How often do I water?

Discussion in 'Coco Coir' started by Nissty, Oct 24, 2010.

  1. Ed's guide says every 1-3 days or when the pot feels half watered? but then I see threads of people watering everyday or even multiple times a day? Is it ok to just water every 2 days or if the pot is light slightly more often?
     

  2. I am no expert but so far I seem to be getting by, If hand watering and going for 10/20% run off, every 2 days seems to be a good rule of thumb. I am using 10L, 6L and 1L air pots. 1L need daily rest every 2.

    If using a Hempy bucket then all that will be wrong! :rolleyes:


    Azza
     
  3. Do the feel by weight method. After you water, pickup your pots and get a feel for how heavy they are fully watered. Then check it the next day and the 2nd day to see how much lighter they feel. Before you know it, you'll just lift them up to see if they need a watering or not.
     

  4. Well, which part of that tells you when you need to water it? When it feels half full, or nearly empty?
     
  5. I try to water mine when they feel significantly lighter which is probably a little more than halfway empty. I don't like to let them get too dry. My for my 1.7 gallon air pots I water every other day. I will probably use less perlite when I transplant them to 3 gallon pots so that they hold water a tad longer than my current mix.
     
  6. You can water everyday if you like, I do this with any of my plants that show a deficiency or that they are hungry. I water them daily until they are happy, but otherwise I'm normally watering every other day thanks to them damn smart pots LOL 5 gal buckets I can go many days without watering, but growth slows a bit.

    The beautiful thing about coco is you have flexibility with watering, there is no one correct answer, just find what works for your grow best.

    On the weight method - if you will lift the pots before and after watering for a few weeks, you'll develop the 'feel' and will know when to water. When in doubt - water it (this only applies to coco)!
     
  7. Growth is slower in normal black pots from the hydro store? I use 3 gal but now that this has come to light i think I will be ordering some 10l air pots from ebay.
     
  8. What I was saying is growth is slower if you only water it every few days. Watering daily makes for some super fast growth, this is why drip systems work so well in coco. Hand watering everyday get old trust me! Airpots may have you watering a lot, but growth will be good.
     
  9. I want to get it where i water all 4 of my plants every other day at the same time. This would be the most manageable schedule for me. Do you think air pots will dry out to fast to achieve this?
     
  10. I am currently watering my airpots every other day for the most part. I think you can achieve this goal.
     
  11. They should, I use #3 smartpots and water every-other day basically. The trick is to water them even if they don't need it if you want to stick to a schedule. I like to not have runoff so I don't have to worry about draining pans and mosquitos/gnats going to town. Although gnats are bad right now :mad:
     
  12. #12 heaphyhigh, Nov 2, 2010
    Last edited by a moderator: Nov 2, 2010
    Is it true that without any runoff, one can run the risk of salt build up in bottom of pots?

    I adopted the 10% runoff pratice, that is usually used for the "run to waste" hydro method. I believe by allowing some runoff the coir is slightly flushed at each watering, which leads to a fresh even nutrient solution all the way down.
     

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