Top watering or not?

[rudylr]

I started container gardening this year and made some sub irrigated containers. I also made some air pruning pots and regular pots. I mulched the top and top watered mostly. I see alot of people covering the top of there containers with plastic. I assume they are using only liquid fertilizers. I'm wondering whats the best way to do it. Is it better to make the plant suck up the water. I noted I had a lot roots just below the surface and the water was slow soaking in towards the end of the season.

[Cole_Robbie]

I like bottom watering, especially for bigger plants. I set the container in a few inches of water and let it soak.

[Worth1]

Many of the Indians bottom watered.
Chaco Canyon is one group that did.
At the time the water table was right below the surface and they planted their crops there.

In other places they irrigated.
Then disaster struck.
Then there is the so called floating gardens the Aztecs had called Chinampas.
In these they piled up soil in canals and grew crops, in the canals they harvested fish and turtles.


I like bottom watering in containers.
Capillary action will bring the moisture up higher than the water level.

Worth

[guruofgardens]

Bottom water in pots.

[luigiwu]

subirrigated via the rain gutter system! easy peasy!

[Gerardo]

Originally Posted by luigiwu

subirrigated via the rain gutter system! easy peasy!

I'll be joining the RGGS party in about 2 weeks too! Found 110 mm for about 13 USD for 6 m lengths. I'll be doing a 4 m and two 3 m, and if those work out well, I'll do a 6 m long stretch too! Uniseals, bulkhead fittings, kerrick float valves, tubing, end caps, 2 x 200 L tanks, net pots, misc fittings in hand already. 3 and 5 gallon fabric bags on the way. Containers from the Dollar Store and wood are the next purchases. Got a line on some recycled 2 x 4 x 10. Almost there!

Regarding the question at hand, I've done both and bottom watering is way easier, plus it provides more consistent hydration.

[AlittleSalt]

One of the many things that impresses me about bottom watering is root development is much better. Roots grow to the source of water. This coming year, I want to experiment with bottom watering in limits to see if there are better rates and amounts.

[AKmark]

I top water via drip emitters, everyone I know in AK that grows tomatoes commercially does it this way. I got 50lbs from some plants and am approaching 6lbs for my record size fruit.
Of note, our containers are completely root bound too

[Worth1]

I have found one draw back to bottom watering mostly with younger plants.
If you have all of them in a tray with water in it sometimes there will be a few that get water logged.
I have had to move these and let them dry out and start growing.
You will notice it right off the bat.
If you are doing this and you see plants with the soil wet all the way to the top and smaller than the rest it is time to separate them and put them in a dryer home.
In a few days they will come out of it and start to grow.
Worth

[Cole_Robbie]

Peat-based pro mix, when it dries out, floats like a cork. The most annoying part about bottom-watering is having to get the level of water you set the container into just right. If the water is too high, the root ball floats up and the plant tips over.

It's also time consuming when you have a lot of plants. I am going to try to build a shelf that I can flood with an inch or so of water, then pull a plug and drain. The past two years, I have gotten past fifty or so 1020 flats of plants. When they get big, if the sun is shining that day, I end up spending 2-3 hours dunking flats in a plastic mortar-mixing bin in the greenhouse just to keep everything alive.

Last year, I made a floor & drain setup out of a kiddie pool and an old pallet. All I did was silicone a kitchen sink drain into the bottom: http://i.imgur.com/5nYgjCZ.jpg

It's easy to add fertilizer to the water, ie "fertigate," but the downside is that you do end up wasting some of it. If you were using a very expensive fertilizer or supplement, top-watering would be a more efficient way to apply it.

[clkeiper]

It helps to wash the plants (early in the day so they have time to dry off) if there is an outbreak of fungal disease like pwdry/downey mildew. It washes off the spores. Top watering isn't all bad, but it is better for the plants to not be wet all day or late in the day.

[rudylr]

I only water the leaves when l'm using atea mix. Most granular fertilizers you would have to water in on top. It seems like granular fert runs a little cheaper than liquids.





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[Gerardo]

[QUOTE=Cole_Robbie;515246] The most annoying part about bottom-watering is having to get the level of water you set the container into just right. If the water is too high, the root ball floats up and the plant tips over.

Last year, I made a floor & drain setup out of a kiddie pool and an old pallet. All I did was silicone a kitchen sink drain into the bottom: http://i.imgur.com/5nYgjCZ.jpg


Yo Cole_R: you might find this one interesting. I'm gonna give it a shot with a pool my boy no longer fits in, repurposed for corn.

https://youtu.be/sanol21Lmbc

about 4:30---> it improves

[whoose]

Why not do a little of both? I think I will do "The" experiment this summer.

[luigiwu]

I hope you LOVE it! I certainly do! Imagine being able to take a vacation in the middle of GROW season!

Originally Posted by Gerardo

I'll be joining the RGGS party in about 2 weeks too!