Halman9000
Well-Known Member
No matter whether your using soil or coco , eventually the small particles clog up good drainage , and not just near the bottom holes , but the entire grow medium of the pot .
I tried for a year to flush from the top and still had bad drainage .
Good drainage is very important for seedlings and small plants with small root and medium size .
Now I had initial success putting the small pot in a tall styrofoam cup and then filling the cup to the top with water so that the grow medium gets completly submerged in water ; and then let it sit there for a while . This for me returned good drainage to the grow medium which is neccesary if you want to remove all the NPK salt from the medium . For me , the plant colors improved perhaps because the salts are gone and oxygen now gets to my roots again . I think it is the small particles that clog up drainage ( pith ? ) .
Note : When you soak your seedling or large seedling pot , fill the water in the styrofoam cup ; fill it until the water is near the top of the rim of the pot , But don't fill the styrofoam cup up too high . Do not let water go over the top of the rim because we do not want to flush from the top . We just want to fill the water level such that the grow medium is submurged almost to the top , but we do not want water to spill over the top of the rim into the grow medium from the top . All the water should fill from the bottom as high as we can without the water spilling over the top of the pot into the grow medium from the top ; from the bottom only the water enters the pot . To drain water from pot , lift straight up and let the water flow out the drain holes in the bottom of the pot . Do not pour water by tilting pot and pouring water from top . Let water drain from bottom . There are several reasons for doing it this way , but doing the way i described you will get minimum change in the roots position and minimize stress of the roots , You should notice better drainage as the water should come out the bottom better . If the water does not drain nicely , then repeat the process again until the water drainage is nice . Another benifit is after you do this proceedure , much more air will get to the roots and that should make the plant look much better very quickly .
Tip - if you want to stop gnats from crawling up through the bottom drain holes in small seedling pots , take a latex or plastic gloves and stretch it up the pot to the top . Then I add some perlite on top of the grow medium .
According to the article if you use the correct amino acids and use them properly with correct nutes profile , you can grow plants that are dark green with sometimes shinny leaves . ( I think I read once that using Seaweed can make dark green plants . ) .Excellent article about Amino Acids . Try to read the entire article because alot of the good information is in the second half of the article . Including the paragraph entitled " How to know when the soil needs amino acids? "
"https://www.allbiothailand.com/พืช-ต้องการ-กรดอะมิโน-จา/"
Note : Submerge Pots first to restore good drainage before trying amino acids , because they work better if NPK salts are removed from the grow medium . One observation is for me if done right , using Amino Acid in a pot with good drainage causes the main stalk to get thicker and a darker green , on my Habanero Hop Pepper large seedling .
Note : I use a package that has the two most common Amino Acids that I see in articles about Plant Biostimulants .
L - Glycine
L Glutamic ( Acid ?)
I got mine from NPK Industries ; but they are easy availbe from many companies in small package sizes .
I also flush (subment in water and give a soak bath by placing seedling pot into a tall styrofoam cup and fill cup to the top so that the entire grow medium gets a good flush ; flushing from the top when pith is plugging up your drainage with accomplish nothing and a soak is required to open many drain channels . Yucca is suppose to open drain channels but I don't have any and have not tried it yet . and get good drainage first .
Next I add Amino Acids unmixed with any other chemicals or nutes .
I wait a while for the Amino Acids to do their thing for about 1/2 an hour .
Finally I add small amounts of Primny and secondary nutes and micronutrients and some other things like small amounts of compost etc and minerals and good bacteria and fungi if you want . If you are using tap water , make sure to let water sit in a pitcher for a day to make sure the chlorine evaporates so good microbes and fungi don't get killed by the chlorine .
Here is a photo of my Hot Pepper Plant that got a dark green color and healthy growth . I am hoping it was using amino acid on a plant large seedling with good drainage channel . My goal is to make all my plants a dark green with shinny leaves on most plants . I also want to try kelp ( makes plant dark green ? ) and Yucca ( helps open many drainage channels in grow medium ? ) .
Halman9000
I tried for a year to flush from the top and still had bad drainage .
Good drainage is very important for seedlings and small plants with small root and medium size .
Now I had initial success putting the small pot in a tall styrofoam cup and then filling the cup to the top with water so that the grow medium gets completly submerged in water ; and then let it sit there for a while . This for me returned good drainage to the grow medium which is neccesary if you want to remove all the NPK salt from the medium . For me , the plant colors improved perhaps because the salts are gone and oxygen now gets to my roots again . I think it is the small particles that clog up drainage ( pith ? ) .
Note : When you soak your seedling or large seedling pot , fill the water in the styrofoam cup ; fill it until the water is near the top of the rim of the pot , But don't fill the styrofoam cup up too high . Do not let water go over the top of the rim because we do not want to flush from the top . We just want to fill the water level such that the grow medium is submurged almost to the top , but we do not want water to spill over the top of the rim into the grow medium from the top . All the water should fill from the bottom as high as we can without the water spilling over the top of the pot into the grow medium from the top ; from the bottom only the water enters the pot . To drain water from pot , lift straight up and let the water flow out the drain holes in the bottom of the pot . Do not pour water by tilting pot and pouring water from top . Let water drain from bottom . There are several reasons for doing it this way , but doing the way i described you will get minimum change in the roots position and minimize stress of the roots , You should notice better drainage as the water should come out the bottom better . If the water does not drain nicely , then repeat the process again until the water drainage is nice . Another benifit is after you do this proceedure , much more air will get to the roots and that should make the plant look much better very quickly .
Tip - if you want to stop gnats from crawling up through the bottom drain holes in small seedling pots , take a latex or plastic gloves and stretch it up the pot to the top . Then I add some perlite on top of the grow medium .
According to the article if you use the correct amino acids and use them properly with correct nutes profile , you can grow plants that are dark green with sometimes shinny leaves . ( I think I read once that using Seaweed can make dark green plants . ) .Excellent article about Amino Acids . Try to read the entire article because alot of the good information is in the second half of the article . Including the paragraph entitled " How to know when the soil needs amino acids? "
"https://www.allbiothailand.com/พืช-ต้องการ-กรดอะมิโน-จา/"
Note : Submerge Pots first to restore good drainage before trying amino acids , because they work better if NPK salts are removed from the grow medium . One observation is for me if done right , using Amino Acid in a pot with good drainage causes the main stalk to get thicker and a darker green , on my Habanero Hop Pepper large seedling .
Note : I use a package that has the two most common Amino Acids that I see in articles about Plant Biostimulants .
L - Glycine
L Glutamic ( Acid ?)
I got mine from NPK Industries ; but they are easy availbe from many companies in small package sizes .
I also flush (subment in water and give a soak bath by placing seedling pot into a tall styrofoam cup and fill cup to the top so that the entire grow medium gets a good flush ; flushing from the top when pith is plugging up your drainage with accomplish nothing and a soak is required to open many drain channels . Yucca is suppose to open drain channels but I don't have any and have not tried it yet . and get good drainage first .
Next I add Amino Acids unmixed with any other chemicals or nutes .
I wait a while for the Amino Acids to do their thing for about 1/2 an hour .
Finally I add small amounts of Primny and secondary nutes and micronutrients and some other things like small amounts of compost etc and minerals and good bacteria and fungi if you want . If you are using tap water , make sure to let water sit in a pitcher for a day to make sure the chlorine evaporates so good microbes and fungi don't get killed by the chlorine .
Here is a photo of my Hot Pepper Plant that got a dark green color and healthy growth . I am hoping it was using amino acid on a plant large seedling with good drainage channel . My goal is to make all my plants a dark green with shinny leaves on most plants . I also want to try kelp ( makes plant dark green ? ) and Yucca ( helps open many drainage channels in grow medium ? ) .
Halman9000
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