• If you need help identifying a pepper, disease, or plant issue, please post in Identification.

seeds Correct watering of seedlings

I leave the soil around my seedlings to dry out before watering them. I heard that stimulates roots to go deper and expand in search for water. Making the chilli plant sturdy and healthy. So I only water them every 3rd day. I hope I am correct about this?
 
Anyway, my question is how to correctly water this seedlings? I am afraid I will overwater them. Can I slowly dump the water in the tray cells? They have hole at the bottom. I need to give them a water boost but I am afraid the moisture will kill the roots (almost happened with one seedling). I hear some of you recommed flushing the soil with water to feed them and even to remove any excess fertilizer. Or should I spray them?
 
The soil will only soak up so much water.  So if you pour a liter of water or a gallon of water it's only gonna soak up so much.  The rest will run off.  I like to water until I see it coming out of the bottom of the pot.
 
Jamison said:
The soil will only soak up so much water.  So if you pour a liter of water or a gallon of water it's only gonna soak up so much.  The rest will run off.  I like to water until I see it coming out of the bottom of the pot.
 
Thats what I thought! But something made me wonder. Last week one of my seedlings became overwatered and it bent its leaves. When I removed the soil it was damp at the bottom, however this seedling was using plastic cup higher than other tray seedlings. It had holes at the bottom though. Could it be that this cup had too much soil in it and the soil couldn't properly dry out? Or I just didn't let the soil to properly dry before watering again? I was watering every day this one seedling...
 
mx5inpa said:
You cant put plants on a watering schedule without having problems usually.
 
So I should "flush" them with water, water them thouroughly only when dry to the touch? What if some moisture is trapped underneath and it starts choking my roots?
 
     You should feel the weight of your pots or cells when dry and use that as a guide to determine when your soil is dry. Once it is dry, wait a little longer and then water. It's best if your plants even wilt a little between waterings. 
     If you're not checking soil moisture before watering, or you're watering on a schedule (like mx5inpa said), you're playing with fire...
 
dash 2 said:
     You should feel the weight of your pots or cells when dry and use that as a guide to determine when your soil is dry. Once it is dry, wait a little longer and then water. It's best if your plants even wilt a little between waterings. 
     If you're not checking soil moisture before watering, or you're watering on a schedule (like mx5inpa said), you're playing with fire...
 
Thanks for the tip. So the soil needs to be really really dry before watering to prevent overwatering? Is it okay to give them a lot of water afterwards?
 
future_man said:
 
Is it okay to give them a lot of water afterwards?
 
     Once they're dry, soak 'em. Making sure that ALL the soil gets wet is the only way to train roots to grow into the entire volume of soil contained in their pot. 
 
Soak. Let excess water drain completely. Let plants do their thing and use up all the water. Repeat...
 
So I guess only problem with my Hungarian wax seedling was that I didn't let the soil dry out completely before watering again. Thats why it got all mopey
 
     It's not so much the water in and of itself that'll cause problems. Over time it can lead to root rot as well as giving fungus gnats a good place to live. If your plant has been looking shitty for a while, it might be time to pop it out of its pot and look at its roots. 
     If they look brown and slimy and have a bad "anaerobic" smell to them, they are probably rotten. If so, wash off the soil and trim away the gross roots. Transplant it and hope for the best… Good luck!
 
Watering seedlings everyday is almost always too often. Different plants absorb water quicker than others, which is why I've abandoned any type of rigid schedule. I do keep record of when I water which plants. I'm probably only watering about once every 7-8 days, and there is no wilting at all from the plants. I mainly judge when to water by the weight of the cup. You can keep a cup full of dry soil to compare with your planted cups. Personally, I don't like the binge and purge approach to watering, but it works for a lot of folks.
 
+1 What Roguejim said; you'll find that each plant wants its own schedule.
 
Giving the plants a good flushing - letting the water run until it continues to come out of the drain holes - is a very good approach with more mature plants. Seedlings can have various problems, however, so it's really better to bottom-water - dip the cups into water but don't let the water reach the soil surface. Keeping a fan on them also helps. The goal here is to prevent the damping-off fungus from developing. The damping-off fungus affects the plant at the soil line; you'll see a weak/watery section of the stem in that area then the plant eventually falls over and dies. Best bet is to prevent it from beginning in the first place. 
 
future_man said:
 
So I should "flush" them with water, water them thouroughly only when dry to the touch? What if some moisture is trapped underneath and it starts choking my roots?
 
I always water, be it seedlings or full grown plants, until I see water come out the bottom.  Then I use a turkey baster to suck up all the excess water from the tray/dish whatever it is you have your plants sitting in. 
 
Thanks for all the info guys. I decided to flush the plants with water once a week, maybe even more. Flushing will also help remove excessive NPK from my soil as my starter soil mix contains too much nutrients for my taste... I have to buy more organic soil next year
 
Back
Top