ffof fflw fifty fifty mix watering goes stright thru to the bottom?

more4u2c

Active Member
Hello any advice will be great. I have a fifty fifty mix of ffof and fflw and realized that when I water just a lil bit or a lot no matter what it flows instantly out the bottom. And when I stick my finger into the soil only some areas are moist and other areas are still dry. so I decided to water from the bottom up by getting a bucket and filling it up with water and then filling up the pot with water while in the bucket of water and to my amazement a Bunch of air bubbles were coming out. Now the pots are way more heavy than they ever were so I know the soil finally soaked up the water instead of it just passing thru to the bottom hole. So now will it be ok from now on? Do I need to repot the plant into a bigger pot with less of fflw or with less ffof or keep it the same fifty fifty mix. What would be the cause of this happening cuz I've never had this happen before and this is the first time using fflw maybe there's a connection with it idk any help would be nice thanks...
 

cruzer101

Well-Known Member
Yea, the first few waterings will settle the soil some, I usually end up adding about 20% more soil mix.
Sounds like you soaked them. They should be good for a while. Pick up a pot and get an idea of how much "soaked" weighs and from now on you can tell if the need water by picking up the pot.
 

jbigdawg79

Well-Known Member
Try adding perlite I go about 30/ perlite then mix it in the soil and always cultivate the top couple of inches of soil at the top of the pot. Another thing is when your watering try to use a showering effect watering can instead of just a straight stream that just usually just creates a tunnel that it always goes thru to the bottom hope this helps I had the same problem and this all helped me. The plants aren't receiving they're nutes if your not penetrating the soil !
 

jbigdawg79

Well-Known Member
Also light warrior is for seedlings and baby clones try mixing the ffof with ff happy frog works way better!
 

Wetdog

Well-Known Member
Dry peat moss is one of the hardest things to get wet, it will actually repel water. Once it gets wet though, it absorbs water very easily. Think of a dry mop vs a damp mop.

Sounds like you didn't get it wet before use. In the future, put it in a bucket, wheelbarrow or large container that will hold water, wet it down good, mix it up and let it sit for several hours to a couple of days.

You did right doing what you did with the bucket of water. Do that again, next watering and let it sit for a bit so it's totally saturated. You will be GTG then. I have to do this every now and then if I let my plants dry too much.

Using a wetting agent every once in a while helps also. I use coco wet maybe once or twice/grow, but any will work. Mostly this is for outside container grows.

Wet
 
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