DRAINAGE ROCKS causing DRAINAGE PROBLEMS

Geez Green...I don't know that those holes will really allow for it to hold too much water back. It may just be that the root system isn't yet big enough to draw all of the water from the lower level of soil. It could fix itself once it grows more and needs to utilize the full bucket volume for its roots. Just be careful not to over water her for now by watching how the plant reacts. If she has to go longer between waterings, it will likely serve to make her roots stretch deeper looking for water - and that will be a good thing for her growth.

I guess You could just flush it out if not cut the bottom of bucket off and put inside a new bucket with a non pourous stone for drainage.BTW Nice avatar thats shits creepy looking!

Hey bricktop what porosity of hydroton?If you know off hand.

jeeba said:

Hey bricktop what porosity of hydroton?If you know off hand.

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Heh, what a coincidence. I was just doing some online cannabis research the other day and I read a thread that changed my entire thinking when it comes to drainage layers in pots and drainage in general. Long story short is that it turns out that the bigger the size of substrate you use for a drainage layer, the less drainage is aided, or, drainage layers actually imped drainage. If you want to solve the problem without transplanting & without reading the thread I'm gonna give you, you can insert a wicks into the bottom of the pot, right above the rock layer, and it will actually suck out the excess moisture from the bottom of the soil.
Here the thread:
https://www.rollitup.org/advanced-marijuana-cultivation/424933-changes-way-you-think-about.html

Good luck.

Green Growbot said:

Like I said though, there is just NO WAY of not putting NO ROCKS at all in the bottom and expecting it to hold ANY soil so what other choice did I have?

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PS
You could've used window screen.

Wow, look at all the help! Had some stuff last night that was claimed to be GDP but it was bright green and... whoa! Lots of sleep last night! anyways...Lets start from the beginning...

Mandi- Ive been doing waterings 2x/week but not very much, maybe 1/2 cup of plain water one day and then 4 days later 100ml with diluted prebloom nutes. That cant really be too much can it?

Jeeba- I thought of cutting a circle in the bottom of it but I dont have a tool that will do that. As far as the screen, if I can get one that only has maybe 5 sq/ per sq" maybe ill do that next time but Im sure if I go too small, all im gonna do is clog up the holes with soil. If I do a flush, im really gonna be screwed if its blocking it more than I think. I dont really see how it could be holding in that much. According to my feed chart I should have done a flush Yesterday before I started her flowering but I was having this prob. (the avatar is me. They used to sell sweatshirts that would zip up like that but people were using them to rob banks so I dont think that they sell them anymore. My rabbit peed on the damn thing and I cant seem to find it, must have thrown it away.)

BrickTop- (Best line in a movie ever) I dont think that the rocks are retaining any moisture. When I first bought them, I washed them to get all the crap off of em and they were dry in just a few minutes under the HPS 150 I have. Im thinking that the rocks are covering the bottom holes, not so much the side ones but ive never really poured any water around the sides of the bucket because the roots arent big enough to warrant wasting H2o around the sides where there arent any roots. Probably the reason the high readings im getting are 9" down directly below the roots. (appreciate the chart. that should help next time) I have a regular drill but not a big concrete one. Steel drill bits though.

Beansly- Ill check that link out here in just a minute. Im not sure what wicks you are talking about but im gettin ready to go the growshop for supplies anyways.

I'm telling you man, you gotta read the first post of that thread. I don't even use a drainage layer anymore.

@(mostly) Mandi-
Well, i broke down n did something about the drain prob before it was too late. I drilled a couple extra holes at an angle in the bottom which, if she survives, should do her some good in the long run, but i also cut the holes on all sides an extra 1/2- 3/4" wide so i could get in there. I stuck my finger in the bottom just above the rock layer into the soil and there wasnt a puddle or anything but the soil was pretty damn wet. So i pulled out quite a few of the bottom layer of rocks (now i see how many i pulled out there really was way too many) and in my wifes genius, stoned wisdom she says "hey, i got some tampons", so now there are a tampon in 2 of the sides of the bottom/side layer of the bucket.
Of course there is a bad side to this... In the process of pulling out all of the rocks from the bottom/side holes of the bucket, (gently of course) it dropped the plant down further into the bucket by about 2". Not with a "thump" or anything, just slowly. Im sure her roots arent down nearly at the bottom 2" of the bucket yet so i should be ok on stressing her right? She is looking a little extra droopy now, not dead droopy but not real healthy, but I suppose I would be "droopy" too if somebody shoved there fingers in the bottom of my bucket! She shouldnt get overly stressed enough to damage her from this should she?!

Doy ou any vitamin b-1 by chance do you? Water with b-1 solution to help the plant get over the shock. SuperThrive works also.
I got this a homedepot for $5.
http://fp.vendaria.com/vpop/VpopViewer.html?uid=100607914&iid=AddpfzvImumvmKvJJIIKfwKILumLKv&bg=FFFFFF&nm=BZOpener&err=0&title=&pf=t&fr=t

Easiest thing with big holes, get some 'real' charcoal, not the briquetts, sometimes called cowboy charcoal. Get a chunk big enough to cover/block the hole and add enough moistened/wet mix to hold it in place.

They won't fit tight or close enough to stop the water, but will keep the dirt in.

An old trick when having to use orchid pots for soil.

Wet

Beansly said:

Doy ou any vitamin b-1 by chance do you? Water with b-1 solution to help the plant get over the shock. SuperThrive works also.
I got this a homedepot for $5.
http://fp.vendaria.com/vpop/VpopViewer.html?uid=100607914&iid=AddpfzvImumvmKvJJIIKfwKILumLKv&bg=FFFFFF&nm=BZOpener&err=0&title=&pf=t&fr=t

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I was gonna get some B-1 just to have it but now i have a reason too. Havent looked at her yet today to see how she survived overnight, shes in dark till noon but ill for sure go get some of that today after I see if she is okay or not.

K, went n got the B1 but how the hell is it supposed to work? Im working on it but the soil is still kinda wet down at the bottom. For the "shock" application it says to mix 1 tbsp/ per GALLON! If I dump a gallon of h2o in there it'll kill her for sure.

***for some reason the leaves are starting to curl upwards, not just the tips but almost the whole leaf on a lot of them. I dont mean they are pointing up towards the light because they are trying to get more light (some are), its weird some of them are almost "cupping". Whats up with that?


*how much water should I be giving a plant of this size anyways? Ive never gotten anyone to give me a straight answer on that.

Wetdog said:

Easiest thing with big holes, get some 'real' charcoal, not the briquetts, sometimes called cowboy charcoal. Get a chunk big enough to cover/block the hole and add enough moistened/wet mix to hold it in place.

They won't fit tight or close enough to stop the water, but will keep the dirt in.

An old trick when having to use orchid pots for soil.

Wet

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Im not really sure I now what stuff you are talking about, but ill see if I cant do some research on it. Thanks