Overwatering

Watering is something that I'm still weary about - I'm always thinking I'm going to overwater my plants. I just germinated a couple seeds for my first grow, and I actually found that I wasn't using enough water the first couple days. I increased water the third day and the tap root just shot out - grew like a full inch in 16 hours.

So, I'm wondering when/how you can overwater your plants?

I've gone ahead and planted the seedlings in soil, watering it to the point of saturation. I stopped when the soil stopped sucking up the water and moisture began sitting on top of the soil. I drained it a bit, so that there wasn't too much water, but I'm not sure if I've overdone it?

I'm attaching a pic so you can see what I'm talking about. The seedlings have only been in the soil for about an hour - let me know if I need to get them out to a drier pot!

Thanks!

hey man,,, if they were my seedlings that is way to wet for my likeings,,, and you should be waterin your plants when ever the soil is dry and when the pot is super light

Yeah, after I posted the pic and took a look at it I definitely thought I had way too much water. I don't have a good sense of how to measure that out, though. Is there a good rule of thumb I should follow when it comes to watering, or an exact measurement/time formula I could follow?

After that last post, I went back to figure out what I was going to do with the plants, and in looking at the pots and the drainage holes, I stuck my finger in to see if they were blocked and a ton of water drained out. I did this on both and got a good bit of the moisture out of the pot, but it's still fairly wet. I'm posting another pic so you guys can see how they are now & tell me if you think I should just replant these things in a new pot. I don't want to have to do it, cause I don't want to bother the plants too much, but I'm afraid I might be drowning them before they get a chance to sprout...

They still look quite wet. I used to water everything too much and now I keep everything dryer because I've killed countless plants and herbs in my garden with overwatering. when did you plant these? just now?

Yeah, they've probably been in the pots about an hour now. I've been doing more scouring online and seen some suggest that seedlings just need misting, and full on watering should wait until they're big enough to transplant into a larger pot - is this pretty much what you guys do?

I don't remember. I just know I didn't try very hard. I just popped the seeds in a paper cup, popped a hole in the bottom and put a little water in and then didn't touch it for a while. When I came back it was large enough to move to a larger pot. I moved it, watered and left gain for a while, came back and it was 2 feet tall. Now it is nearing 3ft but i've had to care for it because we haven't had any rain lately.

maybe its like a watched kettle? doesn't boil...

are you growing outdoors?

yes, in a pot on my balcony.

I started the seeds outside and the nights went down to the 40s. I am surprised they lived. I didn't know you needed certain conditions.

definitely over watered. if thats new seed starter or MG you will need to water that slow for a while because it doesn't take water in as well at first. let them dry out or fill another pot up dry and feel the weight.

Thanks for all the advice you guys. I ended up replanting the seedlings last night - I sprinkled just a bit of water over the seedlings in the new pots till the soil looked like it had taken just a bit of moisture. Probably didn't put more than an ounce of water over them, probably less.

thanks for that - the seeds were already germinated before I planted them in the soil - if I have trouble with this method, I'll definitely check out rockwool.