Noob Needs a Couple Simple Answers.

I have these 3 five gallon grows going. the picture does not do them justice.
I do not have the means for elaborate materials gathering. I planted in Bacto potting soil with 10% processed cow manure mixed in.
I water every other day until a little comes out the bottom. I just added the mulch to protect them from the 7 hours of direct sun.
Recently I put a 25% dosage of Miracle grow tomato and fish emulsion together and watered and they look great with measurable progress.

My questions are?

1. What do you think of my watering schedule?
2. How ofter or for how long should I keep up my nute additdion?
3. Should I strengthen the dosage in a week or so?
4. I know by reading here I will need to leach at some point and go to a flowering mix. What is the poor mans flowering nute?

Thanks Guys

If the first 1/2inch of soil is dry it's time to water I guess some nutes are better than none just watch your leaf tips as to not burn them.

constructionpig said:

If the first 1/2inch of soil is dry it's time to water I guess some nutes are better than none just watch your leaf tips as to not burn them.

Click to expand...

Wow, terrible advice. If that's how you gauge when it's time to water, then you are overwatering.

constructionpig said:

If the first 1/2inch of soil is dry it's time to water I guess some nutes are better than none just watch your leaf tips as to not burn them.

Click to expand...

In a beer cup sure......in a 5 gl pot?????NOT

To answer WEC's question, you can't have a set watering schedule. It is variable and depends on how thirsty the plant is, how big it is in comparison to its container, etc. Your schedule should change several times during the grow. Learn to feel how light your pot feels when it is empty, then water. You might wilt your plants a couple of times trying to figure this out, and that's OK. Dry soil promotes root growth, wet soil promotes a whole bunch of shit you don't want.

And when you do water, water thoroughly. If your containers / medium drain well, there is no way to "overwater". Overwatering is achieved by watering too frequently.

Thanks Guys,

I have watered this AM and felt the weight of the buckets. They do drain a little when I water. I will wait until I have a noticable feel in the weight.

FYI, these will grow their full life span in the buckets.

Now for the other questions?

Using Bacto Premium Potting soil mixed with 10% processed (Wal-Mart) cow manure, Bacto says it has starter and time release nutes in the mix already.

I have the MG tomato and fish emulsion mixed in water @ 50% recommended dosages.
With Bacto's ingredient claims and the manure I wonder if and when or how often I should use my nutes? I have gave them one shot of this and wonder if it was necessary.

As is these babies are looking very healthy. They started out really slow as seedlings until I got them out of the Jiffy Seed Start Soil Mix. I really think that stuff was lousy.