If a grower regularly has trouble rewetting the substrate, it's almost certain the substrate is being allowed to get too dry and become hydrophobic - grower error or grower inattention. Plant's don't care if it takes 1 minute for water to drain from several large holes, or 10 minutes from 1 small hole, so long as in the end there is equal aeration and PWT ht at container capacity (state of sogginess at the point in time where water stops draining from the container on its own). Logically then, we can see there would be no problem employing the strategy, and maybe even some additional benefit would be realized. We don't want soils 'wet', either. About as damp as a wrung out sponge is about as close to ideal as you can get.

Al

If you have a container who's soil has become hydrophobic so the water runs through it without actually wetting it, it is easy to set the container(unless it is too large to lift)into a tub of water for a few minutes. When well soaked lift it out and let it drain. Watering more often should prevent mix from getting so dry it won't accept water. If it is too heavy to lift plugging the drain holes(if possible)and slowly saturating the mix until water is actually standing on top of the soil, would do the same thing, but holes should be opened in an hour or so. Al

Thanks for the responses. One of these days I'll get the drip system I'd like but think I'll try this in the meantime. My mix is pretty light (basicly 1/1/1)but most of my brugs are @5' before leafing out and in 15 gal nursery pots so are heavier than I can comfortably handle to soak in another container...specially once all that bark has gotten nice and damp.
Half my fun in gardening seems to be trying things just a little differently each year...sometimes w good results, sometimes no so good.
Anyhow its nice to plan on cold MN winter nights...and I enjoy the posts here even if I may get a bit lost when the discussion gets more techical.
anyhow, thanks again
Will

I ran an interesting test this weekend regarding drainage. I had number of pots filled with 5-1-1 that had been sitting for almost 2 weeks. I had also just made a new batch an hour or so before. I was following Al's recommendation to allow the lime to react, but had heard from Josh that he plants immediately. So I went about an experiment. All of the pots were lined at the bottom with identical landscape fabric, had identical ingredients, in identical quantities (with the exception that the older batch had Azomite in it, the new did not....but I don't think that had an effect, you tell me...). I watered 2 pots of the same size (about 3 gal) heavily, maybe 2 gallons. The older mix drained out as fast as I put in, while the newer pot just filled up with water. I watched an waited, nothing was draining. I dug out the flooded mix and found that a grey slimey goop had completely clogged up the landscape fabric and was badly restricting drainage. The goop's color was suspiciously identical to the lime. If you use something like drywall tape or insect screen, this goop may go unnoticed, but it would wash out the bottom of the pot. For anyone who uses landscape fabric you just have a big mess on your hands. If it was in fact lime goop, either of these outcomes would be less than desirable. Any thoughts?

DM,
Al himself is the one who has stated that mixing and planting in 5-1-1 on the same day is fine
if you don't have the time to wait for the lime phase reaction. I believe he says that he prefers
to wait, but has planted same day with no ill effects.

The Lime that I use is a very fine powder, like flour, and it mixes well and dusts the bark.
I've never experienced a goopy concentration at the bottom of the pot.

Josh

I used Espoma's Garden Lime. Definitly not dust, more pellet like. Unless there is some other strange variable that I'm missing, it seems like the "fresh" lime (the brand/type that I used of course, not in general), when watered (at least initially), doesn't play well with a fine screen such as fabric. To me, this implies that not allowing this type of lime to break down may lead to the loss of a percentage of the initially applied product via runoff. I just thought that was interesting and wanted to share my experience.

I think it is worth noting, too.

If using a pellet form, I would make my mix, put it into a plastic bag, moisten it appropriately,
and leave it somewhere to warm in the sun. I'd roll the mix around in the bag a few times, as well.

Josh

FWIW, I used the Espoma lime pellets in hundreds of gallons of 5-1-1 last summer and put the mix into pots and watered immediately. I don't screen ingredients for 5-1-1. I never experienced any "gray sludge." In most cases, I was using insect screen over drainage holes. In some cases I planted right away, but I tried to wait at least 4-5 days to plant. My memory is that when I watered the mix, what drained out was clear.