i have my 10 week old ladies in 5 gallon buckets.(still veging) i normally try to water about every other day - or every 2 days. my question is how much water should i be putting into each 5 gallon bucket when i water. the soil drains very well, so im beginning to think maybe i should be giving them more water than i have been. normally my 2 gallon watering can will water 3 buckets. should it be more ? like 1 gallon of water per 5 gallon bucket for example ?
yes. wait, no. wait, where am i? well...............how are they growing? are they healthy? then keep doing what youre doing. if they like it don't change it. let gravity do its thing--the water will drain. drainage is good. how much should you be putting in? until it drains out the bottom, in my experience. I havent grown in 5 gallon buckets, though. if they are unhappy maybe you're watering too often. every other day seems like a bit much to me. in summation, let your plants tell you if you are watering correctly, not some idiot like myself on the intarwebs
Yea, its really hard to say, some soils retain water better than others. If you are watering until it drains out of the bottom, chances are every other day is too much for a 5 gal. Do you have vent holes on the sides of buckets as well? What type of soil is it? Did you add extra perlite?
im using fox farm-happy frog. first time using it. it doesnt really take much water - for it to drain out of the bottom. i usually wait till about the first inch of soil is completely dry before i water again. im just in the middle of trying to figure out some problems. i was dealing with a pH imbalance issue.(resolved pH problem since, 6.3 now) had chemical flushed it, then at next watering i fed them some nutes (npk and micro) at moderate levels, not too strong. after the flush - lots of the newer leaves were getting pretty lime green colored, so i figured N def obviously after the flush. but since the feeding, a few of the plants still have a bunch of lime greenish leaves, and then on the other hand almost seem to show nute burn. (leaf tips dying, brown spotting, curling downish) most of that is on the newer growth. there isnt nearly the same visible issue with the shade leaves. so i was trying to narrow down my issue. i went out today and bought a new npk fert. trying flora nova. since my last npk had urea nitrogen (which i didnt realize at first) so i knew that could cause N uptake problems. but after my semi long ramble of information, im finished! thanks for tryin to help
in the garden section of walmart they have a moisture meter device for 5 bucks. it doesnt take batteries or anything.
i just tried buying one today. and it works for crap. even after i water - using plenty of water. i can stick the probe down and it'll only read as high as 4 (on a scale from 1 to 10) and considering how much water they just had, it should have read alot higher than 4. im not sure bout these things
Well i myself am using 5 gal pots. I watched a couple videos on some guys growing and they seemed to know what they were doing. They said to water 200 ml every 2 days or so during veg an kick it up to 300 ml in flower. I am also using the fox farm soil but its the ocean forest mix. hope this helps..
watering is not really complicated, just get good at reading the plants and simply get good at knowing how the pots feel weight wise when just watered and somewhat wet and totally dry. IT is an experience thing. Key is to get the plant the day before it is going to start wilting from no water really and that is the best time cause it will take in the most than any other time.
I use 5 gallon pots and they drain very well, but that doesn't mean all the soil is wet, when its dry the water runs right through it. I water once a week if needed, and my plants are doing fine, it must suck to water every other day. 5 gallons of dirt will hold more than 1 gallon of water, just make sure you are giving it enough time to absorb the water, don't put it in all at the same time. and stick you finger about 1-2 inches into the dirt, if its moist its fine, if its dry you have to water again.