How does the soil feel when it is at the ideal humidity in big soil containers?

[xiiryo]

Hi,

I'm using a 3x3x1.5 ' no till container with 4 plants.

The soil itself is similar to coot mix.

50 gallons of: 1:3 volcanic stone, 1:3 coco coir, 1:3 compost.
30 gallons of BioBizz's All Mix.
6 gallons of additional porous stones

I'm trying to assess the ideal humidity for the plants by putting my finger in it or grabbing and pressing some soil.

Compared to local soil in central Europe I find this soil to be quite aerated and to dry relatively quickly.

However I keep reading that Canabis soil had to be dryer than regular soil.

I understood that in such big no till containers it is better to keep the soil around the ideal moisture. Ok, but how do I know that it is the ideal moisture content by touching this soil?

I bought a BlueMat digital moisture meter but it is not that helpful as long as I don't understand what is the ideal range for my soil.

What I can say it that I first watered the soil with 2% volume of water (the bags were not dry) and I got 55 as a figure.

At this time the soil felt pretty moist but when I pressed it there was no water that went outside.

However the BlueMat manual says that potting soils target is around 50~120 so my guess was that my soil was too wet.

I let the soil dry and in 3 days it reached 85. They went I put my finger in it the soil seems to be barely humid.

Also the plants don't seems to be thriving, showing under/over watering symptoms or transplant shock. The leaves are dropping and the ones at the bottom are yellowing.

I really don't get if I must believe my finger that say that it is relatively dry or the moisture meter ideal range that says it is ok.

This because I don't know what is a good moisture level for canabis.

Also I realized that my potting soil is probably lighter and more aerated than average potting soil. So the moisture meter values may read differently.

Could you help me understand what is the humidity level I shall reach and how it feel when I'm at the right level ?

Regards

 

[Azimuth]

I let the soil dry and in 3 days it reached 85. They went I put my finger in it the soil seems to be barely humid.

Also the plants don't seems to be thriving, showing under/over watering symptoms or transplant shock. The leaves are dropping and the ones at the bottom are yellowing.

I really don't get if I must believe my finger that say that it is relatively dry or the moisture meter ideal range that says it is ok.

Your finger isn't a foot and a half long. It's likely that, because water falls with gravity, it is much wetter in the bottom half of the pot.

@Nunyabiz grows in living soil and maybe he can weigh in on ideal moisture levels and how to tell.

 

[Nunyabiz]

Its complete nonsense that you have to have dry or drier soil for cannabis, I think this nonsense got started because lots of people use regular bagged soil with fairly poor aeration put it in 5 gallon or less plastic pots and then feed bottled nutrients.
Most people used to have a bad habit of over watering and in soil with poor aeration in poor draining plastic pots you have a recipe for problems.
So, the answer to that was to go to the other extreme and allow the soil to get bone dry before watering, which is not far from what you kinda need to do in that kind of heavy, poorly aerated soil.
You do have to let the soil dry out further than is remotely necessary for a proper LOS or say a Coco grow.
Any soil or medium with proper drainage and aeration needs to stay moist at all times.
Coco you water every single day even several times a day everyday.
My LOS I water pretty much everyday, I might skip a day here and there depending on conditions but in general I try to keep my soil moist at all times, a deep watering maybe every other week but most times I water a little everytime I walk in to my grow room which is about 6x a day.
My soil is a proper coots mix, I have worms and cover crop at times, thick mulch layer.
My soil i try to keep at just the right moisture at all times, rarely wet and never EVER dry.
I use super oxygenated water which gives a constant influx of dissolved oxygen to the roots.

Sounds to me like you're not watering enough.

 

[xiiryo]

Thanks a lot for the feedback. I added some water at a shy level for test and I think that the plants are getting a bit better this morning. I will add more tonight.

I will also add more mulch once I get some more straw pasteurized. My layer in thin on some places so I'm not sure it maintain a good even soil humidity.

Regarding water oxygenation I use a sprayer and when not watering I have an aquarium buller in it. Is this near to what you say by super oxygenated water or do you use some more potent methods ?

 

[Nunyabiz]

Thanks a lot for the feedback. I added some water at a shy level for test and I think that the plants are getting a bit better this morning. I will add more tonight.

I will also add more mulch once I get some more straw pasteurized. My layer in thin on some places so I'm not sure it maintain a good even soil humidity.

Regarding water oxygenation I use a sprayer and when not watering I have an aquarium buller in it. Is this near to what you say by super oxygenated water or do you use some more potent methods ?

I use an o2 Grow oxygen emitter.