i know when to water. i know what to water it with (lololol) but i dont know HOOOW much WATER to WATER them with. 3 weeks old all in 5 gallon buckets but only filled 1/2 to 3/4 of the way full of soil . so maybe 2.5 gallons or 3 gallons of soil . is a full gallon good? is a full 2 liter bottle good? is 16 oz good? let me know +rep for opinions
Dont put a restriction on how much to water your plants, water them until water starts to come out the drain holes for a very simple answer. When you think you need to water your plant again, stick your finger into the soil about am inch and make the soil is really dry and not just the top layer is dry becuase of the light and heat.
Probably closer to 1/2 gallon. I am using 5 gallon pots, filled to about 2 inches from the top, maybe 3 inches. I had no run off with 1/2 gallon and with a whole gallon probably around 25 or 30% run off. So it prob held around 3/4 of a gallon if you don't count the run off. So IMO about 1/2 gallon. Maybe a little less, maybe a little more.
Its usualy good to have at least a bit of runoff, this circulates things, drenching the soil and getting runoff would mean no risk of anything like nutes collect at the bottom of the pot and also stagnet water.
You dont need to worry about how much water you use when watering. As long as it just gets watered once then left to dry (young plants usually only need watering once a week)