I’m growing auto flower in 3 gal fabric pots. My problem is figuring out how much water to feed in veg and flowering stages. I’m in flower now and have been feeding a liter of water with nutrients every 3 days. Most of the time I get no runoff of water sometimes i get a little. I see on this forum that most feed till they get a good runoff of water. So question is how much water should I be feeding the plants in its different stages of life.
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Unless doing organic/living soil, you should be watering/feeding to full runoff of at least 15-20%, especially in flower. Not doing so poses salt buildup, pH swings and nutrient lockout.
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We need more info on what soil your using my friend
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If your growing in soil as @Borderryan22 saying organic soil or living soil you don’t want any run off just make sure it stays moist @Jw8
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I’m using roots organic soil and bio bizz nutrients.
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Yea you don’t want any run off in my opinion my friend happy growing just keep it nice and moist
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But im not familiar with the bio-bizz don’t know if it has alot salt so you may have to have run off we let someone that uses that brand of nutes
My plants are in the ground. This summer has been very wet, half of the time my plants are in standing water. Way too much water.
@Reed71 — I was reading the Gorilla Glue Grow Journal @Hellraiser posted. There he recommends in organic soil a parch and flood approach in which the plants should be left to go dry before another watering. Did I misunderstand?
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@Blaze_Up_Ahab Me myself. I don’t let it go alI the way dry in organic. I keep my soil little moist but not to moist if that makes sense and give good watering once a week.
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Theres microbes in living soil that are integral for assimilation of nutrients to be cast out into the soil for optimum uptake by the roots. If the soil is allowed to dry out completely, it kills said microbes.
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I grow in 30 gallon pots outdoor in Los Angeles area. It’s now late August and my plant are 4-5’ tall. I water daily about 60 second from a hose that outputs about 3-4 gallons per minute.
It doesn’t matter how much you water at one time. Its the frequency that over waters them. You want a good flooding on watering day because you have to let them dry out completely until drought before watering again. If the leaves arent drooping for a day its too soon to water.
@Reed71 — Does that apply during flower as well?
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Yeah, I’m finding out that its better to catch them before they start to droop. I was waiting for the keaves to droop as an indication to water. I’m finding out now that its better to water them right before they start drooping. I am getting into the habit of lifting my pots to check their weight as an indicator. Its better, especially in living soil, to not let the pots dry out too bad because it kills off alot of the beneficial microbes in the soil when it gets too dry.
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Have not grown soil, use coco.
My coco, when dry and even with a flowered plant is in 3 to 5 gal pot, feels like a loaf of bread… lift your plant if possible to gage the weight of them. When real dry they are very light.
1 gallon of water is about 8lbs, half that is of course 4lbs. You water a half gal with no runoff and lift. Huge difference after watering.
A plant at 3 weeks does not need watering every day, but as the plant starts flowering and stretching it will require wstering sooner and drink more nutes. Early veg, i have plants that dont need watering for upto 4 days no issues.
Lift your plants and water as needed.
Im in very hot area, no humidity, know your climate.
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@Blaze_Up_Ahab yes the whole grow my friend happy growing
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I am new to all this, but can someone talk more about what runoff means? I have coco perlite in 5gal fabric pots. If the term runoff is what I think it is, How much and How often do you water your plants?
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After the first couple of weeks from sprout, I feed my plants every day. Runoff is the excess nutrient solution that comes out of the bottom of the bag, when you are feeding/watering.
In coco/perlite, you should be feeding every time you water, unless you are having uptake issues. You want about 15-20% of what you put in to “runoff”. This essentially keeps mostly fresh nutrients at the root level, allowing for proper nutrient uptake.
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Okay, cool thanks!
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