Is it pretty much impossible to overwater a good mix soil like roots organic that i add perlite too already.i mean my babies arent drowning in a soggy soil but lately ive been so bugged out of overwatering that im thinking im not watering enough. do you guys water the soil out of the bag when transplanting until water comes out the bottom to uniformly soak the soil.im fearing that the way ive been watering is just a little bit every day or so but the soil might have a dry pocket and the roots hit it and die which could cause my small/stunted growth. should i be watering once a week..but a good drench?? ive been having problems in the 2.5-3 week veg stage for a while now and have been deleting possible culprits and now it seems like all the conditions are good but since i transplanted my seedlings 2 days ago they seem small and not growing much Their 2 weeks old today BTW im using tap water with grow big and roots soil in 1 gal pots.the humidity is around 60 with temps in the high 70's low 80's with a 330 watt t5 floro setup that im keeping about a foot away since i just transplanted.
i read a trick here that i now use. lift up the pot and compare weight. if it's light, it's probably thirsty. if you want to be safe, dont water until all the leaves on a plant start drooping, kinda like a house plant looks when it hasnt had water. may take a few days or longer. just dont wait too long. what kind of lighting system are you usings?
buy a 5 dollar moisture meter. When the bottom of the pot is at 3 out of 10 give it some water until it's at 6-7. If you're good you can keep it right at 5-6. You're supposed to water twice a day, but just as much as the plant will use. So like 1/2 cup a day for a mature plant. You'll be fighting the water constantly if you don't let it get dry sometimes. When you give it nutrients you want to replenish the soil, so you'll probably water more at these times. If you don't get enough nutrients in your water when you do this, you'll have to water again, then it's just a downward cycle. You're leaves will be droopy, but if you stop watering and ignore the onset of small levels of deficiencies you can patiently dry them out and then re-fertilize with appropriate levels. Conversely you will most likely get nute burn at some point and need to do a flush. Plants and stronger than you think, but that doesn't mean they don't need LOTS of care to be what you want. It's actually a pretty difficult process for something so simple. let them dry out. When you see the leave droop down and lose turgor then you know the breaking point. It won't kill them if you keep an eye on your plants. Check them once or twice a day, and try to water in the mornings if possible.
yea u hit the nail on the head..its such a simple process but can be a pain in the ass somethimes.for flowering my ladies thrive bc i understand that wilting point and they use up the water so fast so its hard to overwater..especially with an exhaust fan and such. but for the veg it seems i cant get it right.I do have a moisture meter but it drives me nutes sometimes.so your saying water when the moister meter is in the dry region(1-3) and water pretty thoroughly?? then its prolly good for a couple days. the problem with the pot weight i have is it seems when i transplant seedlings to 1 gallon pots the pots are heavy off the bat bc theres some moisture out of the bag of soil and the new soil seems heavy.i ll actually put my meter in the bag of soil and it detects some moisture. in the past my babies have suffered N and P deficiencies i believe bc i wouldnt feed em at all and didnt know why they would start getting spots and stunting.im just worried these will do it but i def just fed em good this week so hopefully they start taking off.im not getting any burnt tips yet..i do try and feed in early hrs so when lights are off on my 20/4 schedule their not sitting in water..they got all day to dry out.
i check on my babies frequently during the day..thats why they drive me nuts so i check on em.however i dont get overboard and water em every time i check..i just check the atmosphere conditions and such. the thing about 2 or 3 week old babies is wilting is kinda hard to see.anyone got a pic of a seedling wilting from lack of water?? the light is a hydrofarm 6 lamp t5 setup.each bulb is 54 watts and 4 feet long.dunno why the 2nd pic looks darker..think its the camera
idealy no, but this is exactly what I do. I run into deficiency and burn from time to time, but it never gets severe, and i've stopped over watering for the most part. I don't know if thoroughly is the best word though. When watering with just water, I'm pretty skimpy. 1/2 cup to 1 cup every 2-3 days, but I grow small in 1 gallon bags. When I use nutrients I use a whole cup to get some salts into all of the soil, then I don't water until it dries out. This method keeps me from messing with the plants as much, which is when I screw stuff up, and allows the soil to dry out. If I was good, the soil would never be dry, but never get wet, and i'd water twice a day, every day. I'm pretty lazy though. hell i've spent all day on this forum lol Also your soil material will mess with watering amounts. I put down a layer of sand to kill off some fungus gnats, and it's keeping the populations down, but I have to water more. I think the water gets stuck in the sand, then evaporates out before it soaks through. I've under watered some seedlings. They droop and by the next day they are dead. I watched a couple die that I didn't want. limited space and being safe made me cut back a couple Here's exactly how I judge. I slowly run the meter down into the pot. If I hit the bottom and it's at level 3, I water. If it hits level 7, I try to let it dry out all the way back to 3 to prevent root rot and bugs. Other than that, I try to do maintenance watering and keep the meter at 5-6. Those are the 1/2 cup feedings. Just a splash to keep it moist in the middle. The top is inch is almost completely dry and the very top always should be.
i just water by feel...if it feels dry when you stick your finger in it probly needs water...works fine
yea its weird i ll use the moisture meter on my normal flowering plants and its always in the bone dry region even after i gem em a splash.but it seems thats what they like bc they thrive and their not droopy.i figure as soon as i see a slight droop i give em a splash and their good for the day..so eventually on my flowering schedule the way i water they get a half cup or so a day which keeps em borderline dry. the veg is a little harder bc right now my seedlings roots arent even at the bottom..their still in the middle. i even used the meter on the older veg plants about a foot tall and it was as dry as the flowering pots but their not drooping.it seems mj likes the dry soil but they i start overthinking shit that the roots will die if not moist.i think im gonna let the seedlings in the pics dry out a day or so then hit em up. i hope these finally work..i havent had a veg grow go smooth yet and i always get stuck at the 2.5 week mark.
toilofday i used the meter in the 1 gal pots my seedlings are in and its in the 6 or 7 range so they should def be cool for a couple days right>? especially since they were transplanted a couple days ago and their roots arent at the bottom of the pot.
Water until you have water coming out the bottom of the pot, then wait about an hour for the soil to soak up the water, and water again until you see water out the bottom. Now do not water for 2 or 3 days, if your soil is still moist in three days you pot is to large, if the plant shows stress and needs water in two days your pot is to small. You can never water to much, just to often.
Yeah probably, maybe longer depending on heat, humidity, and size of your plant. Early in the growth cycle It seems to take longer to dry out. I watered once ever 3-5 days for the first few weeks after transplant. mine stayed in cups for the first 2 and 1/2 weeks so that's a little different.
yea cups would dry out quick.1 gal pots with seedlings seems it could take a week.thats how overwatering would happen..if i did water in a day or so..theres prolly enough moisture to last a week with 60% humidity in the high 70's.the higher the humidity the less water respiration occurs.i think i should let them chill for atleast 5 days in my condiitions. so frequent waterings isnt always overwatered.if they dont need water even in a couple days watering them would be overwatering.
oh yeah man, my humidity is 30% because of my AC being cranked down to 68-70 for my box. yeah, when they easily lift from the cup with a solid root mass, straight to 1 gal bags for space saving. square pots would be much nicer, but nobody makes one for the size I need.
oh ok.no one makes a 1 gal square pot? so yea with 30% humidity you would be watering pretty frequent