Importance of runoff

[Callisto405]

Hey guys and gals, I was just wandering what the importance of runoff is in soil growing. I heard that 20% runoff is good at removing salts and unused nutes from the soil. Up until now I would hardly ever get any runoff and my plants were always diseased. I never had any luck growing indoors. Now for this soil grow it’s Day 12 of flower (northern lights) and the plants is as healthy as I’ve really ever seen. I believe it’s because I started getting 20% runoff each time. The leaves droop for an hour or 2 because of the heavy watering but they perk back up.

And one more question. Can I test runoff instead of checking the soil. Ph testing in soil seems so unpredictable . I have a good EC and PH Meter (blue lab)

 

[crimsonecho]

if feeding salts yes runoff should help but not much in organics ime (ie. topdressing mostly to feed).
runoff ph and ec doesnt mean anything in soil or peat better to do a proper slurry ph test if you want to know the ph of your medium

 

[HydroKid239]

No allowing runoff to flush excess out, can cause the plant to be over fed on the next feeding.. may burn foliage if it’s left to dry too much. I’ve been through it all it feels like lol

 

[xtsho]

It all depends on what you're growing in and how you're feeding. Most people are overfeeding their plants and need runoff. I've gone entire runs in both coco and soil without any runoff except for just a tiny amount after watering. I'm talking a few trickles. 20% runoff is ridiculous. If you need that much runoff you're feeding too much.

 

[PopAndSonGrows]

It all depends on what you're growing in and how you're feeding. Most people are overfeeding their plants and need runoff. I've gone entire runs in both coco and soil without any runoff except for just a tiny amount after watering. I'm talking a few trickles. 20% runoff is ridiculous. If you need that much runoff you're feeding too much.

So, doing a coco grow with little to no runoff entails reducing the feed level, and, what, running a drip system multiple times a day? Would love to figure this out at some point, so I might actually be able to take a vacation without shutting down the grow

 

[xtsho]

So, doing a coco grow with little to no runoff entails reducing the feed level, and, what, running a drip system multiple times a day? Would love to figure this out at some point, so I might actually be able to take a vacation without shutting down the grow

Yes reducing the feed level and Blumats.

I use Blumats with coco. No runoff. Blumats are definitely useful for times when you need to be away.

Here's the most recent thread about them. Seems like people are having pretty good success using them.

Blumats. Who's using them?

So I'm going away in Feb (pending covid lockdowns) and of coarse I'll be in final weeks of flower when I'm gone. It's either get my buddy to water whom I trust but he's busy and got kids and his own room to deal with or I get blumats. Was looking at this It comes with this Running 7gal pots...

www.rollitup.org

 

[Callisto405]

It all depends on what you're growing in and how you're feeding. Most people are overfeeding their plants and need runoff. I've gone entire runs in both coco and soil without any runoff except for just a tiny amount after watering. I'm talking a few trickles. 20% runoff is ridiculous. If you need that much runoff you're feeding too much.

No I’m not feeding to much. A plant may need a lot of one thing and not so much of another resulting in buildup, I would assume it requiring runoff to get rid of it. A plant doesn’t absorb everything at the same rate

I’m no expert or claim to be but I have grown at least 5 times indoors over the last 10 years. Bought all the fancy fertilizers and soils and still had nothing but issues. I had one grow that turned out okay and it was my first ever indoor grow using MG soil and no nutes or anything. I have literally never seen a plant as healthy at this point of a grow as these plants so I can’t help but think it’s because of the runoff. And 20% is probably exaggerating a bit. Probably closer to 10%. And I’m not disagreeing with you. Your method is a probably a really good one

 

[lusidghost]

What I learned from using Blumats is runoff is the great equalizer. A plant can thrive using a wide range of ECs, and runoff is the key to the heavy end of the spectrum. My big flowering plants with no runoff caught some burnt tips before I decreased strength, but my tiny bonsai plants, who are in rockwool and get runoff, received the same nutrient solution were fine.

Later I had some wilting from a clogged line, and the flowering plants started to show signs of lockout. The wilting apparently destroyed some roots, and as a result the EC began to runaway. Luckily I checked the runoff, which was between 3000 and 4000 PPMs. It took a million gallons of water to flush them back down to a safe level. This wouldn't have happened if I were hand watering. I'm not knocking the Blumats, the issues were largely my own fault. The ordeal helped me understand medium / plant / nutrient interaction a little better.

 

[McShnutz]

What I learned from using Blumats is runoff is the great equalizer. A plant can thrive using a wide range of ECs, and runoff is the key to the heavy end of the spectrum. My big flowering plants with no runoff caught some burnt tips before I decreased strength, but my tiny bonsai plants, who are in rockwool and get runoff, received the same nutrient solution were fine.

Later I had some wilting from a clogged line, and the flowering plants started to show signs of lockout. The wilting apparently destroyed some roots, and as a result the EC began to runaway. Luckily I checked the runoff, which was between 3000 and 4000 PPMs. It took a million gallons of water to flush them back down to a safe level. This wouldn't have happened if I were hand watering. I'm not knocking the Blumats, the issues were largely my own fault. The ordeal helped me understand medium / plant / nutrient interaction a little better.

That's what's know as the CEC of that particular substrate. It holds and releases cations and anions (+/- charged molecules).

Peat has a high CEC and is notorious for climbing EC and flushing. One of the reasons I will ever only use 5-10% max in my soil mixs.

 

[inth3shadowz]

Bottle nutes - water to runoff

Organic- no runoff...hence why more and more organic growers are going the SIP route to get away from washing away valuable nutes.