Quote Originally Posted by MegaOctane12
Hi Bob, can you clarify this for me... Watering the plant until it comes out the bottom takes Microorganisms and nutrients out of the medium. So in your opinion, what benefit does this serve?


Wet and dry cycles are very over rated in my opinion, because there is a certain amount of oxygen in the water your applying, albeit making up 1% of plants needs. Take for example Tranobles grow, he water's a certain amount that varies according to the plants life cycle. He dosen't flood and drain the soil from what I remember. He gets fantastic results, granted the room is sealed. Just like to hear some technical/scientific arguments why wet and dry cycles are better than precise amounts. Although water logging is a bad thing, I don't see the importance of trying to mimic outdoor conditions, seeing as all other conditions are subject to the growers intervention. I think that if you take some Hydrophonics systems as an example, the root ball can sustain themselves in water almost completely submerged without being suffocated. I think its a fallacy to assume that you can drown roots in a soil medium because the soil just is not saturated enough to devoid the medium of oxygen. You would have to water log the entire medium consistently to kill the roots.
With hydro do you not use an air stone?

The idea of watering until it comes out the bottom ensures that the roots will be growing down to the bottom of the pot, using as much of the soil medium as possible for the root ball. It also ensures that the nutrients you add will saturate the soil and fully feed the plant.
Also, by the act of percolation the built up salts will head to the bottom of the pot making it that much easier to flush them out when the time comes.

In reality you CAN water any plant a specific amount of water, as long as the roots are getting what they need, the humidty of the medium isn't maintained at a high level and the ambient humidity isn't affected.
Generally, this involves leaving a few days between each watering to allow for the water to at least begin to dry up.
You do however want to promote the growth of the roots to the bottom of the soil so that the rootball is larger.

Interesting opinions on this. Non are really wrong.. but it is best to know what is needed when watering our plants.
BobBong Reviewed by BobBong on . Specific amounts of water for growing. I've been noticing this more recently.. people watering their plants an exact measurement of water like 200 or 600ml or 6 oz. of water.. and doing it daily! What is the deal here!?!? As far as i've known that's NEVER been the proper way to water a plant. Keeping a constantly moist soil medium is a BAD thing to do. So where the hell did this old wive's tale come from?? You always water for the size of the plant, not the size of the pot. Is that what has been mis-understood? Rating: 5