Many growers have a hard time with the balancing act of watering their plants. Have I overwatered? Have I underwatered? Is my water too acidic? Watering can be one of the trickiest parts of plant parenthood.
My main tip for watering is do not water on a schedule. Instead, pay close attention to your plants, checking them once or twice a week and watering as needed.
I am an organic grower who uses living soil. I was taught by a pseudo-scientist, Dr. Av Singh, who always says, “the plant should dictate when it wants to eat and when it wants drink”. With the use of living soils, the plant eats when it wants to eat without the grower forcing the plant to uptake nutrients.
When we water from the bottom of the plant, this gives room for the plant to drink when it chooses and uptake the right amount of water it needs. The drainage holes in your pot allow the water to absorb into the soil over a period of time without oversaturating it.
How Do I Water From the Bottom?
This is a technique where you need a potted plant (must have drainage holes), water, and a saucer.
1. Fill your saucer with enough water to reach the bottom layer of soil in your pot. Some growers like to use drainage rocks at the bottom of their pots so make sure that the water level is high enough to reach the soil. Keep in mind that particular mediums absorb water differently. Soil absorbs water faster than peat moss so keep that in mind while you are waiting for the water to absorb.
2. Place your pot into your saucer.
3. Give it some time. Let your plants sit in their bath for 10-15 minutes. You will notice that the water level in the saucer has gone down. An easy way to check if your plant has been sufficiently watered is by sticking your index finger a few inches down into the soil to see if it is moist. If the soil is still dry, wait a little longer.
4. Remove your plant from the saucer. There may be some excess water leftover. Do not add this to your plant because the soil did not want to absorb it. Discard of it and return your plant to its home. You may get a small amount of runoff water, and that is okay.
I suggest you try it at least once and see if you find it more manageable. I do find every now and then, it is beneficial to give it a top watering because the top layer of soil can get very dry and form a crust-like layer.
Benefits of Bottom Watering
- Promotes overall root growth, as it forces the roots to reach down for the water
- Helps prevent fungus gnats who thrive on the top layer of wet soil
- Prevents oversaturation of the soil
- It provides an even distribution of moisture throughout the soil. Top watering can result in dry spots
- Reduces the chance of over and underwatering
- Prevents splashing on the leaves. Sometimes when you feed your plants, the water can splash on your leaves which can result in plant burning. When you bottom water, this is completely avoided.
Feeding
As for feeding from the bottom, it is the same concept as feeding a plant how you would normally feed your plant. Add your nutrients to the water first and then feed from the bottom. If you are feeding with a top dressing, skip the bottom water as a whole. You will need water to leech the nutrients down into the soil. Happy growing.
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Shitty looking plant, lame advice, poor horticultural knowledge. High Times
Not true Gypsy Pajamas. This is how we watered all our potted orchids in Hawaii. It’s also beneficial for succulents and all plants for that matter. My peyote just loves it as well as my ferns and all my houseplants. Maybe that’s why my house looks like a jungle. I make it a point to do it a couple times a month for my cannabis once they’re in their big pots. This causes tremendous growth spurts. In the vegetative state they get really beefy and in the flowering this makes them extremely happy and the buds just get huge. I leave the water in the coasters and by the next day the water is all sucked up. Sometime I need to refill the coasters several times because they suck it up very quickly. This way they get to drink all they want and are satiated and content. It replicates nature when there’s been a good hard rain when plants just really take off and get fat and happy.
As far as the plant in the photos being shitty, it looks like a clone with some lice damage. No big deal. Occasionally the Pro-Mix comes with lice. We’ve gone through that in Alaska. The lice don’t do much damage unless it’s a seedling. Once that plant gets bigger you won’t even know they were there.
Potted plants aren’t cannabis, are they?
The reason why you water cannabis from the top and then throw out the water that drains out, is so that the roots don’t sit in water increasingly un-oxygenated water and drown.
You literally will not be able to use this method through out the 3-6 months growing cycle of a cannabis plant.
You’re incorrect. Have you ever seen an autopot? People have great success with that system.
The author isn’t saying you should leave the plant in the water 24/7. I’ve grown many plants using SIP. I’m currently running many plants that are all bottom fed, and they’re doing amazing.