Hey guys. I seem to be running into a problem and I’m not sure whats going on. Within the last 2 weeks one of my plants appears to have started drooping. I have been watering both plants the same amount since late veg into flower where they are at now. I usually do 1000mL - 1200mL per plant. So a little over a liter per plant. It seemed to always be enough water. I started having trouble with fungal gnats a while back which I have now eliminated which is why I am now bottom feeding. So watering till runoff is not an option for me making hard to judge if I’m using enough water. Plants are in 5 gallons pots of soil and get a little over 1 L per water every 6 - 8 days. I understand that there’s no magic numbers and each plant is different but I cant seem to dial in the correct amount. One plants seem perfectly fine with that amount of water but one seems to be having some issues. Any ideas?
Bottom feeding is not practiced by the vast majority of growers and for good reason. It should be avoided, as cannabis needs wet/dry cycles. You should also be adjusting pH and PPM by having a good understanding of what your runoff pH and PPM numbers are. It makes it very difficult to manage pH and PPM levels unless you are very good at slurry testing, which is a PITA.
Water until runoff, let the soil dry out, and then water again. You can’t calibrate watering at all unless you are watering until runoff and then letting the soil dry out.
The bottom pic shows a pretty healthy plant. Get your watering under control and she will be fine.
Top watering to runoff also helps minimize mineral salt buildup in your soil.
You are likely overwatering if bottom feeding.
Found this…
I suspect a root issue from being too wet on the very bottom.
From website:
Bottom watering offers significant advantages, including:
- Limiting chances of overwatering
- Allowing soil to absorb precisely as much water as it can hold
- Preventing root rot
- Promoting healthy root growth
- Enabling better nutrient absorption
Cons
Bottom watering does have its downsides, too, such as:
- Taking longer to water than top watering
- Causing fertilizer build-up in the soil over time
- Encouraging root rot if left for prolonged periods
I have two plants in 5gal bags and give them 1/2 gallon each day. If I want run off it takes almost a gallon per plant.
Fungus gnats are annoying, but there are better ways to deal with them.
Mosquito bits work great.
I use 10 gal bags and water 2.5 gallons every 3 to 4 days.
Really good point. If bottom feeding there is a very high probability that the roots near the bottom of the pot at not healthy at all.
So i know 2 weeks ago I made a post and you gave me a lot of information about ppm. So I went out and purchased a TDS meter. I just watered until runoff from the top like everyone was recommending and came out with 1650ppm. Comparing to the fox farm chart, idk if that’s even a good indication, I’m much lower than the recommended threshold for 8 weeks in. Is this good, bad, okay? How do I adjust and where do I go from here.
EDIT it was in fact @BobbyDigital who asked about the PPM numbers. You were part of the forum though that’s why I got confused. But anyway yea those are the numbers
So if it is a root rot issue can I remedy it by just not bottom feeding from here on out? Will that be okay or is there special steps I will have to go through now. I’m 8 weeks in on autoflowers so i feel like I shouldn’t have much longer to go now
Also wow did I read this right? So youre giving about 2L of water every day? If so Im nowhere even close to that
The FF chart is high because they want you to buy more fertilizer. It’s common in the industry. Maintaining The FF schedule will burn your plant. Growers using FF nutes will often feed only 1/2 to 3/4 of the FF schedule. The schedule is too aggressive. Feed as necessary to maintain a runoff PPM of 1,000.
Bottom feeding if using FF nutes is a bad idea as the FF product is very salty and it will result in a mineral salt buildup that will submarine your root zone pH and you will have to flush the salts out periodically with a product like Sledgehammer.
Be aware that estimated harvest times are from the start of flower and not time from seed. You will have 8 to 10 weeks to go once the plant starts flowering (when you begin to see pistils form at the tips of the plant.
It will halt the progression of problems, but rotted roots are not going to recover.
@Spiney_norman are you in coco? Soil grows should not be watered daily. Let the soil dry out between waterings. Coco grows do require daily watering. It’s fair if the soil dries out each day.
Just jumping in here…I grow in 10 gal fabric too. By the time I flip at 60 days old, they get over a gallon each day. If I miss a day, they start to droop. They suck the water out of the soil very fast when they are growing and/or flower at a fast rate.
I grow in soil.
But you cant copy another grower in this regard. My particular conditions are probably quite different than yours. Just was pointing out that plants can possibly use up water faster than others. I do suspect a root problem. Your ppm number is high but I dont see nute burn yet. I grow in fabric pots so they act differently too.
That kind of wilting is common with rot in the root zone or stems.
`wow a lot of fantastic information here. I really appreciate your time. I will reduce the amount of nutrients I’m feeding to achieve 1000ppm runoff. I’m not too far off so that’s good. As for the root rot that is unfortunate and I will not go back to bottom feeding. I guess since I am back to feeding from the top I will use the finger and how light is the pot trick to indicate when to feed. I still think I will stick with 2L per plant but maybe increase the frequency of feeding to more than once a week if they seem to need it.
Also I don’t know if its worth noting but when bottom feeding I never let the plants sit in the feed for more than 15 minute. I would watch the level drop over the 15 minute period and then when they seemed to drink what they can reach due to the holes in the pot being a little higher from the base. I would dump the remaining feed into the top of the plant. Can root rot develop from only being submerged for 15-20 min once a week while feeding ?
In a plastic pot the roots circle around and around like this.
Bottom watering encourages the roots to stay on the bottom.
So yes, they could starve for air and begin to die which leads to rot.
The brown color on the pictured plant roots is not good.
Fox farms is also high because they are on the 700 scale for TDS. Most meters we get are on 500 scale. Here is a chart I made for ppm on 500 scale meters
ah fantastic this is very helpful, thank you!
If you run out of ff nutes, try jacks321. Many use this. Cheaper and much easier schedule
And far less salty.
I think I will be switching next go around to something else anyway so I will check it out. Thanks for the recommendation