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Bottom Watering (Was: Re: T&M)

Hi Kathleen,

> I have another question about propagation.  This year, I tried bottom
> watering, but found myself having the soil too wet (thereby the fungus
> gnats, I'm afraid).  With a multitude of pots in a flat, it seems a
> little too hard to bottom water and then pour excess water out. My
> questions are: is it really worth it (to bottom water)? and if so, how do
> people do it exactly (I hear of bottom watering and misting -- what is
> the exact procedure).

> Kathleen Moran, Ed.D.     Gardening at:

I regularly bottom water standard 1020 trays full of flats.  Make sure the
surface the tray is sitting on is close to level.  For a tray full of dry flats
(first watering) remove /one/ flat and pour in clean water until it's level
comes about half way up the trays side, then replace the flat.  This should be
enough to fully water the dry flats and not leave much behing.  Afterwards, to
maintain good soil moisture, repeat the same process as the flats need it, but
only bring the water level to 1/4 the trays depth.  They will easily draw this
much water up, leaving little to none in the tray.  If you find you have a
single dry flat, fill and empty tray 2/3 full of clean water and set the dry
flat in for a couple of minutes then return it to it's flat.  You can do the
same thing with seedlings, adding some fish/seaweed to the water first.

Cheers, Bob

   ____________________
  |                    |
  |     Bob Carter     | Kootenay Bay, BC, Canada
  |  bcarter@awinc.com | Zone 6b
  |____________________|


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