New Grower Dinafem watering advice for autos?
- Thread starter turtle360
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I very rarely have any runoff. My [HASHTAG]#10[/HASHTAG] airpots are in 21 inch saucers and there is practically never any water in the saucers. I never water more than 1/2 gallon a day because I have a 1/2 gallon watering can. If I do get any runoff I skip a day. of course, it always comes down to letting dry and water as necessary no matter how many times you need to water or do nothing depending on the plant needs.
I think the 20% has a lot to do with what nutrients your using. If your using synthetics there can be a salt build up overtime so runoff helps prevent this. If your using organics I dont see a reason to have 20%runoff. But I feel a little is always good that way you know the entire pot is getting water. Adding things like coir or perlite helps aerate the soil so a heavy watering isn't going to have a negative affect. Adding air stones to a resivour also helps too.
Personally I add 3 Small perlite, large perlite and coconut coir. I end up watering 1-2 gallons per day and always end up with dry 7 gallon pots in 24 hours time. The point is you don't want your roots just sitting in water with little air to breath. Hope it helps
I also believe they say to add coco then to water in small amounts I think it's all about your setup grow medium and nutrients but I wondered the same when I den that in their description
AutoWonders
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I did run off when I was using soil. With Coco Loco/Perlite, I have been feeding them 2 Qt's ph'd water every other day and whatever side dish that is needed for the mix.
i was thinking the same..
and found the answer:
in general its watering/feeding every day or two
1. it depends on you and how big the pots are (do you start in final pots or you are planning to transplate them later, what soil mix you have..i have biobizz light mix with 30% coco) and
2.it depends on the enviroment (summer winter)
i found that what works best for me is that I have 18l pots (final pots) and I water/feed every 48h aprox. in the seedling faze i go 2-3 dl.per plant (just around the seedling, no need for complete pot watering) as she grows (2. and 3. week) and starts do drink faster i go with half litre per plant and go up and up as she grows and I end with 2 l per plant every 2 max 3 days..
i had AF in 6l as well and this goes a bit faster and smaller ammounts of water, seedling faze is the same 2-3dl per plant, when she grows up it goes up to 1-1.5l water per plant every 24-48 hours..
but as we all want to go as much as simple just lift the pots and if they are light-water them until its heavy again or untill very very small runoff (no 20-30% thats waste of water/nutes).
as I said go with smaller amounts in the first week or two..
my friend goes by the feed/water/day off schedule (monday-feeding-,thuesday-watering,wednesday-nothing, thursday-feeding, friday-water ect ect ect) and it works just fine for him.
all that is individual and everyone has its one methods but baisaclly its like i said above and bigsmo but if you wanted numbers i gave them
hope it helps
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I would take them more as suggested guidelines instead of firm "this is the only way to do it." If you're growing coco, a lot of guys prefer to water in those small amounts because it equates to more direct feedings, instead of one big watering (with run off) and then letting the pots have to dry out for 24-48 hours. I grow with coco-coir myself and I've personally noticed much faster/larger growth with the multiple small feedings versus watering until run-off. Doesn't mean one way is better than the other, and sometimes I still water to run-off (if I know I'm not going to be there to give them that daily or multi-daily watering dose.)
You know @turtle360 , we do have a Dinafem rep on-site with their own forum here that I'm sure would be able to find out an answer for you!
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