The Proper Way To Water A Potted Plant

[Emilya Green]

Great post @Emilya !
I am learning a lot reading this thread. Although I have just started reading it, I have a question here. I wonder what this up-potting plan applies to, from seed or clone?

Well, I can see that I have gotten a little less conservative since writing that all those years ago. I don't think that I would say there is any difference between a clone or a seed plant in this progression, except of course the clone would start out with a bit of an advantage at first.

These days I no longer use the 1" cup stage, and I tend to plant right into a solo cup. There is no set schedule, and as soon as I am either seeing lower leaf complaints or the plant is able to drain all of the water out of the solo cup in less than 36 hours, I uppot to the 1 gallon stage. A clone is going to throw out roots very quickly in this solo cup because of all the energy its old leaves are able to produce, but things will even up as we go to the gallon stage.

Again, it is all about the wet/dry cycle and the type of container you are in. I now veg at the 1 gallon stage in smart pots, and they can go a bit longer at this stage to help build up the rootball. Again, I am looking for complaints and at water usage, but I tend to get out of that 1 gallon and to the next stage near the end of the first month.

Then it depends on if I am going to stop at the 3 or 5 gallon stage or go on to a bigger container. If my goal is a 7 or 10 (I have never done larger) I will go to the 3 gallon for a month and then switch to the final container. Now it is more about trying to give her time to build roots in that final container before switching to bloom, and I usually will give another 2-3 weeks in this final container before flipping. That original chart made it seem like I was doing this all by the calendar, when in actuality it is more about what the plants are doing.

 

[meejay]

Again, I am looking for complaints and at water usage,

I think you wouldn't make the process better without saying this. I am not going to ask what they are before I finish the thread lol.

 

[meejay]

safeman,
transplanting so early to a large container is usually very detrimental to properly growing this weed. Most people do not have the skill necessary to water correctly in this situation, and many people using this method, fail at growing a large amou nt of weed per plant.
Your reasoning for doing this is totally wrong. If you transplant correctly, there is never any stress in transplanting... to the contrary... done correctly will produce a dramatic growth spurt in your plants. Too much work you say... and I say the result of laziness will be seen in the final yield. There is no way a plant that has not had a chance to develop a root system is going to outproduce a plant that has been carefully successively uppotted several times throughout the grow, forcing the rootball to develop in each of the containers.
Lastly, no, smart pots are not for everyone and do take some extra work to do it right. Your feeling however is incorrect.... done correctly, my 2 month old vegging clones in 1 gallon smart pots prove that rootbound can be held off for much longer than in hard sided containers, while producing a solid rootball that is easily transplanted directly into a larger container without removing it from the origininal smart pot. Talk about zero stress. I absolutely love smart pots, and will never finish in a hard sided container again.

Smart pot is my next container. Thanks!

 

[meejay]

Well, I can see that I have gotten a little less conservative since writing that all those years ago. I don't think that I would say there is any difference between a clone or a seed plant in this progression, except of course the clone would start out with a bit of an advantage at first.

These days I no longer use the 1" cup stage, and I tend to plant right into a solo cup. There is no set schedule, and as soon as I am either seeing lower leaf complaints or the plant is able to drain all of the water out of the solo cup in less than 36 hours, I uppot to the 1 gallon stage. A clone is going to throw out roots very quickly in this solo cup because of all the energy its old leaves are able to produce, but things will even up as we go to the gallon stage.

Again, it is all about the wet/dry cycle and the type of container you are in. I now veg at the 1 gallon stage in smart pots, and they can go a bit longer at this stage to help build up the rootball. Again, I am looking for complaints and at water usage, but I tend to get out of that 1 gallon and to the next stage near the end of the first month.

Then it depends on if I am going to stop at the 3 or 5 gallon stage or go on to a bigger container. If my goal is a 7 or 10 (I have never done larger) I will go to the 3 gallon for a month and then switch to the final container. Now it is more about trying to give her time to build roots in that final container before switching to bloom, and I usually will give another 2-3 weeks in this final container before flipping. That original chart made it seem like I was doing this all by the calendar, when in actuality it is more about what the plants are doing.

What would you say about flowering period? Shall one up-pot? If yes, are we going to follow the same signs?

 

[meejay]

If you're still around, thank you.
John

I hope you would recover from Covid-19 soon. Saw in your signature and wanted to give my best regards,
Cheers

 

[Emilya Green]

What would you say about flowering period? Shall one up-pot? If yes, are we going to follow the same signs?

I always want to be in my final container at least 2 weeks before flipping to flowering mode.

 

[meejay]

I always want to be in my final container at least 2 weeks before flipping to flowering mode.

So if we will harvest in 5 months, does that mean it is better to up-pot into a 5 gallon pot before flowering?

 

[meejay]

I think you wouldn't make the process better without saying this. I am not going to ask what they are before I finish the thread lol.

I might have missed but was not able to spot them lol. What are the complaints to look for up-potting?

 

[Emilya Green]

So if we will harvest in 5 months, does that mean it is better to up-pot into a 5 gallon pot before flowering?

I am not sure that I understand this question. You will harvest when the plant genetically is done with the bloom cycle, typically in 8 weeks. Are you talking about total age of the plant, veg and flower combined and equating that to container size? If that is what you are asking, I would say that with a long veg (2.5 months) and a long bloom (10 weeks or 2.5 months) then choosing a gallon of container for each month of life makes sense, only if you consider that size to be the minimum you might want to finish out in.

 

[Emilya Green]

I might have missed but was not able to spot them lol. What are the complaints to look for up-potting?

a dramatic slow down in growth and/or water usage, but before that usually some unexplained damage on the first set of leaves and a loss of the cotyledons.

 

[meejay]

I am not sure that I understand this question. You will harvest when the plant genetically is done with the bloom cycle, typically in 8 weeks. Are you talking about total age of the plant, veg and flower combined and equating that to container size? If that is what you are asking, I would say that with a long veg (2.5 months) and a long bloom (10 weeks or 2.5 months) then choosing a gallon of container for each month of life makes sense, only if you consider that size to be the minimum you might want to finish out in,

You were right, this was exactly what I was asking.
Thanks again!

 

[meejay]

a dramatic slow down in growth and/or water usage, but before that usually some unexplained damage on the first set of leaves and a loss of the cotyledons.

That makes sens. Thanks!

 

[NewbieToPro]

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

hello Emilya,

​

My girlfriend and I are starting our first indoor cultivation and as it should be normal we have studied a lot in an attempt to offer them the best possible conditions, which sometimes generates some doubts.
When reading your post related to "The Proper Way to Water a Potted Plant" I found it extremely interesting the way you approached the topic and in my view it is very well achieved, so we decided on what this topic is about, we will only use the your advice.
The main reason for our message is to know if you can give us an opinion through a photo that I send as an attachment of the state of our plants. For this I will present a brief summary of my grow in order to understand the environment in which they are inserted and enable a better analysis.
Our grow is in a cabinet with a 100mm natural air inlet with the following equipment:
-Plastic Diamond Lightite reflector;
-LED TGL-STAR 100 Full Cycle;
-Fan;
-Exhaust;
-SmartPots of 7.6 liters (2gal);
-Canna Professional Land;
- Digital hygrometer term;
Any doubt that you need clarification on the equipment for a better analysis just ask.
The photo I send was taken yesterday and spent a week from the beginning that I put the plants in the grow and watered them. As for the main question, we watered on the first day that we transplanted them to smartpots and since then we have not watered anymore since it seems that the soil is still moist. the way we watered was 1 cup of 700ml of mineral water in each plant alternately and spaced a total of 3 cups of 700 ml per plant. total in each plant 2 liters of water, cause in that moment we verify that the water runoff pot.
In view of this, our doubts arise, because one of the plants showed yellow signs that may be related to the proximity of light on the first day inside the grow. Since then my doubt persists because I am using the light above the height recommended by the manufacturer and it may also be because I am using the Diamond Lightite plastic that enhances the intensity of the light, but of course these are all beginners' assumptions which led me to turn to your help for an experienced opinion in order to bring us security in relation to our plants.

Thanks for listening,
Continuation of an excellent job,
Best regards,

 

[Emilya Green]

hello Emilya,


My girlfriend and I are starting our first indoor cultivation and as it should be normal we have studied a lot in an attempt to offer them the best possible conditions, which sometimes generates some doubts.
When reading your post related to "The Proper Way to Water a Potted Plant" I found it extremely interesting the way you approached the topic and in my view it is very well achieved, so we decided on what this topic is about, we will only use the your advice.
The main reason for our message is to know if you can give us an opinion through a photo that I send as an attachment of the state of our plants. For this I will present a brief summary of my grow in order to understand the environment in which they are inserted and enable a better analysis.
Our grow is in a cabinet with a 100mm natural air inlet with the following equipment:
-Plastic Diamond Lightite reflector;
-LED TGL-STAR 100 Full Cycle;
-Fan;
-Exhaust;
-SmartPots of 7.6 liters (2gal);
-Canna Professional Land;
- Digital hygrometer term;
Any doubt that you need clarification on the equipment for a better analysis just ask.
The photo I send was taken yesterday and spent a week from the beginning that I put the plants in the grow and watered them. As for the main question, we watered on the first day that we transplanted them to smartpots and since then we have not watered anymore since it seems that the soil is still moist. the way we watered was 1 cup of 700ml of mineral water in each plant alternately and spaced a total of 3 cups of 700 ml per plant. total in each plant 2 liters of water, cause in that moment we verify that the water runoff pot.
In view of this, our doubts arise, because one of the plants showed yellow signs that may be related to the proximity of light on the first day inside the grow. Since then my doubt persists because I am using the light above the height recommended by the manufacturer and it may also be because I am using the Diamond Lightite plastic that enhances the intensity of the light, but of course these are all beginners' assumptions which led me to turn to your help for an experienced opinion in order to bring us security in relation to our plants.

Thanks for listening,
Continuation of an excellent job,
Best regards,

Good job on the equipment... it looks like you have thought this out well. I would suggest getting a light meter so you can accurately give the plants only as much light as they can handle at each stage. I am not sure why only one plant out of 8 is having a problem and we may need to wait a bit to see what it is that she is complaining about. Give it a couple of days and then hit me up again with a closeup of that plant so we can try to determine what is going on. For now, while it is great to wait for the initial watering to dry out before fully watering again, in this initial stage it could stunt the plant by forcing her to first develop the roots necessary to do such a large job, and then actually use all the water sitting in that soil. While you are waiting for her to be able to do that, you should keep the overall metabolism up by lightly watering the top set of spreader roots that exist just under the surface of the soil. Water with about 1/3 of what it would take to produce runoff in those containers, attempting to only get the top 2-3 inches wet. This is also a great chance to water primarily around the outside edge, enticing the new roots to grow out that direction, chasing after the water. Never let your developing plant go more than 3 or 4 days without just a little partial watering on the top, while you wait for the bottom to get dry.

 

[NewbieToPro]

Good job on the equipment... it looks like you have thought this out well. I would suggest getting a light meter so you can accurately give the plants only as much light as they can handle at each stage. I am not sure why only one plant out of 8 is having a problem and we may need to wait a bit to see what it is that she is complaining about. Give it a couple of days and then hit me up again with a closeup of that plant so we can try to determine what is going on. For now, while it is great to wait for the initial watering to dry out before fully watering again, in this initial stage it could stunt the plant by forcing her to first develop the roots necessary to do such a large job, and then actually use all the water sitting in that soil. While you are waiting for her to be able to do that, you should keep the overall metabolism up by lightly watering the top set of spreader roots that exist just under the surface of the soil. Water with about 1/3 of what it would take to produce runoff in those containers, attempting to only get the top 2-3 inches wet. This is also a great chance to water primarily around the outside edge, enticing the new roots to grow out that direction, chasing after the water. Never let your developing plant go more than 3 or 4 days without just a little partial watering on the top, while you wait for the bottom to get dry.

Hello Emilya,


We appreciate your help, thank you very much. Yesterday we ordered the light meter and watered all the plants just a little bit as you agreed. I will wait 3 to 4 days to do it again or even sooner if I notice that the little water I poured has dried before the pot has dried completely. The water I poured on all the plants last night was around 1 liter, basically it was a watering around the plants and superficial.
In 2-3 days I will take new and more detailed photos to allow you a better analysis.

Once again thank you very much for your help

 

[RedZedHead]

Hey Emilya.
I've been properly watering these two plants for over a month now. They got a nitrogen toxicity pretty bad about 2 weeks ago. and after flushing multiple times, nothing changed. In an effort to save them, I up-potted them to 3 gallon pots with new soil, carefully picked away at the contaminated soil to reveal the root ball before up-potting. then watered properly with regular nutes and z7 to help recovery. solution ph came out to 6.6 ish. however the soil ph was 7+ before the emergency up-pot. Using your method, the plants drank almost a gallon of solution each! Now the soil is wet and it will be for a while. I'm guessing there's not much to do but wait and see if they recover?
The second plant is in better shape than the first. I think it actually is recovering.
One of the plants has yellowing new growth. Could be a small amount of light burn that is no longer taking place, or some other def./toxicity I can't Identify. Any ideas? I don't think its NPK. If I'm wrong please correct me. Thanks.

Rough shape

• RedZedHead
• May 9, 2020

Yellow new growth

• RedZedHead
• May 9, 2020

 

[Emilya Green]

Hey Emilya.
I've been properly watering these two plants for over a month now. They got a nitrogen toxicity pretty bad about 2 weeks ago. and after flushing multiple times, nothing changed. In an effort to save them, I up-potted them to 3 gallon pots with new soil, carefully picked away at the contaminated soil to reveal the root ball before up-potting. then watered properly with regular nutes and z7 to help recovery. solution ph came out to 6.6 ish. however the soil ph was 7+ before the emergency up-pot. Using your method, the plants drank almost a gallon of solution each! Now the soil is wet and it will be for a while. I'm guessing there's not much to do but wait and see if they recover?
The second plant is in better shape than the first. I think it actually is recovering.
One of the plants has yellowing new growth. Could be a small amount of light burn that is no longer taking place, or some other def./toxicity I can't Identify. Any ideas? I don't think its NPK. If I'm wrong please correct me. Thanks.

Rough shape

• RedZedHead
• May 9, 2020

Yellow new growth

• RedZedHead
• May 9, 2020

all new growth is slightly yellow at first... it gets green after a few days. Sounds like you are on the right track!

 

[Trala]

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

Hello you

Firstly thank you so much for this brilliant introduction to watering. It is a mistake I think I have 100% been making, despite my best efforts not to be a feeder.

Gallons are a foreign measurement to me, and after a bit of googling I have worked out my pots are approx 1.5 gallons. I am growing in 50% Terri professional and 50% coco perlite 70/30. I think it holds its moisture as there is never overflow in my drip trays, which adds to my, “the drip tray is bare they must be STARVING“ anxiety.

Starting today I am going to implement your advice. I have two questions.

1. To relieve my “they‘re starving“ anxiety, can I spray them with water daily?

2. I have uppotted three times with the mongrel seeds, once from a seedling tray, to a small pot, then to the 20cm pot. And twice with my crazy clones. Should I uppot again to a 3 gallon? Which coincidently is 11.3 litres if you ever consider using proper liquid measurements LOLLING!

 

[Emilya Green]

Hello you

Firstly thank you so much for this brilliant introduction to watering. It is a mistake I think I have 100% making, despite my best efforts not to be a feeder.

Gallons are a foreign measurement to me, and after a bit of googling I have worked out my pots are approx 1.5 gallons. I am growing in 50% Terri professional and 50% coco perlite 70/30. I think it holds its moisture as there is never overflow in my drip trays, which adds to my, “the drip tray is bare they must be STARVING“ anxiety.

Starting today I am going to implement your advice. I have two questions.

1. To relieve my “they‘re starving“ anxiety, can I spray them with water daily?

2. I have uppotted three times with the mongrel seeds, once from a seedling tray, to a small pot, then to the 20cm pot. And twice with my crazy clones. Should I uppot again to a 3 gallon? Which coincidently is 11.3 litres if you ever consider using proper liquid measurements LOLLING!

Hey girl, good to have you here. When I was young I lived in Wales and was well on the way to a proper usage of the most logical system of measurement, the metric system, but alas, at too tender of an age I was kidnapped and taken to live in St. Louis... and as a result I have been forced to use the old Imperial system and disavow any knowledge of metric weights and measures... you have to be careful, they have guns over here and know how to use them.

You speak of no overflow, and that tells me that you decide for your plants how much water they need, as if you could really know what is happening down there in root city, and never produce runoff when you water. I believe it is better to use the soil as a tool to gauge how much water the plants are using and to use its properties to entice the plant to grow a more solid rootball than it would naturally want to do and part of that system is to use the capacity of the soil to temporarily hold up a column of water so as to set a given, or a goal as it were, for the plants to achieve between each watering.

I have known many natural gardeners over my years around this hobby and most of them started out just like you, watering a bit each day, almost instinctively knowing how much water the plants need. I have seen it work, and indeed your plants are beautiful, but, I propose to you that there is a better way. The key to amazing rootballs is in rigid manipulation of the wet/dry cycle and moving the micro soil around within the container when you water. If you baby them, and water them every day, they will never work this hard for you... they will be happy, but they will be lazy.

So can you spray them? Absolutely! They love it and I always spray my plants with leftover teas and other concoctions of my own brewing. Especially useful is a lactobacillus serum foliar spray, which not only increases transpiration but it also helps protect the leaves from many common contagions. I would not spray a blooming flower however unless there was some need, for there is a time and a place for everything. I would suggest spraying or foliar feeding your plants right before their lights out, so that the water droplets do not burn the leaves, and then also make sure there is good fan action in there to help that water evaporate.

On the uppotting, again, it is up to the plants and the key again is the length of the wet/dry cycle. The purpose of a container of soil is not just to hold up the plants and be a medium to hold the nutrients, it is also to provide a buffer for you, the gardener. Without that soil, the roots would need watering and nutrients, every day, even better, several times a day, like in a hydro type grow. Soil provides you a buffer where you are able to walk away from your plants, for days at a time, and they continue on, perfectly happy. In your final container, we strike a balancing act between how often do we want to have to water and how often we wish to supply additional nutrients to the plants, but usually for fast growing weeds we want to have around a 3 day time between waterings in soil going into bloom.

But while we are in veg, we are trying to grow the roots. We want the densest roots we can get into a container, before we reach a point of diminishing returns and any longer in that container slows down the rapid growth of the plant. When we first put a seedling into a solo cup and water it completely to runoff, it generally will take the plant 5-7 days to use all of the water that soil can hold. When we water it again to saturation, or runoff, the plant has grown extra roots in its search for all the water that was stored in the soil the time before, and this next time it will be able to drain the water much faster, maybe in 3 days. That is good, the roots are getting stronger, denser, thicker and able to suck up more and more water for the fast growing plant up above. The next time it will drain the water even faster, until you get to the point where the plant has been able to use all the water that soil can hold, in 24-36 hours.

This is the point where you hit diminishing returns in that container and it is time to uppot and start this cycle again, actively attempting to build the roots in a container 3-5 times as big as the last. Again, it is all about the wet/dry cycle, and how strong you can "see" the roots are getting. So you tell me, is it time to move up to the 11.3 container? It is not a race you know... has your plant shown it is worthy to be able to handle that much soil? Make them earn it, love... you have to be cruel to be kind.

 

[Trala]

Hey girl, good to have you here. When I was young I lived in Wales and was well on the way to a proper usage of the most logical system of measurement, the metric system, but alas, at too tender of an age I was kidnapped and taken to live in St. Louis... and as a result I have been forced to use the old Imperial system and disavow any knowledge of metric weights and measures... you have to be careful, they have guns over here and know how to use them.

You speak of no overflow, and that tells me that you decide for your plants how much water they need, as if you could really know what is happening down there in root city, and never produce runoff when you water. I believe it is better to use the soil as a tool to gauge how much water the plants are using and to use its properties to entice the plant to grow a more solid rootball than it would naturally want to do and part of that system is to use the capacity of the soil to temporarily hold up a column of water so as to set a given, or a goal as it were, for the plants to achieve between each watering.

I have known many natural gardeners over my years around this hobby and most of them started out just like you, watering a bit each day, almost instinctively knowing how much water the plants need. I have seen it work, and indeed your plants are beautiful, but, I propose to you that there is a better way. The key to amazing rootballs is in rigid manipulation of the wet/dry cycle and moving the micro soil around within the container when you water. If you baby them, and water them every day, they will never work this hard for you... they will be happy, but they will be lazy.

So can you spray them? Absolutely! They love it and I always spray my plants with leftover teas and other concoctions of my own brewing. Especially useful is a lactobacillus serum foliar spray, which not only increases transpiration but it also helps protect the leaves from many common contagions. I would not spray a blooming flower however unless there was some need, for there is a time and a place for everything. I would suggest spraying or foliar feeding your plants right before their lights out, so that the water droplets do not burn the leaves, and then also make sure there is good fan action in there to help that water evaporate.

On the uppotting, again, it is up to the plants and the key again is the length of the wet/dry cycle. The purpose of a container of soil is not just to hold up the plants and be a medium to hold the nutrients, it is also to provide a buffer for you, the gardener. Without that soil, the roots would need watering and nutrients, every day, even better, several times a day, like in a hydro type grow. Soil provides you a buffer where you are able to walk away from your plants, for days at a time, and they continue on, perfectly happy. In your final container, we strike a balancing act between how often do we want to have to water and how often we wish to supply additional nutrients to the plants, but usually for fast growing weeds we want to have around a 3 day time between waterings in soil going into bloom.

But while we are in veg, we are trying to grow the roots. We want the densest roots we can get into a container, before we reach a point of diminishing returns and any longer in that container slows down the rapid growth of the plant. When we first put a seedling into a solo cup and water it completely to runoff, it generally will take the plant 5-7 days to use all of the water that soil can hold. When we water it again to saturation, or runoff, the plant has grown extra roots in its search for all the water that was stored in the soil the time before, and this next time it will be able to drain the water much faster, maybe in 3 days. That is good, the roots are getting stronger, denser, thicker and able to suck up more and more water for the fast growing plant up above. The next time it will drain the water even faster, until you get to the point where the plant has been able to use all the water that soil can hold, in 24-36 hours.

This is the point where you hit diminishing returns in that container and it is time to uppot and start this cycle again, actively attempting to build the roots in a container 3-5 times as big as the last. Again, it is all about the wet/dry cycle, and how strong you can "see" the roots are getting. So you tell me, is it time to move up to the 11.3 container? It is not a race you know... has your plant shown it is worthy to be able to handle that much soil? Make them earn it, love... you have to be cruel to be kind.

You have given me great food for thought.

I have always loved growing plants, I remember as a young single mum I couldn’t afford to buy plants, so I used to snip cuttings and make pots from empty milk containers. Some of the I plants I still have today started as a cheeky snip of a plant as I was out walking my son in his stroller. I like to think I’m quite good when it comes to outdoor growing.

The two females I successfully grew this year we’re planted after the first full moon in September 2019 (Side story, a dealer I was sleeping with many years ago once told me you always plant after the first full moon in September, not sure if it’s true or not, but it sounds magical lolling) and really started to go into flower in March. They were both healthy approx 160cm plants, in hindsight I picked way too early. We were still having really hot days, high humidity and lots of rain, and I became convinced the buds would go mouldy, so I picked the majority wayyyy too early And the remainder just too early. But you live and learn. Come September I’ll put a couple in the ground as I love the process, as well as the money it saves.

Indoor growing is a completely new adventure. I’m used to growing in potting mix, this new 50 50 business is all new to me. So far I am loving it, and having people to chat to about the trials and tribulations of growing has just made it more enjoyable. I wish I found this forum last year. My plants would have had the ending they deserved. I’m still dirty at myself.