1 month into 12/12, leaf issues.

[VerdantGreen]

i always thought the same about perched water table. i always break up my rootballs and examine them to find they are pretty evenly distributed around the pot.

mad, presumably air content in soil is inversely proportional to the water content? so as the pot starts to dry out the soil contains more air?? i always thought that this was why a dryish/wet cycle works well?

VG

 

[pinecone]

I've done the wet dry cycles and kept it moist with a bit of water everyday. I didn’t notice any dramatic differences in yield, even running the same strain back-to-black. The big difference I did notice is roots higher in the soil when the medium is kept moist. I suppose this is good, but I really don't like watering everyday. Lately I have been watering every other day or so, but I can go much longer if need be.

I do believe that some mediums that work at a wider range of moister levels. For example, course coco is able to hold a lot of water, while simultaneously holding a lot of air. Mixed with castings or compost it can work with a lot of water added or pretty dry. There is probably a 3-gallon of water range for my 20 gallons of coco-casting-perlite medium in which plants will be happy in; more water than I use in a week on flowering plants. From what I hear DE and Turface have similar properties. When I was using Fox Farm Ocean Forest as a medium I would often have wilts from missing watering and droops after watering too much. This no longer happens to me because my current mixture is able to function pretty well saturated.

Pine

 

[mad librettist]

i always thought the same about perched water table. i always break up my rootballs and examine them to find they are pretty evenly distributed around the pot.

mad, presumably air content in soil is inversely proportional to the water content? so as the pot starts to dry out the soil contains more air?? i always thought that this was why a dryish/wet cycle works well?

VG

as I understand it, air porosity and water porosity are inversely proportional.

however, afaik the water held inside a DE chunk does not affect the overall air porosity.

so I guess it's not quite true that more water means less air, since the DE chunk does not hold air internally. (or does it?)


I do know that a wet dry cycle seems to keep everyone happy, even if it's not 100% of the pot going dry, and that moist soil is living soil, even if it isn't 100% of the pot staying moist. I can do this only because I have large pots.


I also noticed that plants seem to like a few days in a row of moisture, even if it's only once in a while.

 

[VerdantGreen]

hmmm, i would have thought that the DE would hold air inside as the water diminishes - but if porosity of the mix is defined as the space between the individual particles then the air space inside the DE chunk wouldnt be counted as porosity?

i started using a mulch recently - aged bark - and it does slow down the water loss considerably... but also seems to encourage more gnats.

VG

 

[mad librettist]

hmmm yeah i guess there must be air going in if water comes out otherwise there would be a vacuum to beat...

 

[growcodile]

WTF ... 2 days until photobucket deleted your pics ??

 

[VerdantGreen]

I've done the wet dry cycles and kept it moist with a bit of water everyday. I didn’t notice any dramatic differences in yield, even running the same strain back-to-black. The big difference I did notice is roots higher in the soil when the medium is kept moist. I suppose this is good, but I really don't like watering everyday. Lately I have been watering every other day or so, but I can go much longer if need be.

I do believe that some mediums that work at a wider range of moister levels. For example, course coco is able to hold a lot of water, while simultaneously holding a lot of air. Mixed with castings or compost it can work with a lot of water added or pretty dry. There is probably a 3-gallon of water range for my 20 gallons of coco-casting-perlite medium in which plants will be happy in; more water than I use in a week on flowering plants. From what I hear DE and Turface have similar properties. When I was using Fox Farm Ocean Forest as a medium I would often have wilts from missing watering and droops after watering too much. This no longer happens to me because my current mixture is able to function pretty well saturated.

Pine

yeah coco is pretty exceptional as a medium, and the pot size seems to be very forgiving in coco - you can have big plants in smaller pots.

 

[h.h.]

If your soil and pots drain well, wicks are not of much value. As we add amendments, we add another factor.To a limited degree, we end up sacrificing drainage. We then turn to pearlite or DE type products. Wicks can serve the same purpose, eliminating some of the drainage material required. Some will always be required, for soil support if nothing else.
The smaller the pot, the greater the advantage. Large pots have the advantage of extra soil doing the wicking action.
Just something to play with as much as anything. Another way of addressing the issue.
I think a good fungal soil, with it's sponge like qualities, has a great advantage, especially when composed of a coco like fiber. Excess moisture passes through, flooding the roots with nutrients, pushing air through the soil, as well as drawing in a fresh supply of oxygen in it's wake.
While there may be an advantage to a slight wet/dry cycle, it's hard to overwater.
Mulch slows down the rate the gravitational water passes through by briefly holding on to it giving the bits of medium a greater opportunity to top off as well as slowing evaporation. I'm using about 3". It tells me when to water. As the top drys down, before the bottom gets dry.

 

[Sean Price]

Smart pots have allowed me to be more generous with watering since I'm less scared of over-watering..If it was plastic pots anaerobic soil pockets would happen since i've cut way back on perlite with these

 

[orange juice]

Okay will definitely throw up a pic of full plants tonight then. There are 5 females and all are affected equally by spotting. Only a few fan leaves per plant, lower half/middle of plant, that have this spotting. Seemed to show up overnight though..

I bet if you analyze it you'll see the leaves affected are the ones that are receiving the least light. Your plants could survive the rest of flowering with no nutes and little to no harmful effects from that. But adding all sorts of crap to try and fix this will probably cause more harm. Would be really interested to hear if you get this fixed (w/ pics). I bet it will just slowly continue, nothing will help it, but your plants will still be fine.