Bottom watering plants

Nearly 2 weeks ago, I stumbled upon a Youtuber - Gary from The Rusted Garden. It was in the middle of the night when I first came across his videos...I have this habit of reading stuff (or watching stuff) on my tablet until I fall asleep because I tend to take a while to fall asleep (sometimes I lay in bed for hours before sleep really catches me). It was one of those "hard to sleep" nights that I watched some of Gary's videos and learned something I never really thought much about - watering plants from the bottom!

Apparently, watering plants from the bottom can prevent splash of diseases. I knew getting water on the leaves can do more harm than good so I always tried to slowly pour down water on the side of the planter/whatever container that holds the plant. I didn't even think about watering from the bottom! So, naturally, I wanted to try this technique out. I waited until my swiss chard plants showed signs of needing water (e.g., top soil all dried out, soil felt dry even when I stuck my index finger down maybe 3 inches). I also added in 1/8 strength of water-soluble fertilizer into the water that I used to bottom water.

The first time I tried this method was on March 15, with three swiss chard plants.

As water gets absorbed from the bottom, the top soil slowly became a darker color.

I accidentally left these in the bottom-water containers (the black trays) for an hour......surprisingly they were ok. The top soil still had some dry spots (light brown) but I didn't add any more water.

Here's a comparison for the same plants from almost a week ago and today (top from March 15, bottom from today, March 21).

I did bottom watering again on these swiss chards around noon today. While waiting on the water (wait for it to absorb to the top), I added more soil on the top because two of the three swiss chards actually started to "fall down" due to being a bit too tall (the stem still is a bit thin). Bigger leaves + a rather thin stalk = not great balance. So the plants looked like they needed more support and more soil seem to do the job. I think the addition of the $40 grow light is also helping them to grow bigger leaves and maybe more roots (hopefully).

Anyway, the swiss chard plants look a lot bigger than they were when they were watered last time! I'm so happy hehehe 😆

I also tried this method on my sweet basil plants. The one in the "brown" pot (left) got its water through this technique on March 17. It seems to be doing alright too.

The one in the orange, aka "halloween," pot just received water from this bottom water technique today (the two store-bought basil plants were potted the same day but somehow the one in the "halloween" pot has bigger leaves and a much thicker stalk).

With the basil plants, I used a "three-way meter" that I got on Amazon to measure the level of moisture in the soil. I think the meter was around $9 when I got it. It also measures the ph level and how much sun (there's a sensor for sunlight) it gets. I mainly just use the meter for the levels of moisture and ph. While the soil absorbs water from the bottom up, the indicator for moisture level slowly moved from "1" to just between "6 and 7." That's when I moved the basil plant back to its' usual spot with the red Utah plate as its' saucer. The leaves also went back to being tender instead of a droopy look when the plant was in need of water.

Several of Gary's videos have talked about the bottom water technique - here's one video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rMrCV6bLT8A

And here's what I've done to bottom water:

1. Take out a shallow container, make sure it's been cleaned (I use hot water and soap to clean it just before using it)
2. Fill the container about halfway with tap water
3. Put the whole plant (the plant's container needs to have holes) in the shallow container for about 20 minutes. The soil will suck up water from the holes used for drainage. Eventually the top of the soil will look darker and get moistured. 
4. Put the plant back to where it usually is (under the grow lights in my case). If there's any leftover water in the shallow container, just dump it out, wash the container, clean it, store it after its' dried out for future bottom-water use.

Funny thing, ever since I decided to try the bottom water technique, I've been thinking about what shallow containers I could use. I definitely didn't want to go out to buy any new containers just for watering plants. One day as I was cooking dinner, I realized some of the food containers / trays from grocery items can be reused for this very purpose!! Hence.....I've been saving just about any container from grocery stuff that I find useful. For example, the trays from those microwave dinners (we don't eat these often, sometimes for convenience). Also, the foam meat tray that I get from ground meat. I figure they can also act as saucers if needed. Just make sure they're cleaned before using them for the plants. Dish soap, hot water, that's all I use to clean the trays.

So far this technique has been working well. The plants seem to like it.
The soil really doesn't get soggy, I'm guessing it's because water is absorbed evenly at a slow, steady rate.