How much water (per pot size)

[growsjoe1]

I tend to water dechlorinated tap that has been ph'ed down to 6.3 and between 1/2 gallon and 3/4 gallon every time I water. My soil was moist, but the plants were good and healthy when i transplanted from solo cups, zero shock and for the next 7 weeks booming and stacking up.

I also water my living soil that way.

Over-watering, and being too caring will result in disaster

Think of soil moisture on a scale of 1-10. 1 being bone dry and 10 being muddy wet. We want to operate in the 3-7 range all day long, day in and day out.

 

[growsjoe1]

@seedcollector420 Your plants are off to a great start. Nice pics.

View attachment 18969941 View attachment 18969942 View attachment 18969943 these are the girls at about 50 days from germination of seed

been running Coast of Maine Stonington, in the 10 Gallon Fabric Pots, and feeding a recharge every other watering.

I tend to water dechlorinated tap that has been ph'ed down to 6.3 and between 1/2 gallon and 3/4 gallon every time I water. My soil was moist, but the plants were good and healthy when i transplanted from solo cups, zero shock and for the next 7 weeks booming and stacking up.

for good measure, i would try to catch them right when the leaves start pointing up, and that means i can water a little less, but more often.

however, just after some of these pics were taken, i got the advice to water to runoff. I was hesitant at first, as they started to get above 20"- 24" i had not intentionally wanted to consider giving bigger drinks for them, so it was not ever on my list of good practices, just wasn't healthy soil does wonders i dont use any fertilizers or boosters or plant food.

im taking care of soil microbes best i can, added nematodes and lady bugs and handful of worms, im still playing with compost before i decide to top dress them.

On Day 51 I changed my habits, I watered all 5 plants, each with about a gallon of water, seeing runoff fair amount..... and for another day after, they looked perky happy..... until they just completely fell over from over watering. drooping and everything......it took 5-6 days to dry them out enough and they are still recovering from it,

had me fuuuuuuucked up thinking i killed them. the paranoia the dread the paranoia of choking out the roots and paranoia of getting root rot just a couple weeks before flipping them, because some master grower with decades said to water to runoff and i changed from taking care of soil and listening to a dipship who isnt with my plants gonna saturate to see results end up killing them,

i will post another go round here in a couple days,

no shit........i was ready to pull them out and start over


maybe it works for some people. im not going to go through that again.

 

[seedcollector420]

@growsjoe1 thank you,

damn right....oh the lessons i have learned, not just growing related, from caring to much.....

during my first grow, my partner and I had company at our "spot", and this company was a friend who happened to be in the midst of a dangerous addiction and had a heart attack while OD'ing. had no idea that our friend was getting way to loaded, later i learned he was an avid speedballer and at 325 lbs i had no idea anything was gonna touch him. as he is going out, in my naivety, called the ambulance. and hurried to save his life.... in the adrenaline rush, i hadn't had the idea i needed to hide or completely kill my garden. the alerted ambulance arrived started to asess how to get him back chest compressions, stethescopes and breathing tubes are being whipped out. when the medic sees the plot, stops giving chest compressions, and got up to see the plants, as they were about 6ft tall laughed out loud.... i still remember how menacing this was, "jesus you all are in a shit load of trouble"...... our friend, nearly revived thank god, busked on a stretcher and we all reached over to him and tell him " whatever happens we are so glad you here now' and " we are gonna meet you at the hospital"

..... but we were not.... our friend gets on his way, and i suddenly realize im about to have the brief chat with the police, and i'm asked to sit my ass down.

watched them pull the garden right out of ground and bag it with them.

taking my first L,
made me who i am today.

 

[Old Uncle Ben]

View attachment 18969941 View attachment 18969942 View attachment 18969943

On Day 51 I changed my habits, I watered all 5 plants, each with about a gallon of water, seeing runoff fair amount..... and for another day after, they looked perky happy..... until they just completely fell over from over watering. drooping and everything......it took 5-6 days to dry them out enough and they are still recovering from it,

Gardening 101:

10 gal. pots are too big for such small plants which have limited root systems and foliage that can not quickly WICK off excess soil moisture. The roots have not yet grown throughout the soil, grown to the sides and bottom where they can and will wick off excess soil moisture.

For starts fabric pots, if they're the root pruning type, create very fibrous roots, by design. That means that when you normally grow in say...... a 3 gallon conventional pot, you can get away with a smaller root pruning pot because you have more root mass. It's more efficient. https://rootmaker.com/rootmaker-system

had me fuuuuuuucked up thinking i killed them. the paranoia the dread the paranoia of choking out the roots and paranoia of getting root rot just a couple weeks before flipping them, because some master grower with decades said to water to runoff and i changed from taking care of soil and listening to a dipship who isnt with my plants gonna saturate to see results end up killing them,

Who's the "dipshit", shit fer brains? Own it, you fucked up because you didn't use common sense. Recommend a course in basic gardening.

The conventional norm (not that there's much "normal" to be found in cannabis forums) is to water until runoff, period. Start in small pots and upcan to larger pots as the need arises, as your faves build up mass. NEVER grow small juvenile plants in large pots unless you know what you're doing. I can get away with it and just did - planted a small 14" mango tree in a huge RootBuilder pot. Talking 36" wide X 16" H. It's bottomless.

It's not over watering that induces root rot, it's the exclusion of air that does. Know the difference.

Also, never have adjusted my water's pH nor worried about dechlorination no matter what city supply source I had. That's "make work", not needed. I now use rain water a lot because I collect/hold 3,500 gals. in large tanks but that's a first in all my 55 years of gardening.

Don't feel bad, shit happens to me too. My plants look like hell thanks to a case of fungus gnats, mites and of my own doing - neglect. I've got too many irons in the fire including a priority of pruning my vineyard. There will always be a next time.

Uncle Ben

 

[I Care]

I think that this is two totally different approaches in conflict. It’s a no till approach vs the first water and substrate approach. Im pretty certain that almost anyone’s problems growing in pots is to have a drainage tray or trays to allow for either type of grow. I’ve both ways, in means of one in which I can get moisture out and one in which I can’t get moisture out.

There’s a huge difference with having a substrate edit:container that allows one to use a fast draining soil that has been well developed through the ebb and flow. It’s a restoration of the oxygen every time
run off occurs in your pots. Maybe with the cloth one won’t get the same effect.

Either way, having plants in a tray that outgrew the tray and then had to carry them. Every watering took about 4 hours to take plants one by one to a place where they could be run off, a shower which was like only big enough for one of the tall diesel babes at a time.

I noticed; to grow with run offs one really needs to work on on getting your soil to ebb and flow veg while the roots grow large. When good run off starts it’s probably a good time for flowering to start.

Ebb and flow really simplifies things if you have the soil to make it right. Then you figure out how much it requires to generate run off based on what you collect after the run off. Which will be about 25-35% the volume of your substrate.

***Maybe if one doesn’t want to run off their amendments, go with about 10-15 percent the volume of the substrate.