Mephisto Genetics Waterfarm Mephistos - new testers - Fugue State, Forum Stomper, Orange Diesel, Strawberry Nuggets

[calliandra]

cheers !! @indoorpro

hoping the soil sisters can take the weekend to recover and get rolling... the soil SN seems to have encountered little issue compared to the other 2 which are a little bit droopy and probably over watered lol...
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It's a water farm, after all haha

very pretty view there, and thanks for taking the extra time to label the plants and taking the guesswork out of who's who like that too!!
cheers!

 

[water farm]

OK I have to ask you dirt farmers a question...

3 gal fabric pot. Bottom half filled with GBD amended roots organic soil and the top half with just roots organic soil. Trying to get the hang of how much water to feed.

I assume (perhaps incorrectly... you tell me ha!) that you want to water your plants so that the soil becomes thoroughly moist, but is not draining much liquid out the bottom at all? and this is twice a day?

My question is, if you have over-watered such that you are catching a significant amount of liquid draining out of the bottom, do you want to try and salvage this by re-watering it back into the soil? or just toss it and try to avoid letting it ever happen again?

pics

 

[Roasty McToasty]

IMO soil plants like wet/dry cycles, if it was a mature plant, it would suck that excess water up in a day. Since you got lil kids, I'd dump out that excess, and let it dry out till the pot is like, omg how is this plant still alive. Then water again. Have to encourage those roots to stretch out.

Edit: I'm also using 3 gallon and I water mature plants every 3 days. So kids maybe 5-6 days in between watering. Hope this helps.

 

[water farm]

wow OK thanks yes this is very helpful... less water and less often so I don't need to be concerned with losing any of the 'magic' contained in the excess drain water? that was my main concern that I was washing the 'good stuff' out of the soil and losing it...

 

[Roasty McToasty]

wow OK thanks yes this is very helpful... less water and less often so I don't need to be concerned with losing any of the 'magic' contained in the excess drain water? that was my main concern that I was washing the 'good stuff' out of the soil and losing it...

I've done the same thing with my GWK, overwatered and lost nutes I suppose. Maybe you can use your runoff water, but I thought it might not be good to re use it.
Maybe collect it and pour it in in a few days? Maybe just let the water evaporate/wick as it is, to not lose the nutes? I like option 2, but not sure if it's ideal. If there is same amount of water in the bottom after a day, I'd chuck the water.

 

[Ydijadoit]

I'm far from an expert soil grower, but I wouldn't let a plant that small sit in runoff like that. In a month, it will likely suck that much up in a day, but where you are at now, it will just sit there, possibly inviting root rot or some other very bad thing. As for reusing the runoff, I can't say I've heard of anyone doing that. Then again, I learn new things every time I log in here.
Keep up the good work!
Regards, Kyle

 

[Ydijadoit]

IMO soil plants like wet/dry cycles, if it was a mature plant, it would suck that excess water up in a day. Since you got lil kids, I'd dump out that excess, and let it dry out till the pot is like, omg how is this plant still alive. Then water again. Have to encourage those roots to stretch out.



Edit: I'm also using 3 gallon and I water mature plants every 3 days. So kids maybe 5-6 days in between watering. Hope this helps.

Whoops, didn't see this before I posted. Guess I could have skipped the typing, and just posted "Yeah, what he said"...

 

[calliandra]

wow OK thanks yes this is very helpful... less water and less often so I don't need to be concerned with losing any of the 'magic' contained in the excess drain water? that was my main concern that I was washing the 'good stuff' out of the soil and losing it...

If you really have any magic in there, it won't get washed out, as it is bound in the microbe's bodies and the organic matter, as opposed to soluble nutrients poured on and totally prone to getting washed out.
But if your soil really is driven by microbial action, you shouldn't let the soil dry out either.
Because the microbes will start enveloping themselves in hydrophobic protection films to prevent their drying out, and it gets really hard to rehydrate soils like that.
Also, they will go dormant, and it takes alot of energy to come back out of dormancy, so they won't just switch back and forth between dormancy and active states. Also, you want them working all the time,mining those nutes, not spending most of their time deciding whether to live or die lol

I was recently discussing "wet-dry" cycles with an organics friend, seeing as we both had had to relearn watering, and came to the conclusion that it does have its place when you're just using an organic substrate and then go to bottle feed.
It does however interfere with the natural processes so if you're relying on those, it's advisable to keep that soil more in a steady state of just the right amount of moisture.

So, how you plan to use the soil will clarify how you want to water it - wet-dry or steady moisture.

As for reusing the runoff, I can't say I've heard of anyone doing that.

LOL I've done that, when trying to rehydrate soil gone all hydrophobic, I'd keep pouring the water back through the dirt until it actually sucked it up.
Not something I do on a regular basis though, especially not with water that's been sitting and not getting sucked back into the pot. When that happens I discard it too

Cheers!

 

[Trichome farmer]

IMO soil plants like wet/dry cycles, if it was a mature plant, it would suck that excess water up in a day. Since you got lil kids, I'd dump out that excess, and let it dry out till the pot is like, omg how is this plant still alive. Then water again. Have to encourage those roots to stretch out.

Edit: I'm also using 3 gallon and I water mature plants every 3 days. So kids maybe 5-6 days in between watering. Hope this helps.

 

[water farm]

OK thank you @stoney T @calliandra @Ydijadoit @Roasty McToasty I really appeciate all of your input! the excess water pictured yesterday was gone today so I didn't end up doing anything with it... I will water less and less frequently and see how it goes... learning !!