Constant moisture vs letting plants dry out

thisbuds4u101 said:

I’ve used flora series for decades and floralicious last 28 days of flower. I mix my nutes in my water tanks with constant circulation water every 3 days with runoff. I average 5-7 oz. per plant. Your looking at some Afghan, Sunset Sherbet, Zkittles and Purple Larry’s

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Your room looks really good
Your running a soiless mix and salt nutes that are like running coco. You want to get run off to rid any salt build up.
What me and Padawan are talking about is organic water only soil, you don't want any runoff as it can wash out some of the nutrients you amended your soil with . So we want to keep the organic soil moist at all times with zero run off

I smell what your stepping in. Thanks as you know it’s a lot of work. Sorry about the misunderstanding guess I need to read more before I comment.

thisbuds4u101 said:

I’ve used flora series for decades and floralicious last 28 days of flower. I mix my nutes in my water tanks with constant circulation water every 3 days with runoff. I average 5-7 oz. per plant. Your looking at some Afghan, Sunset Sherbet, Zkittles and Purple Larry’s

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I think you miss read the title to this thread.

Your right! I’m gonna blame it on age and not weary my glasses.

See I need those glasses, weary my glasses and I’m a college graduate lol.

thisbuds4u101 said:

Your right! I’m gonna blame it on age and not weary my glasses.

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I just blame it on being a stoner. Usually works.

Just want to reiterate @WintersBones' point because I feel like its missing from the conversation. I grow from seed but I'd imagine this is probably true for clones too.

I've noticed that allowing the media I have my seedlings in to dry out helps them establish a healthier/fatter root system prior to transplanting. I've definitely overwatered seedlings before and when I went to transplant they had a meager root system. Once the plants are comfortably in veg, then I aim for a consistent level of moderate moisture.

JustBlazin said:

You ever thought of using blumats? They sure save alot of time if you have to water every day or two.
Sips would also be a good option, I've never tried them but seem similar to blumats but they feed from the bottom

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should the blumats just have your water source in it or can u add your nutrients this way as well. Or my thoughts as feeding separately

Blumats work great. You can use nutrients with them without clogging the lines as long as you're not using any sludgy stuff that will build up. Jacks or any other clean dissolving salt based nutrient works fine. You don't need to waste money on a product like drip clean.

Autodoctor said:

should the blumats just have your water source in it or can u add your nutrients this way as well. Or my thoughts as feeding separately

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Just like xtsho said, clean salt based nutes are ok to use, organic stuff or anything that won't totally dissolve is a no go for me.
But I just use supersoil and tap water works great.

Geneiac said:

Just want to reiterate @WintersBones' point because I feel like its missing from the conversation. I grow from seed but I'd imagine this is probably true for clones too.

I've noticed that allowing the media I have my seedlings in to dry out helps them establish a healthier/fatter root system prior to transplanting. I've definitely overwatered seedlings before and when I went to transplant they had a meager root system. Once the plants are comfortably in veg, then I aim for a consistent level of moderate moisture.

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Yes I totally agree with those points,seedlings definitely don't like constant moisture
Like you said once you have a decent root structure going then it's ok.

Keep them wet I don't subscribe to letting plants dry out for better roots, that has never been the case ime.
1ltr pot.

Abundance of roots through keeping it wet.
15ltr pot end of flower.


It's not suitable for everyone depending many plants your growing but a capillary based system for a plant or two is simplicity to set up and use its also totally reliability for peanuts.

thisbuds4u101 said:

I’ve been doing this for 40 years SUCCESSFULLY

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That doesn't mean you can't get better results without runoffs.

This isn't my thing and it's not weed but all being equal I can't see the difference it's sip

they don't get to dry.

Autodoctor said:

can u add your nutrients this way as well. Or my thoughts as feeding separately

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As mentioned above, you can use salt nutrients in your Blumat reservoir. If you grow organically, you cant top dress with powder nutrients or hand water in liquid ones.

Little tip I learned from the Bodhi thread is to use a clear solo cup to put soil/seeds/clones, then place that in a red solo. Makes checking moisture content and root development a breeze.

thisbuds4u101 said:

Here’s example of runoff 39 days in.

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This is a slight de-rail, but you've got to tell me about your plants. They have such great branches/structure, they're stacked with buds and I don't see any stakes or nets or anything.

Are those plant un-topped and naturally doing the right things, or do you do some trainings? Seeds or clones?

I ran sips for last three grows, way better when constant moisture. Yields went from 240 grams to 425 grams in the same size space. You’ll need a min rez size of about 6 gal or 25 litres for mature plants where the plant age is 50-60 days old from germination till flip. Ideal soil volume is 35 litres. This fills my 12 sq ft space and yields just under a lb. If I ran all high yielding strains I’d yield 640 grams from 12 sq ft. Don’t cook soil either use wheat flour, alfalfa pellets, epsom salt and wheat bran and it’s ready as soon as it’s mixed

There's a good netafim video/webinar on this specific topic on yt. It's about an hour long. Good stuff.