I've been reading through lots of literature in the past few days, getting ready for my fall plantout. Most all I have read recommends DAILY watering with a NUTRIENT of some sort (whether fertilizer, seaweed juice, fish emulsion, whatever), and a once-a-week watering of pure water to wash away any leaching residue left by the nutrients during the week.
I've been suspecting that my daily watering and once-a-week feeding has been hurting my veggie production. I think my veggies are hungry!
Can someone comment on this, please?
WATER vs. NUTRIENTS for Veggie Growth...
I don't water daily, even though we're in the 80's to 90's now. I grow in raised beds and soak really well about every 5-7 days. My beds are mulched, no soil showing at all and the mulch is deep. I add compost, alfalfa and a little biotone once the plants are up and growing,mulch is added until the plants are too big to add more mulch(like cantaloupes and sweet potatoes that cover the whole bed). The center isles are filled with compost, so I guess when they're watered, they get compost tea.
Wouldn't watering daily encourage shallow roots?
Here is a pic of one end of one garden.
Feed your soil, so your soil can feed your plants!
Unless you aren't using soil in which case you have to use the right fertilizer mixes that meet the needs for the plants.
If you just add soluble fertilizers and it washes away, your plants will suck out whatever nutrients are available and eventually you'll have lifeless soil. Add compost and long lasting (Slow release) organic fertilizers to your soil builds healthy soil that will support plants better in most cases than quick release liquids. Eventually you could be able to sustain a good healthy soil by rotating crops and utilizing compost of different types.
Now before the hydroponic people yell at me, there are many different ways to grow crops and they all work well, it just depends on the end goal and the methods that people want to use.
I'm using EBs with 50% coco coir and MG potting mix. Slowly moving toward 75-25% coco coir to MG potting mix. When we set up the EBs, we include 2 cups of SR Fertilizer (between 10-10-10 and 15-15-15). There're no instructions to use any more fertilizer than what we start with at plantout.