how much water should it take to water a five gallon bucket

high everyone just had a question my plants have been transplanted to their finaly resting place and they are only two weeks old and are not very big so my question is how much of a gallon of water should i use to water my plants just enough to know i`am getting water to the plant or should i water until the bucket starts to drain...thats what i have been doing but this takes about a gallon of water to get the five gallon bucket to drain and its foxfarms mix of ocean forest and light warrior with a couple of cups of vermiculite and some planter rock at the very bottom of bucket for good drainage..

You want water coming out the bottom of the pot, but make sure that the top inch to inch and a half is dry before watering again.

no dought thats what i did when i transplanted them watered untill drainage and havnt watered until today that was 5 days ago and made sure the first inch or two was dry put my finger in the soil was good and dry wanted to let those roots strech and look for food and water

Sounds like you have the idea down.

Sounds good now.