The proper way to water our plants

[1oldgoat]

No. I'm not going to teach you. Just asking what the best way/technique to water plants. From years ago, while listening to a gardening show, they said to water heavy and let the water run right through the pot. This was so it would wash the built up salts out of the pot. They also said not to water from the bottom (as in filling the tray and letting it soak up from the bottom) as this would/could lead to salt build ups. I for one just drench them, then empty the tray after. Is there a way that you all use that is better? If so...why?

 

[sm0keyrich510]

No. I'm not going to teach you. Just asking what the best way/technique to water plants. From years ago, while listening to a gardening show, they said to water heavy and let the water run right through the pot. This was so it would wash the built up salts out of the pot. They also said not to water from the bottom (as in filling the tray and letting it soak up from the bottom) as this would/could lead to salt build ups. I for one just drench them, then empty the tray after. Is there a way that you all use that is better? If so...why?

ive recently been playing with the idea of "overwatering" when i water...

before i'd give like 1/3 of the amount of dirt in the bucket twice a week (once with food...once without).

now i use plain water 1:1 (water to soil) and 1:3 to 2:3 when feeding..

i put my plants outside to water as i just let the water run out of the bottom.

im not sure whats the "proper" way of watering either...im curious!

 

[1oldgoat]

bump it up

 

[karr]

I would imagine over watering is good during the water only cycle, but perhaps unnecessary when feeding as you are introducing more byproduct anyway.

As for scheduling, i try to go by weight while i can. water when light and dry, make that root system stretch out a bit.

When they get older i use a hyrdometer to check the water down low.

When i water with just water i usually leave some of the water in the tray to suck up as well as increase my humidity a bit. Thinking about it now it seems like poor practice. Kinda defeating the whole fresh water to remove salt thing.

 

[sm0keyrich510]

I would imagine over watering is good during the water only cycle, but perhaps unnecessary when feeding as you are introducing more byproduct anyway.

As for scheduling, i try to go by weight while i can. water when light and dry, make that root system stretch out a bit.

When they get older i use a hyrdometer to check the water down low.

When i water with just water i usually leave some of the water in the tray to suck up as well as increase my humidity a bit. Thinking about it now it seems like poor practice. Kinda defeating the whole fresh water to remove salt thing.

sounds like you have it down.

my goal usually is to get its feedings in as often as possible (which is once per week...dont wanna overwater)...however their have been times ive watered a pot and its stayed heavy for EVER and stayed wet right under the surface of the soil (1-2in deep) so i left it and it ruined my water schedule.

now...no matter how heavy/light the pot is im watering my plants twice per week (once with food...once with regular water). when i give the plants plain water i try to give 1:1 water to gallons of soil in the pot...before i was only giving 2 gallons water to every 5 gallons of soil. while i never ran into any lockout issues i noticed the plants were not performing to their peak. i never think they are. haha

with a haze auto (dinafem) ive played around with giving more water at a time. 1:1 or even 2:1 (water to soil) and it has responded well. under a FEW cfls (im talking 3 23w bulbs) it has grown pretty fast and is very healthy except a few leaves on the lowest branch and its 1 ft tall, i think it has 6 nodes (i dont have it here in front of me so idk)..this is in a 1 gallon pot on a 24/0 cycle. no topping (obviously), lst, nothing.

just water up until last week (got 1 feeding of veg nutes in..) and this week got a 1/4 sample of the bloom nutes.

before (in comparison) it would take like literally 6 weeks under cfls for me to get a plant 1ft tall...once with this mystery strain it took 8 weeks!

even under hid lighting i usually find it to take 3 weeks to get the plants 1 ft tall.

im not exactly saying giving more water at a time is the reason for this great growth (ie. the roots sucking up all the fresh water while i flood the crap out of the soil)...this IS the first time ive tried giving this much water however i think this experiment is worth another try to see if the results are the same.

 

[Nice Ol Bud]

Watering your plant isnt hard bro.
You water til' it comes out the bottom,
let it be, when it drys up.
Water again..
Simple. Lol.
Are You High Right Now?!
Just messing haha.

 

[bird mcbride]

My F&D lava rock system gets flooded three times daily for 15 minutes per cycle. I have a five day schedule, first day ph seven, plain water, 2-5 day rebalance to 5.5ph and add ferts, 1/6 reccommended for dirt, top up daily. Change water and repeat cycle.

 

[1oldgoat]

Watering your plant isnt hard bro.
You water til' it comes out the bottom,
let it be, when it drys up.
Water again..
Simple. Lol.
Are You High Right Now?!
Just messing haha.

No prob. That's exactly what I do do. You made me say do do.

 

[b.R.]

i do the same thing, water until it runs out the bottom and then i go by the weight of the pot until the next watering which is every 5-6 days....

 

[1oldgoat]

however their have been times ive watered a pot and its stayed heavy for EVER and stayed wet right under the surface of the soil (1-2in deep) so i left it

I had the same problem. One plant wouldn't use water and was the smallest of the bunch after about 2 weeks under hps. I discontinued watering it for a week and it thrived after that. It';s now the best looking plant out of all of the skunk.