Watering for Soil Growers Only

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freezeland2

freezeland2

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So your tap water is OK for you? Your soil is then always damp allowing for no wet/dry cycling as well.
I use a reservoir. Water in it is ph adjusted to 6.0 - 6.5. Yes my soil is always damp. I set the blumat drippers to maintain the soils moisture content at 100 millibars. Works great. I just add water to the reservoir as needed.
 
growsince79

growsince79

9,065
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Thanks for the reply. I transplanted them from 2 gallon to 5 gallon. The only problem is that the original 2 gallon root ball is still drying everyday but the new soil around it stays wet. Any tips on what I can do ? Im worried about fungus gnats if I keep watering the rootball everyday.
Raise the light a bit so you and don't water the rootball every day. Just water the outside of the rootball and wait a wait a couple days. Then when they take, go to normal watering.
 
freezeland2

freezeland2

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Raise the light a bit so you and don't water the rootball every day. Just water the outside of the rootball and wait a wait a couple days. Then when they take, go to normal watering.
OP might consider poking some holes down in to that root ball too so water penetration is better in to it.
 
Flyingkushman

Flyingkushman

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Raise the light a bit so you and don't water the rootball every day. Just water the outside of the rootball and wait a wait a couple days. Then when they take, go to normal watering.
The plants are outside. If I don’t water the rootball the leafs get very thin and wilt. Is that ok to leave them wilting like that until the roots take into the new soil ?
 
freezeland2

freezeland2

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The plants are outside. If I don’t water the rootball the leafs get very thin and wilt. Is that ok to leave them wilting like that until the roots take into the new soil ?
They are telling you I’m thirsty as I’m sure you already know. If they are just wilted but otherwise alive I’d leave them. They might recover when you start getting root uptake. But if they are wilting and obviously dying pluck them off. They are just adding stress to the plant with no chance of surviving. If that root ball is compacted when you transplanted water is most likely just repelling off of it. Poke some holes down in to it and get the plant some water. Water slowly, it will drain down those holes where the roots are.
 
ComfortablyNumb

ComfortablyNumb

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The plants are outside. If I don’t water the rootball the leafs get very thin and wilt. Is that ok to leave them wilting like that until the roots take into the new soil ?
Water it like its the last time it will get water for 3 days. Soak it. How will roots grow without water? That's some bro-science. Roots need water just like the rest of the plant. Stab it full of holes (the roots) and water the snot out of it.
 
GDub51

GDub51

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Is there any harm or benefits to using some synthetic nutrients if you added organic feed to the soil? I added EWC and Blood meal to some used old FFOF because I don't want to dedicate too much time to my outdoor grow. Will it hurt anything if I water them with runoff from my indoor (synthetic nutes) once in a while? You can use both organic and synthetic ferts. Just not together as that's asking for overfeeding. I feed organic and only use chemical if there is an obvious shortage. This information has been confirmed by my friend who is a Professor of Plant and Soil Sciences. Just be careful, overfeeding is easy to do with chemical. Hard to over feed with organics but you can choke the soil with too much. Easy to overfeed with chemical, especially if doubled up with organic. Go easy.
 
GDub51

GDub51

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I'm struggling with choking soil as well. You've got to get the air exchange going somehow for the wet/dry cycle to work and even a 40% level of draining agents seems inadequate this year for me.
I believe I've found my problem. THATCHING! Too much left over roots and hyphae, ground up while trying to sterilize the soil created a choking dust that despite the addition of lots of perlite, and pumice and even cactus soil was not going to cure it. I could try to treat it all with a chemical I'm told will dissolve all the left over organic stuff thatching the soil now. But I don't know of anyone else with the same problem and there seems to be no history from other growers to draw from. I'm going to try a peat moss based soil mix to improve drainage and air circulation. I'm going to start an auto now with this substrate and will be back with you guys on how it does.
 
skinnypuppy

skinnypuppy

106
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It's better to be so dry it goes droopy than to water it too frequently.
The big problem with Soil is channels that allow the water to move through the soil to quickly and or concentrate in certain areas. I probable use 25 percent Perlite in my soil and each plant gets 4 liters every day with a small amount (less than 10 percent) of runoff. At the beginning of the season it was water every other day. The thing I am missing is a couple of good air stones to infuse the water. At my age I think about it once in a while and then forget. The one thing I will say is perlite, perlite, actually that is 2 things oh and one other thing perlite. There is no hard and fast rule in my opinion look at your plants they will tell you if you are out of whack. Soil with good drainage is a lot easier to manage than dense soil.
 
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GDub51

GDub51

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The big problem with Soil is channels that allow the water to move through the soil to quickly and or concentrate in certain areas. I probable use 25 percent Perlite in my soil and each plant gets 4 liters every day with a small amount (less than 10 percent) of runoff. At the beginning of the season it was water every other day. The thing I am missing is a couple of good air stones to infuse the water. At my age I think about it once in a while and then forget. The one thing I will say is perlite, perlite, actually that is 2 things oh and one other thing perlite. There is no hard and fast rule in my opinion look at your plants they will tell you if you are out of whack. Soil with good drainage is a lot easier to manage than dense soil.
Skinny, if
Add enough perlite and it's almost impossible to overwater.
I'm up to 50% yet my soil will not drain nor dry since first wetting in March. Please see my notes about thatching. See gage in the pic, well it has not had any watering since planting. Soil, due to the thatching of leftover hyphae from mycorrhizae supplementation the last two seasons, is my theory. I'm experienced so please consider your answers. I've already been thru 56 successfully germinated seeds this season that all failed or stunted once in the pot (I only transplant once for photo's) 5 starts have all failed the same way as I franticly tried to figure out why the same soil re-charging I've done for several years has suddenly destroyed all my soil. ANSWER (at least my best estimation after hundreds of hours of research including with a Professor of Soil Science) Assuming a soil born disease after the 1st failures, I tossed all runted plants, I soaked the soil in an H2O2 wash, then dumped out all the soil, and raked it in the sun over and over for a week to ensure sterilization. Then the problem got worse and the next 4 rounds of new seedlings also all failed the same way as I could not get my soil to drain. This pic shows a healthy-looking plant, however, it's months old! Now, after a March start, the plant is about a foot tall and now 8/7 shows no sign of flower yet. (3818) You can see all the perlite in the pic, but so what if there is so much "hyphae dust" in the mix it will "glue" together everything below the surface, pushing the perlite, etc up the water column. I've kept the runts alive by mostly just spraying them and adding water by the milliliter only since the gauge NEVER CHANGES (I bought a second to check and also use the finger method, all show soaked, choking soil just a few inches down from the top. Under the microscope one can see all this "hyphae powder" and it has destroyed all my soil. Stay tuned because ALL THE MAKERS OF MYCORRHIZAE SUPPLEMENTS WILL NOT WANT THIS GETTING OUT. I've been told about a liquid that will dissolve all this unwanted matter, but how much and how long??? I've proven my point by starting over with all new soil and some auto's now that it's too late for photo's here. Fresh soil without any leftover ground-up hyphae with the usual draining agents I use, (perlite, pumice, sand and cactus/succulent soil) is working like I'm used to, and hope these Bruce Banner Fast seeds from WeedSeedExpress will save my season and prove my point. However, this bodes very badly for mycorrhizae supplementation if it wrecks the soil after only a few grows or one has to buy some other chemical now to disolve all this unwanted matter. How much will that cost, and how effective will it be. Where can I even PUT all my soil if I have to toss it all?? It's looking that way for next season. And what a terrible waste.
 
IMG 3751
IMG 3818
Ponky

Ponky

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I toss out truckloads of used promix right into the green waste area of the local waste transfer station. Where the yard waste goes. Cheap. Truckload cost less than lunch to throw out. Lots of people do the same.
 
GDub51

GDub51

133
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Blumat auto drip system is the bomb. I never hand water.
I used an auto drip system while on vacation for ONE plant. Since it HAD to run off TAP water (here full of chlorine and chloramines and over 400ppm solids and a PH of 8) it ruined the plant it was on and I will never use it again.
 
GDub51

GDub51

133
43
I toss out truckloads of used promix right into the green waste area of the local waste transfer station. Where the yard waste goes. Cheap. Truckload cost less than lunch to throw out. Lots of people do the same.
I don't have a truck to get the soil there. I'll have to throw away a few cubic feet with each trash pick up all winter to get rid of it all. So much for mycorrhizae supplementation for me.
 
ComfortablyNumb

ComfortablyNumb

6,099
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We have never thrown soil away. We always reuse it. After we grow weed in it, it moves to the tomatoes, then the other veggies.
By the time it gets back around to the weed, it's ready again. We have to buy a bag or two every year because the plants eat it and it needs to be replaced.
 
freezeland2

freezeland2

3,421
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I used an auto drip system while on vacation for ONE plant. Since it HAD to run off TAP water (here full of chlorine and chloramines and over 400ppm solids and a PH of 8) it ruined the plant it was on and I will never use it again.
So it’s the blumat fault? The blumat didn’t ruin your plant. You could have used a reservoir of ph adjusted water to supply the blumat. And in your case through a carbon filter first to fill the reservoir to remove contaminates.
 
skinnypuppy

skinnypuppy

106
43
Skinny, if

I'm up to 50% yet my soil will not drain nor dry since first wetting in March. Please see my notes about thatching. See gage in the pic, well it has not had any watering since planting. Soil, due to the thatching of leftover hyphae from mycorrhizae supplementation the last two seasons, is my theory. I'm experienced so please consider your answers. I've already been thru 56 successfully germinated seeds this season that all failed or stunted once in the pot (I only transplant once for photo's) 5 starts have all failed the same way as I franticly tried to figure out why the same soil re-charging I've done for several years has suddenly destroyed all my soil. ANSWER (at least my best estimation after hundreds of hours of research including with a Professor of Soil Science) Assuming a soil born disease after the 1st failures, I tossed all runted plants, I soaked the soil in an H2O2 wash, then dumped out all the soil, and raked it in the sun over and over for a week to ensure sterilization. Then the problem got worse and the next 4 rounds of new seedlings also all failed the same way as I could not get my soil to drain. This pic shows a healthy-looking plant, however, it's months old! Now, after a March start, the plant is about a foot tall and now 8/7 shows no sign of flower yet. (3818) You can see all the perlite in the pic, but so what if there is so much "hyphae dust" in the mix it will "glue" together everything below the surface, pushing the perlite, etc up the water column. I've kept the runts alive by mostly just spraying them and adding water by the milliliter only since the gauge NEVER CHANGES (I bought a second to check and also use the finger method, all show soaked, choking soil just a few inches down from the top. Under the microscope one can see all this "hyphae powder" and it has destroyed all my soil. Stay tuned because ALL THE MAKERS OF MYCORRHIZAE SUPPLEMENTS WILL NOT WANT THIS GETTING OUT. I've been told about a liquid that will dissolve all this unwanted matter, but how much and how long??? I've proven my point by starting over with all new soil and some auto's now that it's too late for photo's here. Fresh soil without any leftover ground-up hyphae with the usual draining agents I use, (perlite, pumice, sand and cactus/succulent soil) is working like I'm used to, and hope these Bruce Banner Fast seeds from WeedSeedExpress will save my season and prove my point. However, this bodes very badly for mycorrhizae supplementation if it wrecks the soil after only a few grows or one has to buy some other chemical now to disolve all this unwanted matter. How much will that cost, and how effective will it be. Where can I even PUT all my soil if I have to toss it all?? It's looking that way for next season. And what a terrible waste.
Yeah I don't re-use my dirt for my plants, it gets dumped into the garden in the fall and allowed to compost for a year and then used for general purpose.
 
ComfortablyNumb

ComfortablyNumb

6,099
313
hi I was wondering if anyone can help with info. I have a couple plants outside in 2 gallon smartpots of soil. They’ve been in the pots for 3 weeks already and the pot is full of roots, even the surface of the soil is all roots. I can’t even dig into the soil without breaking through roots. The pots feel light when I pick them up a day after watering and when I try digging into the soil it feels moist but the plants look like they may want water already. Should I let them dry or can I water when they are still moist ? I’ve tried using one of those Amazon soil moisture meters but I don’t think it works well because when I stick it in it’ll show dry but when touching it feels moist
Hey, I apologize for missing this one. If you still have issues, update us please.
 
PipeCarver

PipeCarver

Supporter
5,643
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i reuse my soil, but just because im cheap/poor, and i dont throw anything away!
I'll only reuse soil I vegged in that hasn't been heavily fertilized yet , from pulling males or plants that just don't cut it. and I'll mix it with a fresh peat mix & more perlite. Some of the peat mixes only have 17% - 20% perlite, I'll add a few cups more per gallon. That's one reason I like ASB Greenworld VPW 30 ( when I can find it ) because it comes with 30% perlite and it helps hold the ph in the mid 6's and at about $25 Cdn it has been about $10 per bale cheaper than Promix.
 

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