SpicySativa
Member
What's up organic heads?
I've been thinking a lot lately about soil moisture management in my setup... Currently I'm using 7-gal Smart Pots full of my organic mix, which I hand water every 2-3 days (when the pots are noticeably a little lighter, but definitely not dry). I've been noticing that any roots which grow out into the outer inch of the pot end up drying up and dying even when I'm watering every other day while the pot still feels heavy. I have LOTS of airflow above and below the canopy (PM prevention) which I'm sure contributes to the soil around the edges drying out quickly.
I also notice that even when I hand water very slowly a little at a time, a significant amount of water channels through the soil and drains without soaking in. This ends up leaching some of the soluble, readily available nutrients from the soil (nitrates, in particular)...
If I take into account the 1 inch of dry dead space around the outside of the pot, plus the one inch of dry dead space at the soil surface, my 7 gallons shrinks to a mere 4.6 gallons of moist, productive soil! Thats a full 2.4 gallons of wasted potential! I feel like this very well may outweigh aeration and root pruning benefits of using Smart Pots.
It seems to me like this quick drying "benefit" may be a relic from the bottled chemical growing realm where it lets you "feed more often"...
Anyway, I think I going to make some changes for next round:
1) Step up from 7-gal Smart Pots to 10-gal plastic nursery pots.
2) Cover the soil surface with mulch. (Pine bark fines? Coco coir?) I welcome any suggestions for the best mulch to retain moisture near the soil surface (and help in the cycling of any top dressed nutrients).
3) Install a drip system with +/- 4 evenly spaced emitters per pot. This will be plumbed directly to the outlet of my Small Boy dechlorinating filter, and controlled with an inline irrigation timer. I will fine tune this to maintain the ideal soil moisture. I believe the SLOW drip and mulch will overcome the problems of channelling, dry spots, leaching, etc, etc... Plus I'll be able to leave for a few days or a week without securing a "babysitter".
I think with these three changes I will provide my roots with a greater volume of moist, healthy, living soil.
What do you guys think? I welcome any thoughts or suggestions regarding this plan or anything soil moisture related.
Cheers,
-SpicySativa
I've been thinking a lot lately about soil moisture management in my setup... Currently I'm using 7-gal Smart Pots full of my organic mix, which I hand water every 2-3 days (when the pots are noticeably a little lighter, but definitely not dry). I've been noticing that any roots which grow out into the outer inch of the pot end up drying up and dying even when I'm watering every other day while the pot still feels heavy. I have LOTS of airflow above and below the canopy (PM prevention) which I'm sure contributes to the soil around the edges drying out quickly.
I also notice that even when I hand water very slowly a little at a time, a significant amount of water channels through the soil and drains without soaking in. This ends up leaching some of the soluble, readily available nutrients from the soil (nitrates, in particular)...
If I take into account the 1 inch of dry dead space around the outside of the pot, plus the one inch of dry dead space at the soil surface, my 7 gallons shrinks to a mere 4.6 gallons of moist, productive soil! Thats a full 2.4 gallons of wasted potential! I feel like this very well may outweigh aeration and root pruning benefits of using Smart Pots.
It seems to me like this quick drying "benefit" may be a relic from the bottled chemical growing realm where it lets you "feed more often"...
Anyway, I think I going to make some changes for next round:
1) Step up from 7-gal Smart Pots to 10-gal plastic nursery pots.
2) Cover the soil surface with mulch. (Pine bark fines? Coco coir?) I welcome any suggestions for the best mulch to retain moisture near the soil surface (and help in the cycling of any top dressed nutrients).
3) Install a drip system with +/- 4 evenly spaced emitters per pot. This will be plumbed directly to the outlet of my Small Boy dechlorinating filter, and controlled with an inline irrigation timer. I will fine tune this to maintain the ideal soil moisture. I believe the SLOW drip and mulch will overcome the problems of channelling, dry spots, leaching, etc, etc... Plus I'll be able to leave for a few days or a week without securing a "babysitter".
I think with these three changes I will provide my roots with a greater volume of moist, healthy, living soil.
What do you guys think? I welcome any thoughts or suggestions regarding this plan or anything soil moisture related.
Cheers,
-SpicySativa