Watering fast and hard

OK I've been searching and searching for this one and keep coming up dry.. I know that when you hit the soil with a watering you have to go slow enough for the medium to fully absorb the water instead of running straight out the bottom.

Now my question is this.. Say I need to flush my plants to raise the pH or get rid of excess nutes.. After I've let the pot absorb as much water as it can, am I able to just start dumping gallons at a time into the soil to speed things up? Is there a point to where this becomes stressful to the roots? I'm not worried about over watering or drainage issues since I use cloth pots with lots of perlite.

I just want to know if pouring a gallon jug into the soil is detrimental, because flushing 4 plants with almost 40 gallons of water takes entirely too long and I've been having issues with pH slowly falling because I haven't amended my soil with lime.

It shouldn't make any difference how fast you pour the water as long as it's not backing up over the edge of the pot. Flushing is flushing. In fact if it drains the water that fast to be able to pour and pour than that means you'll be done sooner. Just don't beat the crap out of the soil, pour smoothly

Perfect. Thanks a ton for putting my mind at ease.. The reason I've been wondering this is because I recently started watering straight out of the gallon jug like you mentioned (smooth yet quick) and not long after I noticed some twisted upper growth.. After further research and confirmation from you I have determined it was from over watering.. I didn't take into consideration the plants drink less right at the 12/12 flip and watered according to schedule..
One more mistake under my belt and one mistake closer to growing the perfect bud!

From personal experience, watering fast(big dump), will cause the medium to pack/settle, resulting in loss of air pockets when it dries.

gribniff said:

From personal experience, watering fast(big dump), will cause the medium to pack/settle, resulting in loss of air pockets when it dries.

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To counter that issue maybe I can flush fast with 8 gallons and use the watering can with the last gallon to trickle down the water in order to get those air pockets! Because I have noticed when I get lazy and forget to do that, I end up with some rock hard medium that I know the roots have a hard time penetrating lol

I like to "prime" my medium first. Pour small amounts of water on the surface, until it soaks in enough to cause minimal runoff....after that happens, Ill wait a few minuets before unleashing the raging flood waters....

Yeah that's exactly what I do to start watering as well.. I think the best way to flush quickly and still have aerated soil would be to Prime>Flood>Trickle (at the very end)

SensiBlaze said:

Perfect. Thanks a ton for putting my mind at ease.. The reason I've been wondering this is because I recently started watering straight out of the gallon jug like you mentioned (smooth yet quick) and not long after I noticed some twisted upper growth.. After further research and confirmation from you I have determined it was from over watering.. I didn't take into consideration the plants drink less right at the 12/12 flip and watered according to schedule..
One more mistake under my belt and one mistake closer to growing the perfect bud!

Click to expand...

As far as your watering schedule goes, I would not go by a set schedule, that will end up probably causing you problems.

Water until you get some good runoff out the bottom. Lift the pot, get a good idea of the weight when wet.
Now let it dry out until the plant starts to droop(leaves will droop down heavily when the plant needs water). Lift the pot and get a good idea of how it feels bone dry.
Use a scale if it makes it easier for you. And then for future waterings just go by the weight of the pot.

If your medium relies on the addition of perlite for drainage and aeration, fast/hard watering will cause the perlite to 'float' up to the top
of the pot over time, negating that benefit.

If hard and fast is just the way its gotta be done, add aquarium gravel to the mix also.
As the perlite works up thru the medium, the gravel will work down thru the medium.

Priming is a good idea to break surface tension of the medium so the big water won't just run down the edge between
the pot and medium.
Watering fast and hard, WILL pack the medium, (not so much in coco).

Dumping 8 gal of water into the pot, then trickling 1 gal at the end is not going to somehow
lessen the compaction or add air pockets. packed is packed.

gribniff said:

If your medium relies on the addition of perlite for drainage and aeration, fast/hard watering will cause the perlite to 'float' up to the top
of the pot over time, negating that benefit.

If hard and fast is just the way its gotta be done, add aquarium gravel to the mix also.
As the perlite works up thru the medium, the gravel will work down thru the medium.

Priming is a good idea to break surface tension of the medium so the big water won't just run down the edge between
the pot and medium.
Watering fast and hard, WILL pack the medium, (not so much in coco).

Dumping 8 gal of water into the pot, then trickling 1 gal at the end is not going to somehow
lessen the compaction or add air pockets. packed is packed.

Click to expand...

Hmm OK so if my soil is packed tight is there a way I can loosen it up? I'm using fabric pots, but I'm not sure if squeezing them would damage the roots. I'm also scared to poke a bunch of holes in the soil for the same reason.

I'll definitely add some heavier drainage to my next girls so it stays at the bottom!

NugHeuser said:

As far as your watering schedule goes, I would not go by a set schedule, that will end up probably causing you problems.

Water until you get some good runoff out the bottom. Lift the pot, get a good idea of the weight when wet.
Now let it dry out until the plant starts to droop(leaves will droop down heavily when the plant needs water). Lift the pot and get a good idea of how it feels bone dry.
Use a scale if it makes it easier for you. And then for future waterings just go by the weight of the pot.

Click to expand...

So it is okay to let the leaves droop while in flower? I've read that this is the first signs of root death and during flower that would be really bad right? If it's fine that helps a lot because I'd rather underwater slightly than overwater at all..

SensiBlaze said:

So it is okay to let the leaves droop while in flower? I've read that this is the first signs of root death and during flower that would be really bad right? If it's fine that helps a lot because I'd rather underwater slightly than overwater at all..

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They move around. They droop during lights out, they droop when a little dry, and they really droop when really dry, and can lose turgidity and limbs break off more easily. Obviously, don't let them get that dry until the very end, if at all. Drooping due to root rot looks different somehow, wigglier maybe? Hard to describe, but root problems can manifest in the leaves in almost any way imaginable.

You could put a two inch or thicker layer of coco fiber on top of the soil to help with your hard fast watering, lol, sounds weird. It will help disperse the water more evenly and prevent some of the compaction and perlite floating up

SensiBlaze said:

Hmm OK so if my soil is packed tight is there a way I can loosen it up? I'm using fabric pots, but I'm not sure if squeezing them would damage the roots. I'm also scared to poke a bunch of holes in the soil for the same reason.

I'll definitely add some heavier drainage to my next girls so it stays at the bottom!

Click to expand...

Don't wanna be squeezing the pots for sure.
Poking holes down into the medium, can work. I've tried using wooden dowels, metal rods and the like. Even going slow you can 'feel' the small roots rip as you work
down through the medium.
The only thing that worked for me were glass rods.(not exactly something people have lying around).
Insert them carefully and slowly when the medium is at its driest point, the more the better.
Water, then slowly remove half of the rods. Next watering, remove the rest.
That should get you to the end of the grow.

Flushing is overrated. If you get too much nutrients in just don't feed for a while. Flushing, aka overwatering can do more harm that good.

gribniff said:

Don't wanna be squeezing the pots for sure.
Poking holes down into the medium, can work. I've tried using wooden dowels, metal rods and the like. Even going slow you can 'feel' the small roots rip as you work
down through the medium.
The only thing that worked for me were glass rods.(not exactly something people have lying around).
Insert them carefully and slowly when the medium is at its driest point, the more the better.
Water, then slowly remove half of the rods. Next watering, remove the rest.
That should get you to the end of the grow.

Click to expand...

I found a bunch of old paint brushes with thin, tapered plastic handles. Probably gonna give that a shot next time pots dry out!