Hey All ... I've got 10 plants that were all germinated around 4/20. A few weeks ago I transplanted into their final resting spots (20 and 100 gallon softpots). After the transplant there was a bit of stress (I'm a new gardener so I let the plants sit in 2 gal pots too long).. anywho. I kept them watered, after about 4 days - I hot the ones that weren't bouncing back as fast with some aspirin water and now - all of the ladies (and a few dudes) are looking good and reaching for the sun again. I'm checking my rootball every morning with a water meter and it keeps showing up dry. To make sure that I'm getting the water to the roots what I did was build a little mound about 3" outside of the rootball - now when I water I can fill up the "trough" and the water goes straignt down into the rootball and the water meter is happy. Every week or two I'll just pull the mound out a few inches from the rootball so the watering area will grow. Right now I'm using 1.5 - 2 gallons a day. I don't mind doing it - I actually like to spend a little time in the garden in the mornings but I was thinking that the larger pots would allow me to water like 2-3X a week instead of daily. I'd love to hear your thoughts. Also, I may be heading out of town for an extended trip in September (SHIT) so I'm also considering putting the plans on a drip system while I'm gone. The only challenge - ph from the faucet is a little high. If anybody has any suggestions here as well I'd love to hear your feedback.
Let your plants tell you when they need water. You should get a feel of how heavy the pot is after its fully watered and wait for it to feel pretty light before you water them. There are many things that can cause your plant to drink water slower or faster, could be stress, genetics, temperature, the size of the overall plant vs the size of the pot you're using.
The 100 gallon pots are not getting nowhere near enough water. I water 5 gallons 1-2x a week in 65 gallon smart pots. The 25s get about 2-3 gallons then as well. Grow bags do dry out MUCH faster as the bag allows air circulation from the sides as well. In general I've started watching my plant leaves to tell me when they need water as they will begin to droop. I am in organics so I don't have to pH my water ever. I would honestly recommend giving them a full saturation watering just before you go out of town. If need be let them dry out a few days before the full saturation. Add a light mulch layer over the top of your soil and they should do just fine. I had to leave last year for a week and did exactly what I said here and they were needing water when I got home but they bounced right back within 1-2 hrs. Best of wishes.
It takes my 15 gallon pots around 3 - 3.5 gallons to saturate it fully. What medium are you using? I go peatmoss/perlite all the way
Thanks brother ... it sounds like I may be putting the right amount of water in - i'm just doing it daily instead of weekly. I just get nervous when the plants start looking droopy/
Yeah, i stop watering when i see the first runoff come out the bottom. I'm guessing 5-10% of runoff at most. Another note, if you're leaves are droopy that might be a sign of overwatering? My plants can look healthy the day i see that the pot is bone dry and needs water, someone correct me if i'm wrong but i think underwatering is better than overwatering, at least from my experience lol. I'm pretty good at not giving my plants too much water, but i have waited a day or 2 longer to water them when the pot was dry before and haven't had anything bad happen from that yet.
Throw that moisture meter away. They're notoriously inaccurate in smaller containers. A container that size it could easily be way off
10% of the size of your fabric pot is how much water they should be getting. 100gal pot = 10 gallons of ph'd water. If you can stick your finger up to your second knuckle and it's dry, then water your plant. If you are using the proper medium the water should drain out the bottom of the pot. Water the whole pot not just the root ball. You plant well develop a stronger root system if it has to stretch for water. Look up instructions on how to brew teas to strengthen your root system and boost your macro and micro nutrients. That will be the difference between a mediocre grow and a great grow with good quality smoke. Good luck!
I belive underwatering to a point gives you more root stretch as they search out the water but after the palnts reach a certain size its like a tight rope walk. Id Definitely rather underwater though than over water to much moisture causes way to many extra problems.
I Hence watering until water is draining out the bottom and not watering again until the pot is dry 2" - 3". If the medium is proper, over watering is hardly and issue in fabric pots in my area. I'm in NorCal. So with the heat and all day direct sunlight my 100gal pots are ready for water in two to three days depending on the maturity of the pant. When they are in flower and 7'-8' tall they require water every two days or they will go into stress. On 105º days, a little in the early in morning and a little in the evening. AND I use teas religiously all throughout my grow. That is my rule of thumb. Yours may be different.
Making the plants WANT water is a healthy thing. It encourages root growth to seek out water. There is a difference between wanting water and needing water. Sent from my SM-N960U using Grasscity Forum mobile app
The finger test isnt very accurate especially in large containers. Theres a lot of soil in a 100 gallon container. The top few inches can be very dry while further down is wet. Fabric containers can even make it more difficult to finger test. Tge added airflow will cause the top and sides to dry out even faster. Yet the main mass of the rootball can still be plenty moist.
I’ve been growing quality cannabis for many years in fabric pots and the two inch rule of thumb has worked well for me when explaining to newbies. I can tell by looking a my plants to know when they need water. There are many variables and i know my particular methods well. Of course someone else’s mileage may vary.
You must not grow in large containers like these big 100 gallon pots. Finger test is a horrible way to tell even if it wasn't that big of a container. Do to evaporation the top soil will always dry out faster then the main root ball. The larger the container and volume of soil, the more this will be magnified. Lots of us, especially those in large containers mulch the top of our containers in part to reduce evaporation and the top soil drying out to fast. Small containers 3, 5, 7, sure.... but you start getting into large containers the finger test can be extremely misleading. Even in small containers learning the difference in weight between a dry and wet pot is a better over all assessment then the finger test.
In regards to mulch - I've asked that before and the gist I got was NO due to possible overmoisture and root damage.
I'm not sure who told you that but they're wrong. Come over to the organic section and learn all about mulch. One of the best things I ever did for my grow.
Assuming an awful lot. I grow in 100 - 300 gallon pots. And as I said it has worked great for me explaining to newbies. I don't need any metering device to know when my pants need watering. I'll be glad to show you photos of the quality monsters that I have grown in them. I'll show you mine if show me yours. Happy 4th of July.
Lol so you honestly think the middle of the soil dries out just as fast as the top 2 inches in large containers? That defies all logic and common sense. A 100 gallon smart pot is 27 inches tall. It would be foolish to think the top 2 inches even remotely represents the moisture level in the middle of the container. I dont need to see your little pecker to use common sense in gardening Meters are junk and highly inaccurate