How much water and how often for soil in 3 gallon fabric pots

I am used to growing in coco on there. I am planning to have auto plants in 3 gallon fabric pots with 50% 50% soil perlite. The soil will have organic dry amendments in it for the nutrients. I was watering the coco every day. I plan to have the plants on autopots after 3 weeks but want to know how often and how much water to give the plants for the first 3 weeks to make sure I do not overwater the plants. I plan to water with tap water only for it.

I am not looking for the water when it needs it or when it is dry answer for it. I had problems with my first 2 grows and I want to minimize problems on this 1 so I am looking for the average amount you do to use as a guide for it. How much water and how often would you water the plants if you had 50% 50% soil perlite in 3 gallon fabric pots in week 1 and week 2 and week 3 on there? I was thinking water it 1 time every 2 days with like 4 - 8 ounces of water for week 1 then 1/4 gallon 1 time every 2 days for week 2 and 3. What do you think of that for it on there?

I’m betting there are folks around here that can get technical and precise but I just read the plant.
Probably not the answer you were hoping for but it works for me.

If in doubt water some pots with more water and some less. In time you'll see how much works better.

I've heard the figures 5% to 10% soil volume every other day thrown around allot, starting with a 10% volume watering on day one. This ended up being too much because the amount a plant need depends allot on how big the plant is and how much water the plant can consume. If the soil is too wet too long the roots will "drow", and the plant won't get any oxygen to the roots, which is necessary. For living / no till soil I maintain my cover crop and microbes at about 2% every other day (even with no plants in the soil). And gradually raise the volume as the plants develop and get larger.

At the end of the day it's going to take some trail and error and attention to how your plants respond. Develop that green thumb and expect to make se mistakes. Your ambient temperature and humidity will play a large role as well, determining how quickly your soil will dry.

My advice it to play around and find what works for you and your situation. Take record of everything you do and your observations and learn from them. Treat it like any other science until you get a feeling for it. In my experience it's always better to underwater than over water. Water a bit and check on then every few hours, your plants will wilt very obviously when they're thirsty and can be watered again quickly with little damage to the plant. Over watering on the other hand is more difficult to reverse and more likely to damage your plants before you have a chance to adjust anything.

Seedlings and very young plants like it pretty moist and can be damaged quicker by too dry soil.

Edit: look into blumats if you just can't be bothered and look into getting a cheap RO filter. They can be had for like $50 on Amazon and very worth it unless you have very good tap water (if you live in the or near the mountains I'm jealous). I don't drink strait tap water and I don't want to smoke it either.

Post a photo for the best answer. Its hard to determine what your talking about. Size of plant and container size with soil type all make a difference. A 50 50 mix with perlite should need water every other day if the plant has a good root zone.

The123321 said:

I am not looking for the water when it needs it or when it is dry answer for it. ....

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Unfortunately there is not really a better answer to your question. You may as well have asked 'how long is a piece of string'
Every plant in a pot will be slightly different and use more/less water depending on many variables.



My advice is to learn how to judge the weight of your pots (by hand - this is called 'shucking') when they are well watered, and when they are fairly dry, and when they are very dry... and use this to judge whether your plants need watering. With 50% perlite (which is a LOT.. i use 30% max) They should drain well and make it hard to overwater, and the soil should hold plenty of air even when it is quite wet. Letting them dry a bit so they feel quite light before watering well is desirable to discourage fungus gnats in your soil which like consistently wet conditions.


You'll soon learn to judge this. You'll find that the plants that do the best are the ones that use the most water !


also, putting tiny plants straight into big pots makes it easier to overwater in the early stages before the roots have grown out into the pot. I would go from maybe a 1 gallon to 3 gallon during the veg process if i was looking to avoid watering problems.



VG

If you want to be able to water a set amount on a set schedule then better switch to DWC or Flood and drain Hydro. Even COCO requires different watering at different growth stages.

Soil definitely don't work that way.

The123321 said:

I am used to growing in coco on there. I am planning to have auto plants in 3 gallon fabric pots with 50% 50% soil perlite. The soil will have organic dry amendments in it for the nutrients. I was watering the coco every day. I plan to have the plants on autopots after 3 weeks but want to know how often and how much water to give the plants for the first 3 weeks to make sure I do not overwater the plants. I plan to water with tap water only for it.

I am not looking for the water when it needs it or when it is dry answer for it. I had problems with my first 2 grows and I want to minimize problems on this 1 so I am looking for the average amount you do to use as a guide for it. How much water and how often would you water the plants if you had 50% 50% soil perlite in 3 gallon fabric pots in week 1 and week 2 and week 3 on there? I was thinking water it 1 time every 2 days with like 4 - 8 ounces of water for week 1 then 1/4 gallon 1 time every 2 days for week 2 and 3. What do you think of that for it on there?

Click to expand...

jwm said:

I’m betting there are folks around here that can get technical and precise but I just read the plant.
Probably not the answer you were hoping for but it works for me.

Click to expand...

Taking judicious notes on your previous grows, allows you to know verbatim, how much water they need, and... see below. Since it seems you going to cloth pots, I presume you are in plastic now. The use of cloth pots is a learning curve as well, not just a medium change.

VerdantGreen said:

Unfortunately there is not really a better answer to your question. You may as well have asked 'how long is a piece of string'
Every plant in a pot will be slightly different and use more/less water depending on many variables.

My advice is to learn how to judge the weight of your pots (by hand - this is called 'shucking') when they are well watered, and when they are fairly dry, and when they are very dry... and use this to judge whether your plants need watering. With 50% perlite (which is a LOT.. i use 30% max) They should drain well and make it hard to overwater, and the soil should hold plenty of air even when it is quite wet. Letting them dry a bit so they feel quite light before watering well is desirable to discourage fungus gnats in your soil which like consistently wet conditions.

VG

Click to expand...

@OP
I verify my findings (weight) against my moisture meter. The tricky part is to have the probes at the root zone, vice the bottom of the pot. Over time you will be able to judge and adjust accordingly. I water/feed every 3 days. e.g water and feed are 2 separate entities. I am able to do so, because I payed attention and took notes during my previous grows. Now I simply apply lessons learned.

RockinRobot said:

If you want to be able to water a set amount on a set schedule then better switch to DWC or Flood and drain Hydro. Even COCO requires different watering at different growth stages.

Soil definitely don't work that way.

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Not necessarily so! Everyone can adjust their watering/feeding schedule, to meet their needs, in their area and growing conditions, and that does not mean they have to go to coco, DWC or hydro for that matter!

Switcher56 said:

Not necessarily so! Everyone can adjust their watering/feeding schedule, to meet their needs, in their area and growing conditions, and that does not mean they have to go to coco, DWC or hydro for that matter!

Click to expand...

Really? So you're telling me you can water a 3 week old plant in soil the same frequency and amount as a 3 month old plant? I call BS. Also you should read more carefully. I said coco also needs different feed rates based on plant size.

And you said it yourself you can adjust for feed. He wants to feed the same amount on a set schedule. Only hydro can do that

VerdantGreen said:

Unfortunately there is not really a better answer to your question. You may as well have asked 'how long is a piece of string'
Every plant in a pot will be slightly different and use more/less water depending on many variables.



My advice is to learn how to judge the weight of your pots (by hand - this is called 'shucking') when they are well watered, and when they are fairly dry, and when they are very dry... and use this to judge whether your plants need watering. With 50% perlite (which is a LOT.. i use 30% max) They should drain well and make it hard to overwater, and the soil should hold plenty of air even when it is quite wet. Letting them dry a bit so they feel quite light before watering well is desirable to discourage fungus gnats in your soil which like consistently wet conditions.


You'll soon learn to judge this. You'll find that the plants that do the best are the ones that use the most water !


also, putting tiny plants straight into big pots makes it easier to overwater in the early stages before the roots have grown out into the pot. I would go from maybe a 1 gallon to 3 gallon during the veg process if i was looking to avoid watering problems.



VG

Click to expand...

^^^^^ solid

RockinRobot said:

Really? So you're telling me you can water a 3 week old plant in soil the same frequency and amount as a 3 month old plant? I call BS. Also you should read more carefully. I said coco also needs different feed rates based on plant size.

And you said it yourself you can adjust for feed. He wants to feed the same amount on a set schedule. Only hydro can do that

Click to expand...

Do you have a glass belly button? That is not what I said.