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Drainage issues?

Peppersmr

Peppersmr

New member
I wanted to run something by you all...

I last watered my plants on Sunday (3-4-18) and checked the soil today and it's just getting to where it MIGHT need watering. They're growing in smart pots (smart pots, fabric pots etc.) 2 days ago I major defoliation on 1 and light defoliation on the other. I started flowering on the 1st. Anyone have any ideas? Are there additional things I could do to assist with drainage on pots that should already be doing that for me?
 
What size pots? I use 7 gallons and sometimes it goes this long in between waterings.

Do you have high humidity? This will make it take longer to use the water in the soil. Also maybe too much water for small plants compared to their pot size will do this.

More importantly how is drainage when watering? After your pot is done draining while watering you wont see any more drainage, you seem to be having more of an uptake/evaporation issue.

Adding extra perlite will make uptake faster. You can also take like a screwdriver and poke holes in the bottoms of the pot.
 
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They're 5 gallon pots, and drainage during watering seems just fine...usually between 10-20% runnoff which is what I aim for. Humidity has been a little high lately so maybe that's it. I thought about poking holes in it but I didn't know if it was too late for that at this point in the game
 
Usually poking holes only helps if you have restricted runoff while watering. You seem fine on that. You may want to start trying to get humidity down. How high has it been?
 
Ya I bought some 4 dollar plastic inserts designed for inside a 5gal pail at the hardware store keeps them up and a lil fan pointing at the bottoms. It would be a bit of a shame to poke holes in my opinion but if your having drainage issues it’s better than losing a good plant
 
How big are the plants compared to those pots? When I water a plant that is in a pot it has not grown into yet, I try to only water in a circle over the root zone, so about to the edge of the leaves, maybe a little beyond.
What type of nutrients are you feeding? I believe with organic nutes, or if not giving nutes yet in a soil with nutrition like ffof, you are supposed to stop at/ before run off, unlike salt bast nutes, where you need the runoff so salts don't accumulate. At least that is my understanding, growers with more experience then me hopefully will correct if i'm off.
 
Ffof retains moisture very well if you're watering to 20% run off it will take a while for them to drink that much unless the humidity is low. If your plants don't quite fill up the pot they don't need as much water. Just lift the pot to see if it needs watering or use the knuckle test if it's dry to your first knuckle it needs water. If it's humid then you don't need to water even more often as ffof has great water retention. I haven't watered my clones in five days just about to flip 12/12 they need some now but the temp and humidity lets me go without watering so much.
 
Do you lift your pots to see if they are light? That's a good indication that they need watering. If they are still heavyish and the bottom is moist then it may need a while. I use those things in addition to putting my finger all the way in the soil to see if I feel moisture, if I do, I don't water. If I don't, I water. And depending on the size of the plant vs pot, water only around the plant instead of watering all of the soil in the pot. Good luck!
 
I might try that. I've got the pots sitting in a shallow bin at the moment to keep the bottom of the tent clean/dry
 
They're not too big, still lots of room to grow butt I was watering every 2-3 days prior to this week without issue. I'm using Fox Farm trio for nutes. Might cut down on the runoff to see if that solves the problem.
 
Thats for sure your issue bud.

Your drainage is fine, no need to tear up pots.

What is the weather outdoors where you live now?
 
I cut down milk crates to make my own risers,nice and strong. U know the kind stacked behind the supermarket Lol
 

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Hey Pepper, take an empty smart pot and fill it with dry f.f. soil. Now pick it up, that's what a dry pot feels like, now pick yours up, feel the difference? Also some more info. Are your plants 3 inches tall or 3 feet, are your pots 1 gal. or 5? are your lights like a couple of cfls or a 1000 watt ass kicker. A few photos can tell a lot and are easy to post. Help us help you.
 
I was told when I started using fiber pots that over time you would be able to know exactly how much it takes to water your plants completely. I never water to run off because I use Kind Soil. But it takes me right at 7 cups of water to get the soil completely wet with no run off in a 5 gal pot (I use a 2 1/2 cup measuring cup if you're wondering!). It seeps out of the sides of the pots, onto some plastic serving trays I paid $1 each for at the dollar store, to catch anything that comes out so the bottom of the pot can absorb the water. Fiber pots are different in several ways than just plastic landscape pots and I had a short learning curve to get used to the fiber pots. You'll get used to it. Keep enjoying the serenity of the grow!
 
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