Watering Tip to Get the Most From Your Nutrients

In order to get the most from your nutrients you should always water from the top. Ideally, you want 100% of the soil saturated. The easy way to know this is to water the plants until some water comes out the bottom of the pot. If a lot comes out, you watered too much and should water less next time.  The nutrients that come out in the water are not always available to the plants.  You may be creating an environment for pests to thrive...

What I do is I alternate nutrient application with plain water (tap water). I water with the nutrient until a small amount of water comes out the bottom of the 2 gallon containers. (I can fit two containers into one tray which is nice). Then a day or two later, when the top of the soil is dry, I put the tap water into the tray about 2cm high. This is usually absorbed in a few minutes. If you still have standing water after half an hour, you will need to empty the trays, you DO NOT want to have your plants in standing water, it will kill the roots and eventually the plant. Yellow leaves are a common symptom of over watering/standing water.
By watering from the  bottom, the nutrients that are water soluable will be carried back up into the soil as the water wicks up.

Good Growing,
Dr. E.R. Myers