water Irrigation interval - 24 or 48?

[JohnT]

 
Yellow habs looking good John!

Thank you - seems I have best luck with seedlings approx 1" in height LOL. For real.

 

[The_NorthEast_ChileMan]

I use yard fabric to prevent my media (A mix of Miracle-gro potting media, peat moss, compost and perlite), from compacting over the small layer of pea stones at the bottom of my 5 gallon pails for a different reason - watering.

I suspect another benefit is that you're creating a scenario for better air exchange at the base of the media with a larger surface area exposed to atmosphere than if the majority of the media were pressed directly against the plastic bottom of the container. More moisture evaporates out, more oxygen is allowed in.

That's exactly what would happen, if not for the fact that eventually the media will fill the spaces between coarse aggregate, and then it's just back to higher PWT.  Not the most efficient way to do that.  You really want that exchange to occur IN the root zone, not below it.

What am I missing here?​

 
I posted the fact that I use landscape fabric to prevent media from compacting into the [pea stones with pix to illustrate.

 

 

[solid7]

 

What am I missing here?​

 
I posted the fact that I use landscape fabric to prevent media from compacting into the [pea stones with pix to illustrate.
 

 
You're just missing a bit of basic reading.  There's multiple people talking about multiple concepts.  You are the only person who suggested the use of fabric, and I wasn't addressing that.  I already said your case was different.

 

[CaneDog]

 
You're just missing a bit of basic reading.  There's multiple people talking about multiple concepts.  You are the only person who suggested the use of fabric, and I wasn't addressing that.  I already said your case was different.

 
Actually SS I think you missed on the reading this time.  My response was quoting NECM's that him using fabric allowed him to benefit from greater air surface at the bottom (implicitly, because his wouldn't compact into the coarse aggregate). Then you told me I was wrong because the mix would compact into the aggregate and defeat the temporary benefit.

 

[solid7]

 
Actually SS I think you missed on the reading this time.  My response was quoting NECM's that him using fabric allowed him to benefit from greater air surface at the bottom (implicitly, because his wouldn't compact into the coarse aggregate). Then you told me I was wrong because the mix would compact into the aggregate and defeat the temporary benefit.

 
If that's what happened, then my apologies.  I may have not posted it after I wrote it.
 
But nothing about my response was directed at the fabric.  It was just the bare aggregate method.  
 
EDIT: Please read post #33
 
http://thehotpepper.com/topic/72079-irrigation-interval-24-or-48/?p=1646148

 

[solid7]

PWT must be a southern thing. I have never had it.

 
You absolutely have had, and do have it.  You are not immune to the laws of physics.
 
I think you are the only person in this conversation who thinks that PWT is an imaginary thing.  It certainly isn't a "Southern thing" - it's a "science thing".  There have been links posted that describe the phenomenon, by others than me.  Northeastern believers, as it were...
 
Your climate will dictate whether the PWT is an advantage or disadvantage to you.  But I learned these things through much trial, error, and failure, when brining my more northern practices to this climate.  You may or may not experience certain growing issues in the same way that I do, but there is no case to be dismissive of PWT, any more than there is to accept the notion that rocks in pots is, in some way, beneficial.  These are real concepts, that smarter people than us, have spent years studying, and the jury is NOT out on them.

 

[CaneDog]

 
If that's what happened, then my apologies.  I may have not posted it after I wrote it.
 
But nothing about my response was directed at the fabric.  It was just the bare aggregate method.  
 
EDIT: Please read post #33
 
http://thehotpepper.com/topic/72079-irrigation-interval-24-or-48/?p=1646148

 
Ha, no apologies would be necessary  I'm not taking this seriously.
 
But....  it's not #33 we're talking about here, it's #29 and #31
 
#29 - http://thehotpepper.com/topic/72079-irrigation-interval-24-or-48/?p=1646134
 
#31 - http://thehotpepper.com/topic/72079-irrigation-interval-24-or-48/?p=1646137
 
   

 

[solid7]

Either way, if there's a misunderstanding, my apologies.  Nobody should be getting bent about any of this.  It's a discussion forum, and this is a discussion.  The original topic has long since run its course, so we're not really harming anything...

 

[CaneDog]

Either way, if there's a misunderstanding, my apologies.  Nobody should be getting bent about any of this.  It's a discussion forum, and this is a discussion.  The original topic has long since run its course, so we're not really harming anything...

 
Seriously man, I'm not bent at all.  I was just messing with you a bit.

 

[solid7]

 
Seriously man, I'm not bent at all.  I was just messing with you a bit.

 
Good on you, man.  That's the spirit!

 

[Drachor]

Hate to re-open this thread, but this is the first time I have read these.
 
But I actually had a container drain holes (there were 3) clog and kill both plants. Medium was Miracle grow with nothing added to it.
Plants started looking droopy as if they dried out and got too hot, started to water and noticed it overflowing almost instantly and water never drained. Got a drill and made more holes, which worked, but plant never recovered.
 
Not saying cloth or rocks at the bottom would have prevented this.
Also note, pot was not on the ground, but on a 3' high stand.

 

[The_NorthEast_ChileMan]

Hate to re-open this thread, but this is the first time I have read these.

I can;t speak for anyone else but I always prefer someone add to a thread that inputs helpful information or experience that furthers the knowledge base of all who read the thread. 
 

But I actually had a container drain holes (there were 3) clog and kill both plants. Medium was Miracle grow with nothing added to it.
Plants started looking droopy as if they dried out and got too hot, started to water and noticed it overflowing almost instantly and water never drained. Got a drill and made more holes, which worked, but plant never recovered.
 
Not saying cloth or rocks at the bottom would have prevented this.
Also note, pot was not on the ground, but on a 3' high stand.

So to clarify....... these were pails & not garden pots that come with drain holes as you put holes in them? Size of holes? Miracle-Gro soil or potting media? Where did you add holes? Side - bottom? Size? How many?
 
TIA!!

 

[Drachor]

The are rectangular pots that did not come with holes, but punch outs to make holes. I'd like to say originally I drilled about 4 half inch holes with a drill.
Didn't use the punch outs as I did not like their locations in the pots. Filled it with Miracle grow potting mix.
 
I never had a problem like this before that nor after and my only fix was drilling 3 new holes with same drill bit.

 

[skullbiker]

My 5 gal buckets, 3/4 inch hole saw. I use 3/4 inch holes for any container including and larger than 1 gallon.
 

 

[solid7]

Hate to re-open this thread, but this is the first time I have read these.
 
But I actually had a container drain holes (there were 3) clog and kill both plants. Medium was Miracle grow with nothing added to it.
Plants started looking droopy as if they dried out and got too hot, started to water and noticed it overflowing almost instantly and water never drained. Got a drill and made more holes, which worked, but plant never recovered.
 
Not saying cloth or rocks at the bottom would have prevented this.
Also note, pot was not on the ground, but on a 3' high stand.

 
Was there algae or moss-like growth near them?
.
What you've just described sounds like a complete outlier.  Container is clogged near drain hole, newly created drain hole drains.  That immediately screams out that you had some kind of funk growing near the outlet, and the new holes drain, because it's only occurring near the outlet - and that it hasn't (yet) propagated to parts of the container, not exposed to air.
.
That's just not the kind of thing that happens for any other reason.  If you've got that going on, there's a chance that a wire mesh container would have even eventually arrived at the same conclusion.
.
I've had a couple of containers over the years, that develop a really dominant mycelial culture.  To the point that the whole container is filled with a substance that looks like dirty bread.  And like any subterranean fungus, it seems to be super moisture-retentive.