Hi, I’m Danny and I did hydro for a year because I don’t know how to water in soil properly.
After a year of hydro I had confidence in understanding how much water the plant needs.
I was wrong I seem to be under and over watering my plants constantly. I know it’s not the soil or water because my friends had great success with both.
The “lifting the plant to feel if it’s dry” method isn’t working for me. Is there a ratio of water per gallons of soil that would bring it to a point that would make the plants happiest for each part of the grow?
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Plants drink different amounts at different times. Different strains are more vigorous as well. Type of pot, pot size come in to play as well. You just got to figure it out. Sorry.
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In my particular mix I have found that 2 gal of water is perfect for my 7 gal pots with no runoff.
Other then that I can’t offer much help. I have always gone by feel .
Also there are an insane amount of variables and generally is not a one size fits all type thing.
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Really depends on what you are using for a grow media. I am going to try soil again, I have had good luck with coco as if you water too much it just runs out. If I lift my pots up I can tell which need water. Just a learning experience where you ‘calibrate’ your arm(s). I would guess a looser mix with a lot of perlite ans peat moss would be easier to figure out the weight. You are suppose to water until water runs out the bottom.
Thanks for the honesty!
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I’m using fabric pots, and I’m using peat moss as well! Maybe my issue isn’t how much I water at one time but how frequently I am watering.
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Grow in fabric pots then over watering will no longer be an issue 
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Once a day in coco and every couple of days in soil. Pick the pots up while both wet and dry and guage the weight difference.
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I too am in fabric pots and use promix as my base .
Trial and error is your friend . It is how most of us learned 
One tip I can give is to water slowly. And in something like promix HP it is much more common to under water then overwater.
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Yeah so it’s not overwatering it’s watering to often.
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Your plants will tell you when they need watering as they will droop but weighing the pots is a good way to judge.
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You also have to keep in mind the size and what stage the plant is in, along with pot size.
Usually when I first transplant into my 7gal finishing pot I do not have to water for a week or more. But come week 5-7 of flowering those same pots need 2gal daily.
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Fabric pots will help alot if over watering, but you can still over do it.
What is your environment like? Temp and humidity. Is it stable for the most part?
What does your soil mix consist of?
What size plants in what size pots?
There are alot of factors that come into play to dial in the perfect moisture content in your soil.
However if your room is within somewhat ideal parameters, running a peat based living soil in fabric containers, with the correct container size for the stage of life the plant is in, I would start with 5% of volume of container every other day. 5-10% by volume is usually ideal.
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Water from the bottom with soil.
Sit your pot or growbag in a tray and fill up the tray.
Watch how long it takes for the water to disappear, the longer it takes, the less water it needs.
It’s very simple with living organic soil, as it regulates itself much more.
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The first pic def looks overwatered and just not happy in general. It can happen even when the rest look like they are loving life.
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Canadian Peat Moss and Composted Michigan Sphagnum, the M3 Mix is fortified with Seabird Guano, Greensand, Blood & Bone Meal, Lime, and Rock Phosphates to give a complete organic meal.
Ingredients from the site.
I’m watering 4 gallons for all of them every other day.
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Are those 3 gal pots?
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It’s also overwatering! Been there, and killed plants too!!! You could go a bit cerebral and weigh a fully watered same size pot (with no plant) and wait until the one with the plant is really dry and weigh it too. Find a way to subtract the possible weight of the plant and you’d know when it is getting close to dry next time. But you won’t be able to ignore what @Floyd and others said; even with these variables taken into account, genetics, stage of growth and other issues such as RH and temperature will end up having an impact. Hope it helps!
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Four gallons for each pot? Or four gallons for all of the plants combined? Four gallons is way too much for one pot, unless you’re growing in, like, a 45 gallon pot (I’m even surprised you’re watering with two gallons in your seven-gallon pots, @Greenhighlander). Definitely too much for whatever size pots you’re growing in right now, from what I can see in those pics.
A good rule of thumb is 10% of the size of the container, every-other day. So if you’re growing in 5 gallon pots, half a gallon of water. Observe the plants and adjust as necessary. But even in my seven-gallon pots, I’ll usually only water with about a half-gallon, sometimes less, sometimes more, depending on what stage of life they’re in.
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