How much water to give each plant?

[RandyL]

I'm wondering how much water people give their plants each watering. I've got a grow journal in the new journal section going now.

I have 22 plants growing, 20 of them are in 1 gallon pots, the other 2 are in 2-1/2 gallon pots.

The plants are 21 days old now, from when they were planted in the dirt as clones.

I've been giving them 16 ounces of PH'd RO water each watering, 4 days apart. And the plants have always looked good and seem to be growing fine.

But they got their first dose of nutes last monday, and now that they are starting to get bigger, I wonder if I should give them more water each time.

I was thinking of increasing the 16 ounces of water to 24, as there's no runoff from the pots at 16 ounces.

How much water do you use each time?

 

[Screwnuts33]

My grow is at day 39 from seed and currently in 5-gallon buckets. My kids are getting a 1/2 gallon every other day +/-. Your grow room temp and RH level will have an impact on how much they use.

 

[RandyL]

Wow, that's way more water than me. But then again, you're using way bigger pots for the plants too. They don't look overwatered at all?

I go through 3 gallons in the process of watering 22 plants.

 

[Screwnuts33]

No signs of over watering at all. It takes me 8 gallons to water/feed 16 plants. Roughly 20-24 gallons/week. My sativa dom plants are right at 30" tall with a stem diameter of 1". My indica dom plants are 15-20" with 3/4" diameter stems. They drink a lot of water.

 

[RandyL]

I gave the plants 24 ounces in today's feeding, and that was enough to get runoff from the pots, so the dirt should be well soaked now all the way to the bottom where the roots are.

They got 50% nute doses today also so I'll have to wait and see how they look from that.

 

[Screwnuts33]

I gave the plants 24 ounces in today's feeding, and that was enough to get runoff from the pots, so the dirt should be well soaked now all the way to the bottom where the roots are.

They got 50% nute doses today also so I'll have to wait and see how they look from that.

Sounds good. Now don't look at them again until Wednesday. Check them Wednesday as see how they look. Since I don't look at mine every day it is likely I don't see the heavy water droop. By the time I see them they are happy and ready to eat/drink again.

 

[OldSkoool]

IMHO, you should water just before your plants go limp. MJ likes drying out between water/water nute cycles. I'm also a believer in using 4X the volume of the pot, this insures a complete flushing of the salts, and plant waste build up.

 

[RandyL]

If I watered 4X the volume of the pots, I'd need 100 gallons of water per time!

As it is now, I'm using 4-1/2 gallons, with giving each plant 24 ounces, and some extra in the 2 bigger 2-1/2 galon buckets.

The dirt does get pretty dry after 3 days of no water, I can dig up the dirt an inch or 2 down, and it isn't sticking to itself much because of having water in it.

 

[Screwnuts33]

If I watered 4X the volume of the pots, I'd need 100 gallons of water per time!

As it is now, I'm using 4-1/2 gallons, with giving each plant 24 ounces, and some extra in the 2 bigger 2-1/2 galon buckets.

The dirt does get pretty dry after 3 days of no water, I can dig up the dirt an inch or 2 down, and it isn't sticking to itself much because of having water in it.

If I did 4x the volume it would be 320 gallons. Yikes!