How does this not frequently occur if using salts? I’ve always watered from the top, but always searching for better methods. I’m curious how bottom watering is more beneficial than the alternative in terms of avoiding lockout? If I water from the top, I can get runoff. Wouldn’t bottom watering cause the salts to concentrate over time at the bottom of the pot? Those that use this method, do you periodically flush by top watering to prevent lockout?
I tend to use Promix, but this question applies to coco also. Exploring new methods for the future and any anecdotes are appreciated
The salts buildup at wherever the water line is. If that’s sufficiently high enough on the pot then you generally won’t run into any issues for months. I bottom water my mom’s and veg plants that are in 50/50 coco/perlite.
I have only seen a salt buildup issue in my mom plants after ~9 months of bottom watering them in 4inch pots. When that happens I do flush them a few times, usually repot them, and then they’re good to go for another 6-9 months or so.
I had issues bottom watering in flower but not nute/salt buildup related. more the plants just didn’t like sitting in that water 24/7 during flower. I don’t have any issues with flood and drain though, technically still bottom watering
With bottom watering plants get fresh feed every time , prefect ph and perfect ec to bottom of pot were root tips are
When top feeding , you have to water a lot for fluid to reach bottom of pot ( saturating all of pot ) then as roots drink bottom of pot gets light but top of pot stays wet
Then you top water again only this time your feed travels through pot picking of old feed as it travels to bottom , maybe changing ec and ph
Top feeding pot gets saturated a lot leading to higher possibility of overwatering where as bottom feeding keeps nice gradient of wet up to dry in pot ( so always air avail to roots etc )
Bottom feeding pushes excess ec up high in pot away from root zone , like tide washing seaweed up beach and leaving it there as tide goes out , safe away from root zone
@HolyAngel and @ifish what would you call the sweet spot? Like if I have a 10-12” pot and that’s sitting in a large tray with a height of 2-3” how do you know how much to water in the tray? I imagine the water will absorb up into the medium, but when is it too much water vs. not enough?
No more than 1/3 of medium hight is good guide , less if small plant just repotted so they search to bottom of pot
If if takes more than 3 days between watering then too high a flood , two days worth is good
I usually keep 1/4-1/2 inch of water in the tray the pot is sitting in. The water will wick up the pot by itself so I only want just a bit of the media submerged enough to do so.
With small pots ie solo cups
I would lift them individually and dunk them into Rez/bucket of feed quick in and out and gauge wieght , very small plants 1 inch or less dunk , bigger plants bigger dunk or longer , you quickly get a feel of how heavy pot needs to be for size of plant to pot , so dunk lasts 1-2 days max 3 befor havin to dunk them again
I actually am handwatering with Coco,however I see my runoff Is lower than input by around 200 EC,It Is a hassle to hand water 3 plants,I was wandering if I could try a Better style than this and more compact than DTW with an external reservoir.I looked at Ebb and flow or drippers and recirculation like Wilma system.What do you suggest guys?
Coco 60% and 30-40% perlite
