Hi I'm just wondering is it a good/bad idea to flush the soil (1-3 times the pot size) to make the soil more moist and letting it run off and dry for a bit a while before germination?,I've seen some growing websites advising it and others never mention it or say just water a small part of the soil around the seed and expand as the days go by,I'm just concerned that if you add too much water to the soil before you add the seed could it cause too many nutrients to work its way to the seed during germination and cause damage,(I'm only using garden centre seedling and potting compost so I wouldn't say it's awfully abundant in pre-added nutes plus the soil also has a wetting agent added to it to help prevent the soil drying out and for maintaining moisture/adding moisture when water is added). On the other hand would not flushing cause the roots to become stressed when in contact with slightly drier soil in the pot whilst trying to grow? If I could avoid flushing beforehand it would be easier all around. Just wondering if it's necessary or not.Btw it's for an AutoMazar.
New Grower Flushing soil before germination?
- Thread starter StealthyHare
- Start date
Ok understood but was wondering in that method how would you be able to tell when to water @sanguine. The knuckle test not really possible or the lift the pot.
"carpe diem"
woody
Cultivators Club
If you cant touch the soil or lift the pot then i supose you can only go by the look of the soil and plant. I know people want to hear in ml how much but its so different for every set up.
Temp humidity lights and fans can all affect how quickly a soil will dry out. Then theres the medium itself if you have added any perlite or coco coir it can drain better or added vermiculite helps hold water. If i absolutely had to give a number i would say 50-100ml for the first few days then maybe 100-200ml after it has a couple sets of leaves then increase as the plant grows. Watch out for drooping leaves- can be confusing as the do this for over watering and underwatering. If your soil looks damp/moist and leaves are drooping a little back off with the watering for a day or so.
If the soil is dry and leaves and whole stem droop thats under watered, and the whole plant will feel weak and rubbery. Good luck
Temp humidity lights and fans can all affect how quickly a soil will dry out. Then theres the medium itself if you have added any perlite or coco coir it can drain better or added vermiculite helps hold water. If i absolutely had to give a number i would say 50-100ml for the first few days then maybe 100-200ml after it has a couple sets of leaves then increase as the plant grows. Watch out for drooping leaves- can be confusing as the do this for over watering and underwatering. If your soil looks damp/moist and leaves are drooping a little back off with the watering for a day or so.
If the soil is dry and leaves and whole stem droop thats under watered, and the whole plant will feel weak and rubbery. Good luck
Hi Stealthy,
heres my 2 cents worth.
having seen Midowos site; he highly recommends pre-flushing before sewing, and having tried it, I think it is a good thing to do. firstly it settles the volume of potting mix in the pot and allows you to top up before sewing. secondly it allows any chemical settling to occur too: say you are using a peat based (acidic) commercial mix; if you add lime to counteract the acidity, then it has time to do its work before delicate roots enter it. also if you want to get some microbiome action happening (worm caste tea, pond water, microryhzome fungus etc), this also gives your mix a chance to settle down into a beneficial micro system. of course if you are strictly inorganic hydro then this is not so much an issue. thirdly pre-flushing will help eliminate air-pockets.
there is also less chance of a predominantly dry pot full of mix wicking moisture away from the seedling.
if the pre-flushing is done 1-2 weeks before sewing, the whole shebang will be uniformly moist and it will be less critical to pour small amounts around the seedling.
there are convincing arguments for and against, but having tried both, I think I will be pre-flushing from now on.
by pre-flushing I mean a nice repeated watering with a watering can and a fine rose, not full blast with a jet. if you've got perlite in the mix it will all float to the surface if you are too extreme.
hope this helps.
heres my 2 cents worth.
having seen Midowos site; he highly recommends pre-flushing before sewing, and having tried it, I think it is a good thing to do. firstly it settles the volume of potting mix in the pot and allows you to top up before sewing. secondly it allows any chemical settling to occur too: say you are using a peat based (acidic) commercial mix; if you add lime to counteract the acidity, then it has time to do its work before delicate roots enter it. also if you want to get some microbiome action happening (worm caste tea, pond water, microryhzome fungus etc), this also gives your mix a chance to settle down into a beneficial micro system. of course if you are strictly inorganic hydro then this is not so much an issue. thirdly pre-flushing will help eliminate air-pockets.
there is also less chance of a predominantly dry pot full of mix wicking moisture away from the seedling.
if the pre-flushing is done 1-2 weeks before sewing, the whole shebang will be uniformly moist and it will be less critical to pour small amounts around the seedling.
there are convincing arguments for and against, but having tried both, I think I will be pre-flushing from now on.
by pre-flushing I mean a nice repeated watering with a watering can and a fine rose, not full blast with a jet. if you've got perlite in the mix it will all float to the surface if you are too extreme.
hope this helps.
I'll be going with sanguine's advice as I don't have 2 weeks in advance to play around with before the grow but thanks for the info anyways
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