watering soil grows

[ductwizard]

alright i have another q. i'm reading some articles on watering and it says i should water until i see some runoff, is that just for coco or is that soil too? and another thing, how do i know how much to water my seedlings in solo cups? should i see run off? i looked thru the stuff on the gwe site and i didn't see any thing about this. thanks for any help

[crucialbunny]

A little runoff for soil grows is necessary so you know the soil has water throughout the container. Good drainage with coarse sand and perlite is really important, otherwise you run the risk of over saturation and low oxygen levels at the roots.

[Smallgrow]

Basically your shooting for no runoff in soil but crucialbunny has a good point. It may be easiest to judge with a few drops of run off.

[ductwizard]

what i was worried about it after i move them out of solo's i'm gonna go to 5 gal. pails with holes in the bottom. and i don't want to flood them.

[Wayzee]

Ayy ductwizard it might be a bit of trial and error until you get in sync with your girls needs, the position you put them outside, (direct sunlight, some shade etc ) the strain, the medium, the hole sizes in the pot, how breezy or not breezy it's been, temperature, humidity.... so many things affect how fast or slow the water either evaporates or gets drunk by the plant when you are growing outside it's hard to put exact numbers or timeframes on how much and when to water. I love growing outside straight into the garden bed as I Never had overwatering problems until starting to grow in pots inside...

[Bluey]

Your best not to runoff in soil at all. So when you water them do it in stages with a bit of time between each in smaller increments towards the end. If you give a lot at once 30 seconds later or so it'll pour out the bottom and all your lovely nutes will be washed away.