The Proper Way To Water A Potted Plant

[Emilya Green]

Then explain SIPs by your science. My plants are bottom watered from seed to harvest with zero issues. I start in cups and transplant twice before final container. No purple stems. No nutrition issues.

With all respect to you, none of what I said are assumptions. It is a tried and true method. The soil stays moist from bottom to top. There is no "sitting in water". You didn't account for the dry cycle I mentioned.

Please, do not assume I am arguing in a negative way, because I am not. Just don't brush me off as nonsense without understanding that have done it this way for years with nothing but excellent results until I went organic in SIPs.

I do not dispute that a SIP will work, but I submit that I don't think it works as well as a top watering system in soil. We have SIPs of sorts in the cannabis world, and yes, you can get a decent plant from it, Hempy for example. I demand a side by side of similar sized containers, one SIP and a similarly sized container being properly watered from the top. Maybe you can make it work as well, but I am skeptical. I absolutely know that you will get NONE of the micro soil migration that I first explained in this watering series, and just that alone, that I can actively replace soil in the core with roots and form a rootball, that your method can't accomplish.

 

[Emilya Green]

@Dbac , sorry, could you please define SIPs? I tried to Google them, but got only unrelated hits. Thanks.

sub irrigation planter

 

[CBDMed]

sub irrigation planter

Thank you!

 

[jokerlola]

As the years go by and my experience increases, I do adjust certain things as I find ways of doing things that work better. The advice I just gave you today is the result of all of my learning over the years as well as my getting better at explaining things and you got the latest and greatest advice that I have to offer you, and it supersedes anything that I may have said or written before. Can you start in dry soil? At one point I thought that was the best thing to do, so I have no doubt that it will work.

Thanks so much for clarifying it! You've helped me immensely!

 

[Emilya Green]

Sorry for the dismissiveness, but you have surmised the reason for my aggressive response to you, incorrectly. First, how else should I respond? I consider this to be the most important and popular thread I have ever posted and in its almost half a million reads, I know that it has helped thousands of people over the years. Here you suddenly come in years into the thread to diss everything I have done here. I am proud of this work and what I have accomplished here, and out of the blue you show up being confrontational. So, excuse me for copping an attitude, but think first of the level of intrusion that you abruptly made into my space and what has been up until now a mostly peaceful thread. Of course I am going to dig in, no matter who you are or what you have grown, and I really don't need to know those things in the light of your approach and the fact that you are a brand new member who is right out of the gate advocating a non-standard method of growing in soil, on my thread.

You can't goad me into arguing with you by calling it a pissing contest, I simply do not agree with you. Start your own thread and prove me wrong there, if that is so important to you. In the desire to remain non confrontational, I do not desire a growing contest with you either, but I do invite you to do your own side by side test if you need to, and please don't take offence in this, but I have no desire to do such a test myself. If bottom watering was such a thing, everyone would do it and since they don't, I am perfectly happy to do my own thing, as I hope you will do too.

Peace and Love my friend, and happy growing! Thank you for stopping by!

 

[BackeD]

I apologize for trespassing on your thread, and did not mean to offend... Only to offer an opposing method. I come off wrong with the way I express myself. Like I said, I meant no disrespect to you, and I appreciate your explanation to what I saw as disrespect toward me.

Peace, love, and luck to you!

 

[jokerlola]

Emilya, would it ever be possible for you to make a few videos showing all of your watering techniques? I think that would be really helpful to actually see exactly how you do it.

As far as your post to me about watering seeds and seedlings in Solo cups, when you say to spray the area the seed has been planted, are you talking about a normal trigger spray bottle like used for stuff like misting plants or putting cleaning fluid into? And are you talking about a full spray where you pull the trigger all the way back with your fingers or just little half squirts where just a little water squirts out at a time?

I decided to pop one more seed to bring me up to the legal limit of number of plants and so I could further learn how to do this. I soaked the seed in a shot glass of water until it had a tap root of about a half of an inch (about 3 days). I saturated the soil in a Solo cup about the same day that I first put the seed in the shot glass. on May 25th I made a little hole in the soil with a bamboo skewer for the tap root and then covered over the seed with a 1/2 inch of dry soil and gave it 20 full sprays with the spray bottle where the seed is. Then yesterday I sprayed the seed area with 10 full sprays in the morning and 10 full sprays at night. Today I gave the seed area another 10 full sprays and will do the same tonight. Is that the right way or is the full spray too much water? I don't see any signs of the sprout popping up yet but it's only been 2 days.

 

[Emilya Green]

Emilya, would it ever be possible for you to make a few videos showing all of your watering techniques? I think that would be really helpful to actually see exactly how you do it.

As far as your post to me about watering seeds and seedlings in Solo cups, when you say to spray the area the seed has been planted, are you talking about a normal trigger spray bottle like used for stuff like misting plants or putting cleaning fluid into? And are you talking about a full spray where you pull the trigger all the way back with your fingers or just little half squirts where just a little water squirts out at a time?

I decided to pop one more seed to bring me up to the legal limit of number of plants and so I could further learn how to do this. I soaked the seed in a shot glass of water until it had a tap root of about a half of an inch (about 3 days). I saturated the soil in a Solo cup about the same day that I first put the seed in the shot glass. on May 25th I made a little hole in the soil with a bamboo skewer for the tap root and then covered over the seed with a 1/2 inch of dry soil and gave it 20 full sprays with the spray bottle where the seed is. Then yesterday I sprayed the seed area with 10 full sprays in the morning and 10 full sprays at night. Today I gave the seed area another 10 full sprays and will do the same tonight. Is that the right way or is the full spray too much water? I don't see any signs of the sprout popping up yet but it's only been 2 days.

I am not much into videos, so no, I think I will stick with the written word and still pictures. I am now completely deaf and I am slowly losing my ability to speak clearly and am not at all comfortable in front of a camera.

There is nothing fancy about my sprayer at all and most likely it is a pickup from the Dollar Store, and yes, a full spray is the full action on the trigger, getting the most water in a spray that you can get. It looks to me like you have followed the procedure exactly as I am doing it... so I have no criticism of your method. I fully expect you to see a seedling very soon.

 

[jokerlola]

I am not much into videos, so no, I think I will stick with the written word and still pictures. I am now completely deaf and I am slowly losing my ability to speak clearly and am not at all comfortable in front of a camera.

There is nothing fancy about my sprayer at all and most likely it is a pickup from the Dollar Store, and yes, a full spray is the full action on the trigger, getting the most water in a spray that you can get. It looks to me like you have followed the procedure exactly as I am doing it... so I have no criticism of your method. I fully expect you to see a seedling very soon.

Ok. I understand. This is the spray bottle I’m using:

 

[CBDMed]

I am not much into videos, so no, I think I will stick with the written word and still pictures. I am now completely deaf and I am slowly losing my ability to speak clearly and am not at all comfortable in front of a camera.

There is nothing fancy about my sprayer at all and most likely it is a pickup from the Dollar Store, and yes, a full spray is the full action on the trigger, getting the most water in a spray that you can get. It looks to me like you have followed the procedure exactly as I am doing it... so I have no criticism of your method. I fully expect you to see a seedling very soon.

Hi @Emilya ,
I am so sorry to hear about your health. I was hoping for videos also, but I completely understand. Thank you so much for the work that you do! You have really helped me a lot, and I am sure you are helping many others.

 

[Carmen Ray]

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.

Hi Emilya, thank you for answering the call to my journal a few days ago. I am trying to fix watering and nutrient deficiency problems with two plants. I followed your advice regarding the solo cup plant and I have not given the seedling any more water since I wet it through. In fact I have been weighing the cup against a cup of dry soil. It is nutrient deficient so earlier today I gave it a foliar spray of a H2O with kelp extract. It seems much happier with it's leaves reaching up now.

My first plant is in flower in a 20 L fabric bag of LOS. I watered it to run-off 9 days ago and the soil in the bottom is still wetting a skewer. The pot is raised on a cake rack and dry to the touch. This plant is also showing signs of nutrient deficiency. Yellowing and spotting of leaves. Earlier today I gave the plant about 300 mls of H2O with kelp extract around the outside of the root ball, and syringed a tiny amount down where the stem meets the soil. I gave her a foliar spray of this solution too (hope it's early enough in flower not to be a problem). She has perked up but I don't know if I have made a mistake watering the top few inches around her root ball, given that there is still water in the bottom few inches. I started out incorrectly, so I had to try and fix a problem that I created when I went off script early in the project. Please will you help me again?

 

[Emilya Green]

Hi Emilya, thank you for answering the call to my journal a few days ago. I am trying to fix watering and nutrient deficiency problems with two plants. I followed your advice regarding the solo cup plant and I have not given the seedling any more water since I wet it through. In fact I have been weighing the cup against a cup of dry soil. It is nutrient deficient so earlier today I gave it a foliar spray of a H2O with kelp extract. It seems much happier with it's leaves reaching up now.

My first plant is in flower in a 20 L fabric bag of LOS. I watered it to run-off 9 days ago and the soil in the bottom is still wetting a skewer. The pot is raised on a cake rack and dry to the touch. This plant is also showing signs of nutrient deficiency. Yellowing and spotting of leaves. Earlier today I gave the plant about 300 mls of H2O with kelp extract around the outside of the root ball, and syringed a tiny amount down where the stem meets the soil. I gave her a foliar spray of this solution too (hope it's early enough in flower not to be a problem). She has perked up but I don't know if I have made a mistake watering the top few inches around her root ball, given that there is still water in the bottom few inches. I started out incorrectly, so I had to try and fix a problem that I created when I went off script early in the project. Please will you help me again?3

It sounds like you have the solo cup just about figured out. Now you know how important it is to let it dry out, all the way to the bottom. Just like the advice below, if it is taking a long time to drain the water, don't let the plant go into a hibernation mode, by giving a little bit of water every 3 or 4 days around the outside edges of the cup and the first inch or two of the top surface.

The big container seems to be also on the way to recovery. While you are waiting for the roots to be able to dry the container to the bottom, about every 3 or 4 days, give the top few inches a little drink and even some nutes. This keeps nutrition coming in via the top spreader root system and keeps metabolism high so the roots down below continue to expand out, seeking all the water trapped in there. When you are watering the top, don't give a lot of water and/or nutes, but just enough to soak down about 3 to 4 inches. Also, don't just water near the stem, but get a good bit of that water out at the outside edges of the container. If that is the wettest area up top, the roots will grow laterally out to get to it, effectively filling that container with roots.

 

[Carmen Ray]

It sounds like you have the solo cup just about figured out. Now you know how important it is to let it dry out, all the way to the bottom. Just like the advice below, if it is taking a long time to drain the water, don't let the plant go into a hibernation mode, by giving a little bit of water every 3 or 4 days around the outside edges of the cup and the first inch or two of the top surface.

The big container seems to be also on the way to recovery. While you are waiting for the roots to be able to dry the container to the bottom, about every 3 or 4 days, give the top few inches a little drink and even some nutes. This keeps nutrition coming in via the top spreader root system and keeps metabolism high so the roots down below continue to expand out, seeking all the water trapped in there. When you are watering the top, don't give a lot of water and/or nutes, but just enough to soak down about 3 to 4 inches. Also, don't just water near the stem, but get a good bit of that water out at the outside edges of the container. If that is the wettest area up top, the roots will grow laterally out to get to it, effectively filling that container with roots.

Emilya thank you so much. I will copy paste this into my offsite notes. This makes a lot of sense. I just want to be clear on the solo cup plant. I'm not clear if you are saying I should begin to give the plant water around outside edges and top inch every 3 or 4 days, or if you were saying not to?

 

[Emilya Green]

Emilya thank you so much. I will copy paste this into my offsite notes. This makes a lot of sense. I just want to be clear on the solo cup plant. I'm not clear if you are saying I should begin to give the plant water around outside edges and top inch every 3 or 4 days, or if you were saying not to?

Yes, don't let your plant sit without new water more than 4 days, but if there is still water in the bottom you don't want to give a lot... maybe up to 1/3 of what it would normally take to water to runoff. Remember, in a weed there are two sets of roots. You want the water you give on these in-between waterings to be immediately taken up into the plant by the upper spreader roots, which will be doing exactly the job they evolved into doing. A weed, with its spreader roots, can quickly gather up a morning dew or a light shower, stealing that water from any of the surrounding plants. A weed, with these specialized roots is a predator to the other plants around it in the field. You can also take advantage of these spreader roots by doing these in-between waterings to keep the roots growing and the plant's metabolism high.

 

[meejay]

The Proper Way to Water a Potted Plant
Also covered: the importance of pH and why we successively up-pot


How to Water
Over the last several years I have put a lot of study into this, and I feel that I can now define the proper way to water a potted plant. Keep in mind that this discussion applies to at least 3 gallon containers and bigger. Please realize that this special plant of ours does not grow like anything else you have ever tried to grow, and no matter how good you are at growing peas, beans and tomatoes, you will have to change your methods to grow a weed.


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


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


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

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

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

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

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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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

Back again. I hope you are doing fine!

I was wondering if one could achieve the up-potting as insctructed clearly by yourself for 60 day automatic plants as well, or could not?

Cheers,

 

[Emilya Green]

Back again. I hope you are doing fine!

I was wondering if one could achieve the up-potting as insctructed clearly by yourself for 60 day automatic plants as well, or could not?

Cheers,

Hi @meejay, welcome back! Yes, I will leave my signature here so you can find the link to my Auto grow. You will see that I have stared in a solo cup, just topped her, and am planning on uppotting to a 1 gallon and soon, her final 3 gallon container. I am following exactly the rules outlined here, and have found that an Auto definitely has its own schedule. It is very important, even when she stalls out in the first week or so, to strictly follow the wet/dry cycle and not give her water too often. She will sort it out.

A plant is a plant is a plant. My Auto will be uppotted tonight or tomorrow now that I suddenly need to water her every day, and she seems to be doing just fine. I topped her last night and today I find a tremendous increase in side growth and the draining of the container... no stunting can be seen here.

So yes, you can do all the things you might do to a photoperiod plant, but you must do it on the Auto's schedule. The only way to see what her schedule is, is by monitoring her water use day by day.

It is my belief that an Auto is simply another plant, but with bad lineage. Don't fall into the trap of believing everything you read. Yes, during that first week, an Auto doesn't want or need much, including water. This sets up a situation where you can easily overwater and overfeed during that first week, and then find yourself behind the curve for the rest of the grow. Was that the Auto being super sensitive, or is it the grower not correctly reading the plant and doing things according to her needs? I think in many cases, especially with new growers, the later is the case.

I intend to prove with my current grow that a skilled gardener can strongly feed, uppot, top and train an Auto just like any other cannabis plant. I believe that a lot of what you hear about Autos is simply sour grapes, from people online trying to justify their inability to grow a healthy plant... it wasn't me overwatering, or overfeeding and it was surely transplanting that caused the problem, because everyone says that Autos are known to stall out if you breathe on them wrong. That makes me smile every time I read it.

Don't fear uppotting my friend... done correctly, the plant doesn't even feel it, it just knows that suddenly there is more nutrition all around and more room to spread out. What's not to like about that? A plant is a plant is a plant.

 

[meejay]

Thanks for the detailed answer, as always!
Feeling lucky since you have already decided to grow an auto while I was considering it.
Started following your diary there.
Cheers,

 

[Jon]

Hi @meejay, welcome back! Yes, I will leave my signature here so you can find the link to my Auto grow. You will see that I have stared in a solo cup, just topped her, and am planning on uppotting to a 1 gallon and soon, her final 3 gallon container. I am following exactly the rules outlined here, and have found that an Auto definitely has its own schedule. It is very important, even when she stalls out in the first week or so, to strictly follow the wet/dry cycle and not give her water too often. She will sort it out.

A plant is a plant is a plant. My Auto will be uppotted tonight or tomorrow now that I suddenly need to water her every day, and she seems to be doing just fine. I topped her last night and today I find a tremendous increase in side growth and the draining of the container... no stunting can be seen here.

So yes, you can do all the things you might do to a photoperiod plant, but you must do it on the Auto's schedule. The only way to see what her schedule is, is by monitoring her water use day by day.

It is my belief that an Auto is simply another plant, but with bad lineage. Don't fall into the trap of believing everything you read. Yes, during that first week, an Auto doesn't want or need much, including water. This sets up a situation where you can easily overwater and overfeed during that first week, and then find yourself behind the curve for the rest of the grow. Was that the Auto being super sensitive, or is it the grower not correctly reading the plant and doing things according to her needs? I think in many cases, especially with new growers, the later is the case.

I intend to prove with my current grow that a skilled gardener can strongly feed, uppot, top and train an Auto just like any other cannabis plant. I believe that a lot of what you hear about Autos is simply sour grapes, from people online trying to justify their inability to grow a healthy plant... it wasn't me overwatering, or overfeeding and it was surely transplanting that caused the problem, because everyone says that Autos are known to stall out if you breathe on them wrong. That makes me smile every time I read it.

Don't fear uppotting my friend... done correctly, the plant doesn't even feel it, it just knows that suddenly there is more nutrition all around and more room to spread out. What's not to like about that? A plant is a plant is a plant.

Um…a few points please.

1. It is my belief that an Auto is simply another plant, but with bad lineage.
Bad lineage? No. Quite the opposite these days. Real auto breeders are crossing the best photo strains with the best ruderalis strains. No different than any other hybrid. Probably have come further genetically since their inception than photos. So no, not “bad.” Just different.
2. Can I PLEASE talk you into a 5 for he final pot instead of a 3? You’ll be WAY happier. She’ll fill a three with a long long time to go I promise. You need a five with regular gutter autos. With these it’s practically a no brainer. Please?

Ok, that’ll do it for Jon’s overly direct post of the day.

You’re a big girl. You can take it.

 

[Emilya Green]

Um…a few points please.

1. It is my belief that an Auto is simply another plant, but with bad lineage.
Bad lineage? No. Quite the opposite these days. Real auto breeders are crossing the best photo strains with the best ruderalis strains. No different than any other hybrid. Probably have come further genetically since their inception than photos. So no, not “bad.” Just different.
2. Can I PLEASE talk you into a 5 for he final pot instead of a 3? You’ll be WAY happier. She’ll fill a three with a long long time to go I promise. You need a five with regular gutter autos. With these it’s practically a no brainer. Please?

Ok, that’ll do it for Jon’s overly direct post of the day.

You’re a big girl. You can take it.

lol, well, the bad lineage crack was sort of a joke, but also truth. Even the world's best blue ribbon prize winning ruderalis is still going to pale when compared to sativa and indica lines... but I see your point. They are getting better at this.
I will consider the 5 gallon. Considering how huge this thing is going to be, I am going to have to make special accommodations anyway.

 

[StoneOtter]

I've grown some auto's in 3's and wished I'd gone for 5's.