Indoor How much and how often do you water seedlings?

[qwezdan1]

How do you see effects?
I also have it, but didn't notice any difference.

I have two grow ops. 8kw (shared with partner) and 1.8 kw. I first tried rhizo on my personal grow. Strains were pretty much identical to the big grow but when we harvested my root system was way better. Like WAY better. Easy to see that using airpots.

 

[BR549]

Ahhhhh. I gotcha. I assume you don't use the mist setting...?
So, you only spray, for the entire life of the seedling?

Actually, it's until I get tired of squeezing that damned pump handle, but yeah. No mist, just spray.

 

[Chester]

For me, watering a seedling begins when I first fill my pots ... I use 4 gal round plastic nursery pots. When first filling the pot the bottom 2-3" of soil gets moistened before continuing to fill w/ dry soil. I do this so that 3-4 days later when the seed sprouts there is moisture beneath the seed to encourage the tap root to grow deep. While still a seed I spray the spot w/ a cheap hand sprayer ... I'll spray a spot about 2" in diameter and try to keep it moist down to about 2" ... Once the seed germinates I'll wet the same area carefully and try to get the water to reach the bottom of the pot ... starting about day 3, I slowly pour water in a circle about 1/2 the distance to the outside of the pot while trying to use enough water to sink deep into the pot ... I try to only use as much water as is needed to reach deep into the pot ... I don't wet the entire surface until about week three when it is obvious that the roots have spread though out the pot ... I only visit my grow twice a week .... so they go 3-4 days between waterings which forces them to grow more roots ... the plants below are 3 weeks old ... I have super cropped the main stem 3 times on each plant and once more on each after the photo was taken ... These plants are now big enough to flood the pot w/ water w/o slowing their growth ... watering discipline is an important part of growing high yielding plants ... I water slowly til I get minimum runoff ... currently these plants are getting 1/2 gal every 3-4 days .... I will be pushing that up to 1 gal per plant w/ no run off over the next couple weeks as well as topping the pots up w/ soil ...

 

[Yeatster]

For me, watering a seedling begins when I first fill my pots ... I use 4 gal round plastic nursery pots. When first filling the pot the bottom 2-3" of soil gets moistened before continuing to fill w/ dry soil. I do this so that 3-4 days later when the seed sprouts there is moisture beneath the seed to encourage the tap root to grow deep. While still a seed I spray the spot w/ a cheap hand sprayer ... I'll spray a spot about 2" in diameter and try to keep it moist down to about 2" ... Once the seed germinates I'll wet the same area carefully and try to get the water to reach the bottom of the pot ... starting about day 3, I slowly pour water in a circle about 1/2 the distance to the outside of the pot while trying to use enough water to sink deep into the pot ... I try to only use as much water as is needed to reach deep into the pot ... I don't wet the entire surface until about week three when it is obvious that the roots have spread though out the pot ... I only visit my grow twice a week .... so they go 3-4 days between waterings which forces them to grow more roots ... the plants below are 3 weeks old ... I have super cropped the main stem 3 times on each plant and once more on each after the photo was taken ... These plants are now big enough to flood the pot w/ water w/o slowing their growth ... watering discipline is an important part of growing high yielding plants ... I water slowly til I get minimum runoff ... currently these plants are getting 1/2 gal every 3-4 days .... I will be pushing that up to 1 gal per plant w/ no run off over the next couple weeks as well as topping the pots up w/ soil ...



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THIS is exactly what I was looking for. I don't think there is enough detailed information on watering seedlings. The wetting of the bottom is interesting. I would worry that water would lay stagnant to long. It surely would help raising RH of the pot and limit excessive drying of the unused soil during seedling stage.
Thank you for such a detailed response, @Chester
Your technique works, plants look awesome for 3 weeks!

 

[Chockito]

With all the information on proper watering techniques for autoflowers, I feel there is a lack of info on watering seedlings. I am specifically, not exclusively, interested with final pot method, using soiless mediums.

My thoughts are, there are 3 stages in growth. Seedling, vegetative, flowering. Each stage should have there own watering practices.
The majority of us are planting in final pots to avoid transplant shock. I treat my seedlings as if they are in a solo cup. I want to mimic "up potting" as best I can. My routine might look something like this.

Day 1,2: Using a syringe I will give 20ml warm, bubbled, tap water, directly down the base of seedling.


Day 3-5: 30 ml, in the same manner

Day 6: 50 ml

Day 7-14: by this time I am watering every other day with 50 ml.

Day 15: 100 ml.

Day 16: 150 ml.

Day 17: nil.

Day 18: 200ml.

Day 19: nil.

Day 20: 250ml.

By this time, it's safe to say we are in the vegetative stage, allowing the pot to dry out a bit more.

Of course, these amounts all depend on my temps, RH, air circulation, etc...and subject to change upon observation. If the top is wet, I wait.



Please, if you would, share your thoughts and practices on this subject.

While im writing this Im at 1/5 successful grows, 4 of my plants got stunted for good, I planted one more at 1/11 and honestly I dont know wtf is wrong.
This is a photo of the last one, 1/11 seed.It looks stunted.