Soaking an Air-Pot?

Hey guys,

Got a couple of ladies who are growing in heavy peat based soil with 20% perlite in Air-Pots (loads of holes)

One in particular has been drooping on and off after water. Initially after the watering she perked up like a beauty only to gradually droop.

Now after theorising all the possibilities I believe the issue is that even watering her with 10l in her 20l pot the soil is becoming too dry and repelling the moisture. When I water the top becomes wet, but if I wriggle my finger and inch it's bone dry. Leading me to reason that large dry pockets are occurring.

So my question is;

Can you soak an Air-Pot, as in place the pot in a bucket and let capillary action do the work? If so I presume it's going to happen a lot faster, therefor shorting the soaking time?

Thanks

P.S I'll post a picture soon.

I soak my fabric pots. I do this quite often with my Pepper plants. The soil becomes "Hydrophobic" and won't saturate completely. Just pH a bucket of water and hold them as they slowly sink. When the bubbles stop pull and let them drain. Helps flush salt build-up.

Hydrophobic? Could you explain?

I presume by ph you are also referring to feeding?

I don’t think I could submerge them if that’s what you mean. Being 20l pots I’d have to make 30-40l of nutes.

Could I submerge them half way? Then water from top as well?

Nutty sKunK said:

Hydrophobic? Could you explain?

I presume by ph you are also referring to feeding?

I don’t think I could submerge them if that’s what you mean. Being 20l pots I’d have to make 30-40l of nutes.

Could I submerge them half way? Then water from top as well?

Click to expand...

Just use a tray. Landscaping supply companies sell them fairly cheap. I've even got one for my 30 gallon cloth pot!
As plants get bigger & are repotted, the center becomes more dense with roots than the outer soil. This makes the water want to go around the middle & spill out the sides. The tray will catch water and hold it until it can be sucked up via capillary action.
Another option is watering multiple times, waiting 5 mins between waterings.

So how long and how deep should the pots be submerged for?

When I watered her it was spread out through the day. But it did run down the sides very quickly..

Nutty sKunK said:

So how long and how deep should the pots be submerged for?

When I watered her it was spread out through the day. But it did run down the sides very quickly..

Click to expand...

Larger trays are deeper, up to 2" or so.
When you do multiple waterings, you have to use smaller amounts of water and wait for it to penetrate the dense center. Trays are *way* easier. I'm going to recycle one of my 10 gallon pots today & I'll snap a pic.
You don't want your plants in standing water during dark hours. I water early in the morning and let the plant soak up excess from the tray during the day. If the tray still contains water at the end of the day, I dump it out -- which is a pain for large pots. They are extra heavy after being soaked.
-- edit --
Here's a pic

10 gallon pot w/18" tray.

Take a wooden dowel and push it down to the bottom in several spots B4 watering. You should feel the dense spots. Chunky has the right ideas going.

Yes those pots do get super heavy and awkward lol

I could feel that the pot was not fully saturated, felt like the bottom centre was light. They were dead heavy when I first watered them so I don’t think I need to measure the moisture as much..

Well I get about 4’ of water around the pots after feeding. I’ll let them sit in water during the day.

Will report tomorrow

Thanks guys

Chunky Stool said:

Larger trays are deeper, up to 2" or so.
When you do multiple waterings, you have to use smaller amounts of water and wait for it to penetrate the dense center. Trays are *way* easier. I'm going to recycle one of my 10 gallon pots today & I'll snap a pic.
You don't want your plants in standing water during dark hours. I water early in the morning and let the plant soak up excess from the tray during the day. If the tray still contains water at the end of the day, I dump it out -- which is a pain for large pots. They are extra heavy after being soaked.
-- edit --
Here's a pic
View attachment 4031066
10 gallon pot w/18" tray.

Click to expand...

I use the Oil Pans from the Dollar Store for 5 gallon pots. I forget what they cost.

Well thanks for helping guys. Gave her a watering yesterday and let her sit in the run off which was about half and inch covering the soil.

Took her out and fucking hell. She ways a ton!! It must be holding an extra 30-40% more moisture.

She’s looking super happy just now, let’s hope it lasts longer.

Just seems to be showing signs of copper/ boron deficiency now. But that’s because I haven’t fed her any nutrients yet.

Thanks again