Watering more or more often in flower?

[HAROBUILT]

So any suggestions or i also would love to hear your experience on this but I was watering every other day 2 gallons of water for 5 plants each in 3 gallon pots. They are now in flower and obviously need more water when I went to water they were hanging way down like they hadn't been waterd in a long time so my question is should I water every day now or just water more and stick with every other day? I hope im not to confusing and thank you again!!

 

[Sueet]

I think this article will help you:

The Proper Way To Water A Potted Plant

The Proper Way to Water a Potted Plant Also covered: the importance of pH and why we successively up-pot How to Water Over the last several years I have put a lot of study into this, and I feel that I can now define the proper way to water a potted plant. Keep in mind that this discussion...

www.420magazine.com

 

[Bill284]

So any suggestions or i also would love to hear your experience on this but I was watering every other day 2 gallons of water for 5 plants each in 3 gallon pots. They are now in flower and obviously need more water when I went to water they were hanging way down like they hadn't been waterd in a long time so my question is should I water every day now or just water more and stick with every other day? I hope im not to confusing and thank you again!!

The volume of water needed to get runoff should not change much.
The volume of nutrients required does change.
Stronger nutrients more often in flower is required.
You should still only water when required.
Not when you want.
Let them tell you they are thirsty.
You still need to dry and let air into the soil.
Hope your having a great day my friend.




Stay safe
Bill284

 

[SmokingWings]

They are now in flower and obviously need more water when I went to water they were hanging way down like they hadn't been waterd in a long time so my question is should I water every day now or just water more and stick with every other day?

Nice looking plants that you have in your tent (in the photo in your other thread). Especially for plants that are about 7 weeks old if I remember you saying.

As to your question above, yes.

You just changed their light schedule but they should start showing pistils in the next 5 to 10 days and then they "are in flower" and it will seem that everything has changed on you. But, before long it will fall into place.

Right now the plants are the largest and have the most leaves that they have ever have had. All those leaves, stems and roots are demanding water. Even more water once the pistils start to show and the buds start to grow. From that point on until about 2 weeks before harvest the plant wants water and many growers have recommended that they not be allowed to go into a severe wilting stage.

I have read threads where growers have mentioned that they changed their watering schedule so that they are watering once a day and a few saying they are on a twice a day routine.

Even if the plant starts to loose some of the older and lower leaves a lot of water is still needed for the developing buds.

The volume of nutrients required does change.
Stronger nutrients more often in flower is required.

Keep in mind what Bill mentions. The nutrient demand from the plant will change as it enters flowering. Different nutrients plus it will seem that how much of each will change right in the middle of the flowering period. Between the watering demands and the nutrient demands it can get really hectic until right towards the end.

 

[Emilya Green]

The key to all of this is to not decide for the plants how much water they need. Let the container of soil and the roots show you how much they can take, or in other words, water to the point of runoff, each time. If you measure this water, like I do by how many small water pitchers full they will take, you will be able to see that as the plants get bigger, they do indeed take more water. The plants actually will get so powerful that you will be able to see a little extra water is needed, simply to make up for the water that the plant uses while you are watering!

So I watch this thing that I call the wet/dry cycle. I want to know how many days/hours it takes the plant to go from watered to the point of runoff, to having used up all of that water. As the roots grow stronger, by the end of veg I like to have at least a 3 day wet/dry cycle.

Then you flip to 12/12 and the plant begins to stretch and get much bigger, sometimes twice as big as it was in late veg. In order to hold up these taller branches, the plant needs to suck up a lot more water. Water usage will dramatically jump during the first two weeks of bloom. So what I do in response to this, knowing that my roots have also stretched during this first two weeks of bloom, is to start "forcing" water on my plants. Whatever the wet/dry cycle time was in late veg, typically 3 days, I cut a day off of it. A 3 day plant should easily become an every other day watered plant in bloom. In veg, I purposely let my plants really dry out, because that is when they grow roots. In bloom, I use those roots that I carefully created, to now force the plant to use more water. In bloom, most of the time I don't let the containers completely dry out as I would have in veg, except for about every 4th watering, when I let them go that extra day, just so I can pull a bit more o2 down to those deepest roots. This hit of oxygen almost always produces a bit of a growth spurt while I go back to forcing water.

Remember that you are the boss here. You trained your plants and you feed them to help them get big. You can also have quite a lot to say as to how they use water. Be smarter than your plants. Garden like a boss.

 

[Fuzzy Duck]

So any suggestions or i also would love to hear your experience on this but I was watering every other day 2 gallons of water for 5 plants each in 3 gallon pots. They are now in flower and obviously need more water when I went to water they were hanging way down like they hadn't been waterd in a long time so my question is should I water every day now or just water more and stick with every other day? I hope im not to confusing and thank you again!!

Mmmm... not sure about this sentence - I was watering every other day 2 gallons of water for 5 plants each in 3 gallon pot

Is that 2 gallons per 3 gallon pot ?

Or my wildest imagination may wonder off a tad to.... 2 gallons of water spread over 5 pots of equal size which may of lead you @HAROBUILT to you finest conclusion of under watering


If So...

Ah, then ya need to add more of the wet stuff !



The trick question - Is learning how much water to how often applied in the very basic's of the sub question - plant size, pot size & over all temperature will govern how much H2O is needed for set duration at any stage of growth & this will develop with your own personal experience of growing.

Patience young grower observation skills over time will teach you & please remain opened minded about such subjects

 

[HAROBUILT]

Mmmm... not sure about this sentence - I was watering every other day 2 gallons of water for 5 plants each in 3 gallon pot

Is that 2 gallons per 3 gallon pot ?

Or my wildest imagination may wonder off a tad to.... 2 gallons of water spread over 5 pots of equal size which may of lead you @HAROBUILT to you finest conclusion of under watering


If So...

Ah, then ya need to add more of the wet stuff !



The trick question - Is learning how much water to how often applied in the very basic's of the sub question - plant size, pot size & over all temperature will govern how much H2O is needed for set duration at any stage of growth & this will develop with your own personal experience of growing.

Patience young grower observation skills over time will teach you & please remain opened minded about such subjects

Yes It was 2 gallons for all

 

[HAROBUILT]

Yes It was 2 gallons for all

Yes it was 2 gallons for all 5 plants sorry last Message posted before I could finish But yeah it comes out to a little less than Half a gallon each plant And doing more research and talking to more forums and help from You guys I could tell I wasn't watering enough and I shouldn't water every day because the soil needs to dry a little for oxygen and stuff but it came from When I 1st had these plants I opened Lance I overwatered a few times and almost lost them so after that for that I was always trying to be careful not to overwater But Starting to get the hang of it learning everyday Thank you again!

 

[HAROBUILT]

The key to all of this is to not decide for the plants how much water they need. Let the container of soil and the roots show you how much they can take, or in other words, water to the point of runoff, each time. If you measure this water, like I do by how many small water pitchers full they will take, you will be able to see that as the plants get bigger, they do indeed take more water. The plants actually will get so powerful that you will be able to see a little extra water is needed, simply to make up for the water that the plant uses while you are watering!

So I watch this thing that I call the wet/dry cycle. I want to know how many days/hours it takes the plant to go from watered to the point of runoff, to having used up all of that water. As the roots grow stronger, by the end of veg I like to have at least a 3 day wet/dry cycle.

Then you flip to 12/12 and the plant begins to stretch and get much bigger, sometimes twice as big as it was in late veg. In order to hold up these taller branches, the plant needs to suck up a lot more water. Water usage will dramatically jump during the first two weeks of bloom. So what I do in response to this, knowing that my roots have also stretched during this first two weeks of bloom, is to start "forcing" water on my plants. Whatever the wet/dry cycle time was in late veg, typically 3 days, I cut a day off of it. A 3 day plant should easily become an every other day watered plant in bloom. In veg, I purposely let my plants really dry out, because that is when they grow roots. In bloom, I use those roots that I carefully created, to now force the plant to use more water. In bloom, most of the time I don't let the containers completely dry out as I would have in veg, except for about every 4th watering, when I let them go that extra day, just so I can pull a bit more o2 down to those deepest roots. This hit of oxygen almost always produces a bit of a growth spurt while I go back to forcing water.

Remember that you are the boss here. You trained your plants and you feed them to help them get big. You can also have quite a lot to say as to how they use water. Be smarter than your plants. Garden like lots of info here i

The key to all of this is to not decide for the plants how much water they need. Let the container of soil and the roots show you how much they can take, or in other words, water to the point of runoff, each time. If you measure this water, like I do by how many small water pitchers full they will take, you will be able to see that as the plants get bigger, they do indeed take more water. The plants actually will get so powerful that you will be able to see a little extra water is needed, simply to make up for the water that the plant uses while you are watering!

So I watch this thing that I call the wet/dry cycle. I want to know how many days/hours it takes the plant to go from watered to the point of runoff, to having used up all of that water. As the roots grow stronger, by the end of veg I like to have at least a 3 day wet/dry cycle.

Then you flip to 12/12 and the plant begins to stretch and get much bigger, sometimes twice as big as it was in late veg. In order to hold up these taller branches, the plant needs to suck up a lot more water. Water usage will dramatically jump during the first two weeks of bloom. So what I do in response to this, knowing that my roots have also stretched during this first two weeks of bloom, is to start "forcing" water on my plants. Whatever the wet/dry cycle time was in late veg, typically 3 days, I cut a day off of it. A 3 day plant should easily become an every other day watered plant in bloom. In veg, I purposely let my plants really dry out, because that is when they grow roots. In bloom, I use those roots that I carefully created, to now force the plant to use more water. In bloom, most of the time I don't let the containers completely dry out as I would have in veg, except for about every 4th watering, when I let them go that extra day, just so I can pull a bit more o2 down to those deepest roots. This hit of oxygen almost always produces a bit of a growth spurt while I go back to forcing water.

Remember that you are the boss here. You trained your plants and you feed them to help them get big. You can also have quite a lot to say as to how they use water. Be smarter than your plants. Garden like a boss.

Thank you so much! I measure the water pitchers each plant gets 1 full one and a quarter full one but now will get 2 full ones. That was a lot of info thank you again

 

[HAROBUILT]

Nice looking plants that you have in your tent (in the photo in your other thread). Especially for plants that are about 7 weeks old if I remember you saying.

As to your question above, yes.

You just changed their light schedule but they should start showing pistils in the next 5 to 10 days and then they "are in flower" and it will seem that everything has changed on you. But, before long it will fall into place.

Right now the plants are the largest and have the most leaves that they have ever have had. All those leaves, stems and roots are demanding water. Even more water once the pistils start to show and the buds start to grow. From that point on until about 2 weeks before harvest the plant wants water and many growers have recommended that they not be allowed to go into a severe wilting stage.

I have read threads where growers have mentioned that they changed their watering schedule so that they are watering once a day and a few saying they are on a twice a day routine.

Even if the plant starts to loose some of the older and lower leaves a lot of water is still needed for the developing buds.


Keep in mind what Bill mentions. The nutrient demand from the plant will change as it enters flowering. Different nutrients plus it will seem that how much of each will change right in the middle of the flowering period. Between the watering demands and the nutrient demands it can get really hectic until right towards the end.

Thank you I currently use fox farms stuff right now because its my first grown and they have a feeding chart I go by and it was the only familiar name I new in the store at the time but anyways thank you for the advice I appreciate it!

 

[HAROBUILT]

I think this article will help you:

The Proper Way To Water A Potted Plant

The Proper Way to Water a Potted Plant Also covered: the importance of pH and why we successively up-pot How to Water Over the last several years I have put a lot of study into this, and I feel that I can now define the proper way to water a potted plant. Keep in mind that this discussion...

www.420magazine.com

Thank you!

 

[Emilya Green]

I overwatered a few times and almost lost them so after that for that I was always trying to be careful not to overwater

It is impossible to overwater by giving too much water in one session. If you water to runoff, that is all the soil is going to hold, any more simply runs out of the bottom.

The only way to overwater is to water too often. If you come back to water to runoff again, before all of the water has been used up from the last time, you have overwatered. You have caused the bottom of your container, where gravity stores the water, to not be able to dry out between waterings. Your roots will eventually put a coating around themselves to protect from the constant water, and at that point, you have become an overwaterer. The easiest way to get in this situation is to water a set amount each time, at regular calendar intervals, without monitoring how much water is sitting in the bottom half of the container.

 

[bluter]

go with em's method of learning to water by the weight of the pots. they will weigh significantly less when needing to be fertigated. always water to runoff.

don't go by a set x amount for each plant. in soil some require more, some less. the plant will let you know it has had enough by the amount of runoff.

 

[Fuzzy Duck]

Many good replies from finest.

This pic is a 15 litre air pot & about 3.5 gallon in size, these take about 3 days to dry out with temperature between 25c - 28c once watered well to which you can see they are standing in a pool of run off this presents no hazard to the plant in the short term off growing.

3 days ah, they will be reasonable dry but not showing signs of under watering & at this point may of taken about 1.5 gallons of H2O to water well.

20210620_185218.jpg

• Fuzzy Duck
• Jun 20, 2021

The next grow part 2 well watered.

 

[HAROBUILT]

Thank you everyone! The pots I have are kinda weird I didnt think about until the other day they say self watering pots so now with reading everything as of today I waterd them until the run off came out the hole and then sucked up the excess water that came out but left the run off thats in the bottom part they definitely weigh twice as much thank you everyone again and here are a couple pictures to get what im saying.

 

[TorturedSoul]

Thank you I currently use fox farms stuff right now because its my first grown and they have a feeding chart I go by and it was the only familiar name I new in the store at the time but anyways thank you for the advice I appreciate it!

If you're shopping at big box department stores, hardware-themed versions of same, and even some greenhouse nursery stores, your options might be limited (although that has been changing over the last several years). One brand that is sometimes sold in such places is Neptune's Harvest. From reports - and comparison grows - I've seen, it is slightly less productive, for some people, but is said to be capable of producing high quality / tasty bud. All of that brand's products are OMRI certified (which may or may not matter to you). And one or two of them have a faint(?) odor of Death by the Seashore .

 

[Bill284]

Many good replies from finest.

This pic is a 15 litre air pot & about 3.5 gallon in size, these take about 3 days to dry out with temperature between 25c - 28c once watered well to which you can see they are standing in a pool of run off this presents no hazard to the plant in the short term off growing.

3 days ah, they will be reasonable dry but not showing signs of under watering & at this point may of taken about 1.5 gallons of H2O to water well.

20210620_185218.jpg

• Fuzzy Duck
• Jun 20, 2021

The next grow part 2 well watered.

Hey fuzzy love the Air pot, especially since you assembled it perfectly.
Just curious you vac that water out after you finish watering right?
Hope your doing well my friend.




Stay safe
Bill284

 

[SmokingWings]

Thank you everyone! The pots I have are kinda weird I didnt think about until the other day they say self watering pots....

I can understand the confusion. They are a style or shape of pot primarily intended for growing houseplants. The self-watering part is to make it easier for the person growing the houseplant because they can fill the saucer area at the bottom and not have to worry about watering for a week up to maybe 2 weeks.

....so now with reading everything as of today I waterd them until the run off came out the hole and then sucked up the excess water that came out but left the run off thats in the bottom part...

Keep in mind that when most of the growers here will talk about 'run off' they are talking about when the water first starts to come through the soil and out the holes located on or right next to the bottom of the pot. When you are watering and the 'run off' first starts it will be almost impossible to see it because it is inside the "self-watering saucer". There could be as much as 20 to 30 fluid ounces of water left inside that "self-watering saucer". Plant roots will grow through the holes in the bottom of the pot and slowly suck up the water. The soil itself will never be in direct contact with the water after the watering session.

...they definitely weigh twice as much....

The weight is off because you are feeling the weight of the water that is in the saucer and not in the soil.

Two little tips that I am sure most of the group will agree with.

The first one is to get a regular saucer intended for gardening and put it under the pots you already have. That way, when the excess water comes out it will be in those saucers instead of on the tent floor. And it will be easier to suck up the excess water so it does not sit on the tent's floor pan. Eventually it will discolor the floor and often the stains will not come clean. Not a big deal but it might be possible that the area will become weak and the floor pan is ruined.

The second tip is to buy some regular nursery or landscaping style pots for the next grow. The hard sided ones cost a lot less than the style that you have now but they don't look as fancy either. But they will work better for the type of growing we are trying to do. One plus is that they have a wider bottom which helps lower the center of gravity so taller plants are less likely to tip over.

The soft pots or cloth pots or air pots are another option but they cost more than the hard sided ones, maybe as much as the flower pots you have. Any of these styles will be a better option. They are also made of a type of plastic and will last a long time, maybe not as long as the hard sided ones but most of us would not notice.

Went outside and grabbed a photo of the hard sided pots I am mentioning......

 

[Emilya Green]

We all have opinions about containers. I have used all manner of containers in my gardens over the years, and I remember saying that I would never use anything but a fabric container as my final. Things change, and now I have a new favorite. Because of the way I grow, in a limited space indoors, it is helpful to me to have a smaller footprint. Even at the 5g level, a short squat fabric bag and its drip tray will not fit on one of my fancy rolley carts in my bloom room and it becomes a balancing act to keep it all up there and still able to roll around. My new tall tapered 5g containers and their drip trays fit neatly right on the roll around cart, and I can get more plants into the same space. So, there is that.

But also I think the plants grow healthier in the taller container. Instead of a solid mass of roots in the short bag, I get a different, spread out rootball, which seems to be able to specialize into having different types of roots in the top, middle and bottom of the container. With proper watering, I believe I am getting at least the same density of roots in these containers as I got in the bags, so I see no downside. Weigh all the above with the ability to clean and sterilize the used containers, not to mention their ability to stack for easy storage, along with the standardization and reusability needed on all of my equipment, and I had no choice but to switch away from cloth bags. I love them, but they are just enough of a pain (x24 sometimes) to no longer be worth the hassle.

 

[SmokingWings]

But also I think the plants grow healthier in the taller container.

There is that. The root issue is one important thing I take into consideration with my clones since those do not have the tap root to help anchor the plant. And no tap root does seem to create a few complications when the heavy buds make the whole plant sway about 3 weeks before harvest. .

In the long run whether it is a 'tall' or a 'squat' the base is still wider and therefore more stable than most flower pots intended for our living rooms or front porches. Even have pots in the grow shops which are marked on the bottom with the capacity and 'squat' or 'tall' so we can have our choice.