Micro-watering, micro-feeding, anyone know anything about this?

gjs4786

gjs4786

Well-Known Member
SO, I have started what I call "micro-watering" or "micro-feeding". I can't seem to find anything on it, but the plants seem to love it, and it has cut my water usage drastically. So basically, what I have been doing, is giving 3 full turkey basters of water, which equals to about 4.5 ounces, daily. For all the plants, this equals out to be half the water I was using before. So, I went from 10 gallons every 4 days to 5.3 gallons every 4 days. And, the plant are getting fresh water and oxygen every day instead of every 4 days now. The plants don't droop. The leaves lay down slightly the next day and I do it again. Some of the bigger plants I give 4-5 to. Has anyone else heard of this technique, and if so, do you know what it's called, and where I can find more info on it? Thanks!
 
dubekoms

dubekoms

Well-Known Member
People do that with small pots filled with coco but aim to get some runoff. You can set up a drip system to make everything automated. I'm not sure if I'm allowed to link it but look up coco drip icmag and click on first result. Should be a thread by a guy named hundred gram ounce.
 
gjs4786

gjs4786

Well-Known Member
dubekoms said:
People do that with small pots filled with coco but aim to get some runoff. You can set up a drip system to make everything automated. I'm not sure if I'm allowed to link it but look up coco drip icmag and click on first result. Should be a thread by a guy named hundred gram ounce.
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Right now, I'm confined to hand-watering. I'm growing in FFOF soil. If I treated soil like coco, that would go bad real quick :) The whole grow is an experiment, anyway. I guess I'll see what happens. they already look healthier though. Edit: I should add, that I'm growing in 1 gallon fabric pots in FFOF and perlite. They're small pots. I think this would work on a larger pot, which be easy to figure out, considering I know it's 4.5/ounce/gallon/day at this time of the grow. In a couple weeks, who knows how much I'll be watering. What I'm doing is reading them the best I can, and watering them when their leaves start to drop a little. then I water. it's not always 24 hours. It only takes 30 minutes to do 38 plants anyway :P Used to take me all damn DAY! lol
 
Kingrow1

Kingrow1

Well-Known Member
You probably assume the microwatering was the answer to your plant droop but it wont be.

Soil hold plenty of oxygen even when watered.
 
gjs4786

gjs4786

Well-Known Member
Kingrow1 said:
You probably assume the microwatering was the answer to your plant droop but it wont be.

Soil hold plenty of oxygen even when watered.
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I'm not sure I fully understand you. I water when they drop slightly cause there are 38 plants and they all want water at different times. I am providing it when they say they want it. Not because my leaves are drooping.
 
gjs4786

gjs4786

Well-Known Member
Budley Doright said:
He waters when they droop slightly. Do you see any issues happening with what he’s doing? Maybe a possible salt buildup if there is never a flush?
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Yes, I've thought about possible build-up. A thing to remember here, is I don't use ferts (other than natural stuff thats in FFOF) the first month of veg. I flowered these after a month. It's an 8 week strain. I am only feeding at 400PPM, as opposed to 1100PPM, as the bottle suggests. So really, I am feeding 66% less. So that will be 66% less salts to build up, in theory. It is an experiment. I'll have to wait and see :) The journal is in my sig. I should say, I'm really loving this method so far.
 
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gjs4786

gjs4786

Well-Known Member
One of the sativa phenos I believe. Wish they were all like this. Note, PPMs of my fert at time pic was taken, was 4 or 500PPM, I can't remember. I've since upped it to 800.

20180927_224432.jpg
 
gjs4786

gjs4786

Well-Known Member
This is a uote from this: http://www.greenhousemag.com/article/gmpro-0310-water-plants-automating-irrigation/
"A substrate moisture content of 20 percent was enough to grow quality plants. For a three week period, these plants received about 16 ounces of water per plant. This is a little more than 1 tablespoon per day. Water use was not constant during the study; small plants used 1 tablespoon per day, while large plants used slightly less than 2 tablespoons per day. Overall, there was a good correlation between plant growth and the amount of water applied. The study indicated that controlling irrigation can be an effective method of controlling growth."

I'm not using an automated system is the only difference. My career affords me the ability to check on them quite often.
 
Kingrow1

Kingrow1

Well-Known Member
gjs4786 said:
I'm not sure I fully understand you. I water when they drop slightly cause there are 38 plants and they all want water at different times. I am providing it when they say they want it. Not because my leaves are drooping.
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What light you using? Looks to be quite some wattage there.

Id say wind or too much light why your experiencing droop and those not so nice leaves at the top.

Just a guess but these two things sort out the percentage of problems, hard to overwater a healthy plant :-)
 
gjs4786

gjs4786

Well-Known Member
hotrodharley said:
Constant drip irrigation a proven method. Hand watering not.
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Yeah, well, this whole idea came out of necessity. It's challenging....I tried watering them all an equal amount. But some were light and some were still heavy when I went in to water again. Some ALMOST needed watering, others were a couple days out. I can't setup an auto feed system. Too late for that. I'm going to double their feed (ounce wise, not ppm) and do a mini-flush every week. I checked the PPM of the run off, it's quite high at 1100. I'm not sure how accurate a PPM test on run off is, however. Now that they're flowering, I may try to go back to traditional watering and see if they even out a little bit more. Have any other ideas?
 
gjs4786

gjs4786

Well-Known Member
Kingrow1 said:
What light you using? Looks to be quite some wattage there.

Id say wind or too much light why your experiencing droop and those not so nice leaves at the top.

Just a guess but these two things sort out the percentage of problems, hard to overwater a healthy plant :-)
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Hey, 1K Eyehortilux. I'm not sure why people seem to think the leaves are drooping cause of wind, , or light, or whatever. The plants are not drooping. Lol. I don't let them droop. I've been letting their leaves drop slightly, then I know they're ready for water. I do not have an issue with drooping. Not now at least. What do you mean the leaves don't look good? The plants are doing fine. They are underfed a little, but I addressed that today. Next watering, they'll get a mini-flush with half strength ferts.

Here's a video I took, just for you. lol. They're overall pretty happy.

 
gjs4786

gjs4786

Well-Known Member
Budley Doright said:
Yes possibly another issue but they seem to be doing well. There are a couple of others here that are doing a similar thing. Keep in mind their in gallon bags as well.
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Hey, do you happen to have any links? I've searched all over RIU and can't find anything. Thanks!
 
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