The Proper Way To Water A Potted Plant

[Emilya Green]

Yes I was referring to that... apologies. So with a 11 litre pots... would I use a bit less for example...

A quart to wet the surface of the medium first, instead of two rounds.

Then a quart at a time around the edges until a bit of run off.

Then a quart on the original root ball. Does it make sense to water this later in flower ??!

Your technique makes total sense... do you have a YouTube video on this... there's nothing like this on there.

Thank you for taking your time out to reply, much appreciated

Also to add can this style of method be used through out plants life... obviously the amount of water will differ due to what stage the plant is at. Thanks again

The size of the pot has little to do with this... nor the exact amount you are using. Whether a quart or a liter, just go slowly and break your watering into chunks so the soil is forced to migrate around. Later in flower, or as you stated later, all through the plants life, my method of watering changes a bit in order to take advantage of the mature roots. The early methods designed to migrate soil around while developing the rootball do not provide as much benefit because the roots have already grown into their mature size and at that stage the point of watering becomes a matter of efficiently using the roots that you took the time and effort to develop using these techniques in veg, to get the most water and nutes into the plant as possible.

No, I don't do YouTube for several reasons, the first being security and the second being that I have been steadily going deaf since my early 20s, and by now I have lost most of my hearing as well as my ability to speak clearly, and I just don't feel comfortable any more in front of crowds or the camera.

 

[Reeky Deeky]

Sorry to hear that... you would have a amazing channel. Ever thought about doing animation videos instead ?

Last question... so in flower with the established root system... how would you water so it is fully utilised.

Thanks again

 

[Emilya Green]

Sorry to hear that... you would have a amazing channel. Ever thought about doing animation videos instead ?

Last question... so in flower with the established root system... how would you water so it is fully utilised.

Thanks again

https://www.420magazine.com/community/posts/2856118/Flowering Addendum

 

[Reeky Deeky]

Flowering addendum:


It seems upon gaining more knowledge and experience; I have found that my watering guide is lacking a complete explanation of the process all the way from seed to harvest. Although everything said above is valid in veg, there is a point in the grow where things must change in order to give the plants everything that they want. Also, this watering discussion was meant to cover all container grows, but upon more experimentation with cloth grow bags (smart pots and the various clones) it became clear that the rules change a bit when using these cloth bags. Instead of adding a qualifier that this watering guide is only valid in hard sided containers, I decided to cover what happens in smart pots too.


First, let’s look at our goals in veg. We are attempting to build as big and robust of a plant as we can to take to flower, and we do this by concentrating on developing a strong rootball. We tease out the watering and entice the plant to grow more roots, by forcing the plants to find the last bit of water on every wet/dry cycle. There is an adage in the plant (and coincidentally in the metaphysical world) that says, “As above, so below.” We can interpret this to mean that as long as the plant is growing in width and height, so are the roots. When we flip to bloom, the plants dramatically stretch, and of course, the roots below are also stretching. There is a point however, about 2 weeks into bloom when all this stretching stops, TOP AND BOTTOM.


ShiggityFlip coined the adage first, and I now use this to explain the bloom part of watering. We build roots in Veg and use them in flower. – ShiggityFlip


As soon as the goal is no longer to grow new roots and the vertical and horizontal growth of the plant has mostly stopped, it is then time to USE those roots. I have found that my plants thrive best in bloom when I switch gears and stop trying to dry them out, and instead try to keep them damp inside the core of the rootball. I finally give credit to the knuckle waterers, and concede that when in bloom, when the top roots dry out, it is time to water.


Smart Pots:
It is also clear that to completely cover container watering, we have smart pots to consider. If you use these bags correctly, by allowing air flow on all sides, including the bottom, amazing things happen. First, the rootball produced in one of these bags is far superior to anything else I have been able to produce in a hard sided container, whether they be round, octagonal, square… air pruning works. Because you get more roots and better air absorption, your plants go crazy in one of these bags if you let them. I find that I am watering every other day in 5 and 7 gallon smart bags, and the plants are taking 90% of what they would have taken if I had allowed them to dry out completely in 4 or 5 days. Water use has exploded in my tent in bloom, and by keeping up with it, reading the plants and giving them what they ask for, I have the biggest and healthiest buds that I have ever seen at this point in a grow. For flower, I find that I have to modify the lift method, and change it to not waiting for feather light as we do in veg, but in just becoming “lighter.” After two days, popping my finger in the top to the middle knuckle confirms that the top root mass has become dry, and with those two criteria met, I water to runoff. At the present time, my 6 plants are using about 25 gallons of water a week, at least twice what I have ever given my plants.


Summary:
So, no matter the type and size of container, watering needs change once bloom has started and the stretch has ended. Don’t be afraid to water more often in flower. If you keep letting her dry out, she can handle that too, because she is a weed, but if you really want to see her thrive, “use” those roots in flower, and give her all the water she can take. This doesn’t mean watering 5 times a day every day… she can’t take that much… but if you have done well, flowering roots can take a lot more water than vegging roots can. Change the equation that is valid in veg, that wilting is better than overwatering, and try instead to give water every time the top and sides dry out and the lift method tells you that “most” of the water is gone,. You WILL see the difference.

I love this

So when you stated keep the root ball damp inside, is that something you keep wet all the time regardless by just watering around the stem ?

Also would you water them till run off in bloom too ? And lastly how can I tell if the plant can be watered more as I'm afraid of over watering them.

 

[Reeky Deeky]

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

When is best to test the pH levels and adjust?! After or before you've mixed in the nutrients?

 

[Emilya Green]

I love this

So when you stated keep the root ball damp inside, is that something you keep wet all the time regardless by just watering around the stem ?

Also would you water them till run off in bloom too ? And lastly how can I tell if the plant can be watered more as I'm afraid of over watering them.

And since writing that, I have realized that it is still very benificial to let the container go dry all the way to the bottom periodically during bloom... not every time as in veg, but occassionally. This gets the critical oxygen down to the lower roots to supercharge them and it turns out that one of the plant's natural defences against drought is to build trichomes... a definite win for us!

I don't know what the fascination is to watering down the stem, but unless it is a new sprout that you are trying to get to chase the water down to the bottom, watering only around the stem is not helpful. You keep it wet all the time by shaving one day off of the wet dry cycle and watering before it would be considered ready to water while in veg. Stop worrying about overwatering. Water to saturation (runoff) 3 times, and then let it dry out fully before watering again and the plant will never feel overwatered.

 

[Emilya Green]

When is best to test the pH levels and adjust?! After or before you've mixed in the nutrients?

The only reason we adjust pH is for the nutes. If you were not using traditional synthetic nutes, there is never a need to adjust pH unless you are starting out with some seriously dangerous water. It makes no sense to test and adjust plain water and then add your nutes to it... the nutes are acidic and have to act like pH down.

If the mix you water your plants with (nutes/water) is not within the soil pH range of 6.2-6.8, your nutes will not be mobile and they will not be available to the plant, even though they are there in abundant quantity. It is important to adjust the solution mix to 6.3 pH, the point where mathematically the most nutes are the most mobile once hitting the soil, immediately before applying it to the soil. Not the night before, adjust to 6.3 immediately before applying it.

Then on the next watering day when you are going to give plain water, it is still important to pH adjust that water to 6.3 pH. This is because this water only pass is intended to reactivate any nutes left over in the soil from the first pass... and if you come in with tap water not adjusted into the needed pH range, again your nutes, while there, will be invisible to the plant.

 

[Reeky Deeky]

I'm over whelmed with the amount of information you're delivering. Seriously I've learnt more in one evening than I have done in a few months. Much appreciated

What is the wet/dry cycle and how would you water a plant after transplant to a big pot with its first week ? I'm I read somewhere you water the medium fully so the root system can develop. Would this be better in the long run as it will train the roots to drink more and handle more?

 

[Emilya Green]

I'm over whelmed with the amount of information you're delivering. Seriously I've learnt more in one evening than I have done in a few months. Much appreciated

What is the wet/dry cycle and how would you water a plant after transplant to a big pot with its first week ? I'm I read somewhere you water the medium fully so the root system can develop. Would this be better in the long run as it will train the roots to drink more and handle more?

The wet dry cycle is defined by watering to saturation (runoff) to make the soil as wet as it can be, and then waiting until the plant has used ALL of that water and soil has become dry, before watering again. The time that this takes is variable, depending on the strength of the roots, and in a properly watered plant the wet/dry cycle will decrease in time with each completed cycle.

First, it is not optimal to transplant your young plant before it has built up a substantial rootball in the first container. This does not happen in one week. Since the goal of starting in a small container is to build a rootball in that restricted space, it is not proper to transplant until that happens. You can tell that the roots have become this strong when the plant can drain all of the water you can get the soil to hold, in one day. Until that time, you would be rushing the transplant and not gaining nearly the benefit you might have by being a little more patient with your root development. Then, when you transplant it is very important to water the container to runoff in order to saturate and merge the two soil regions together. It really has nothing to do with training the roots to drink or handle more, they do that on their own when you force them to build new roots by letting the soil go dry between waterings.

 

[NuttyProfessor]

some seaweed extract will also help roots expand and branch off given more fine web roots , the same can be said for foliar feeding the leaves and branches before flipping to flower , this sends a hormone to the plant to tell it to stop upward growth and to concentrate more on branches and bud sites it can do the same as a root drench
Seaweed Extracts for Bushier Plants!
Indoor gardeners often have low ceilings with space limitations. If the plants grow too close to the lights, excessive heat can cause the plant to go into “photorespiration”, a state in which the plant uses light energy to burn carbohydrates instead of producing them. Symptoms show up as heat stress. The new growth stops developing, leaves turn pale and eventually become brown and crispy. So here are some helpful hints to keep plants short and stocky:

seaweed extract have a two-fold benefit for growing healthy mother plants. When used at the root zone, seaweed stimulates cell division of root cells, resulting in more lateral root growth and root mass. But when seaweed is used as a foliar spray, more lateral bud development is stimulated. More lateral branches mean stockier plants with more candidates for healthy clones!

The secret of seaweed lies in the natural plant growth hormones that it contains. Kelp is especially rich in a class of natural growth hormones known as cytokinins. “Cytokinesis” means “cell division”. So cytokinins are the hormones in seaweed that stimulate cell division. When used on the roots, cytokinins stimulate the cell division of root cells. But when sprayed on the leaves, cytokinins break the apical dominance at the growing tip, and stimulate the development of the side branches, instead. Cytokinins also attract plant nutrients into the tissue, improving the content of sugars, amino acids and minerals in the developing tissues, aka higher brix

 

[Reeky Deeky]

Wooow a gold of knowledge right there, i've never heard of this before. so divising a watering programme to foliage.. do you advise to mix both kelp and seaweed extracts ? Also when shall I start doing this? how often ? And until when ?

 

[Reeky Deeky]

I've done some research... I can't believe the results. Is this an inside secert loool. I'm currently using a root stimulator and conditioner, can I replace them both with the sea feed instead? Also I read watering instructions, it's once a week. Can you root feet and spray at the ae time or one area each week ?

 

[NuttyProfessor]

The best times to hit the plants with seaweed extract is early veg at the roots and one week before flipping to flower, but when you grow autos when you see the first signs of flower foliar , never go heavy with foliar and never use anything your not meant to

Then you can hit the roots again with seaweed mid flower for a boost of every thig the plant enjoys

I have been watching very closely on how plants thrive , i think its fair to say the seaweed worked here , these are 3 fat petes cookies 2 i foliar with seaweed/kelp and 1 i didn't , there's no prizes for guessing which two ,
these plants where fed bloom nutes first 2 weeks then veg for 2 weeks then back to bloom, they are autos in coco

 

[Reeky Deeky]

The best times to hit the plants with seaweed extract is early veg at the roots and one week before flipping to flower, but when you grow autos when you see the first signs of flower foliar , never go heavy with foliar and never use anything your not meant to

Then you can hit the roots again with seaweed mid flower for a boost of every thig the plant enjoys

I have been watching very closely on how plants thrive , i think its fair to say the seaweed worked here , these are 3 fat petes cookies 2 i foliar with seaweed/kelp and 1 i didn't , there's no prizes for guessing which two ,
these plants where fed bloom nutes first 2 weeks then veg for 2 weeks then back to bloom, they are autos in coco

So that being said, it's ok to foliar and root feed within the same feed ?
Would you says seaweed is steroids for plants?

 

[NuttyProfessor]

So that being said, it's ok to foliar and root feed within the same feed ?
Would you says seaweed is steroids for plants?

yeahh you could say that
NO i do roots in early veg then foliar when i see lady bits

 

[Thirvnrob]

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

Great find for me! Do you mind if I post a link in my journal? ( you’ll have to tell me how)

 

[Emilya Green]

Great find for me! Do you mind if I post a link in my journal? ( you’ll have to tell me how)

I am glad you liked it! I would be honored to have you post a link to it! Just copy the link address of post number 1 and then go to the very top of the page and click on your name. There you will find the signature link. Click there and then edit what you want to see in your signature lines into that space. Find the "link" button on the editor and fill in the url that you saved, and then your description of that link in the next box. Hit save and test it out!

 

[parrajara]

Hey Emilya you have been so helpful and I am sorry to bother you once again... I have a doubt.

Is there such thing as not enough water pressure/suction? I just started watering my ladies with a sprayer, which I love because it reduces the mess and allows me to water with much more precision... but, I notice the water never pools up. When I water my plant, the water eventually makes it to the bottom, but the volume of water that is being put onto the soil at once is not enough to cause a pooling effect. I was wondering if this will affect the amount of oxygen being sucked into the soil? I still try to give it one quart at a time, but what if it takes me 2-3 mins to give it a quart vs. a few seconds? The 2-3 min alternative doesn't pool up or create a suction type of effect.

it's hard to explain, so I hope I was able to pose my question appropriately.

 

[Emilya Green]

Hey Emilya you have been so helpful and I am sorry to bother you once again... I have a doubt.

Is there such thing as not enough water pressure/suction? I just started watering my ladies with a sprayer, which I love because it reduces the mess and allows me to water with much more precision... but, I notice the water never pools up. When I water my plant, the water eventually makes it to the bottom, but the volume of water that is being put onto the soil at once is not enough to cause a pooling effect. I was wondering if this will affect the amount of oxygen being sucked into the soil? I still try to give it one quart at a time, but what if it takes me 2-3 mins to give it a quart vs. a few seconds? The 2-3 min alternative doesn't pool up or create a suction type of effect.

it's hard to explain, so I hope I was able to pose my question appropriately.

Hi again parrajara! The suction doesn't have to be from one big pool of water sitting on the surface of the soil. The water seeps into the soil through millions of nooks and crannies between the soil that is clumped together and the organics and all the other stuff that is mixed in to make that soil. Small holes open up all over the surface of the soil when you water, and water falls down, is pulled down by capillary action and gravity, and then it pulls in air behind it. Imagine one little tunnel that the water has fallen into and picture that water sitting in there, but now starting to seep in deeper, with gravity and the weight of the water pushing/pulling it to go deeper. Since each tunnel now has its own little lake sitting in its bottom, the top of that lake does start to act like a diaphragm, pulling in more oxygen as it falls. If more water comes along later, that is now helped in its journey down that hole by the additional suction the mini dropping column of water is creating.
Eventually these all merge into a larger water table further down in the container, and as long as it all continues to drop, there is suction... when you start filling the container up the opposite happens, and a bit of air is pushed up thru the mini tunnel, if it still exists after the water has swollen the organics and filled the initial paths. Have you seen bubbles form at the surface as you are watering? This would be the cause.

So if you have several hundred little mini tunnels start up as you give your quarts of water, they probably draw more oxygen down and more evenly disperses it, than a big glomp of water on the top would do, and actually if you examine the mechanics of what happens under that big glob of water on the top as it starts to sink in, you will see that the very same process with the mini tunnels happens at the bottom of that pool.... but then the weight of the glomp of water also pushes the water down into the tunnels, filling them with water instead of a bit of water and a bit of oxygen. I think it would be easy to prove that by dumping water on the surface real fast, less oxygen would end up in the soil.

 

[parrajara]

when you start filling the container up the opposite happens, and a bit of air is pushed up thru the mini tunnel, if it still exists after the water has swollen the organics and filled the initial paths. Have you seen bubbles form at the surface as you are watering? This would be the cause.

I understood everything before this, and everything after this. I promise I tried understanding this part, and re-read it like 10x but could not follow...

I have not observed to see if there are bubbles happening, but I have definitely noticed that I have not been able to achieve the soil exchange that you taught us about in the first post. I will observe more closely next watering.

From my memory, it feels like I spray the soil and the water just dissipates right away, no pooling or bubbling happening.

So if you have several hundred little mini tunnels start up as you give your quarts of water, they probably draw more oxygen down and more evenly disperses it, than a big glomp of water on the top would do, and actually if you examine the mechanics of what happens under that big glob of water on the top as it starts to sink in, you will see that the very same process with the mini tunnels happens at the bottom of that pool.... but then the weight of the glomp of water also pushes the water down into the tunnels, filling them with water instead of a bit of water and a bit of oxygen. I think it would be easy to prove that by dumping water on the surface real fast, less oxygen would end up in the soil.

Wow that is very interesting... Your understanding in this area is remarkable. Thank you for the helpful reply!