Watering from the bottom in soil? Please help...

[GrassRoots]

Hey everyone! I was hoping I could get a little help on a subject that I don't know much about, watering from the bottom in soil. This is my second grow and I have really filled out my space and it is a real PITA to move plants around every other day when I water and then get them back in the right spot so that the canopy is nice and full. I placed saucers under each of the pots today except the front middle eight because I need to take those out to get access to the other plants anyway. I am hoping that you'll tell me that it's ok to water from the bottom in soil. I searched the forums (a thread title search) and couldn't find any info on anyone doing it, just some people in coco that are doing it successfully.

So do any of you guys have any experience or advice on watering from the bottom in soil? I just don't know if it's something you're not supposed to do or if there are rules to follow when doing it like not letting the water sit for more that a couple of hours or something. I would greatly appreciate any feedback you could give. Here's some pics of the room so you get an idea of the mess (good mess) I'm dealing with, the space is 6x5 and the strains are Mandala #1, Hashberry and White Satin all from Mandala seeds: (Left side, Right side, both sides)




Thanks in advance for any advice!

GrassRoots

 

[gladysvjubb]

First, know how much water your plant and soil demand. I use a quart bottle with markings on it showing me how much water the pot will take when watered from the top to a bit of run-off and reabsorbtionfrom the saucer. I grow in 6 inch pots so I know I take a pint and a quarter when they begin to wilt from dryness. I get about 7 days between waterings.
Armed with this knowledge, you can look at a plant, see it is begining to wilt from being too dry, fill up your trusty pint or quart bottle and administer the required water in the saucer from the bottom.
It'll take a bit longer to water this way but once your bottle is empty, and your saucer is full you can walk away secure in the knowledge that you have provided the prescribed amount of sustinence.
Nice grow by the way.........

 

[Guest]

Ok I'll give an opposing view.

Watering from the bottom works only IF your soil is such that it wicks moisture well. So you need to try as gladysvjubb suggested with a measured amount of water and see if, and how long it takes. No harm in trying.

Some soil mixes won't wick water as well as others. I tried watering house plants this way years ago. This method works much better when there is an actual wick IN the pot to help wick moisture to the upper parts of the pot.

And gladysvnubb's point about knowing how much water your plant(s) take is a very good one. I do that. I know that right now my plants need about 2 qts of water every 3 days. And so that's what they get. I water slowly and begin watering near the base of the stem first. If you water around the edges of the pot initially, then water tends to simply run down the inside edge of the pot and out the drain holes. And I always suck out any runoff from the saucers with a turkey baster. Never leave water in your saucers for long periods.

Let us know how bottom up works for you !!

good luck

pedro

 

[PHB]

Check out autopots and Johnny Chimpos thread. Perfectly doable with good results.

PHB

 

[Guest]

Like pedro said, it depends on ur soil mix, bt in my experience most soil mixes will wick water jst fine (mind u my soil mixes usually dnt hav much perlite and are generally a lot of potting mix/compost) ... I dnt no exaclty how mcuh water my plants should have, bt i know that they aren't over watered and they're not wilting so they must b getting enough and not too much aye lol ... with bottom watering, i'd say fill the saucer up (as long as the saucers ur using aren't massive) and then listen to ur plants and see wat they tell u ... too much water? not enough? ... the roots will go searching for water so as long as some of the waters being absorbed by the soil ur plants will survive, if u begin to see negative effects then jst try something else, wen i do growing experiments I always think, if I know the plants will survive, then there's no harm in trying... my other theory is that if u have plants to replace them then it dnt matter if this lot dies (bt thats generally not a used rule during flowering lol)

Anyway, i say give the bottom watering a try, its worked for me wen i've done it!

Cheers.

 

[GrassRoots]

Hey, thanks for the replies everyone. It sounds like I have nothing to lose in trying. I am using Fox Farms Happy Frog soil with about 12% added chunky perlite. I've been measuring out 700ml when I water so I will do that same amount with the saucers and do my best to read the plants response to it. If anyone has anything else to add please do but I will give them their first shot at drinking from their saucers tomorrow and I will post an update in a couple days as to how things went. Thanks again for the help and here are a couple pics of my dried stash from my first grow harvested at the end of December.



GrassRoots

 

[GrassRoots]

Hey everyone. Just wanted to let you know I watered from the bottom tonight and it looks like the soil wicked it up very well. I added 700ml to the saucers which was 100ml more than I usually give. I figured some would sit in there and evaporate so I thought I'd add a little extra but the plants just wicked it all right up within an hour and a half. Thanks for the advice and I'll report back if there seems to be any problems with the plants but otherwise, problem solved and I will be able to get my watering done in probably 1/3 of the time so thanks again!

GrassRoots

Up close and personal with some Hashberry:

 

[gladysvjubb]

That's great! Now you have found the benchmark for the amount of water to add. You don't want them sitting in water in the saucer longer than a couple of hours. Glad to hear they wicked it all up! Carry on!

 

[Blackvelvet]

Watering from the bottom is called subirrigation. You should add less ferts to your water than if you were top watering.

 

[Pothead from 86]

u learn something new everyday

 

[Guest]

Your media became thoroughly saturated all the way through from you just setting the pot in a tray of water?Did you check saturation weight so you'd know what to look for?I just find it unlikely even in a small container.I've used the wick method using cotton wicks and still couldnt achieve 100% saturation.I always harp on the importance of making sure all drainholes are clearly cut out before watering because of possible uneven saturization,I would make doubly sure watering from the bottom.

 

[jrw]

Check out autopots and Johnny Chimpos thread. Perfectly doable with good results.

PHB

Got a link?

 

[Guest]

I have bottom watered, it made my plants very vigorous. I did this with white rhino from Nirvana, using a bunch of cut up styrofoam in my mix though, so it needed a lot of waterings to supply nutrients as well as to keep things from drying out too fast. I would bottom feed with awsome results. Sometimes I would leave them for 6-7 hours accidentally and nothing ever came over it. I wouldn't be so reckless unless it was veg though. There was someone up here mentioning mixing in 1/3 perlite, this would make the bad gases escape as the bottom feeding would push them vertical, out of the mix. Also, the perlite makes it drain so that the water doesn't sit saturated in the bottom of the soil. Furthermore, there is indication that the wastes of a soil are kept in the top portion, thus... why would you want to water through that? I am using a compost based mix so my soil is a little heavy. I will be adding a bunch of perlite or styrofoam though, to make sure that I can get dry pots in 3-4 days... not 7-9.