I'm currently lightly misting the tops of my pots as my seedlings germinate. As they grow and I move on to having to water them properly is it better to pour water into saucersa nd let the roots suck it up instead of pouring directly into the pot? Maybe carry on misting the tops if so?

na mate water from the top with a watering can preferably with a rose head on to airate it
as for foliar feeding - i dont bother so cant advise
hope that helps abit

Bottom feeding ensures the soil doesn't get compacted over time and promotes faster root growth while top feeding helps get rid of dry areas... its arguable imo

Don't worry, it won't stay wet for long

Gravity and heat ...

Apart from anything else, the "piston" of water pushes spent air from the roots and sucks fresh air in, flushes out accumulated salts ...

It just works

interesting theory in that case is it possible to do a bit of both or is that not good?
i suppose you can see if youve given it enoough once the water comes out the bottom too

Do both - water from the top - preferably with a fine rose, and then leave to soak in a tray or saucer of the runoff gor 20 minutes or so to ensure complete absorbtion.

Flushing at every watering is good.

If you've watered until water comes out of the drainage holes, that's it, surely - the compost is saturated, ?

(unless it's a flood and drain system - ie. very free draining.)

edit :- but of course they are allowed to drain ....

Personally, my preferred technique is to use as little water as I can get away with, I always pour 300ml on as quick as possible so there are no dry spots on top, then I pous another 300ml on slowly so it doesn't drain right away, Ill usually keep pouring water in until I see some run off - run off can be good but you'll lose nutrients in the fertiliser and more water going in from the top will pack the compost down more too. If you have time, then ideally I'd say feed from the bottom - but generally speaking I'm just too lazy to do it as it really does take a very long time compared with top feeding.

All imo of course, its definitely a subjective thing. I think the ideal thing is to give the right amount of water each day so that te water changes more often rather than to saturate and leave till its dry, then repeat. I think the plants gets more oxygen with frequently refresh water/feed.

morning everyone

i always thought watering from the top with a fine rose was best, as the water pushes all the built up gases and nastys down out of the compost plus the rose-head airates the water for when its going through the compost, and then you let it sit for half hour or so then empty the run off out,so i find it hard to believe that that watering from the bottom has as many benefits - but maybe im wrong

I'm at the same (ish ) stage.
I have been misting and top feeding with just water.
I have now put my 3" rockwools* in big mesh plant pots with pebbles around them.

They now sit in a little saucer of water & I'm still top feeding (with water).
The pebbles around the rockwool & the rockwool take enough water for 24hrs (next watering).

I don't mist so much now & I'm waiting for the roots to come through the bottom again.
Then they will be top drip feed on the 205i NFT tray.

So with all that said it is still each to their own.
I would do what I'm doing, Top feed + bottom FEED,,,,
BUT DON'T LET THEM ROT AWAY IN TOO MUCH WATER.



* were soaked in full strength formula X to start with.

Owd

Thanks people, this is what I love about growing weed, even the smallest little thing has a load of different opinions on how best to do it!

What prompted me to ask is previousy having top-watered only I noticed that it made the soil mix settle a lot in the pots, and made a lot of perlite float to the top. But looking in the knowledge base I see a technique recomending a layer of clay balls to help prevent this, so I think that's a good answer. Top feeding it is, maybe a little bit of bottom too.

You may also be using too much perlite. Some say to not use any, I haven't on this current Mandala grow I'm doing and they're lovin it.

I would add that if the perlite is floating up you may be watering a little too fast as well. Do it a little bit more slowly and don't allow lots of water to pool on the top of the compost. If there is no surface water then the perlite can't float up

Yeah maybe, I will be using bio bizz all-mix which already has some in it so we'll have to see. I decided to use a 25% vermiculite : 75% all-mix mixture for my seeds to make it less hot and itseems OK so far, but then I'm only misting for now.

The plants roots will seek out water, alternating top/bottom feeding should encourage an even rootball
Completely saturating the rootball with water is bad, as the roots need air to breath

Personally, I'm to lazy to bottom feed once the plants get bigger, but by then, they should already have a good root system.

Sorry mate but that's all wrong.

When growing in compost always water from the top, ideally using a fine rose. The reason for using a fine rose has been explained about pushing gases out, but also it's one sure way to fully saturate the root ball. Without fully saturating the root ball the plant is not benefiting from what you're giving it. Once the root ball is saturated excess water/feed will run through the drainage holes - leave the plant to sit in that run off for 30 mins, then tip any remaining water/feed out.

Job done.

Probably sounds dumb but what is a fine rose?

Thank you Bish