The Proper Way To Water A Seedling In A Large Final Container

Emilya said:
In the beginning, you may even want to start your seed directly in the final container, simply by putting it one inch deep, pointy end down. It is surprising to some how often this works, even though mother nature does it all the time. If you go this route, lightly mist the area around the seed several times a day with 5-10 good squirts, attempting to only wet down as far as that seed. Continue this until the seedling hits the surface.

Keep using the spray bottle twice a day, now attempting to give enough water to soak in to roughly 3x the plant's height, and in a circle out to 3x the plant's diameter, by at least doubling the amount of squirts you gave to the seedling. Do not soak the entire container right away.... your new seedling cant handle that much water and if the seedling starts to wander or swim in the wet soil, you are giving too much.

Water like this, with these relatively small amounts a couple of times a day, always attempting to get a good part of that water out away from the trunk of the plant, by trying to make the outside edges of that circle 3x the diameter of the plant, the wettest places in the container.... you are attempting to entice the top roots to grow out in that direction.

After the plant has gotten a couple of leaves and gotten taller, it will no longer swim around in the soil if given a lot of water, and it is time to get a bit more aggressive than the spray bottle can do... it is time to move to the watering can and a couple of cups of water at first, slowly soaking the entire top surface of the container. We aren't trying to saturate the container yet, but we do want enough water to soak into the entire surface at least 3x the height of the plant, and we want some of that water to head straight down the middle, where the roots are trying to reach the bottom. This is when it is handy to have been an outside vegetable gardener, so that you know how to test the top of the soil to see if it is moist. When you can no longer feel moisture a day or two later, water like this again.

When the plant's 3x diameter reaches the outside edges of the container, water the entire container slowly, to saturation (runoff) for the first time. It will take a week or more for the plant to use all of that water on this first round, but you don't want the plant to sit idle all of that time either, or it will stagnate. It is time to change the watering pattern again.

Every 3 days or so do a partial watering of the top of the surface, again with only enough water to soak in to the first 3 or 4 inches of soil. Two specialized sets of roots are now forming, the top spreader roots designed to choke off other plants and quickly gather up rain, and the bottom tap and feeder roots. You are attempting to water only the top spreader roots, while the bottom tap/feeder roots continue to work on the water sitting in the bottom of the container for as long as it takes to clear that first full watering.

You may have to do this secondary top watering 2 or 3 times while you wait for the container to dry out all the way to the bottom. Force the plant to grow the necessary roots to do this job by being patient, and the plant will eventually use all of that water. Once the lift method, a dip stick or a moisture meter tells you that is is finally dry down to the last inch of container, it is time to water completely again and repeat the process, while every 3 days watering the top, until the bottom finally syncs up with the top.

Every time you go through one of these cycles, the roots will get stronger and the time between complete waterings will diminish. Eventually the top and the bottom will sync up and you will not have to do the secondary watering any more, you will just be watering the whole container every 3 days or so, as the wet/dry cycle stabilizes at around 3 days.

It is important to cycle the plant like this all through veg so as to force the plants to develop a solid root ball... the roots do not grow to fill that container unless you challenge them. Once you get into bloom, it is time to change your watering strategy.

From then on your goal is not building roots, it is time to really start using the roots that you have carefully built. Your goal at the end of stretch should be to start pumping as much water/nutes into the plant as it can take. I typically will force a plant that is perfectly happy with a 3 day wet/dry cycle into an every other day watering all during bloom... and with the roots you have forced the plant to grow in Veg, they will be able to take just about as much water as they did in 3 days, if you have done this correctly.

Good Luck and Good Grows!
Emilya
Click to expand...
Silly first time grower question: do I plant as soon as the seed tail presents itself...or do I wait a day or so for it to stretch out a bit?
Thanks
 
Thanks,
I had a seedling going through Dec/ January...but it stalled and died. Then I was given a clone...went well for a month...but it wilted too. Now I got new seeds going...just started to pop yesterday via towel method. Maybe 3rd times a charm?
 
EastcoastArn said:
Thanks,
I had a seedling going through Dec/ January...but it stalled and died. Then I was given a clone...went well for a month...but it wilted too. Now I got new seeds going...just started to pop yesterday via towel method. Maybe 3rd times a charm?
Click to expand...
keep working at it. Starting seeds is one of the hardest parts of getting a grow going.
 
Hi Em. Thanks so much for your great research! Your transplant process is amazing.

Ok, I still have a ton to learn, but I am trying to catch up.
I read your original article about watering pots (plus a few pages, but not yet the whole thread), and then I read the whole thread about the Coffee Shop grown, and now I read this whole thread.

So now I get why you up-pot photoperiods. It makes perfect sense.
It also makes perfect sense why you only put water where you want the roots to grow into. (Brilliant. I knew that! Why didn't I think of that????)

May I please ask some questions.
First, you mentioned about not worrying about up-potting autos. I get that you know how to up-pot them smoothly, but right now I am in a place where my only option is to grow autos (long story).
I read somewhere that autos can go into an early flower if their roots hit a wall. Is that true? Or is that an old (stoned) wives' tale?
I was thinking, if it is true, then would up-potting autos work?
And does anyone have any experience up-potting autos without it triggering an early flower?

Also, are Solo cups better than small pots (perhaps because you can crinkle the bottom, to get the plant out)?
Or would a similarly-sized, similarly shaped pot also work for that?
Thanks.
 
el gringuito said:
Hi Em. Thanks so much for your great research! Your transplant process is amazing.

Ok, I still have a ton to learn, but I am trying to catch up.
I read your original article about watering pots (plus a few pages, but not yet the whole thread), and then I read the whole thread about the Coffee Shop grown, and now I read this whole thread.

So now I get why you up-pot photoperiods. It makes perfect sense.
It also makes perfect sense why you only put water where you want the roots to grow into. (Brilliant. I knew that! Why didn't I think of that????)

May I please ask some questions.
First, you mentioned about not worrying about up-potting autos. I get that you know how to up-pot them smoothly, but right now I am in a place where my only option is to grow autos (long story).
I read somewhere that autos can go into an early flower if their roots hit a wall. Is that true? Or is that an old (stoned) wives' tale?
I was thinking, if it is true, then would up-potting autos work?
And does anyone have any experience up-potting autos without it triggering an early flower?

Also, are Solo cups better than small pots (perhaps because you can crinkle the bottom, to get the plant out)?
Or would a similarly-sized, similarly shaped pot also work for that?
Thanks.
Click to expand...
Glad to help. Read as much as you can... the knowledge is out there.

I wrote an article about how to water if you decide not to uppot autos and start them in their final container. I have never said that this is the optimum way to do things. An auto is just like any other plant, it is just moving faster than most. People uppot autos all the time and no, it does not cause flowering, nor does the roots running into a wall.

I like the solo cups because taller is better than wider with this weed, and solo cups are cheap and easy to turn into a grow container by snipping holes in the bottom. Solo cups are just the right size to start a plant in and then carefully water in order to form a rootball, and yes, it is very easy to slip the plant out of them when uppotting.
 
Ok, great to know! Thank you!
 
Em, thank you a million for your help. I appreciate it very much.
I am trying to catch up, on a super-packed schedule--so I apologize, I have not read everything yet.
I read the first page and a half here on how to water an auto in a big pot twice, and want to read it again.
Only, I have not had time to finish the rest of the thread yet, so please forgive me if you already answered or spoke to this on pages 2-9 or something, as I have not had time to read it yet.

It is a long story, but basically I overwatered my first batch, out of ignorance. (They did not grow, so I gave them more fertilizer water (you know the story... Uff... Ugh...)
Long story short, after about 3 weeks I realized I was doing something wrong. I found 420, and @Azimuth and @SmokingWings recommended I read your earlier article on The Proper Way To Water A Potted Plant, and then I think that article gives the link for this one? (I forget.)

Anyway, I almost drowned my girls. (Ay ay ay... and oy va voi...).
This little victim of near-drowning is an Alaskan Purple Auto.
She has not had a thing to drink for maybe 3-4 weeks.
About 2 weeks ago she started to grow again.
Last week I bent her over and pinned her (in my first attempt at Low Stress Training).
My dilemma is, I have no clue what the root structure is like below the surface, so I have no idea how best to water her.
I also am not sure what to fertilize her with, because she is just now going into flower.

Thirsty.jpg


In another thread you said something like, when photoperiod plants turn over, not only do the tops go into stretch, but the roots also grow vigorously.
And I don't want to misquote you, but I think you also said something like, "the plants can continue to use nitrogen for a couple of weeks", or words to that effect. Is that accurate? (I hope I did not misquote you.)
So, because of that, I guess my question is not only what technique to use to water her, but also what to water her with (as in, fertilizer).

So...
I am in Colombia, and I just found pre-packaged liquid veg and bloom nutes online that I can afford yesterday, but they are a week away, and my poor little near-drowning victim is finally thirsty, so I want to feed her the right thing.
Only, the only things I have onhand at the moment are cow manure tea, banana peel tea, and I can also make worm compost tea also.
May I please ask:
What tea or combination of teas would you feed this little now-thirsty near-drowning victim?
And is there a particular pattern you would feed it to her?

Are we going to have to make you a certified cannabis medic for this? Haha.

Thank you very much for your help.

Thirsty.jpg
 
PS. Whoops! I did not mean to post her picture twice.

Also, I forgot to ask, would it be bad or good to make a mix of banana and cow manure teas? That way she has nitrogen for the stretch, and potassium for the bloom.

Further, would you add worm castings to the tea? The original soil is maybe 20% worm castings (and no regular compost). (It is a very heavy soil, and I opened it up some, but I did not open it up nearly enough, as it was my first time making potting soil, and I did not realize it had so much clay. Oops!)

I can also make kitchen compost tea, if that would be better.

So my question is, what tea or mix of teas would you use?
And how strong would you make the teas?

If this is answered somewhere else, would someone please just direct me to the page?

Thank you very much.
 
PPS,
I should probably also add, there are four other autos that are too stunted to bother with (as you might get maybe one puff), so we just plan to pull those, remix the soil, and start over (probably next week). Probably I need to do an autopsy on the root balls, just to get a better idea of what happens when you overwater cannabis.

I was just wondering if there is any "best" way to water these five stunted little autos in the meantime, so at least we can get a taste until we can bring the next batch of autos to harvest.

Thanks a million.
 
el gringuito said:
Anyway, I almost drowned my girls. (Ay ay ay... and oy va voi...).
This little victim of near-drowning is an Alaskan Purple Auto.
She has not had a thing to drink for maybe 3-4 weeks.
About 2 weeks ago she started to grow again.
Last week I bent her over and pinned her (in my first attempt at Low Stress Training).
My dilemma is, I have no clue what the root structure is like below the surface, so I have no idea how best to water her.
I also am not sure what to fertilize her with, because she is just now going into flower.
Click to expand...
She probably has almost zero lateral growth in the root structure, a thin layer of spreader roots in the top 3 inches, and some very sickly feeder roots at the bottom. The best way to recover from this is the 2 stage watering trick where every 3 days you give her a small amount of water, like a quarter of what she would normally take, and just water the top 3 inches, all the way out to the edges of the container. This allows the top spreader roots to capture and use that water, keeping the plants metabolism high. Over time, the plant will eventually be able to use the water sitting in the bottom, and when she does, water her to runoff again and repeat the 2 stage watering every 3 days. Eventually, 3 days will be enough to drain the entire container as the roots get stronger and stronger, and then you can stop the 2 stage watering.
For fertilizer, look for nutes for flowering and fruiting plants and they will have enough of the macro nutrients needed in bloom.
 
el gringuito said:
PS. Whoops! I did not mean to post her picture twice.

Also, I forgot to ask, would it be bad or good to make a mix of banana and cow manure teas? That way she has nitrogen for the stretch, and potassium for the bloom.

Further, would you add worm castings to the tea? The original soil is maybe 20% worm castings (and no regular compost). (It is a very heavy soil, and I opened it up some, but I did not open it up nearly enough, as it was my first time making potting soil, and I did not realize it had so much clay. Oops!)

I can also make kitchen compost tea, if that would be better.

So my question is, what tea or mix of teas would you use?
And how strong would you make the teas?

If this is answered somewhere else, would someone please just direct me to the page?

Thank you very much.
Click to expand...
compost teas are mainly to provide microbes in an organic grow. Compost Teas are not designed to feed the plants, they are designed to feed the proper microbes so that they then can feed your plants.

then there are teas designed to bring in specific nutrient or vitamins or amino acids. There are lots of things that can be added and then provided as a supplement to the plants. Lastly there are fermentations that bring an even heavier nutrient load in for the plants. Each type of tea is for a different purpose. Adding dirty inputs such as worm castings and manure and compost, is done to bring in a big batch of microbes. In most of these, this is a shotgun approach that bring in the bad with the good... all sorts of microbes fighting in your brew bucket, and the strongest will win... the question is, is will you end up with the microbes that will do the job you want done? The shotgun approach rarely achieves this goal.
Brewing proper teas is an art. You need proper aeration, proper timing and a recipe known to produce the microbes that will be helpful to your grow. You can totally screw things up with a tea gone wrong... don't just guess at this. Also, check out fermentations. I make a very nice dandelion fermentation that is one of the best micronutrient fertilizers that I know of.
I will give you a link to some of the best teas that I know of. They are out of a book by The Rev, called TLO - True Living Organics. Its one of the best books about organic gardening that I know of. Here, thank to Otter, is a copy of these recipes: Otterfarm Flooded! NextLight Mega Responsible!
 
Thank you, Em! That is so helpful!
I ordered the Rev's book, and will add Otter's post to the list.
 
@el gringuito Do a search for my post on dandelions... I think you will like it. I have one on a natural cal mag product too and several others. Click on my links, journals and tutorials in my signature.
 
:thumb: thank you
 
Emilya said:
@el gringuito Do a search for my post on dandelions... I think you will like it. I have one on a natural cal mag product too and several others. Click on my links, journals and tutorials in my signature.
Click to expand...
Hi, @Emilya, thank you spending your time and writing up these great tutorials. I am already in week 3 of my first grow.
My question is about my next grow - I would appreciate if you had some time (whenever it is, have 3 months until my next grow lol) to help me.

I grow autoflower

5 gallon pots - straight seed to poit, no trasnplanting/
Biobizz light mix, which contains soil + peat moss + perlite.

If I remember from reading this thread, you DO NOT presoak your pots right?
So.. my question is this. Before the question a few assumtions (correct me if I am wrong)

1) Peat moss becomes hydrophobic if you let it dry out too much.
2) Sprinkling a seedling by your method (small amounts) - the water doesnt reach the bottom of the pot the first 2-3weeks
3) First BIG watering (lets say 2 liters on 5 gallon pot) would be some 3 weeks from seed sprotuing.

So my question is this - during the first 3 weeks the water doesnt reach the bottom of pot, correct?

If that is correct, then would the soil/peat moss/perlite mix dry out during these 3 weeks and become HYDROPHOBIC?
If that happens, I may have to go an extreme route and dump the pots in water for a few minutes so the bottoms suck it up (maybe add some yucca or other surfacant)


Am I thinking correctly? Does NOT presoaking the soil and using small watering for first 3 weeks risk the bottom becoming hydrophobic? If yes, is submerging the pot the best solution?


Or... the best solution is just presoaking the pot, maybe even emphasizing that the bottom is the wettest, middle more dry and top the dryest - thus encouraging the roots to go to the wettest place(bottom)? I would comine this with your spraying method to keep top a little wet as well to encourage lateral growth.


Thank you very much! I hope you continue to share your knowledge in the future as well, it has helped me and I truly appreciate it. Most because reading your texts puts my mind at ease, since I know where to turn to for knowledge haha :D
 
kreikrei said:
Hi, @Emilya, thank you spending your time and writing up these great tutorials. I am already in week 3 of my first grow.
My question is about my next grow - I would appreciate if you had some time (whenever it is, have 3 months until my next grow lol) to help me.

I grow autoflower

5 gallon pots - straight seed to poit, no trasnplanting/
Biobizz light mix, which contains soil + peat moss + perlite.

If I remember from reading this thread, you DO NOT presoak your pots right?
So.. my question is this. Before the question a few assumtions (correct me if I am wrong)

1) Peat moss becomes hydrophobic if you let it dry out too much.
2) Sprinkling a seedling by your method (small amounts) - the water doesnt reach the bottom of the pot the first 2-3weeks
3) First BIG watering (lets say 2 liters on 5 gallon pot) would be some 3 weeks from seed sprotuing.

So my question is this - during the first 3 weeks the water doesnt reach the bottom of pot, correct?

If that is correct, then would the soil/peat moss/perlite mix dry out during these 3 weeks and become HYDROPHOBIC?
If that happens, I may have to go an extreme route and dump the pots in water for a few minutes so the bottoms suck it up (maybe add some yucca or other surfacant)


Am I thinking correctly? Does NOT presoaking the soil and using small watering for first 3 weeks risk the bottom becoming hydrophobic? If yes, is submerging the pot the best solution?


Or... the best solution is just presoaking the pot, maybe even emphasizing that the bottom is the wettest, middle more dry and top the dryest - thus encouraging the roots to go to the wettest place(bottom)? I would comine this with your spraying method to keep top a little wet as well to encourage lateral growth.


Thank you very much! I hope you continue to share your knowledge in the future as well, it has helped me and I truly appreciate it. Most because reading your texts puts my mind at ease, since I know where to turn to for knowledge haha :D
Click to expand...
Hi @kreikrei ! No, I do not recommend presoaking a 5 gallon container for that would just be too much water for the young seedling to deal with. I also don't recommend 3 weeks before getting to the point that you can water normally. I recommend spraying water at the seedling for only the first few days, until it stops floating around, and then I recommend watering in a circle around the plant, out to 3x its diameter. Within a week or so, your plant should be big enough to be giving quite a bit of water to the plant and very soon watering the entire container to runoff.

It is not necessary to do anything special to keep the soil from becoming hydrophobic. You know what cures hydrophobic? Water. You do not have to do anything with hydrophobic soil other than water slowly, and as it soaks up the water it will cease to be hydrophobic. You are also not considering that when you water, even while you are not watering to runoff, any excess water that is not being sucked up by your plant, is wetting that soil in an ever widening circle, and gravity still works, so that extra water tends to fall down in to the bottom of the container. All you need to do is slowly ramp up your watering as the plant gets bigger, and they hydrophobic problem will solve itself.

Also keep in mind that starting in your final container has never been my recommendation. You can avoid all of these problems by starting off in small cups and working your way into the final container through successive uppotting. This thread is trying to show you a way to avoid many of the pitfalls of starting in a large container, but it certainly isn't the optimum way of growing a weed, even an auto.
 

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