Watering from above vs below

Superauto · May 5, 2018

How do you water the plants?
Do you prefer to water from above or use a saucer or double cup and let the plants suck up the water from below?

I'm trying now with some lowryders I am starting in double solo cups(1 pint), just giving water in the bottom cup.
Do I still have to water from above now and then or can it work with from below only?

Anyone tried both and experienced any differences, good or bad?

Phillis · May 5, 2018

Just lost 2 plants leaving water in the trays. Root rot lead to low ph and lockout.

mr.brunch · May 5, 2018

Not a good idea to water cannabis from below as it prefers wet/dry cycles (in soil anyway) ... as said above, it can lead to root rot and other nasty problems.
Weed loves oxygenated soil, and if soil sits wet it will clump together, squeezing out the air pockets.

Sasati · May 21, 2018

I have tried both, but always end up watering from above. There is also, in my observation at least, a hefty area of unrooted soil on top if watering from below only. Waste of soil and money at some cases.

I use trays under the pots, and usually water from below just to see how fast it absorbs the water. I have big pots, and they are too far to lift for evaluation of need to water. Don't know if that has any correlation, but if the water is absorbed in minutes, i usually water if not sure. If the water stays in the tray for some time, i wait a day or two.

Also when watered from above, it is easier to define the amount of water needed from drainage, and to check drainage water PH if needed to.

The wet/dry cycle and increased possibility for root rot mentioned above is also a great argument for watering above.

I use small pipe for plants far back, and water the plants quite slowly. Usually a liter or two per plant, wait a while, and then another liter or two. Don't know if theres any truth to it, but i like to think that the water has more time to spread evenly without compressing the soil.

wvkindbud38 · May 21, 2018

I've always watered from above. You need to wet all your soil, I don't know how your roots wouldn't dry out....just sounds like a bad idea. 30 yrs indoor/outdoor growing I've not seen anybody water from below entirely and not wet the entire pot with good results. Until I see somebody research this and do it with better results than water from the top I wouldn't waste my time especially if you want to grow a decent crop. If I've had roots growing out the bottom of my pots sometimes I'd pour water in the saucers for the roots to suck up from time to time if I'm midway into flowering and can't transplant

mayorofthdesert · May 22, 2018

ive used autopots which water from below, worked fine but i agree that top watering is preferable. the top few inches of soil had no roots & why not make use of all the soil if you can?

OakyJoe · May 22, 2018

mr.brunch said:
Not a good idea to water cannabis from below as it prefers wet/dry cycles (in soil anyway) ... as said above, it can lead to root rot and other nasty problems.
Weed loves oxygenated soil, and if soil sits wet it will clump together, squeezing out the air pockets.

this!

MJPassion · May 22, 2018

I’ve done both over the last 20 or so years.

I always prefer water from above for the one reason that’s already been stated... use all the medium you bought, not just the lower half.

Also, whenever I’ve used bottom watering in the past, it was for outdoor plants & I only gave enough water to last a couple hours in the tray (once per day). This would produce copious roots down low for a deep root ball. These plants would also be top watered so that the upper soil layer was well moistened.

wvkindbud38 · May 22, 2018

mayorofthdesert said:
ive used autopots which water from below, worked fine but i agree that top watering is preferable. the top few inches of soil had no roots & why not make use of all the soil if you can?

Yea like I said I'd pour water in my dripping trays under my pots....my pots were on blocks a few inches off the drip saucers. Sometimes roots hanging out the bottom of the pot would be in the tray and suck that water up.

Somebody should start a grow log with a self watering pot from below opposed to regular watering???? Anybody second that?? A lot of info for the community if a grower could do a test like this

Easy7 · May 22, 2018

First planters I ever grew in were bottom watering pots. They don't water the feeder roots at the top. It's very easy to over-water, but they do get good air at the bottom. I'd leave the tray for run off and not let it sit in there. A shop-vac is very useful.

stemznseedz · May 22, 2018

from the top with some runoff is ideal. it's going to flush out any buildup in your medium and correct anything off in the medium.

the only time bottom watering makes sense is ebb and flow that i can think of.

AgentPothead · May 22, 2018

Excuse the ignorance, but doesn't a hempy bucket work by bottom feeding? Or do you still top feed and the reservoir is just there to catch over flow?

DrDee · Jun 4, 2018

AgentPothead said:
Excuse the ignorance, but doesn't a hempy bucket work by bottom feeding? Or do you still top feed and the reservoir is just there to catch over flow?

Hempy buckets are hydro so not exactly on point to discussion. But yes, I suppose adding nutrients could be called top watering but essentially the roots draw nutrient from below.

One useful bottom watering system is the wick system. Very useful for maintenance of plants such as clone Mommas and also keeping plants alive during vacation.

With top watering on soil, you then have the option of top dressing. A very useful technique for deficiency correction.
Cheers guys,
JD

MrBungle · Jun 4, 2018

I've used bottom feeding in the past to fight off fungus gnats... Since their larvae lives in the top part of the soil, and they need moisture to survive, the bottom feeding kills their population off by drying them out....

wvkindbud38 · Jun 4, 2018

Yea I'm sorry about my post I do remember some yrs back the buckets you put in the trays and watered from below. It's just didn't seem logical not to water from above. Flushing salt build-up etc out the bottom is how I always did it. I remember the buckets but don't remember to much about the results. I do apologize I assume you can water from below and flush the plants from the top with water sometimes.

Anne_Fetamine · Jun 4, 2018

I do a bit of both. I took a horticulture class in college where we were taught to water from the bottom, but I forget the reason. My plant seems to like both methods just fine.

wvkindbud38 · Jun 4, 2018

Anne_Fetamine said:
I do a bit of both. I took a horticulture class in college where we were taught to water from the bottom, but I forget the reason. My plant seems to like both methods just fine.

The best answer on the tread....somebody who was taught in school to do this. I'd forgot about those buckets. But somebody said they were for hydro. I thought there was a tray you put your buckets in and put water in the tray to water the pots of soil from the bottom. This has been 7-10yrs ago and I'd forgot. There might be something in Jorge's indoor grow bible if I remember correctly. :tiphat:

wvkindbud38 · Sep 3, 2018

After revisiting this subject. I've played around with watering from below. The more i think on this. I've watered from below a lot over the yrs. But I kinda tested out some stuff. I had some some plants in my dew liter bottles. I cut holes around the bottoms. And I had them in a storage tote outside. A lot of heavy rains come and filled the tote with a few inches of water. It didn't rain for awhile but the water stayed in the tote and I left the seedlings in there. They sucked up the water from the bottom of there bottles and done ok. It maybe a lil different but I think you could get by with below watering. But it's just convenital to water from above and in the long run probably your best bet . That's my take growing in soil. But I'm sure it can be done with good results watering below. You just have to know what to do and I feel you'd have to tend to your plants more. But I guess once you got it down how to water from below you'd be ok. I'm sticking to watering from above ....at least 99% of the time

gorilla ganja · Sep 3, 2018

The key to watering from below is to not let the pots sit in water for to long.

I put pots into a tray filled with a inch of water, let them take what they want into the medium and then take them out of the standing water.
Usually I use it for starting plants in solo cups. 50 in a tray. It's actually faster than hand watering each one separately.

Flood and drain tables work better for larger plants that are harder to move.

Peace GG

wvkindbud38 · Sep 3, 2018

gorilla ganja said:
The key to watering from below is to not let the pots sit in water for to long.

I put pots into a tray filled with a inch of water, let them take what they want into the medium and then take them out of the standing water.
Usually I use it for starting plants in solo cups. 50 in a tray. It's actually faster than hand watering each one separately.

Flood and drain tables work better for larger plants that are harder to move.

Peace GG

Exactly if it's done correctly it should work alright I believe. I even left a few plants in a in. or so of water this summer and they done ok. But that's not how you should do it. Yea it'll work for awhile but the way describe above is the correct way to water below..... gorilla ganjas doing it the way that it should work just fine in my opinion. It's just kinda unconventional to water from below, but if you know how to do it....and that's how your used to growing/watering, it should be natural to some guys.

Watering from above vs below

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