Run off

[dingo bingo]

Hi everyone.

 

Apologies for such a simple question...... do I need to water to run off using bio bizz organic feed?

 

I'm back growing again after 3 years off and even then I was growing in coco so would always water to around 20% run off.

[Guest]

No. Better not to get run off with compost and organic feeds, washes out beneficials/microbes.  Lots of growers are now moving to feeding daily in compost too (not while rooting pots out though), which should be fine for an ex coco grower. 

[Owderb]

Well actually it is good to get a bit of run off with compost IMO because it shows you have watered to full saturation. When in compost feed until it runs out of the bottom into the saucer. Wait 20 minutes and if its gone water a little more. Ideally you want to water till the plant won't take no more back up. Then you know its fully saturated to give you a good start to a wet/dry cycle

 

Owd

[Guest]

The dude can grow @Owderb, question was "do I need to". I still say no. 

[hash72]

i dont know the roots a fully watered/fed until i see run off, just enough to soak up within an hour

[blackpoolbouncer]

1 hour ago, fatboy77 said:

The dude can grow @Owderb, question was "do I need to". I still say no. 

I agree but with a caveat. You must be dialed in with whats going on in your medium and not over or underwatering consistently. 

 

Do I need to? NO 

I flower using blumats and 7.5l pots. They go a whole flower cycle without ever having any runoff whatsoever.

 

Hand watering imo you should water till run off to ensure medium is fully soaked. The amount you get is irrelevant imo. 

 

People may read this and think watering every day is ok. It is to a certain degree but not a good idea for noobs. Its an easy way to fast track to anaerobic conditions. 

[dingo bingo]

Thank you all for the wisdom shared!

 

Instead of giving them their whole feed and waiting for them to suck back up what they want - I tend to give them just a little to start with and then wait 15 mins or so before giving them the rest. This way they seem to only give a little run off at the very end after giving each 6.5L pot about 2L.

 

I'll carry on this way making sure they're fully saturated and count my blessings that I'm not in coco needing to perform some extreme yoga reaching right to the back of the tent and somehow lifting the heavy pots just to empty a litre of run off from each tray.

[Guest]

17 minutes ago, dingo bingo said:

count my blessings that I'm not in coco

That will be short-lived I reckon.  Just done a few compost runs as my back is fuct, can't wait to go back to coco. 

[dingo bingo]

3 minutes ago, fatboy77 said:

That will be short-lived I reckon.  Just done a few compost runs as my back is fuct, can't wait to go back to coco. 

 

You're probably right tbf. I'll build a new growroom soon with more headroom than a tent, allowing me to build a raised shelf with the plants in a 1m/sq 'danish' tray which drains away all run off in to a bucket underneath - thats how I was set up before and it saved me so much time and effort in dealing with the run off.

 

That said......no till organic beds have really took off since I was last growing and I am intrigued.