Will anyone please share their opinions on watering/feeding til runoff? My current understanding is you water til runoff to remove excess salts. Also I hear you want to feed frequently to keep the root zone at the optimal ppm/ec at all times. Thoughts?
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You typically want run off to verify you’ve fully saturated the medium.
I feed every time.
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I feed nearly every time too. I only back off if I’m starting to get salt buildup, and if that is the case, then a flush is in order. Runoff amount won’t really make a difference in salt buildup. It takes a flushing agent and/or a whole lot of water to get rid of salts.
How often you water will depend on several factors. I water only after the soil is nearly completely dried out. It is far better to under water than to over water.
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What are you growing in?
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I am growing in coco
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How big are your pots? If they are bigger than 3 gals why water so much? I’ve heard other people talk about doing this. Do they dry out that fast?
My final pots are 5 gal fabric pots. They key to really unlocking coco’s potential is to never let it dry out. Some will say let it dry out. I’ve tried both methods and I can tell you the growth rate is night and day with multiple feedings per day . I’ve also had less deficiencies since I’ve changed to multiple waterings
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My comments on when to water were relevant for a soil grow. Coco is different and many do what Watt-Sun mentions here.
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Does that hold true for your veg too? Do you notice a big difference between plastic pots and fabric pots?
I won’t use plastic anymore. I got root bound once so I switched to fabric and will never use anything else. The combo of coco+perlite+fabric pots is an almost guaranteed way to avoid over watering and getting root bound
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Def lots of different growing styles . When I first started coco everything I read said let it dry out. I did that for a few runs the @MattyBear enlightened me about daily fertigation. So I tried that and the results are plain as day
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Just to clarify…you don’t let your veg dry out? Also do you notice an increase in your yields with fabric pots? Are they easy to clean?
I hear a lot of people say let your veg dry out because it encourages the roots to look for water and grow faster.
Correct, I never let my coco dry out
I don’t have a comparison on yields because I switched to fabric 1/2 way through my first grow.I don’t reuse my pots because they are cheap around here and there’s always left over root material stuck in the fabric. I prefer a fresh pot each time
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Thank you so much for sharing your experience!
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