Soil stopped absorbing water 2 weeks into flower

HardLuck71

HardLuck71

Well-Known Member
So, I’m in 5 gallon smart pots and 2 weeks into flowering and now after only about 2 cups of water/nutes, the liquid will pool up on top of the soil and takes forever to absorb without reaching the bottom pf the pot? I vegged for roughly 11-12 weeks starting in Solo, the 1 gallon then into 5 gallon. I’m using FFOF mixed with some Happy From, Worm castings, Ancient Forest and I added a good amount of extra perlite as well and was fine till bout a week ago. I can see roots everywhere on the surface of the soil as well, does that mean it’s potbound? Thought that couldnt happen or wouldn’t happen in fabric pots? Would it be a bad idea to transplant 2 weeks into flowering? When I used my fingers to try and break up the surface, the soil looked and felt like mud which is really weird and wondering if its from adding more Ancient Forest on top? Please help as they’re looking really good and don’t want something to ruin it now! Thanks!!
 
diggs99

diggs99

Well-Known Member
What are your temps and RH ? Sometimes when the root zone isnt warm enough they can stop drinking.

@Renfro Bro, you got any ideas on what could be causing this?
 
HardLuck71

HardLuck71

Well-Known Member
diggs99 said:
What are your temps and RH ? Sometimes when the root zone isnt warm enough they can stop drinking.

@Renfro Bro, you got any ideas on what could be causing this?
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Daytime, 78-79 and night time 70-71 and rh is set at 45%. I can see roots everywhere across the entire top of the soil, I’ve fed nutes almost every watering and when some of the soil settled a few weeks ago, I added some worm castings & Ancient Forest on top so wondering if that along with all the Organic nutes
( General Organics line ) just binded with the soil and made it compacted? I really don’t wanna fuck up this grow when I’m so close lol, is it too late to transplant? And with all the roots covering the top of the soil, would it really hurt the plants if I were to rake out the top few inches and add some fresh soil with perlite and flush? I’m trying some SLF-100 ( Enzymes ) along with brewing tea thinking the microbes would help breaking down some dead roots and some other stuff but idk. Also, its weird how whem I watered earlier, I used my fingers to mix up the top couple inches and its like it turned to sloppy mud.
 
O

o3zx32

Member
could the soil be so dry its causing the water to pool up before absorbing? i use 3 gal feed for my 15 gal smartpots every 2 days

pictures?
 
HardLuck71

HardLuck71

Well-Known Member
Renfro said:
Root bound?
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Thats what i was thinking but didn’t think that could happen in fabric pots? Roots totally fill my 5gal pots and like i said i can see them over the entire top of the soil. Would i be able to cut open the pots and transplant or is it too late? When i was trying to break up the top to get it to soak in i was ripping some of the little roots at the top and it literally looked and felt like mud and dont understand why? Could i maybe toss em in a 7gal?
 
HardLuck71

HardLuck71

Well-Known Member
o3zx32 said:
could the soil be so dry its causing the water to pool up before absorbing? i use 3 gal feed for my 15 gal smartpots every 2 days

pictures?
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I use a gal per 5 gal pot, but now i cant even add enough water for it to make it past 1/2 way down. I mean they look healthy but wont stay that way unless i fix this.1883A9BA-ECF4-4D1D-A9E1-1B8CCC90D06F.jpeg463C2832-1454-46F1-B059-AB42A528586F.jpeg7112A7F3-08EC-4D3B-B31D-C56736F83F2B.jpeg
 
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o3zx32

Member
saw this with hpcc...had to basically drench the soil in small increments over a day or two to let gravity work and get the stuff to absorb again...got too dry. lookin good dude, healthy!:weed: consider a bigger pot down the road? Help the ladies a lot.(:
 
HardLuck71

HardLuck71

Well-Known Member
Renfro said:
Thats what it is, grains plugged up the pores in the medium.
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I read a little dishsoap helps break up compacted soil but doesn’t sound like a good idea while flowering. Wont be adding Ancient Forest as a top dress anymore thats for damn sure lol and when i said it looks like mud, thats the 1st thing i thought about was that stuff cause it looked like soaked black af. I’ll just stick to mixing some in when I mix up my soil. If anyone has an idea on how or what i can do to fix this I’d greatly appreciate it!
 
HardLuck71

HardLuck71

Well-Known Member
o3zx32 said:
saw this with hpcc...had to basically drench the soil in small increments over a day or two to let gravity work and get the stuff to absorb again...got too dry. lookin good dude, healthy!:weed: consider a bigger pot down the road? Help the ladies a lot.(:
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I water every other day. This is the 3rd watering with it doing this and is actually getting worse every time. I wanted to go bigger but limited on space, but i just bought some 7gal Air Pots which are same diameter just taller so shouldn’t be a prob. Vegging for 3 months was a bit much but is what it is now.
 
Renfro

Renfro

Well-Known Member
HardLuck71 said:
I water every other day. This is the 3rd watering with it doing this and is actually getting worse every time. I wanted to go bigger but limited on space, but i just bought some 7gal Air Pots which are same diameter just taller so shouldn’t be a prob. Vegging for 3 months was a bit much but is what it is now.
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each watering helps the particles settle and fill in the gaps in the soil.

Honestly the only good solution I can come up with would be to scrape off and remove the top inch of soil and hopefully that gets rid of the stoppage. If not then you are limited to punching holes in the roots and that's a poor option to have but better than none.
 
Renfro

Renfro

Well-Known Member
Humics derived from leonardite are basically crushed stone and it doesn't really ever totally dissolve. Sounds like you used a lot. Diamond nectar would be a better route to go.
 
giampaolo

giampaolo

Member
I wanted to answer this, as I find it to be the most overlooked problem for new growers as well as highly technical experienced ones. The problem is simply compaction of soil. Over time, the many waterings you have given your ladies will inevitably force the soil into a hard mass. It's so simple to fix with a cloth pot. You simply wait until it is completely dry, gently squeeze the sides of the pot to loosen the root mass, and if necessary gently aerate the top half inch of soil using a pencil or other like tool. It's the most overlooked thing as I said. Makes you wanna slap yourself in the head for being too technical. lol. Also, rootbound plants seldom occur in cloth pots. As soon as the root hits the air from the outside circumference of the pot, it self prunes.
 
FastFreddi

FastFreddi

Well-Known Member
What about a bottom feed, as in let em soak for a bit instead of allowing runoff to go to waste? Just an idea...
FF
 
FastFreddi

FastFreddi

Well-Known Member
giampaolo said:
I wanted to answer this, as I find it to be the most overlooked problem for new growers as well as highly technical experienced ones. The problem is simply compaction of soil. Over time, the many waterings you have given your ladies will inevitably force the soil into a hard mass. It's so simple to fix with a cloth pot. You simply wait until it is completely dry, gently squeeze the sides of the pot to loosen the root mass, and if necessary gently aerate the top half inch of soil using a pencil or other like tool. It's the most overlooked thing as I said. Makes you wanna slap yourself in the head for being too technical. lol. Also, rootbound plants seldom occur in cloth pots. As soon as the root hits the air from the outside circumference of the pot, it self prunes.
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I have had to use bamboo sticks, I use for staking, to aerate my pots before.... I mean all the way to bottom of medium, dozens of holes, won't hurt at all.
FF
 
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