My fabric pot has stayed heavy

[Rock3472]

I am using 5 gal fabric pots and my plant is 2 weeks old yesterday. I prepared my soil mixture of Happy Frog, 1 lb of living soil, Gaia Green All Purpose,10% perlite, and a little dolomite lime a week before planting and watered it with 8C of 6.5 dechlorinated water. Even after sitting for one week the pot was still heavy and my moisture meter showed wet at 7" down which is only a couple of inches from the bottom. I planted and this is what my Bruce Banner Auto seedling looks like today.

I have been following Nebula's watering schedule for the last two grows and started doing that again this time. However, the pot is still heavy and still shows wet on my meter so I'm not planning on watering again until the pot feels light no matter how long it takes. My thoughts are that the tap root will be forced to go deep to find the water if I don't provide more at soil level. I'm hoping this will result in the pot finally drying out and feeling light. Any thoughts or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I usually add about 25% perlite, but I ran out and went with what I had.

I also would like to know if instead of using perlite any of you use coco to keep the soil loose. I am strictly an organic grower and a novice.

Thanks,
rock

[SoOrbudgal]

It's normal in my experience. My pots are only 3gal. mix of reused potting mix, new worm casting and new coco coir an 30%perilite. Plain coco needs watering daily and perilite helps with drainage. I think you plant looks as it should and keep watering the way you are. I have a clip on fan blowing low towards the walls of tent not on the pots. My temp stays 80f with lights on an i have a small 54watt curly cfl grow light for xtra heat in that tent when lights go out. I'm growing 4 autos in 3gal. yes my bottom half say 3inches is damp but your plant is small an i water maybe 2cups at that size around in a circle an going outwards.

[Gingerbeard]

I think there should be a little caveat about that watering advice.
When your plants are small, your medium has to dry out by itself. The larger your plants get, the larger your root ball gets, the more water gets taken out of your medium.
How many folks feel like they are overwatering in late flower because your medium dries out super fast? How often do you water solo cups?
I only water 4-6 inches around seedlings in 5 gallon pots. Every couple days I go out another inch. No need to water to runoff. Doing this, I water at least once a day. 1/4 nutes at a week above ground and increase to full in 2-3 weeks. Same with CalMag.

[changeofpace2014]

GB has a point with water technique for small plant in big pot...Perhaps transplanting once would suffice for example a 1 qt fabric pot to start seeds or clones until they have a solid root ball,,,roots growing out the fabric...

[AGH]

Looks like you've got a happy healthy looking little plant!

I also use Nebula's watering schedule as a guide. However, I put my plants from rapid rooters right into a 7 gal pot and you have to adjust the schedule a little bit, especially at the beginning.

My current grow is also about 2 weeks old and the next time I water it, it says to use 3 cups again but I'll likely be doing just 2 cups per plant.

When going directly into a large pot, you have to balance keeping your soil moist (I am also an organic/living soil grower) so that the microbiome stays alive and healthy against not overwatering.

It sounds like your planned approach is a good one, although be careful not to let it dry out TOO much since you want to keep that soil biome pumping along. Sometimes I'll only do a little around the base of the plant and then do the rest around the edges since that section dries out sooner and like you mentioned, it helps the roots spread out as well as the mycorrhizal fungi, again, keeping that microbiome healthy.

As your plant grows and you adjust your watering regime you'll find that the moisture in the soil will start coming into line with where you want it. Keep up the good work and keep us posted!

[Bluey]

Plants are generally quite tolerant regards varying water schedules but they don't like to be drowned. Just look at the weather.
Microbes in the soil medium that feed your plant not so much and don't like the soil drying out too much...the drier it gets the less microbial activity, generally speaking.

[3Berries]

My last grow I had the solo cups inside a bucket of soil. Used the external soil as a heat and water soak. Worked great. Watered about an oz a day but it mostly ran right through with the external soil soaking it up. Used an external band heater on the big pot.

[Gingerbeard]

Hey changeofpace2014 about your post 3.1.
I disagree about transplanting from a fabric pot. After dumping my pots after a grow, I find it a pain in the ass because roots have grown into the pot. Seems it might damage the plant, what with having to pound and peel the bag off the ball. Good for the ball, not for the plant.
My last few plantings have been directly to coco instead of going Solo. When I transplanted, I always got transplant shock. Seed-to-pot has worked well, for me.

[Bluey]

I've always been of that view Gingerbeard . I've been an outdoor grower for a long time, mostly in 12gal plastic pots. Even moving those pots around would cause damage to the finest roots...and I've never ever transplanted as the shock can cause a plant to male up, but that is only my opinion, I never did the numbers on that. And I despise them.
I could be wrong though, and growing indoors lends itself to that to manage crop rotation better, for me anyway.

[changeofpace2014]

Remember these are air pots..and roots die off as they push through the fabric or at least the ones I use..When this starts to happen I transplant to 3 gal fabric pot.. I do not have issues transplanting. The only touch and go with transplanting I came across, is putting a coco coir root ball into Soil...this requires the root ball to be gently fertigate until roots start to grow in the Soil. Then again maybe coco coir is just a different beast all together..