How to water properly

@TorturedSoul @Emilya

alright, it's getting bright green now, you were right tourturedsoul, it sprouted too early.

what way can i tell when it's time to drop the spray bottle?

should i follow the canna chart for when to start giving nutrients?



ALSO, my seedlings are only getting the morning sun now. i put them that way because it gets really hot and sunny here, and i don't want to hurt them, as i did with some seeds last year, when can i tell the seedling is strong enough to take the sun head on?
 
as soon as you see the second set of true leaves staring to show, lose the spray bottle... your plants are established.
Regarding the sun... whatever would plants do without a human being around to shield them from the sun? Oh, that's right, plants have been growing in that sun, well before we came along. I think they can handle it... just wean them into the idea so you don't shock them.
 
I have had huge problems and lost many hours of sleep with over watering in the past when using different growing mediums over various grows. I have worked out myself that getting it right is firstly understanding what growing medium you are using. Pure coco with 50% perlite drains very well and quick. Coco/perlite "amended" medium, which sometimes has vermiculite added, drains well but retain more moisture for longer than pure coco/perlite. Natural soils and super soils I have found to really hold moisture for allot longer and does not drain to run off as well.

Firstly..........Having established what your medium is.......you want to be able to water regularly, with a good wet dry cycle. For this it is all about matching the plant and root bole size with the right size pot (amount of medium). Seedlings and freshly rooted clones, I always use a very small pot (250 ml) or a solo cup......medium must just stay damp but not saturated.......if you need to mist rather than dump larger volumes of water.....so be it. As soon as the roots have developed and spread through the pot and are drinking the smaller amount of medium to a point of nearly dry (lift pot or cup to feel weight), where you are watering every possibly every second day.......look at potting up to a 1 liter pot.......I usually gently remove a plant from the pot and check the root development.........a good indication is roots starting to coil a little bit at the bottom. Then once in a 1 liter pot, extend your watering periods again till such time as the roots have spread through that pot and are once again drinking and drying out the medium where you are watering once again every second day.........by now the young plant is healthy and vigorous......... I then usually go into a 6 liter pot till flower.......sometimes a 10 liter pot, but then I have to be a bit careful and will water cautiously in the beginning till roots have spread out throughout the pot. If you are going to transfer from a 1 liter pot to more than a a 6/7 liter pot..........rather then pot up to a 6 liter and then later to a 10 liter plus. Once the roots are drinking well and you are in late veg or early flower, I find that over watering is not such an issue as the roots are now so far advanced, that they drink and dry the medium out quite quickly.

Obviously coco/perlite (50%) is allot more forgiving, than an amended coco or low percentage perlite or soil/super soil.........the more dense the growing medium is, the more you need to concentrate on only potting up from the smaller pot once the smaller pot is filled with roots.

With me over watering is generally all about matching pot size to the development of the plant and associated root bole size........in conjunction with what growing medium you are using ........coco perlite light and fluffy.......low perlite percentage and soils which are more heavy and dense.

Hope that helps someone out there......because over watering is a nasty thing and then starts causes all sorts of other problems to raise their heads........apart from losing time, losing sleep.....things can spiral out of control.
 
as soon as you see the second set of true leaves staring to show, lose the spray bottle... your plants are established.
Regarding the sun... whatever would plants do without a human being around to shield them from the sun? Oh, that's right, plants have been growing in that sun, well before we came along. I think they can handle it... just wean them into the idea so you don't shock them.
well but it is also true that seeds have a speficic season where they start growing correct? i'm just saying because last year i got "taco Leaves" on seedlings due to too much heat.


what about nutrients? this soil doesn't have any if i'm not mistaking, the first time i watered 1.5l i put some nutrients in it.


with this type of soil that has no nutrients, do you feed it EVERY watering?

also, when i don't feed it, should i still adjust the PH of water?
 
@TorturedSoul @Emilya

ALSO, my seedlings are only getting the morning sun now. i put them that way because it gets really hot and sunny here, and i don't want to hurt them, as i did with some seeds last year, when can i tell the seedling is strong enough to take the sun head on?

I‘m also in the south. Lately, day time temps have been in the low to mid 90’s, with the heat index around 100-105, and that’s in the shade. With all of this Sahara/African dust that’s in the air, it’s almost unbearable. I have a couple of plants that are around 3 weeks old and I bring them out of the sun and put them on my covered patio, with the ceiling fan on, from about 1-4 in the afternoon. I was leaving them in the sun all day, but a week ago they started showing signs of heat stress, with taco and curling leaves and even some leaves drying out in spots. They are doing much better now.

As far as nutes go, I’m using Mega Crop (MC). It’s a 1 part dry nutrient that you dose by weight. It’s very easy to use and a lot of people here use it. There’s a whole discussion on it.


Here’s their website.


I am using well water that has a pH of 7.4 and a total alkalinity of around 120-140 ppm. I do not adjust my pH nor use a pH pen. Here’s a discussion about whether or not you need to pH adjust nutes.


Even though I am in soil, I go by the feeding schedule on post #160 by @farside05 and I am getting good results.

 
well but it is also true that seeds have a speficic season where they start growing correct? i'm just saying because last year i got "taco Leaves" on seedlings due to too much heat.


what about nutrients? this soil doesn't have any if i'm not mistaking, the first time i watered 1.5l i put some nutrients in it.


with this type of soil that has no nutrients, do you feed it EVERY watering?

also, when i don't feed it, should i still adjust the PH of water?
yes, the season is summer. Our plants like a lot of light and tacoing or whatever they do in reaction to the sun and heat is pretty much out of your control.

Nutrients... you can give them whenever you want, no matter what is in your soil. If you want to supercharge your plants, give them nutrients. If you want your plants to simply survive in an inert soil, give them 1/4 or 1/2 strength nutes... but if you want big plants, be bold, and fertilize them. Get the idea of simply feeding them out of your head... any good soil can do that. You want to go a step further than this.

In soil we do not fertilize every time, and even in an inert soil, running in "feeeding/survival mode" we still alternate feed/water/feed/water all through the grow. The reason for this is that we give full strength nutes on one pass and the plant cant use all of that on the first pass, so we give pH adjusted (to 6.3) water the next time to reactivate any unused nutes so the plant can use them. This keeps nutrients from building up in the soil and causing problems, and the plants get what they need. It is important then that every fluid that hits your soil, plain water or water with nutes, be carefully adjusted to 6.3 pH before applying it to the soil
 
Just to remind you need to PH the water for ctpp at 5.8 rising to 6.2 in late flower. Other than that I feed pretty much as above. I'll flush the soil between veg and flower if I think I might have gotten some salt build up. I like to see a bit of occasional burn on the leaves.
 
yes, the season is summer. Our plants like a lot of light and tacoing or whatever they do in reaction to the sun and heat is pretty much out of your control.

Nutrients... you can give them whenever you want, no matter what is in your soil. If you want to supercharge your plants, give them nutrients. If you want your plants to simply survive in an inert soil, give them 1/4 or 1/2 strength nutes... but if you want big plants, be bold, and fertilize them. Get the idea of simply feeding them out of your head... any good soil can do that. You want to go a step further than this.

In soil we do not fertilize every time, and even in an inert soil, running in "feeeding/survival mode" we still alternate feed/water/feed/water all through the grow. The reason for this is that we give full strength nutes on one pass and the plant cant use all of that on the first pass, so we give pH adjusted (to 6.3) water the next time to reactivate any unused nutes so the plant can use them. This keeps nutrients from building up in the soil and causing problems, and the plants get what they need. It is important then that every fluid that hits your soil, plain water or water with nutes, be carefully adjusted to 6.3 pH before applying it to the soil
i'm sorry what exacly did you mean by second set of true Leaves? the first set is "fake" correct? the round ones, and all that come after are "real"?
 
so they're 1 week old now, and the second set of Leaves is starting to appear (true Leaves) should i keep using the spray bottle?
Now it is time to get out the watering can and instead of soaking that entire container, water out to 3x the diameter of the widest leaves. Give it a couple of cups of fluid (MC included), watering slowly enough so that circle doesn't get much wider than that. This will put a good amount of that water straight down the trunk, too... helping to show those first roots where to go. You should see rapid growth ensue. Water like this now, once a day, always expanding out your circle to 3x the present size. Each time a new set of leaves appears, double the amount of water you are using, but if that amount causes your circle to get wider than you are shooting for, you are using too much water. When that circle reaches the outside edge, it will be time to water the entire container to saturation.
 
Now it is time to get out the watering can and instead of soaking that entire container, water out to 3x the diameter of the widest leaves. Give it a couple of cups of fluid (MC included), watering slowly enough so that circle doesn't get much wider than that. This will put a good amount of that water straight down the trunk, too... helping to show those first roots where to go. You should see rapid growth ensue. Water like this now, once a day, always expanding out your circle to 3x the present size. Each time a new set of leaves appears, double the amount of water you are using, but if that amount causes your circle to get wider than you are shooting for, you are using too much water. When that circle reaches the outside edge, it will be time to water the entire container to saturation.
alright thank you, is it ok if i fix my PH with vingar or lemon juice :) i don't really wanna use ph down, i prefer natural stuff
 
with megacrop?
i'm not very familiar what megacrop means, quick Google search shows it's a fertilizer?

i'm using terra canna fertilizers



also i have another question, i've overwatered another plant, i changed the pot to some better soil, it's been about a week but it hasn't start growing yet, is it not gonna kick back?
 
i'm not very familiar what megacrop means, quick Google search shows it's a fertilizer?

i'm using terra canna fertilizers



also i have another question, i've overwatered another plant, i changed the pot to some better soil, it's been about a week but it hasn't start growing yet, is it not gonna kick back?
sorry... i get confused easily. The problem with the natural fruit juice or vinegar pH down approach is that each of those draw pests. In some cases it is best to go chemical instead of "natural", realizing that chemicals are actually natural too. :)

It takes usually 3 watering cycles to recover from damage... be patient, keep doing it properly... the plant will recover. In veg, all you lose is time by making mistakes, you can always veg longer and recover any slow growth at the start.
 
sorry... i get confused easily. The problem with the natural fruit juice or vinegar pH down approach is that each of those draw pests. In some cases it is best to go chemical instead of "natural", realizing that chemicals are actually natural too. :)

It takes usually 3 watering cycles to recover from damage... be patient, keep doing it properly... the plant will recover. In veg, all you lose is time by making mistakes, you can always veg longer and recover any slow growth at the start.
it's a fem not an auto so i don't care if it slows down i got time :) ya think i should give it fertilizer, or just water until it feels better?

well if pest is the only problem then i'm good because i'm growing in a "pest free" place (for oblivous reasons i can't specify)
 
yes, water for now is perfectly ok, but you can also give nutes... there are instructions for young plants included in the package. Be sure to adjust your pH AFTER you have added the nutes.
ok thank you, i was just scared of using vinegar because many people say it doesn't work for some reason....
 
yes, water for now is perfectly ok, but you can also give nutes... there are instructions for young plants included in the package. Be sure to adjust your pH AFTER you have added the nutes.
i watered 500ml of water between the 2 plants, how long do you think i should wait before watering again?

the soil looks dry already after a day, did they drink so much in just one day?
 
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