Feeding notes...
"Distribution of water and nutrients
Let’s just talk about the water distribution because where the water goes, the media can be flushed and the nutrient solution goes. I will talk about the distribution from two points. The length of time it takes to give the water and the number of points the water is delivered too.
The speed that the water is applied determines how much it spreads sideways and how much it goes straight down. If the water is applied very fast, you get a good broad coverage on the surface but not necessarily very deep or wide. If you apply the water at the same speed that it soaks into the surface you will get a deeper coverage but not necessarily very wide coverage. If you apply the water at such a rate that the water begins to move sideways as fast or close to as fast as it moves down through the pot, then you can get a greater coverage both in depth and sideways. This helps to allow root growth throughout the growing media, giving a constant supply of moisture and nutrients as well as reducing the build-up of salts. Many commercial growers use drippers so that the water and feed solution literally drips onto the media taking 1-2 minutes to apply 60 ml of water.
If you give a half-gallon of water to a pot (or a plant in the ground) that is about 15inches in diameter, in 10 seconds or less the whole top of the pot will become wet and the media that is close to the pot on the sides. The media that is 1inch in from the side half way down the pot may be dry. If you take that same half gallon and divide it into 8 equal parts (1 cup) and every hour pour the cup of water slowly onto the media you will get a much more uniform distribution of the water and nutrient.
The number of points that the water is applied to in each plant also has a big influence on how well the water is distributed. A 15inch pot with one slow dripper would take a long time to apply enough water and would not distribute it very well – there is a limit to how far water will travel sideways in growing media. But if you put 4 drippers evenly spaced around the top of the pot your water and nutrients will be distributed quite evenly.
This is a way of thinking about watering; each set-up has to work out the details of how much water is given and how often it is applied. You have to take into account the size of the pot, size of the plant, temperature, amount of air movement, the type of growing (how much water it holds), etc. to work out the exact plan. And of course it takes lots of trial and error. Again practise makes a better grower. Don’t expect to get it right in the beginning – failure teaches us to perform better."
