New grower, made the mistake of choosing soil that retains moisture, many plants were bogged down, transplanted into fresh soil with lots of Perlite for aeration, a few plants survived… Having said that, I’m a bit shell shocked when it comes to watering my plants, specifically when I read recommendations to "water it until it leaks out the bottom of the pot)… I’ve never seen water come out of the bottom of my plants (yes they have holes), so I’m pretty sure I’m under watering them. Do most soil growers drench their plants until they see water? Obviously you couldn’t do that every day. I give mine what I feel to be enough, and spray them many times a day.
Yes, we all water to runoff and that runoff water is what we use to test ph and PPM. So you should water till it comes out the bottom and then let the soil dry out really well before you water again. This is a much more effective way to water than watering a little bit every day.
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Ok… gotta get over it sooner or later, lol… thanks again
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I know this might sound crazy but once my plants are a foot tall or so, I will let them go without water until the leaves are drooping. I will then water them until the smart pot is heavy. I personally find that this tells me how much and how often they need water. Generally for 5gal pots it’s 1/2 gal every 2-3 days for me.
found this chart: For a 1L pot, use 0.25L of water in each irrigation
For a 4L pot, use 1L of water in each irrigation
For a 12L pot, use 3L of water in each irrigation
For a 30L pot, use 7.5L of water in each irrigation.
However, for today, I just finished drenching my plants until they actually leaked water out of the bottom, then tested the ph… 5.5 for all plants except one, which I tested over and over again at 7.0… perhaps too much nutrients in the 7.0 plant? Or, not enough in all the others? I’ve only used nutrients once, about a week ago.
Usually nutes lower the ph, not raise.
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5.5 is way off for soil. I would consider flushing to get somewhere above 6.3. I don’t know how far the plants are along, but 5.5 will stunt them sooner or later.
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Yes, 5.5 is way too low, and 7.0 is too high. You need to be between 6.3 and 6.8 if you’re in soil.
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Ok, thank you all. Before I go flushing, I’m going to retest, using the drops. I used the handheld digital tester to test the runoff water today. Problem may very well be that I actually did not accurately calibrate it (instructions said to mix solution in ionized or de-ionized water and adjust to a particular pH setting). What I did, was put it into RO water, which the water salesmen where I purchased it stated the pH is 7, so I got lazy, and set the digital device to 7. Will test tonight with drops to see if I get different results.
well I am very new at this game so I never thought about over watering I water my plants the same way I did my africian violets set my 4 pots in water and let it soak up from the bottom of the plant when they have enough water they quit absorbing
When using cloth pots what do you use to collect the runoff to test it? Using 5 gallon pots I don’t have anything yet big enough
I just use a vinyl plant saucer like what you get at the hardware store. And I use a turkey baster to get the runoff. It works.
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Ok, so my digital tester is fairly accurate… I retested plants using the drops. Only one plant is at an acceptable pH level of 6.8, the Emporer J pictured below
All of my other Bangi Haze plants are between 6.5 and 6.8, so I need to research raising PH. pictured as well … before I take any drastic measures, I’m going to get more RO water… One vendor’s RO is 7.0, the other is 6.5… its is the 6.5 that I purchased recently, thinking I could keep the pH level down, but it obviously dropped it too low. Thanks for all your help, love this hobby, its totally engaging and interesting, and someday when I roll some up, it’ll be rewarding as well… cheers
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I would rather you use your digital Ph meter than the drops. The drops really aren’t very accurate.
Haha I use the same thing to get my runoff out of my box
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I feel like the ph drops are pretty reliable. As long as you see the color piss yellow in the container than you should be good.
There have been times when I have had readings way off though, and had to redo the test just to make sure. Not sure if the container was dirty, or some PH up/down got in there.
Be aware perlite holds a good amount of water as well.
Weed is really easy to over water. I just use the ol finger moisture meter and let the ladies talk to me.
Get a digital meter those drops leave way to much to interpretation 6.3-6.8 for soil and nutrients will always drop your ph
Your in good hands tho with the ither members
Pick up pots when dry this will give you a idea when to water 
I will take exception to that when you have a newly transplanted girl in a pot sized for when it’s larger; you probably want to water in small doses until the drip line of the plant meets the pot diameter. Once the roots occupy the available space and the canopy supports it, then water to runoff. Otherwise it may sit in damp, nasty soil for weeks.
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Absolutely! You can only water to runoff when you’ve got a nice big pot of healthy roots, not when the plants are small and in a big pot. That would be disaster.
Thanks for clearing that up, @Myfriendis410.
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