Aqua Man said:

Thinking outloud in here. I'm almost wondering if I'm pushing them hard and the roots are pretty packed with the types of pots I'm using if what I'm seeing looks like water stress because the oxygen is being depleted from pushing them to hard.

I wonder if the pots not breathing has something to do with this? Because that's what water stress really is... Lack of o2.

Thoughts?

Click to expand...

MeanGreen420 said:

I drill 10-15 holes up and down the sides of every pot i use. but if there drying out as fast as your saying then that beats all ive seen. on other hand as much roots as there are they may be really ready for that up pot and just old enough to clear that pot of water quick. I'm almost 3 weeks flower and doing 1 gal water evry 2-3days in a 7 gal pot. Im no pro just chatting with ya and following thread.

Click to expand...

Aqua Man said:

At 24 hrs the soil will be light at 48 hrs its bone ass dry. 1 gal pots and i put about 1/2 L to get a tiny bit of runoff from bone dry (like a few drips). I'm adding a bit more after just to get some run off and take measurements. I'm sure the roots are displacing how much water the mix can hold and the soil mix itself is very high drainage. I have never done soil before so i'm not sure what kinda water holding capacity is normal

Click to expand...

Aqua Man said:

I know it sounds odd @MIMedGrower but they really do need water daily. If I wait 2 days the soil is dust. Even at the drain holes. I think maybe it's the temps and I had pretty strong airflow. I lowered the lighting a bit and airflow to lower the forced evaporation from the plants. Maybe that will lower the water usage some.

When I pick the pots up after 2 days it's like they are full of styrofoam not soil

Click to expand...

MIMedGrower said:

Should feel like styrophoam is in the pots. Have they actually wilted in 2 days?

I water only when alarmingly light.

And even with the plant 2/3 bigger than the pot i have not needed to water every day.

You did add 50% vermiculite though. My drainage is about 35% perlite now.

Click to expand...

mancorn said:

Have you tried bottom watering from a drip tray? With such a huge root system seems like it would take forever to top water without a lot of run off. I do notice if you bottom soak a big plant in a small pot, the oxygen level drops like a rock and the leaves hang for days. But on the smaller plants (like yours) they seem fine.

Click to expand...

Aqua Man said:

Roots

View attachment 986268

Click to expand...

Aqua Man said:

Yeah they wilt pretty good at this point if i wait 2 days. I mean the pots feel like the fans could blow them over so i know i'm not over watering. I'm gonna back off these guys/gals and give em water daily out of curiosity. I kinda feel like 1.5 days would be perfect but that not gonna work for me.


Nope havens tried it. I am almost wondering if i'm having O2 issues already, maybe backing off the lights will help a bit. For now i'm thinking i will water daily. I kinda feel like at this point its gonna be very hard to over water them.

Click to expand...

MIMedGrower said:

Now im going to say this. And a lot of growers proudly show roots like that. And i dont want to insult or start an argument. This is purely my opinion.

Roots circling like that that are all thick rather than fishboned shows consistant overwatering.

How long have they been in the 1 gallons? I usually go 3 weeks in mine before going up to 3 gallons. And never have that much circling roots. But the pot is packed solid

Click to expand...

MIMedGrower said:

Then transplant up. I like to do it when there are 3 days between so i dont have to work so hard.

Click to expand...

Aqua Man said:

At 24 hrs the soil will be light at 48 hrs its bone ass dry. 1 gal pots and i put about 1/2 L to get a tiny bit of runoff from bone dry (like a few drips). I'm adding a bit more after just to get some run off and take measurements. I'm sure the roots are displacing how much water the mix can hold and the soil mix itself is very high drainage. I have never done soil before so i'm not sure what kinda water holding capacity is normal

Click to expand...

MIMedGrower said:

Now im going to say this. And a lot of growers proudly show roots like that. And i dont want to insult or start an argument. This is purely my opinion.

Roots circling like that that are all thick rather than fishboned shows consistant overwatering.

How long have they been in the 1 gallons? I usually go 3 weeks in mine before going up to 3 gallons. And never have that much circling roots. But the pot is packed solid

Click to expand...

MIMedGrower said:

Now im going to say this. And a lot of growers proudly show roots like that. And i dont want to insult or start an argument. This is purely my opinion.

Roots circling like that that are all thick rather than fishboned shows consistant overwatering.

How long have they been in the 1 gallons? I usually go 3 weeks in mine before going up to 3 gallons. And never have that much circling roots. But the pot is packed solid

Click to expand...

Aqua Man said:

May 25th .... 3 weeks to the day

Click to expand...

MIMedGrower said:

Yeah your right. Time to uppot. I might go bigger than a #3 with your lighting though. You are drying fast.

Which of course will mean better yield with more feed cycles. But you want some dry time. My best results were when plants needed water/feed every other day.

But i try to mix perlite for a 3 day dry cycle. Feed the 3rd day at peak flower.

Click to expand...

Aqua Man said:

So far I don't see a real difference (which is good) but we will see what they look like 3 weeks from now. That will be the test but they have that same look as they get in hydro when the roots hit the water. I can maintain higher root temps also... they are about 76-77F I like that :)

Click to expand...

BogartAmungus said:

Im curious to see how you like the finished product vs hydro? If you can tell a difference at all???

Click to expand...

BurnzYzBudZz said:

Interesting observation here. When I up potted I noticed I didn’t have the circling roots and thought something was wrong. Thanks for that clarification MiMed. Thought I was doing something wrong.

Click to expand...

MIMedGrower said:

These are my roots at 3 weeks. Although @Aqua Man has more light going than i do. Maybe he gets here in 2-2.5 weeks.

But see the different size and shaped roots?

View attachment 986355

Click to expand...

Aqua Man said:

I'll take that advice and grab some 5 gal... I really wanna push these in the one gals until I can sex just to save the work. I fucked myself by cutting my clones to late.

Think I can make a week in these 1 gals?

Click to expand...