My limited experience outdoors has shown me that watering in the ground is different than a container.
In a container we want the whole medium to be hydrated for the wet/dry cycles. In the ground, as long as there is moisture to be found those roots keep stretching. It’s still a wet/dry cycle as long as we keep wetting it :)
 
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Safeman,
there are no hard and fast rules... it depends on the types of containers you use, and your skill levels in reading your plants.

I start out in solo cups. From there I move up to 1 gallon size. If I am using hard sided containers, I will then move up to 3 gallon, and if I am going with an extended veg period, I will move up to 5 or 7 gallon (or larger) to finish out in. If I am using smart pots, I can stay at the 1 gallon size clear up to time to move over to the flower tent, where I can just set the smart pots down into 3 or 5 gallon containers for the easiest transplant ever, and as long as I get at least 2 weeks to establish in the larger containers before switching to flower, I am good.
Truthfully? This will work? I’m asking about transplanting when growing in fabric pots. One ca merely bury the small pot inside the larger? It’s not detrimental to the plant?
 
Truthfully? This will work? I’m asking about transplanting when growing in fabric pots. One ca merely bury the small pot inside the larger? It’s not detrimental to the plant?
it will, but it is not optimal. I much prefer taking the time to peel the plant out of the smart pot, or use a smart pot with velcro on the sides so it can be easily removed. I also tend anymore to only use the smart pots as the final container, and stick to hard sided containers thru veg and until then.
 
it will, but it is not optimal. I much prefer taking the time to peel the plant out of the smart pot, or use a smart pot with velcro on the sides so it can be easily removed. I also tend anymore to only use the smart pots as the final container, and stick to hard sided containers thru veg and until then.
Ever used super roots pots? Those with air pruning holes from top to bottom of container. They are awesome to transplant “from”.
 
Ever used super roots pots? Those with air pruning holes from top to bottom of container. They are awesome to transplant “from”.
the ones that remind you of a Dalek? No, but I have seen good reports on them. I still like velcro or just using cloth as the final... its cheap and less scary looking. It's all good science though... we have come so far from the old terra cotta pots.
 
the ones that remind you of a Dalek? No, but I have seen good reports on them. I still like velcro or just using cloth as the final... its cheap and less scary looking. It's all good science though... we have come so far from the old terra cotta pots.
What; no, I mean Who? I know, I know but couldn’t resist an embedded pun, oh shit, there I go again!
Seriously though, those are the ones. Another question concerning watering:
Utilize same watering technique (slow, methodical and until one starts getting runoff) during flower?
 
What; no, I mean Who? I know, I know but couldn’t resist an embedded pun, oh shit, there I go again!
Seriously though, those are the ones. Another question concerning watering:
Utilize same watering technique (slow, methodical and until one starts getting runoff) during flower?
definitely... its hard to saturate the soil quickly... patience is the key
 
definitely... its hard to saturate the soil quickly... patience is the key
In regards to flushing, there’s no need to water so slowly, correct? Well the first 4L I water per this thread as I do the last 4L which both these are ph balanced and the last 4L also has nutes. But I pretty much dump and go for the remaining 58L.
 
In regards to flushing, there’s no need to water so slowly, correct? Well the first 4L I water per this thread as I do the last 4L which both these are ph balanced and the last 4L also has nutes. But I pretty much dump and go for the remaining 58L.
yes, once you get past the initial reluctance of the soil to absorb the water, you can go pretty quickly.
 
Hi @brownredroost and welcome to the forum! Yes, the only time you really have to carefully adjust your pH within the narrow confines of the soil or hydro pH ranges, is when you are dealing with nutrients that are ready to be taken up to into the plants, but are locked up for storage in salt chemical bonds, that need the solution to be within a certain range for the nutes to become available.
ED is a special product that doesn't use any of that science, it is a micro-fine mixture of all of the raw nutrients that your plants will need. There are no salt bonds, and actually in the form it is in, it is not available to the plant. This is where the microbes come in, and the ED even has special nutrients in it specifically in the form that the microbes need. ED feeds the soil, and feeds the microbes, but take special note of this, it does not directly feed the plants. To complete this process, you need the microbes to step up and do their job.
In a typical super soil that has been taken care of to keep alive, ie it has not been allowed to go bone dry for an extended length of time, and you are supplying it with clean non chemically treated water, you will have plenty of microbes alive and well already in there. Give them the food in the ED, and the right microbes will thrive, and you should be able to get through the entire grow with just water.
These days there are some new tools for the organic farmer so as to help supply new microbes to your soil periodically. In the past, it was necessary to brew AACTs, actively aerated compost teas, so as to culture and incubate the proper microbes, but now you can buy them. There are several products out there that supply these microbes in very abundant numbers and up until now the liquid products were almost prohibitively costly for a lot of us, but many are using these products such as Voodoo Juice and URB. I have recently found a dry product that you add to water to instantly produce a very strong mix of all of the very best species of microbes that specialize in the elements that we need to grow pot, and it is comparatively very cheap. Look up RealGrower's Recharge, and this stuff is so alive that they laugh at even chlorinated tap water, saying that it wont significantly disrupt the population. Systems like this allow you to very easily replenish the micro life and keep things strongly on track, especially when working with a highly mineralized supersoil, or a system where you add in the micro-nutrients such as you get with Earth Dust.
 
Well I’ve purchased a fairly expensive PH meter and I’ve been PHing to about 6.5. Is there any harm in PHing the water using ED or is it better to just not PH?

Thanks for your reply!
 
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