I my be opening a can of worms here, but I want to dispell the myth that roots will grow into dry soil in search of water. This simply is not true. In dry times, roots will follow a moisture level down as it receeds due to the gradual drying out of the soil. Roots have to stay moist or they die, roots will not grow into dry soil, but grow vigoriously in soil with the proper moisture level. If you want your roots to grow to full potential in the minimum time, you need to keep all the soil in the pot equally moist. By leaving the outside areas of the pot dry, the dry soil will pull the moisture out of the wetter middle soil as it tries to reach an equalibrium. Use the moisture reading on the Accurate 8 to read your moisture level if you are having problems detemining when to water. Keep in mind, that seedlings don't have alot of roots yet, so more frequent small waterings are required until the roots expand throughout the pot, usually the first couple of weeks, but keep all the soil evenly moist throughout the pot. Then water until runoff to keep the salts washed out of the soil profile. I only water my 11 liter pots twice per week even during bloom when they use alot of water, and it works great for me. I want my pH to swing, which it does as the soil dries out. I feed at 6.3 pH. The next day my soil pH will drop to 6.2 - 6.3 and slowly rise to around 6.5 - 6.6 when ready to feed again. I feed with every watering starting at 1/8 strength on day 1 and add another 1/8 each week, wk 2 = 1/4 strength, wk 3 =3/8 strength, until I remain at 1/2 strength after week 4. My plants have never shown any moisture nor nutrient deficiencies using this schedule.
