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Should I water until runoff

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Should I water until runoff

GardenWeasel77 33 Replies 45,908 Views
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GardenWeasel77

GardenWeasel77

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#1
I am a first time grower. I am growing in ffof. As of late my plants have become nutrient deficient. I a have been topdressing with down to earth dry fertilizer.

My question is, should I be watering until runoff or is that just flushing all my fertilizer out?
 
#2
GardenWeasel77 said:
I am a first time grower. I am growing in ffof. As of late my plants have become nutrient deficient. I a have been topdressing with down to earth dry fertilizer.

My question is, should I be watering until runoff or is that just flushing all my fertilizer out?
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Imo keep soil 30-60% saturated. No need for runoff with organic amendment unless its been over fed.
 
#3
Aqua Man said:
Imo keep soil 30-60% saturated. No need for runoff with organic amendment unless its been over fed.
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Interesting. Yeah I have been watering until like a couple cups of water have run out the bottom. Sounds like I may have been overdoing it.
 
#5
GardenWeasel77 said:
Interesting. Yeah I have been watering until like a couple cups of water have run out the bottom. Sounds like I may have been overdoing it.
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That ok as long as you give a good dry back... with synthetic we wanna wash out some of the old nutes. This is because they are immediately available and can build up. That can happen with organic but much less likely. In soil with synthetic we water to runnoff for that reason but with organic we want to keep the soil in ideal moisture range for a more consistent o2 level as we generally don't need rinse nutrients from the soil.
 
#6
GardenWeasel77 said:
I am a first time grower. I am growing in ffof. As of late my plants have become nutrient deficient. I a have been topdressing with down to earth dry fertilizer.

My question is, should I be watering until runoff or is that just flushing all my fertilizer out?
Click to expand...

I did something similar with larger soil pots and Down To Earth. Never could fix the deficieny problem and ended up going to a feeding regime using General Hydroponics the last 4-6 weeks of flower. I ended up with decent potency but the plant looked like hell.
 
#7
Aqua Man said:
That ok as long as you give a good dry back... with synthetic we wanna wash out some of the old nutes. This is because they are immediately available and can build up. That can happen with organic but much less likely. In soil with synthetic we water to runnoff for that reason but with organic we want to keep the soil in ideal moisture range for a more consistent o2 level as we generally don't need rinse nutrients from the soil.
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Awesome. That you so much for the feedback.
 
#8
Pondracer said:
I did something similar with larger soil pots and Down To Earth. Never could fix the deficieny problem and ended up going to a feeding regime using General Hydroponics the last 4-6 weeks of flower. I ended up with decent potency but the plant looked like hell.
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Uh lol. That is making me nervous!
 
#10
GardenWeasel77 said:
Uh lol. That is making me nervous!
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It could have been any number of things. Mine did get crusty on top. I felt that the fertilizer wasn't breaking down well. It will be interesting to see your results. I went a very long time too, like 171 days so if you combine that, with potential root binding it could have just been me trying to do something that wasn't possible.
 
#12
I'm mixing for every plant 1 at a time.. I have 7gal bags and watering each with 3 liters and not a drop comes out. I'm going to step it up to 4 liters which should be just right. I tried 5 and the flood gates opened, plus it took a while to do mixing in a Koolaide pitcher. LOL
 
#13
GardenWeasel77 said:
Interesting. Yeah I have been watering until like a couple cups of water have run out the bottom. Sounds like I may have been overdoing it.
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Moist not wet @GardenWeasel77. You want air pockets in your medium. Roots have to respire, taking in oxygen and releasing co2. They cannot do this efficiently if the medium is saturated. The forum is littered with plants watered too often.
 
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#14
quirk said:
Moist not wet @GardenWeasel77. You want air pockets in your medium. Roots have to transpire and take in oxygen and give off co2. They cannot do this efficiently if the medium is saturated. The forum is littered with plants watered too often.
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Hmmm.. Yeah ive been getting conflicting advice on this. So your theory is never to water until runoff then?
 
#15
GardenWeasel77 said:
Hmmm.. Yeah ive been getting conflicting advice on this. So your theory is never to water until runoff then?
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It's not my theory but rather my practice not to keep my medium saturated. I have no problem watering to a slight runoff. But I have to wait until medium dries thoroughly before doing it again. That's the key.
 
#17
I would do it just until water appeared at the bottom. Used a finger inserted at the top and when it felt dry I would water again.
 
#18
Watering till runoff shouldn’t happen until the plants have rooted out to fill container, Regardless of growing medium. In soil best for little to no runoff.

Mr.G
 
#20
'Got my big mixing container. It was the ticket..I just watered my 7gal bags with 4 liters each. Not a drop came out.. 4 Liters really eats up the nutrients tho.. The plants are eating it up.

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