I have questions

[Puglover1]

Autos in fabric pots: When the bottoms aren't dry but the top part is - does anyone cover the soil lightly with something, like maybe landscape fabric, to keep the top of the soil from being too dry before they're light enough to water? (fighting RH in this heat wave).

Watering time: It's 6 pm now, lights go out at 1 am: Put them to bed wet, or water now? I can't remember the consensus, sorry.

(If I'd known how much the soil medium would sink I'd have filled my pots higher, just an FYI for other new fabric pot users)

[SoOrbudgal]

I water mine when lights are on. No i do not ever put anything over the top of a container to cover the soil indoors from drying out before the bottom is dry??? 4 days indoor tent is the longest i go for a watering. It doesn't always have to run off the bottom, sometimes i don't want it to. Next grow try filling up the pot then wetting it really well till runoff wait a day and plant a well root plant. This settles the soil in the container abit more, i do this with all my transplants MJ or veggies an flowers. This mostly i do with the photos but i do transplant autos from cont. cups occationally. Good luck Puglover1.

[Puglover1]

Hi budgal! They weren't really lightweight enough at 4 days, the bottoms were still heavy. Once I get any bottom runoff I quit watering, even if a tablespoon or so's worth of water. I did water the pots well with cal-mag a day before planting, per Mr.furley 's sage advice. I'm amazed at the amount of settling, makes training harder even with the top edges of the pots folded over. I will water now during daylight and finish laundry tonight. Thanks! Looks like y'all got a little break in the hot weather, it's very hot & humid here in IL but worse in Minneapolis and Canada. I wish for mini droughts to save $ with the lawnmowerman. Tap water is cheaper for outdoor plantings than paying for lawncare weekly. I grew some dang nice plum tomatoes in containers during a severe drought one summer, but my yard looked like it belonged in the Arizona desert.

[TOKABIGONE]

Hello Ladies, just a quick thought here about the wet bottom. Are your bags on some kind of riser so the bottom is not flat on the bottom of the saucer or drip pan. I like to put 3 or 4 hand fulls of pebble gravel under them to promote drainage. I put a little in the bottom of my grow bag too like some do with houseplants.

[Farmbuck]

Désolé j'ai pas la réponse à votre question mon amie but you know I'm photos not autos. Nope I do not cover my pots either plastic or fabric when I watered them. Usually I water my girls every second days with at least 500 ml per pot. Ouf enough saying cuz miss Kali is taking over my mental ability to write in a foreign language loll Just kidding !! But I like @ SoOrbudgal explanation.

[Puglover1]

Bonjour, Monsieur comment allez-vous Farmbuck ? I look forward to growing photos again. I was going by Canuck's auto watering practices and advice regarding letting the pots get lightweight before watering. Last watering the 3 pots took a 1/2 gallon each. I just thought if the top soil wasn't soo dry that my RH might hold better. My AC is running from noon until 11 pm right now, non-stop. I lost all shade for my house in a 2010 derecho. Beautiful 25 yr old professional landscaped yard gone in seconds. Last year an IL hurricane/derecho hit the backyard pretty bad, ripped up my steel pergola's sliding cover so no shade from the south, still waiting on insurance and carpenter to get their stuff together on that one. It has taken so long I was able to save up the $1K deductible, so there's that.

[SoOrbudgal]

That's the reason i barely get on the comp. when i'm baked LOL Farmbuck my mind an fingers do not act nice together LOL

[Puglover1]

Do you have Resurrection lilies there? Not my house but they're the tall, pink flowers. They come up briefly every summer, I have some bulbs on the ravine edge where I let ppl throw compostable yard debris.

I saved these 3 two-year-old trees (neighbor's house in background, pre-fence) Thirty-seven years here, I'd never seen a drier summer, 2014.

[SoOrbudgal]

I do not have those types of lillies but see them around

[SoOrbudgal]

We are not as parched on our place as yours. But yes those that can't use public water do to cost have property like this. If we did'nt have water rights to the river an a well for our house use, i would not plant things that needed as much water........

[Puglover1]

TOKABIGONE The pots sit on wire shelving, on top of crates with plastic bins (hospital wash basins) underneath. When I water I use a pot saucer that has 5 raised 'bumps' so the pots never sit in runoff water. I put perlite in the bottoms of the pots. The black saucer is on the left here. The basins are all over my closet now, with water in them and fans blowing on them.

[TOKABIGONE]

lol Puglover1 Can't get much better drainage than that! I really should have known you were on top of it..

[Flatlander]

I love this! Truly, looks something like my first grow. Your science good, intentions good. I moved forward from this like you will. Looks great. It's all trial an error. You worry and you research and learn. Scientific method. Love it. My first grow autos I was averaging 2 oz's a plant, now I'm pushing 3-5. Check out my pics. I knew nothing, and in a year's time I now pullover a pound with 5 autos in a 4x4. So many variables involved. I will tell you you're thinking more than most. God speed and keep up the good work.

[Puglover1]

Hi Flatlander Thank you. I grew a wild photo closet chock full last year that would have been growing into the attic or a total waste if not for the excellent mentoring of Mr.furley and advice/encouragement from others here. Now autos and fabric pots are new for me. My photos were growing for months before I joined the forums and asked for help, I was growing by knowledge from a Frank & Rosenthal book I bought in 1979. I'm a visual person. I plan things out ahead of time in my head to save time, plus it has to allow me to tweak most things on my own. While the first grow was flowering my nephew was working at a not very COVID-safe place, he's my help for certain things, and he's tall. I've learned more about these autos from looking at other peoples' pics while watching mine grow than from explanations. But I still have questions. If growing was legal as it should have been 20 years ago or more I would have a beautiful grow room in my basement, now my knees and back couldn't handle that many trips up and down. Trying to get the environment best as I can during this easier grow so that my next photo grow is the best I can do here. I got a good amount of jarred bud from the first grow, no complaints. I just know it could have been even better, and those seeds aren't available for sale yet. I will look at your beauties.

[Rwise]

I more often have the opposite issue, the bottoms are to dry, so I wont be any help here.

[OldManGrower]

Hey Puglover1 , I have the shrinkage issue with my fabric pots as well. I take advantage of it two ways. 1) as the soil settles and the plant grows, I add additional soil to fill up the pot. The buried stem will sprout new roots and and the stem will grow thicker and stronger. 2) I attach paperclips to the edge of the fabric pots and attach plant ties from the top of the clip to use as LST tiedowns.

[Puglover1]

This round are all shorties, no stems to bury. I used to like putting tomato plants sideway into their pots. I thought I'd have just enough space in my pots for perlite if something went awry. Oh well, if the plants weren't so short it wouldn't matter. Thanks.

[Puglover1]

I had to make an executive decision to turn off the LED panel until dark, and crowd all 3 pots under the full spectrum lights. My AC can't keep up with this

[Farmbuck]

WoW 37C !!

Ok here goes my stupid question, Is the temp inside or outside ?
Now for the second one, is your led on at night or during the day ?

Désolé pour les complications mon amie du sud..!

[Puglover1]

That's outside or I'd be in a motel, or my car. I have the garage door open which usually helps. I set the 18/6 timer on from 7 am to 1 am in April, this isn't normal for here especially in early June. If the AC catches up I'll throw the other panel back on. I, too, like to be comfortable. LOL. I'm an hour south of Wisconsin, not Atlanta. Thank you. This too shall pass. I'm babysitting a friend's dachshund while they leave for Florida tonight, it's hotter here right now. The cat is cool with my pugs but Diesel has the cat's tail looking like a big fat cola, first time I ever saw him hiss.

[Cali]

Puglover1 i use tarp to cover the top of my soil to keep it from drying out to quick. In this soil it’s best to keep the top 2 inches moist Never dry. The top is where all the microbiology goes to work on the soil to make nutrients available for the plants. So I guess it depends how you grow? Nebula recommends letting the top dry and then water the plants but only because they are force feeding the plants with bottled nutrients. Also in my case I like my soil a bit low from the top so I can top dress and have plenty of space. I used to use cheaper fabric pots that fold all wonky but my new Living Soil GrassRoots Fabric pots have a lining in the inside to keep the pots from drying out from the sides unnaturally while still allowing air pruning of the roots from the bottom 2-4 inches where the lining stops. This makes the fabric a lot more sturdier and keeps the soil moist for longer. At the top is where the “feeder” roots are the bottom is where they drink the water, it’s how it is in nature that’s why they dig deep for water and have all the organic mulch on top just take a look at a forest ground there is no bare soil. Anyways I’m rambling guess what I’m trying to say is if you don’t want to lose moisture cover the top.

[Puglover1]

Yeah it's about moisture/RH. I put a small humidifier in there today, mostly for when the lights are on. Today's 98F was a record here. I bought this for $6 two months ago but haven't used it yet https://www.amazon.com/dp/B011NBRBXI...x_B00YHALNGO_0 I was going to do an outdoor auto, it would be frying right now. Thnx!

[RonnieB]

I grow autos in fabric and if the bottom is wet leave it alone if its on a pot elevator. I used to water mine when it got like this. Then was told to run the pot completely dry. So I did and the differences were phenomenal. My root masses after the grow would not allow any recycling of the coco because roots had claimed everything. My advice is water them. With less volume and run dry. My 5 gallon do not get a gallon of water until week 6. After watering pick the container up and feel the weight. Remember it. 3 days later pick it up again. If its extremely lightweight water it. If its still fairly heavy leave it alone. This encourages root growth and mild stress of the plants. This will cause the plant to natural try to protect itself and produce more trichome and you get the bonus of bigger healthier roots. Here's my last grow using this method if there's any doubts. I got around 4 pounds dry bud from this grow

[Puglover1]

Those are some big beautiful buds, for autos, nice harvest, weight. I have smaller pots, was told to let them get dry, get the feel for them. I've done that, they only needed a bit over a gallon for all three last evening. Between the three the pots' runoff from the sides and a little from the bottom was enough to pH, good numbers in and out. It's supposed to cool off a little, tonight I'm going to close the closet doors so they have more humidity while they're sleeping. And make myself get up not long after lights come on so I can open the doors a bit. New ceiling fan arrived, nephew is busy tmrw. How many weeks was that total grow? Looks like my first, photo, grow and the first buds I chopped. When do autos start to stretch? Thanks for replying!