Watering de babies

Ok so my plants are about a month old. I couldnt afford the nutes for the first 3 weeks and so on the fourth week i started them on fox farms 3 part. My plants are in soil by the way. Ok this is how i have been watering them. There are 10 of em in id say 2 1/2 gallon buckets. There are holes drilled out of the bottom. Between the 10 plants, i have been giving them 2 gallons divided amongst them every other day. So pretty much every 4th day they are getting a nutrient water. When i water them the runoff comes out immediately as it should im told. So far the plants look pretty good im just wondering if i am not watering them as efficiently as i could be just watering 2 gallons at once every other day. If there are better soil watering schedules you guys know about please let me know. Thx all. Almost 4/20!:D

I'm assuming these are indoor? what kind of light? I wouldn't water until the top 2 inches feel dry. It's ok to let them dry out a bit between waterings. 2gallons for 10 vegging plants sounds like alot...especially every other day. When I was growing under a 600w HPS I would water 8 plants with 1 gallon of water. About every 3 days I would give each plant about 1/8th of water. And only use nutes every other watering....

It's easier to know how to help with pictures. But if your plants are drooping at all that is a sign of overwatering. good luck! :jointsmile:

yep they are indoor. I am just using two sets of 4 foot flourescent lights. Cheap ones from walmart. I have a walmart grow bulb in each and a cool white 6500k 3050 lumen bulb in each. Wow it sounds like i might be overwatering lol. So a good rule of thumb would be to water every 3 days or when the top two inches of soil is dry?

yes, I would only water when the top 2" feels dry to the touch. If you are getting immediate overflow...I would say it's too much. :jointsmile:

I agree - another good way to tell is to lift the pots just after you water to get a good feel of how 'heavy' it feels with full watering...then lift it like that every so often so you can get a feel for how heavy it is when it's dry enough to water again. This method is helpful since you'll notice that the plants will actually use more water at different times during the grow cycle, for instance when you're flowering, they may actually use water/food faster than when vegging. Some strains will actually perform better with fewer waterings as they may prefer it to be a 'drier' climate....in that case, watch for the leaves to start to drop a little before giving more water.... just my 2 cents. =)