Masterclass Ep.1: Handwatering
Watering plants and crops by hand when using soil is especially suitable for hobby growers new to gardening. Plants need water and nutrients to grow. But the question, of course, is: How much and how often should you water your plant? This episode of Pieter’s Masterclass will help you learn an easy and safe watering strategy that will make sure your plants get all they need to keep growing big and strong. Watch now and enjoy!
Episode 1: Handwatering On Wet Substrates – Transcript
Welcome to our masterclass
We explain the hand watering system when growing on a wet substrate, usually with a Terra or Coco substrate.
I’m Pieter. Grow consultant from CANNA.
Watering the plants is the most difficult action a grower should take. Each minute a plant is taking water—drip by drip. At the same time, it is taking the nutrients gram for gram. In theory, we have to prepare the substrate immediately when the plant takes something from the substrates.
Unfortunately, that is not always possible. It depends on the substrate you are growing in.
When watering on wet substrates like Terra and Coco, they become heavy after watering. That means they decompress their own substrate, and the substrate will be lacking oxygen. That means the plant cannot absorb water anymore or nutrients.
So on these substrates, we’d recommence you grow on a lower moist content level around 30, 40 percent, depending on the substrate itself.
And that means that you always grow in a substrate that has 60 to 70 percent air content. So the roots can always breathe.
I like to give you an example of a 10-liter pot.
Of course, the first time you water the substrate, you always have to give the maximum amount. So the whole pot is wet. For a Terra mixture, it means a 10-liter pot will go to 70 percent. So it becomes 7 kilos.
After you start growing, you wait till you come back to the 30 percent for a 10-liter pot, which means the wait goes back to 3 kilos. And from now on, we start to water the plant.
But how much water can I give to these pots?
The maximum amount is 10 % of the pot volume. That means for a 10-liter pot; it is a 1-liter maximum. That doesn’t mean you have to give it.
For example, we give 600 milliliters. That means 3.0 kilo becomes 3.6 kilos. After two days, you want to water again. You lift the pots, you weigh it – and it is still 3.1 kilo.
Then you should not give 600 ml. You only give 500 ml to get back to the same weight after watering.
You always stay between 30 and 40 % of the pot volume’s weight.
This water strategy is quite safe. On Terra, you water the plant 2 to 3 times a week. And on Coco substrate, you can water once a day at most.
It’s a safe watering strategy. Plants will never suffer from a lack of oxygen. Nevertheless, if you have this water strategy “in your fingers,” the grower can improve by looking at the plant and steering with that low, moist content because each week sometimes needs just a little different number for it.
Hopefully, this watering strategy will bring what you need. If you have another substrate, it’s sometimes better to grow in a hydroponic way.
Please have a look at that video (Coming soon).
Welcome to our masterclass
We explain the hand watering system when growing on a wet substrate, usually with a Terra or Coco substrate.
I’m Pieter. Grow consultant from CANNA.
Watering the plants is the most difficult action a grower should take. Each minute a plant is taking water—drip by drip. At the same time, it is taking the nutrients gram for gram. In theory, we have to prepare the substrate immediately when the plant takes something from the substrates.
Unfortunately, that is not always possible. It depends on the substrate you are growing in.
When watering on wet substrates like Terra and Coco, they become heavy after watering. That means they decompress their own substrate, and the substrate will be lacking oxygen. That means the plant cannot absorb water anymore or nutrients.
So on these substrates, we’d recommence you grow on a lower moist content level around 30, 40 percent, depending on the substrate itself.
And that means that you always grow in a substrate that has 60 to 70 percent air content. So the roots can always breathe.
I like to give you an example of a 10-liter pot.
Of course, the first time you water the substrate, you always have to give the maximum amount. So the whole pot is wet. For a Terra mixture, it means a 10-liter pot will go to 70 percent. So it becomes 7 kilos.
After you start growing, you wait till you come back to the 30 percent for a 10-liter pot, which means the wait goes back to 3 kilos. And from now on, we start to water the plant.
But how much water can I give to these pots?
The maximum amount is 10 % of the pot volume. That means for a 10-liter pot; it is a 1-liter maximum. That doesn’t mean you have to give it.
For example, we give 600 milliliters. That means 3.0 kilo becomes 3.6 kilos. After two days, you want to water again. You lift the pots, you weigh it – and it is still 3.1 kilo.
Then you should not give 600 ml. You only give 500 ml to get back to the same weight after watering.
You always stay between 30 and 40 % of the pot volume’s weight.
This water strategy is quite safe. On Terra, you water the plant 2 to 3 times a week. And on Coco substrate, you can water once a day at most.
It’s a safe watering strategy. Plants will never suffer from a lack of oxygen. Nevertheless, if you have this water strategy “in your fingers,” the grower can improve by looking at the plant and steering with that low, moist content because each week sometimes needs just a little different number for it.
Hopefully, this watering strategy will bring what you need. If you have another substrate, it’s sometimes better to grow in a hydroponic way.
Please have a look at that video (Coming soon).
One Response
Great video, helped me a lot.