How much water? 🐳

High everyone, I have read the FAQ Watering but haven’t found information on this. I have some plants in 5-gallon textile pots (so the roots have more oxygen) and don’t know how much water should I give them. I am giving them almost half gallon each, but next day rhey seem to be thirsty again. I have LED Quantum board, the temperatures are between 21 and 28 \C and humidity 60%. As there is no runoff available I don’t know if I should give them more, thanks 
 :sunglasses:

4 Likes

I’m no expert but I water till there’s a bit of run off then wait till they ask for more. I use the same pots, but 3 gallon. Never had an issue with overwatering.

8 Likes

Thanks for the reply, do you also put something below the textile pots for the runoff? Do the posts resist getting wet? That’s why I water them less , to avoid a wet floor 
 :sunglasses:

3 Likes

I am not good at watering either, I usually grow bottom self feeding. Doing an up pot the other day I noticed just how bad I was. The root ball was only 1/2 way down the pot, and the bottom 1/2 of the soil was virgin dry!
After the up pot I placed a pan under the new pots and watered till “run off”. I was SHOCKED at how much water they needed, over twice what I had been giving them. Been watering that way since, till run off, then till dry
2 weeks now, made a HUGE difference already. Will be watching this thread to make sure I am doing it right, lol.

7 Likes

Throw a cookie sheet it something under them to catch the run off if the bottom of your “room” isn’t water proof


3 Likes

Yes. I use shallow clear plastic things designed to go under potted house plants. Your local garden or home supply store should have something appropriate and affordable.

6 Likes

I think it depends also on your mix.
Potting mixes can be still “thirsty” after a watering if they have peat, vermiculite, pine bark nuggets or especially coco in a significant portion.
I always keep a tray under my reg walled pots to catch what runoff gathers there but it usually gets sucked up into the pot within a few minutes.

3 Likes

Ya definitely want to see a bit of runoff to make sure extra salts etc are getting pushed out. A 5 gallon pot would probably take about around 4 litres (1 gallon) to be fully saturated, then don’t water again until they’re almost completely dry.

Sticking your finger down in the top couple inches of soil is a good way to check for dryness. If it’s at all moist up there you can be pretty confident the bottom is wet.

Also picking them up to judge the weight is good too, after a while you’ll get a feel for what’s dry. You’d be surprised how light the pots can get before they start sagging!

2 Likes

Applies to any “soil” grow. If you aren’t getting at least some run-off, you aren’t watering as deeply as possible. Lift your pots, and water to the point of run-off when they start to feel light. Grab some of that first run-off to use for checking ph.

3 Likes

Therein lies the problem with using the “stick a finger in it” method for watering. The “right” way to water is deep watering to the point of run-off (misnamed since it’s actually draining) when your plant begins to feel light.

The trick when using a peat based mix is getting the growing medium wet in the first place. Myself, when I first wet a fresh mix I add a touch of baby shampoo to the water to help break the surface tension of the water and help aide with saturating the peat which will want to stay dry otherwise.

2 Likes

Yeah id say closer to a gallon a day. You got to water slow if theyre real dry or itll run off n out the fabric. Are the pots stiff like hard close to rootbound? Try to push sides of pots in to loosen the soil some then water. Once its a solid rootball you got to water slow or itll run off the top to the sides.

3 Likes

The bottom too in this case a lot of times the bottom never gets wet. I sit the pots in tub so they can soak from underneath too when theure being stubborn.

2 Likes

Oh and by the way nice plant. I can see an explosion there come flower time.

3 Likes

Thanks everyone, really uaeful info 


2 Likes

I’d say a lot of issues with watering can stem from the media drying out to much to cause what is called channeling ( path of least resistance) if dealing with five gallon pots and smaller I like to do a whole dunk of the pot into a five gallon bucket of water 1/2 filled or so for a couple of minutes every once in awhile then let it drain with a couple sticks across the top to hold the whole unit suspended while it’s dripping away ! That way one can help eliminate dry pockets in the mix.

4 Likes

Good tip! One could use aloe in their waterings as well as a Castile soap ! Made myself a gallon of homemade soap earlier this year helps killing soft body insects as well , and it’s a potassium boost as well I put the Kabosch( spelling) on the weevil Like insects on the hollyhocks!

1 Like

Yo llevo un control exhaustivo del consumo de agua en macetas, las peso diariamente y controlo el consumo exacto. Para mi la mejor medida para riegos profundos es la que se consume en 3 dĂ­as, con esta medida, la media de agua en maceta, cuando la planta ya estĂĄ a pleno rendimiento, es de 1,6 hasta 2L para macetas de 7L, con macetas de 11L que son las que mĂĄs uso, voy desde los 2L hasta 2,6L, etc.
Para las macetas de tela uso platos con piedras de rio, va muy bien porque permite que el aire corra entre las raĂ­ces que salen por la base.


Sólo riego por la base las primeras semanas de establecimiento en maceta para provocar que bajen las raíces, también riego por arriba pues uso mulch y mantengo mucha MM en la parte superior.

2 Likes

Gracias paisano, quien me diría que me hago un lío con los litros y tengo que traducirlo a galones :sweat_smile:, buen truco el de las piedras
 beer3|nullxnull t

2 Likes

Just for the record, I disagree with everyone who says water to runoff.
I’m in 5 gallon fabric pots, and I give a half gallon every other day in early flower, and then up to a full gallon every other day as the plant grows in size and thirst
Watering to runoff is a hydroponic technique that is absolutely meaningless in soil grows, unless you fucked something up

5 Likes

I agree, by measuring the water you can water deeply without having runoff.

1 Like