Watering from the bottom?

[thesloppy]

Watering from the top will push the freed up nutrients down to the roots. Bottom watering will pull them away. You soak your soil, then it drains to waste.
As Verd put it, it's a more direct air exchange. Water pushes down the air which gets trapped or travels back up through the medium. More action.
While nature depends on ground water. dew is present which keeps the top moist. When the rains come everything flourishes and reaches it's prime.

I feel I should note something: Straight bottom-watering is not an optimum way to feed your plants. Once the discussion gets rolling, and people start talking about their favorite techniques, it can sound like people talking about bottom-feeding are promoting it as a more efficient/productive way to feed, which it most definitely is not....realistically, it offers nothing more than a way to water/feed your plants less (which is probably a bigger concern in coco, than soil), and make the process of watering easier. It will effect your yield negatively (though not drastically, in my opinion or experience), and anyone considering bottom-fielding should definitely take that into account.

I've spent many days plumbing the depths of the PPK thread Snook mentioned, and there is a ton of good information in there, at a depth well-beyond any other thread, and if you're looking to know the science (both 'real' and anecdotal) behind top/bottom feeding, and get actually increased yields from a 'lazy' watering system, that's the place to start and finish.

 

[Harry Hoosier]

Let me take you to where the action is...Oh baby come on.
The top. Keep it wet.
Watering from the top will push the freed up nutrients down to the roots. Bottom watering will pull them away. You soak your soil, then it drains to waste.
As Verd put it, it's a more direct air exchange. Water pushes down the air which gets trapped or travels back up through the medium. More action.
While nature depends on ground water. dew is present which keeps the top moist. When the rains come everything flourishes and reaches it's prime.
Then there's the desert. If you can make it here, you can make it anywhere.
Oh baby come on...
She must have lost her way to San Francisco.
If you understand this...You're old.

<------ old

 

[shmalphy]

I have been amazed how well it has been working out. I have never seen healthier plants. I have a lot of FAT worms in my soil keeping it from getting stagnant so it seems like I can give them way more water than they could handle in an inert media. They are LOVING it. I typically give them enough water when the lights come on that they have used it up before dark. I also spray the undersides of the leaves as soon as the lights come on, and they seem to love it.

 

[supermanlives]

nothing wrong with bottom feeding. i sometimes grow in growbags set in trays. 1 gal per tray. works as good if not better than top feeding. alot easier for sure.

 

[growingcrazy]

I feel I should note something: Straight bottom-watering is not an optimum way to feed your plants. Once the discussion gets rolling, and people start talking about their favorite techniques, it can sound like people talking about bottom-feeding are promoting it as a more efficient/productive way to feed, which it most definitely is not....realistically, it offers nothing more than a way to water/feed your plants less (which is probably a bigger concern in coco, than soil), and make the process of watering easier. It will effect your yield negatively (though not drastically, in my opinion or experience), and anyone considering bottom-fielding should definitely take that into account.

I've spent many days plumbing the depths of the PPK thread Snook mentioned, and there is a ton of good information in there, at a depth well-beyond any other thread, and if you're looking to know the science (both 'real' and anecdotal) behind top/bottom feeding, and get actually increased yields from a 'lazy' watering system, that's the place to start and finish.

Where is your basis for these statements?

Bottom watering works very well. I use a small container, watered more often and it works exceptionally well. Not to mention easy.

There is no easier way to get a more even watering each an every time. It is a slow capillary watering that gets all of the soil evenly moistened if you do it correctly. Biggest keys are how long it takes for your container to dry out, and how much to water.

I have 4 week old haze plants currently in 16oz solo cups. They dry to drooping in 4 days, so I water every 3 1/2 days. I also am currently watering with only enough to be soaked up in one hours time. For me that is about a gallon with total of 12 in a tray.

A lot of factors are at play, but once you know your soil mixes capillary rate and your plants uptake needs, its easy..

Almost forgot! I only do this in veg currently, due to running a bed in flower.

 

[noluv]

I have done it with tomatoes with great success a couple of times.. Some experiments with weed too.

In regards to organic soil and bottom feeding I really like that you just need to have water in the res/"bottom", no fertilizers.

But I agree with thesloppy, it's a way of watering less often, not a way of getting better growth. Except if your plants were underwatered before and you simply can't water more often. Also often when bottom feeding roots grow all the way into the res which makes it kind of like a hybrid soil / passive hydro system, I wonder if all that makes a difference too.

Anyway be careful not to overwater young plants if you bottom feed.

 

[Amanita]

I have bottom watered before with good results.

 

[thesloppy]

Where is your basis for these statements?

Bottom watering works very well. I use a small container, watered more often and it works exceptionally well. Not to mention easy.

To be clear, I wasn't saying it doesn't work, I bottom feed and have for years, with hundreds of plants. There's a ten page thread in my sig about it. That said, I meant exactly what I said, it's main benefit is convenience, it's not going to miraculously fix any problems, or increase your yield unless (as noluv noted) your were already mixed up.

Bottom feeding will also increase nute concentrations, since you're not draining any waste, so it will sometimes give the appearance of increased vigor, which is the result of basically increasing your nutrient concentration, and giving your plants a heavier feeding, rather than anything to do with the technicalities of bottom-feeding. Anyone switching from top-feeding to bottom-feeding try cutting your nutes to 75-50% of what you usually use, until you can get a feel for what your plants like to be bottom-fed.

 

[wildgrow]

Once my clones have rooted, been put in soil and top watered a few times, I like to bottom water. I think it helps motivate the roots to search out the water ie. causes them to rooy deeper, faster. Ill also put a little on the top to moisten the surface. Havent tried bottom watering in a pot any bigger than 1 g.

 

[Sweet Lou]

Think of it like a wick system but every 3 or for waters flush from the top and it will be great.

 

[Bennyweed1]

The huge inconsistency I find with top watering when using a real soil in potted containers is not being able to provide complete, even saturation. Everybody knows the water pools up and runs down the sides. Especially if your top soil drys out, then it is a total pain in the ass.

For me, the only way to achieve an full top to bottom watering is a slow steady drip. Its takes for ever if you don't have a drip system or bluemats.

With my little airpots, when they require watering I fill up a 5gallon bucket with water about 3/4 the height of a the airpot and dunk them in one by one for about 1-2mins to ensure a full even watering so the roots can grow without running into dry spots.

It also catches some of those bastard lil fungus gnats that plague a real soil. I have not and probably will never win that fight. I have learned to accept them as a terrorist regime that do not know how to do much other then be a complete utter announce and bounce off my face when I hanker in close for a plant inspection.

(They love moist places and so does a living, thriving, organic soil so they tend to grow and spread rapidly when bottom watering without precautions in check)

 

[shmalphy]

I have been adding crab meal and switched from perlite to DE to eliminate fungus gnats, and it seems to have worked.

I also got the skeeter dunks and put one in a bottle with molasses and water. When it gets half gone I add more water and molasses to keep the bacteria alive and breeding, like a sourdough culture. I add a little of that to my water, and it seems to work.

 

[growingcrazy]

The huge inconsistency I find with top watering when using a real soil in potted containers is not being about to provide complete, even saturation. Everybody knows the water pools up and runs down the sides. Especially if your top soil drys out, then it is a total pain in the ass.

For me, the only way to achieve an full top to bottom watering is a slow steady drip. Its takes for ever if you don't have a drip system or bluemats.

Exactly! Take a rootball from a plant that has been chopped and water it from the top, let it sit for 15 minutes or so and then pull it from the pot and tear it apart to see the saturation levels. If you are not dripping or watering very slowly from the top you get no type of even watering. Bottom watering is the easiest way to get 100% total saturation.

With the organic soil's, nutrient buildup is not an issue.

 

[supermanlives]

well with organics bottom feeding is as good as top feeding if not better and easier. no nutes get pushed or pulled away and it doesnt affect yield negatively thats all bullshit IMHO

 

[Crusader Rabbit]

If there is any evaporation from any media surface, salts are left behind. The length of a grow is probably too short of a time for it to have a detrimental effect in organic soil.

 

[growingcrazy]

If there is any evaporation from any media surface, salts are left behind. The length of a grow is probably too short of a time for it to have a detrimental effect in organic soil.

Where do the salts go in my no drain, organic soil bed? It is a 3x3x1 bed that has only been top dressed with amendments, castings, and compost for the last 3 years.

We are in the organic soil forum, so I thought we are only talking about highly amended organic soil here.

 

[Crusader Rabbit]

Where do the salts go in my no drain, organic soil bed? It is a 3x3x1 bed that has only been top dressed with amendments, castings, and compost for the last 3 years.

We are in the organic soil forum, so I thought we are only talking about highly amended organic soil here.

Well, what leaves? You remove salts within the plants at harvest time. That may be it.

 

[thesloppy]

Where do the salts go in my no drain, organic soil bed? It is a 3x3x1 bed that has only been top dressed with amendments, castings, and compost for the last 3 years.

As far as my understanding goes, the salts are pulled in the opposite direction of how the nutrients flow. So, if you top-water salts collect at the bottom of your container, whereas bottom-watering will cause the salts to collect at the top of your container. I think folks might also give salts a little too much (dis)credit, it's not like your plant is going to go from being perfectly fine to immediately keeling over, once it reaches some critical level of salt. You can grow in used, 'salty' soil just fine, especially if, as you noted, you're using organic amendments in soil, which seem pretty hard to push into the kind of imbalance that would cause lockout/problems due to salts and/or overfeeding.

 

[Crusader Rabbit]

A number of civilizations have fallen because they were frugal with irrigation water and only provided enough to sustain plants without allowing water to flush accumulated salts downward below the root zone. Salts move with the water that they are dissolved in. If you're bottom watering and there is evaporation from the soil surface, there will be a movement of water upward to the surface. When water evaporates the salts don't get to tag along. With organic it probably won't develop into an issue unless you have salty water.

 

[Bennyweed1]

Where does the salt come from exactly? I mean I know about the danger it presents but what exactly is putting all this salt in the soil?

The organic amendments? Is sodium a by product of decomposition or something? I dont understand that part.....