Unclear on how to water while adding nutes..

Discussion in 'First Time Marijuana Growers' started by 420OGKUSH, Feb 1, 2011.

  1. I'm about to start up my first grow using Fox Farm Ocean Forest Soil and FF nutes. I was wondering how you're supposed to water your plants when you're starting to add nutes. Do you water until about 30% runoff everytime, or do you feed nutes without having runoff? I'm most likely going to be vegging in party cups or maybe some small 3" or 4" square pots then I'm going to move them into some 1 gal smart pots. It's going to be a small scale perpetual grow of 4-6 plants. Also should I add some perlite to the ocean forest? Any advice would definitely be appreciated. Thanks in advance!
     
  2. Wow. You have a lot of questions.

    To me, it sounds like you have too complicated of a grow setup for a beginner. Really, you need to go as easy as possible when you don't know what you're doing.

    Go do some reading on these boards and pick up "Marijuana Horticulture."

    You need to do your research before you begin anything. Don't want your first grow to suck.
     
  3. lol man I swear I've been reading up on every single growing forum and no one talks about how they do their waterings. In fact in most pictures I don't even see trays or things like that to collect the runoff. I've read before that you should feed, water, then feed again but I was just wondering if you're supposed to water until you get runoff when you're feeding. I don't think it would make sense to wash all the nutes out of the pot so do you think you could clarify this for me?
     
  4. Make sure to check the PH regularly :p
     
  5. Thanks I'm definitely getting a checker.. How do you do your waterings? 30% runoff everytime?
     
  6. Well i water every other day, and i really don't give them that much of water, i give them enough to get them by till they have to be watered again. :)
     
  7. when i started out a few years ago, i started w/ the whole FF line. the FFOF soil has enough nutes and goodies in it to last you 2 or 3 weeks of veg. i would definitely water w/ around 10-20% runoff every time just to make sure that salts arent building up in your soil. you can feel free to add perlite to the soil to make it drain a little better. i think when i was using FFOF i would water about every 3 maybe 4 days depending of temps and whatnot. i would also feed,feed,water,feed,feed,water. if your just starting out id go w/ feed,water,feed just to be safe. if ya have anymore questions dont hesitate to ask
     
  8. Thanks man +rep this is exactly what I was looking for.. so when I start adding nutes (which I plan on doing about 3-4 weeks in just before flowering) do I water until I get a runoff or just let the nute/water mix sit in there until the next watering?
     
  9. I think most soil growers generally shoot to have at least some run off with every watering. I'm not 100% sure though because I don't grow in soil.
     
  10. when i grew in soil i would always do 10-20% runoff. i grow in coco now. i like being able to feed with every watering. i water every other day. some people water every day with no runoff in coco. one thing you could do if you wanted to water every time in soil is get drip clean from house&garden nutrients. you use like .4ml per gallon. it forms a bond with the salts that could build up from the nutrients. just an idea
     
  11. I grow in coco also. I water and feed every 2 days with no run off. Works beautifully.
     
  12. I water/nute to runoff everytime.

    Easier to do everything the same every time.

    Wet
     
  13. When watering with nutes (I'm using 3 gal soil pots) I do indeed let it run off, say 10%, but not too much. I have no idea how to measure 10%, 30%, etc., outside of perhaps just a guess. I'd say that I run the nutes off only because at least I know that the entire soil volume is wet.

    When I water with water only, I will run off quite a bit more...say 30%. I read here about flushing, preventing salt buildup, etc., but I also have no way to measure this. I don't worry about it and just let it run.

    With soil, take note that the soil will shrink and before watering you'll notice a gap between the pot and the "soil ball." If you water too quickly you may end up with water running off the top and down the side and out the drain holes before it ever has a chance to soak into the soil. I find I have to very slowly wet the entire top surface, wait a few minutes, then slowly wet the entire top soil surface again, and again, then again, until the soil "takes," that is, until you are confident that all the soil is being wetted and not just the outside. It simply takes some patience.

    About the 30% water-only runoff -- I don't think that, if you follow the above directions, you can ever overwater, particularly with your quality Ocean Forest soil (that's what I use) that has built-in drainage.

    I do find that 5 days with Ocean Forest is about as long as my plants can go, because this soil doesn't hold a lot of water relative to other soils. These are my plants just before watering but five days without -- quite water starved. Come next morning they've developed that internal turgor pressure and look good again...
     

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  14. I bought a separate bag of perlite, but I found that I don't need to add it to the Ocean Forest...it already has enough drainage in my opinion (it contains a fair amount of perlite already, I don't add any more).
     
  15. #15 buschmaster18, Feb 3, 2011
    Last edited by a moderator: Feb 3, 2011
    Using fox farms ocean forest for the second time. I've added perlite each time. THe first few waterings you will want to go slow. As someone has said eariler. When the soil is very dry and hasn't been compacted by constant waterings yet, it seems to just pool on top of the soil and drain down the sides. So you you will want to water slowly. As for run off, i just water slowly and i'd say i have maybe 10 percent water run out. Its hard to measure but at least with runoff you can usually guarantee all of the soil is moist. Make sure to have your water at room temperature before watering. Cold water will shock your plants and when they are young this can stunt their growth. So what ever you store your water in make sure it has a day or two to get to room temperature. AS for ph i hope you've read that most tap water comes out high on the ph scale. I have well water so mine comes out to about 8 ph. You can buy a meter or the papers to check it. I had the ph papers for my first grow, and it got me through. My second time around i got a ph meter for like 20 bucks. THe ph papers strips are better than nothing. But the meters are far more accurate. YOu can buy ph down soultion for pretty cheap. So about it. I"M not a pro but i can tell you after my second attempt that you will learn a ton with this first grow.

    GOOD luck.
    oh and you will want to water or water with nutes to have a ph of 6.5
     

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