Soil stopped absorbing water 2 weeks into flower

Nutty sKunK

Nutty sKunK

Well-Known Member
Get a bbq skewer and stab loads of holes in the pot right down to the base. This will help the water go down into the medium.

Your soil is just compacted not rootbound. There’s no such thing as rootbound other than stunting a plants growth. Otherwise it would be impossible to grow these plants in solo cups etc.
 
FastFreddi

FastFreddi

Well-Known Member
I'm thinking the soil has become hydrphobic and just needs one of a few remedies...flood and drain style feeds, hole poking, dish soap or a light scratching of medium top with clean fingers.
Just my opinion, but I have had to do all three multiple time, indoor or outdoor potted girls.
FF
 
Renfro

Renfro

Well-Known Member
FastFreddi said:
but how do flood and drain avoid it?
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Well if running expanded clay pellets the drain cycle carries stuff away. Just setting a pot of soil in a tray of nutes will simply suck stuff up and thus likely accumulate salts. Now if just watering and not feeding it's not an issue so long as the roots don't stay drowned constantly, ie let it soak up water for say 30 minutes and then drain the water from the tray. So if running organic soil this wouldn't be terrible as you really don't want to wash out the limited supply of nutrients. When bottle feeding you really want "run off" to prevent salt buildups.

The problem he has is simply the humics (ground up leonardite) from the ancient forest clogging up the pathways where water would normally find passage. I have seen it happen with this and similar products applied generously as a top dress. The mud he describes is very much like clay, fine particle size, not soluble.
 
giampaolo

giampaolo

Member
Renfro said:
Well if running expanded clay pellets the drain cycle carries stuff away. Just setting a pot of soil in a tray of nutes will simply suck stuff up and thus likely accumulate salts. Now if just watering and not feeding it's not an issue so long as the roots don't stay drowned constantly, ie let it soak up water for say 30 minutes and then drain the water from the tray. So if running organic soil this wouldn't be terrible as you really don't want to wash out the limited supply of nutrients. When bottle feeding you really want "run off" to prevent salt buildups.

The problem he has is simply the humics (ground up leonardite) from the ancient forest clogging up the pathways where water would normally find passage. I have seen it happen with this and similar products applied generously as a top dress. The mud he describes is very much like clay, fine particle size, not soluble.
Click to expand...
Where I live the soil is naturally red clay. This is why I grow indoors. That clay is conducive to absolute failure.
 
giampaolo

giampaolo

Member
Nutty sKunK said:
Get a bbq skewer and stab loads of holes in the pot right down to the base. This will help the water go down into the medium.

Your soil is just compacted not rootbound. There’s no such thing as rootbound other than stunting a plants growth. Otherwise it would be impossible to grow these plants in solo cups etc.
Click to expand...
I can't agree more. Although admittedly, I have been too much of a pussy to poke all the way down. lol
 
FastFreddi

FastFreddi

Well-Known Member
Renfro said:
Well if running expanded clay pellets the drain cycle carries stuff away. Just setting a pot of soil in a tray of nutes will simply suck stuff up and thus likely accumulate salts. Now if just watering and not feeding it's not an issue so long as the roots don't stay drowned constantly, ie let it soak up water for say 30 minutes and then drain the water from the tray. So if running organic soil this wouldn't be terrible as you really don't want to wash out the limited supply of nutrients. When bottle feeding you really want "run off" to prevent salt buildups.

The problem he has is simply the humics (ground up leonardite) from the ancient forest clogging up the pathways where water would normally find passage. I have seen it happen with this and similar products applied generously as a top dress. The mud he describes is very much like clay, fine particle size, not soluble.
Click to expand...
Roger that, thank you sir.
FF
 
HardLuck71

HardLuck71

Well-Known Member
giampaolo said:
Also, aerating the top soil will break roots, but it's not a terrible thing. They grow back very quickly. Just don't aerate close to the base of the plant. You can't baby these things.
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I was actually reading up last night on the compaction of soil and figured thats what it was and that the Ancient Forest didnt make matters any better. Like i had mentioned, when i was using my fingers to aerate and break up the top, i was breaking a bunch of the roots that made it to the top of the soil but i didnt know what else to do. Is that really bad for the plant or should it not stress em out too bad seeing as the entire pot is full of roots? I appreciate your reply!
 
HardLuck71

HardLuck71

Well-Known Member
FastFreddi said:
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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I also read that was an option too, using something to stick in the soil all over the top to help water make its way down
 
Renfro

Renfro

Well-Known Member
HardLuck71 said:
I was actually reading up last night on the compaction of soil and figured thats what it was and that the Ancient Forest didnt make matters any better.
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You shouldn't have this problem from soil compaction alone, I never have. The soil would have to be really poor quality.
 
Renfro

Renfro

Well-Known Member
HardLuck71 said:
I thought salt build up was only any issue when using synthetics? I’m using Organic nutes, can that still happen?
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Probably not an issue then, I have never ran the organic nutes personally so I can't testify from experience, but likely not an issue so long as salts aren't used in the fertilizer.

HardLuck71 said:
It was really light and fluffy as i added quite a bit of extra perlite and a little Canna Coco
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It is totally the ancient forest thats caused the issue. The more you wash it down into the soil the worse it gets.
 
quirk

quirk

Well-Known Member
Your soil is constipated. I suggest Medina Soil Activator, asap. Quart size will do.
 
HardLuck71

HardLuck71

Well-Known Member
Renfro said:
Probably not an issue then, I have never ran the organic nutes personally so I can't testify from experience, but likely not an issue so long as salts aren't used in the fertilizer.


It is totally the ancient forest thats caused the issue. The more you wash it down into the soil the worse it gets.
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Oh great, its been quite a few weeks since I’ve added it too.
 
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