so all the soil is wet, prevents moulds n such forming, a cup of water isnt that much, it may seem like it, but it may only be enough to wet 2 inches of soil,and also as the roots grow they have moist soil to feed from, at 4 weeks you'd be surprised how big her roots are! I use Seaweed extract and i have to say that last 2 plants root structures were better formed and more of them, all interconnected and thick white no burnt roots.. Goodluk and Happy Harvesting

 

[Farmr]

Hi Farma.. How are ya..Look at the early stages of growth i provide little nutes until she is established and i feel is ready for em. As Exile(again)lol, said only light nutes at first then boost some as she builds. I use soil, well a potting mix,sand n pea straw mulch as my soil medium and my girls are happy and don t really need nutes for first few weeks, her leaves are always reaching up for the light and is a nice green color, i usually wait til she bout 1 1/2 to 2 ft b4 nutes, i grow to 5 ft so yeah.. But you may want to water your entire pot, so all the soil is wet, prevents moulds n such forming, a cup of water isnt that much, it may seem like it, but it may only be enough to wet 2 inches of soil,and also as the roots grow they have moist soil to feed from, at 4 weeks you'd be surprised how big her roots are! I use Seaweed extract and i have to say that last 2 plants root structures were better formed and more of them, all interconnected and thick white no burnt roots.. Goodluk and Happy Harvesting

Damn! Im a idiot. I never even thought about using potting mix with fertilizer in it. I've been using the soilless with no additives. So after her first set of true leafs I started her out very light on nutes and built up. I also started from seed in a 4 or 5 gallon pot so I think the 1 cup feeding was the way to start until she got big enough to actually drink up a whole gallon which is what shes getting now. So the first time I filled the pot completely it probably retained 1.5 gallons. I did 1gal water first to be safe then back doored her with 1 gal nutes, full strength. I refill her every 3 or 4 days to be safe, but I think she can take more. When I water her she drinks it up and grows and inch the next day. I now do a water, nute, water, nute, feeding cycle. and feed every 3 days like I said before.

So what kind of potting mix do you use? miracle grow. I use general hydroponics expanded 6 series nutes. kinda expensive for me.

 

[exile19]

I use regular soil with compost

 

[Farmr]

Well with nutes you use 1 cap full per gallon until it gets bigger, like in 4 or 5 months you can use more but dont over nute that can kill and is as bad as overwatering. Pics would help, seeing what you are working with would help

No pics for now bro, but Ill tell you she has no fan leaves and shes about 12" tall. Shes under a 55W CFL That I think she loves and I also have a 280W red:bluerange LED in a 4x5 tent. & I just put her on 12/12 so Im going to turn the LED on probably tomorrow night.

 

[Farmr]

I have some compost. all cow shit though, and maybe a dead cow in the mix. So how much compost do you use in your mix?

 

[exile19]

Mine is home made, I use vegetable peels, fruit peels, fan leaves from other grows and mix it in with my soil. Its instant nutes, but store bought is also good.

 

[Farmr]

sure :/

 

[exile19]

I do a more basic version of this but this is what I do read How Do I Start a Compost Pile?

 

[Smokemupm8]

Hey mate, lol.. Yeah i find using a potting mix can be easier to get ur babies some nutrients as she's establishing herself, rather than just a plain soil. But if your soil is fertile well by all means use it, but i have shitful soil here, we re lucky grass grows! I usually use a standard pot mix from my local nursery, there are heaps of different pot mixes out there, some arent good to use on their own, and some prob shouldnt be used at all. Ive heard of foxfarm or happy frog?? somethin like that, but i havent seen that here in oz, not to say we dont have it i just havent looked or asked. So i use a potting mix, sand and sum pea straw mulch mixed together, not a lot of P/straw just enuf for aeration.. And i usually have ok growth, each seed from tap root to sprout in a week or so. Ive justmoved mine into final home, but am using sum different pot mix and its rather light and doesnt hold much water so i gotta keep an eye on that for the mean time. Sounds like your on your way with feeding ur girl now, and least an inch of growth is good progress, so she's telling you she pretty happy! Hope she flourishes for ya mate. Goodluk and Happy Harvesting

 

[invi]

Do you guys adjust nute levels to watering frequency?

Lets say i have few weeks with high temp, very low humidity. In this case i feed the girls twice as often as in a low temp & high humidity environment - giving them twice the amount of nutes during the same amount of time. Is it possible to overfert them because of this?
How do you do this?