Clarifying different watering “protocols”

First-timer here. I have been reading everything I can find but I’m still perplexed. I have ILGM plants 15 days above ground in 5gal fabric pots, Kellogg organic potting soil (30% perlite, too), HLG 600Rspec at 24” and minimum brightness; humidity ~65%, temps ~74. I had been slowly increasing volume, last up to ~500ml Filtered tap water pH 6.3-6.5 every 2-3days when the topsoil was dry in the top couple inches. Had some mild drooping (I’m told - see pic) and a bit of yellowing on the lower leaves and was advised I’m likely over watering; told to go by pot weight instead. I’m now day 5 since last water, lower part of pot still feels like it may have some water, but upper 3” of soil is completely dry and crumbly (and feels hydrophobic?). Plants don’t look any different (to my newbie eye).

How do you balance not letting soil dry out and become hydrophobic, with not overwatering? I water in a circle out from the plant’s leaves.

I lost my first round of seeds to light burn and possibly under-watering, so I’m quite a bit paranoid now! Trying to practice “LITFA”, but I can’t really do that with watering... Please help!

 

[Growtogrow]

First-timer here. I have been reading everything I can find but I’m still perplexed. I have ILGM plants 15 days above ground in 5gal fabric pots, Kellogg organic potting soil (30% perlite, too), HLG 600Rspec at 24” and minimum brightness; humidity ~65%, temps ~74. I had been slowly increasing volume, last up to ~500ml Filtered tap water pH 6.3-6.5 every 2-3days when the topsoil was dry in the top couple inches. Had some mild drooping (I’m told - see pic) and a bit of yellowing on the lower leaves and was advised I’m likely over watering; told to go by pot weight instead. I’m now day 5 since last water, lower part of pot still feels like it may have some water, but upper 3” of soil is completely dry and crumbly (and feels hydrophobic?). Plants don’t look any different (to my newbie eye).

How do you balance not letting soil dry out and become hydrophobic, with not overwatering? I water in a circle out from the plant’s leaves.

I lost my first round of seeds to light burn and possibly under-watering, so I’m quite a bit paranoid now! Trying to practice “LITFA”, but I can’t really do that with watering... Please help!

Mmm...Ive red what you said .... ?? But it looks DRY as f*** ... Right now...
Water her.
Also use a mister spray and give them a sprits of water on the leaves and a good shot to the top of your soil.
Fiber pots are known for drying out quickly. And are hard to over water.

I use them all the time for many years.

Your youngsters have short roots yet and are not down where the moistures at in the fiber pot.

Good luck

 

[LearningMore]

Mmm...Ive red what you said .... ?? But it looks DRY as f*** ... Right now...
Water her.
Also use a mister spray and give them a sprits of water on the leaves and a good shot to the top of your soil.
Fiber pots are known for drying out quickly. And are hard to over water. View attachment 1291808View attachment 1291809

I use them all the time for many years.

Your youngsters have short roots yet and are not down where the moistures at in the fiber pot.

Good luck

Thank you. What you said makes sense to me...

 

[automan2]

Purchase a cheap moisture meter and learn watering the easy way. A drop of plain liquid soap in your water will reduce likelihood of hydrophobic crap...

 

[drspingroon]

Since you’re using fabric pots, look into utilizing bottom watering. If you can get a tray to put your pot/pots into, and then add water to the tray, it’ll be impossible to over-water since the soil can only draw up so much water and hold it. You ever see pics where someone’s plant had roots busting out all over the bottom half of the grow bag? Well, that’s what bottom watering can do. I know it seems impossible to get a 5 gallon pot full of soil to the proper moisture level just by letting it sit in 1-2” of water, but I swear to you it works. I would recommend watering like normal for the first week or ten days, if you don’t pre-soak your pots and if you do direct to soil germ. Gives those little root buddies a chance to get down a couple inches.

If nothing else, fill an empty container with dry soil and plunk it down in a tray with enough water in it to come up 1-2” on the sides of the pot. Now let it sit there for 12 hours and stick your finger in it. I bet it’s good to go.

 

[LearningMore]

Purchase a cheap moisture meter and learn watering the easy way. A drop of plain liquid soap in your water will reduce likelihood of hydrophobic crap...

Since you’re using fabric pots, look into utilizing bottom watering. If you can get a tray to put your pot/pots into, and then add water to the tray, it’ll be impossible to over-water since the soil can only draw up so much water and hold it. You ever see pics where someone’s plant had roots busting out all over the bottom half of the grow bag? Well, that’s what bottom watering can do. I know it seems impossible to get a 5 gallon pot full of soil to the proper moisture level just by letting it sit in 1-2” of water, but I swear to you it works. I would recommend watering like normal for the first week or ten days, if you don’t pre-soak your pots and if you do direct to soil germ. Gives those little root buddies a chance to get down a couple inches.

If nothing else, fill an empty container with dry soil and plunk it down in a tray with enough water in it to come up 1-2” on the sides of the pot. Now let it sit there for 12 hours and stick your finger in it. I bet it’s good to go.

I do have “drip trays” that are 3-4” deep, so I should be able to make that work. So I would add the pH’d water to the trays (eventually with nutes/calmag) to the trays and keep the trays topped off? Then for the next week or so, still water from above when upper soil is dry? What about Recharge - add that from above (every 7-10days), or does that work from below as well?

 

[automan2]

Man, I'd love to help ya but I'm a much simpler grower....I just plant a seed (in multiples of course), water/feed when meter says to...burn that shit up when it's done.
After 16 yrs, that's about as complex as I ever got. Good luck with your science experiments.

 

[LearningMore]

Man, I'd love to help ya but I'm a much simpler grower....I just plant a seed (in multiples of course), water/feed when meter says to...burn that shit up when it's done.
After 16 yrs, that's about as complex as I ever got. Good luck with your science experiments.

Sorry - I think I somehow linked to your answer when I was responding to drspingroon.

Is there a meter you’d recommend? All the ones on Amazon are pretty variable, according to reviews. Thanks.

 

[automan2]

Sorry - I think I somehow linked to your answer when I was responding to drspingroon.

Is there a meter you’d recommend? All the ones on Amazon are pretty variable, according to reviews. Thanks.

I've used several cheap ones...all are better than a finger....my fav has been a luster leaf rapidtest...single tethered probe that I use for checking airpots...A finger stick has little relevance to what's happening in the root zone. A meter needs no interpretation.

 

[drspingroon]

I do have “drip trays” that are 3-4” deep, so I should be able to make that work. So I would add the pH’d water to the trays (eventually with nutes/calmag) to the trays and keep the trays topped off? Then for the next week or so, still water from above when upper soil is dry? What about Recharge - add that from above (every 7-10days), or does that work from below as well?

So with flood trays, you do wanna keep them topped off, yes. I wouldn’t fill the tray all the way to the tippy top, but 2” to 2.5” of water should be more than enough. As far as using recharge, I guess that would depend. If it’s a liquid, you can let your tray run dry or empty the tray, then mix 1-2 gallons or whatever the smallest amount you can use is, then pour that into the tray and let them drink it up. When it’s gone, rinse out your tray and go back to normal pH’d water. If it’s a powder, you’ll need to top-water it in as needed. As far as wetting the top inch or so of soil... I guess that’s kinda growers choice. Personally, I don’t worry too much about it. Nothing much living in that top inch, or nothing useful. Mostly just fungus gnat larvae. So I let the top part dry out. Since I don’t use trays full time, the top stays pretty dry. But in my constant feed AutoPots, the top is moist because they’re sitting in 2” of water constantly.

If you are able to source the materials, have you thought about building your own super soil, or even using a pre-bagged “water only” super soil? I’ve found great success using super soil, mycorrhizae, bottom watering, and autoflowers. Took a couple plants to find my stride, of course. Hopefully I answered your questions, and I apologize for the 24 hour delay in response.