New Grower How much water?

[az2000]

Do I only need to flush when I feed them? I'm not going to use any nutes on this first grow...

I added nutes to every watering, and watered every other day. I used Pro-Mix HP which has good drainage (and no built-in nutes). It would dry out in 2 days, causing me to water that frequently.

For me, getting about 20% runoff with each watering (or maybe every other watering) was enough of flushing over the life of the plant. (Then 2 weeks of "water only" at the end to "cleanse" the plant of nutrients.).

 

[SmokeJunior]

I wouldn't use miracle grow my friend, I've heard so many bad things about that nutrient :s it may produce more but the bud is horrible to smoke! just a tip with watering I watered the soil before planting, then planted them, then waited around a week to re water, the closest I can get to a correct answer for you is I would water when an inch maybe a tad more down is as dry as the top layer when it's crumbly, that's how I know that they need a top up, I'm a first time grower also but my theory seems to be working well keep it green

 

[Stealthgrower]

I have had problems with over watering and I have recently dramatically reduced the amount I pour in. I use bio bizz light mix, no nutes in the soil, give them organic feed on every watering too. I use bio bizz grow and bloom. You are much better off watering too lightly, then realising it isn't enough. I have started just poring 1/5th of a litre through 15 and 20 litre air pots. Some times get no run off but the plants have taken off like a dream. I have 5 other plants in 6 litre air pots, I use 1 litre for them all. Just til they feel like a nice weight. Also let it get proper dry, then just pour some at the base of the stem, go have a spliff, then pour a bit more on. Give the 1st bit time to soak in, It will help prevent overwatering. I also use a moisture probe. £4.99 from hong kong with free delivery A god send 'as they say' Don't soak the whole pot on 1st few waterings. Drip it down the dead centre and the tap root will follow.

 

[wileywilly53]

Maybe I could ask a question here as well. I am on number 4. but on the 3 grows I went with just feeling the weight of my grow pot. I would just water around plant until it got about 8 to 12 inches tall, then I would water until I saw some run-off the rest of the grow and all 3 grows with help of my AFN Bros and sises turned out just fine.

The amounts I am going to use in the following sentences are just to make this easy to read. What I noticed is if I just use a bottle with a spout on it, I can only put approx 26oz of water before I get run-off, and I would have to water again in a day or 2.
But if I used my spray mist bottle I could put 40oz of water before I get some run-off, and naturally It will be 3 or 4 days until I need to water again. And the next sentences are just what I think in my warped mind. If I use the spout the water just goes in and out wetting the soil and feeding the plant for the most part. But if I take the time and wear my wrist out and mist my soil until I get the run-off I wonder if it helps soak ALL THE SOIL IN THE POT and thus help root growing all over the place in my pot. I know when I harvested all 3 of my grows they had super root growth. Can any of the guru's elaborate on this hypothesis. My wife says I am wasting time misting until I get run-off because it takes me 25 minutes -vs- 2 minutes to just use the spout. I like to think my plants enjoy the extra attention and I like the results so far.

 

[az2000]

My wife says I am wasting time misting until I get run-off because it takes me 25 minutes -vs- 2 minutes to just use the spout. I like to think my plants enjoy the extra attention and I like the results so far.

If I were you I'd do one plant spout-only. Then you'd have something to compare your misting to.

I do something similar to you. I water in thirds. I'll pour 1/3 to prewet the soil, wait 20-40 minutes, pour 1/3 to soak more thoroughly. Finally, pour the final 1/3 for final soak and runoff. With the delays between pours, the watering might span 1.5 hours.

If you did notice a difference between pour and misting grows, it would be interesting if you did a staggered pour like I do and saw less difference to misting. I.e., is it foliar and humidity? Or, just the slower, more even distribution of nutes in the soil?

 

[steelrat]

Hey Chuppa

You should provide details of your grow, soil type, lights, lights on/off times etc ..

But generally, with autos (in my experience):

1. start them in their final pots. (No transplanting).
2. use a light, good quality compost, not a supermarket variety, something where the inbuilt nutes last only two weeks and it is an airy soil, preferably organic so you work up the microorganisms that give soil its life, and therefore its health. An airy soil doesn't need additives like perlite. An organic soil doesn't need Ph measurements.
3. start veg nutes on day 14, 1ml/L.
4. i increase veg nutes by 1ml/L every two weeks, so day 14 is 1ml, day 28 is 2ml, day 42 is 3ml. You can obviously try and push the ratio of nutes to water and give your plants the max they can handle.
5. once into flowering, around day 35-45, switch to bloom nutes depending how the plants flowering is going, the same amount as the veg nutes you are using at that time.

Bear in mind i am a basic organic grower and the only additive i used in the past was silicon, until i switched to LED and had to battle calmag deficiencies, but that's a whole nother place !


All the best,

steely