Top layer of soil

Lucky Luke

Lucky Luke

Well-Known Member
Im using Halo's for the first time and they dont water the whole pot like a watering can does.

Whats the best product to use on top of the soil so the water disperses over the top of the pot better? I looked at some aquarium gravel but it was pricey for what i want it to do.
 

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OldMedUser

OldMedUser

Well-Known Member
You don't have to worry about the water dispersing. It will wick itself to the whole root ball. I have often watered bulk plants by just pouring a lot of water into a big pan full of pots and letting them soak it up and it works fine. Your soil looks like mine and it wets well.

Bottom watering is a good way to keep the top couple inches dry to fend off fungus gnats if they are present. Keep a pot of wet dirt off to the side to attract them to that and lots of sticky traps to catch the adults tho getting rid of them all is the best option. Not that you have gnats. :)
 
Lucky Luke

Lucky Luke

Well-Known Member
to a degree yea..it would and does..Im still not convinced that a dispersion layer would not be better though..I believe i got more run off using Halos than the same amount of water from a watering can.
 
OldMedUser

OldMedUser

Well-Known Member
Are your plants in catch trays or does the runoff run off to somewhere else? Like a drain-to-waste kind of thing.

For watering pots I always measure how much it takes to give a near dry pot a good soak then water it slightly less so there is no runoff at all. The when I'm in a hurry I can just dump in the right amount and plenty runs into the pan but soaks back in after a half hour or so and she's good for a few more days. If watering a bunch of pots in a large tray I just multiply the amount by the number of pots then pour in enough to do them all at once. I took two 5gal water jugs we buy our RO in and marked the sides with a felt pen so I can mix in my nutes, shake the jug a bit and pour. Did the same with 1gal milk jugs and 2L pop bottles so can do the same in smaller batches.

WaterJugs.jpg
 
OnePrays

OnePrays

Well-Known Member
Lucky Luke said:
to a degree yea..it would and does..Im still not convinced that a dispersion layer would not be better though..I believe i got more run off using Halos than the same amount of water from a watering can.
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I sxpericex the same thing when I was using drip rings I made. So I added a top coat of perlite. Some times I use charcoal or hydroton as well. That helped a lot water wasn't running down thru the sides. Then again I was using 10g smart pots.
 
Lucky Luke

Lucky Luke

Well-Known Member
OldMedUser said:
Are your plants in catch trays or does the runoff run off to somewhere else? Like a drain-to-waste kind of thing.

For watering pots I always measure how much it takes to give a near dry pot a good soak then water it slightly less so there is no runoff at all. The when I'm in a hurry I can just dump in the right amount and plenty runs into the pan but soaks back in after a half hour or so and she's good for a few more days. If watering a bunch of pots in a large tray I just multiply the amount by the number of pots then pour in enough to do them all at once. I took two 5gal water jugs we buy our RO in and marked the sides with a felt pen so I can mix in my nutes, shake the jug a bit and pour. Did the same with 1gal milk jugs and 2L pop bottles so can do the same in smaller batches.

View attachment 3982653
Click to expand...
Trays and under a scrog. pots are set a touch higher than they normally would so they dont sit in any runoff. This also gives me a little more airflow under the pot.

I use a 2 L milk bottle. Use 1 L in each and wait 15 min and water with the other L.
 
ganjafather27

ganjafather27

Well-Known Member
Lucky Luke said:
Im using Halo's for the first time and they dont water the whole pot like a watering can does.

Whats the best product to use on top of the soil so the water disperses over the top of the pot better? I looked at some aquarium gravel but it was pricey for what i want it to do.
Click to expand...
Perlite works good and is cheap. Pea Gravel, lava rock, vermiculite, etc.
 
MichiganMedGrower

MichiganMedGrower

Well-Known Member
Yup. All good ideas. I was going to say Grow stones. (Hydroton).

I got a question now that you got me thinking about this. I am a very slow careful hand waterer so I agree with your concern.

Can the halo be raised up to cause the water to break some before penetrating the soil?.

A tiny splash kind of to spread out the water.
 
Lucky Luke

Lucky Luke

Well-Known Member
MichiganMedGrower said:
Yup. All good ideas. I was going to say Grow stones. (Hydroton).

I got a question now that you got me thinking about this. I am a very slow careful hand waterer so I agree with your concern.

Can the halo be raised up to cause the water to break some before penetrating the soil?.

A tiny splash kind of to spread out the water.
Click to expand...
It can. Next water should be tomorrow. I shall report back.
 
Lucky Luke

Lucky Luke

Well-Known Member
Ok, raised a couple of them and it does make a small difference but to quell my concerns its not enough.


I dont like the idea of perlite as it will float and move and maybe even fly away if im mucking about with fans and stuff. I recon hydroton ball things will be the best option.
 
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