Watering schedule

[rtfdc1]

Hello all!
I've got a couple of soil grows under my belt but am always learning. My question concerns watering, how much and how often? As the plant progresses, how much more water/nutes can be used. It seems that if I use more than 1.5 cups of water per plant per feed, indications of too much water start showing up. I've got 600 watts(from the wall) of light at 16 -18 inches away. What would be a schedule that will allow my plants to grow larger than 2.5 feet tall?

 

[XobeMan]

They will only take what they need and only when the First 1 inch of the top of the soil or coco is dry is when they need.

You can not give more water thinking they will grow faster, they will grow as fast as the genetics allow the plant to do so.

 

[bunkbudz]

Hello all!
I've got a couple of soil grows under my belt but am always learning. My question concerns watering, how much and how often? As the plant progresses, how much more water/nutes can be used. It seems that if I use more than 1.5 cups of water per plant per feed, indications of too much water start showing up. I've got 600 watts(from the wall) of light at 16 -18 inches away. What would be a schedule that will allow my plants to grow larger than 2.5 feet tall?

What type of indications do you mean? What size are your containers? 1.5 cups sounds about right for a seedling in a small container. I use a gallon at a time in a 3 gal pot and have about 16oz of runoff. That lasts about 3-4 days until the pot feels light again.

 

[Weaselcracker]

One of these days we should write up a long post about watering and try to get it turned into a 420 sticky. There are a few in the 'how to grow' link and I'll link to that at the end of this post. But a lot of us write the same stuff repeatedly. I've written this out so many times... I'm just going to try and write out all my thoughts on it here, and save it somewhere to repost next time. Sorry if it's long winded or if you know all this already.

Basically- do not water on a set schedule, or by any particular amount of water. Water by the weight of the pots- they will set the schedule for you.

What size containers are you in now and how big are your plants? What are you growing in?

I'm growing in soilless-(peat moss and perlite), but this advice should apply to soil as well. Not so much for fluffier mediums like coco, rockwool, or plain perlite, etc.
But I'm just going to refer here to the medium as 'soil' for the sake of making it easier to write this.

Overwatering is what happens when roots stay too wet for too long without getting a dry period. Overwatering is the number one killer of cannabis seedlings, and will seriously screw up a plant of any age and cause all sorts of problems. Watering properly is really one of the most important things to consider in your grow. Roots grow best in fairly dry conditions. They really don't do well if they don't get a chance to dry out a bit.

My whole grow life schedule revolves around how often I have to be there to water. And how often I have to be there to water revolves around the plant size to pot size ratio.

There are a couple different stages of plant growth, and you have to water differently depending on what stage you're at.

---- One stage is, basically, when the plant is too small for the pot. The size of its root system and/or foliage is too small to allow it to properly deal with the amount of water that would be contained in that pot if it was soaked down. So it has to be babied along till it gets bigger.

This stage usually always includes new seedlings. But it also includes to a lesser degree plants that have been recently transplanted into large pots, and plants that have been chopped or pruned down very small and lost most of their foliage. (Like a post-harvest reveg attempt).

But seedlings are the most delicate and most likely to die.
When I plant a seed or a freshly rooted clone, I plant it into 'soil' that I have premixed with a little bit of water. It should be evenly moist. Never wet.
Try this. Grab a handful in one hand and squeeze it. It should form somewhat of a clump, which should still fall apart quite easily when you open your hand.
If it stays solidly clumped it's too wet. If it doesn't clump at all it's too dry.

Once you have your container full of that mix- weigh it in your hand. That's the ideal amount of moisture it should have in it for roots to thrive. I've seen people weigh it with a scale. But really you can very quickly do this by feel with minimal practise.

I usually plant my sprouts and cuttings into one gallon pots, they don't need watering for the first couple weeks after that. Solo cup size containers will obviously dry out sooner. In the first couple weeks your plants will need maybe just a few dribbles around the edges to touch up, or use a spray bottle. That will vary slightly depending on your humidity. Most moisture loss at this stage will be from evaporation, not transpiration.

Never soak down a small plant which is in a large pot. Very roughly speaking I never soak a plant down till it's about 1.5 times the height of the container it's in.
The same rule applies to any small plant in a large pot. You have to baby it till the roots and foliage gain size.


----- The other stage is when the plant size/pot size ratio is in a better range. Roughly speaking this means the plant is two or three times the size of the container. Then you can soak it down. Aim for some runoff out the bottom.
This stage is the ideal situation for plants and the other- 'babying' stage is a bit more of a pain to manage.

At this point you can do a wet- dry cycle. Soaking the pot to runoff washes excess nutrients out the bottom and keeps salts from building up- keeping the plant healthy and avoiding many problems. It also allows nutrients to saturate the pot completely.
But, after soaking, then it's very important to let it dry again, so that the roots get a chance to access some oxygen and stay healthy.
Do not water it till it's dry again- by weight as compared to a same sized container of almost dry soil. One way to do this is to leave the plant till it dries and starts wilting just slightly. Then weigh the pot by hand so you know how heavy a dry pot feels.

The length of the wet-dry cycle is determined by the plant/pot size ratio. To me an ideal wet-dry cycle (in soil/peat moss) would be around five days. Less than three days means the pot is too small and the plant is probably rootbound. More than 7 days is too long and you're facing overwatering issues.

I judge all my watering needs by lifting the pots, from solo cups up to 15 gallon pots. Occasionally the top of the soil will dry out a little too much while the main mass is still wet, then I'll dribble a little on the top and edges just to touch them up.

Excuse the mini- essay.


Check this link. How to Grow Marijuana Everything You Need to Know
Scroll down to the watering section and check the thread called something like the 'lift the pot method'.

 

[MsSinful]

One of these days we should write up a long post about watering and try to get it turned into a 420 sticky. There are a few in the 'how to grow' link and I'll link to that at the end of this post. But a lot of us write the same stuff repeatedly. I've written this out so many times... I'm just going to try and write out all my thoughts on it here, and save it somewhere to repost next time. Sorry if it's long winded or if you know all this already.

Basically- do not water on a set schedule, or by any particular amount of water. Water by the weight of the pots- they will set the schedule for you.

What size containers are you in now and how big are your plants? What are you growing in?

I'm growing in soilless-(peat moss and perlite), but this advice should apply to soil as well. Not so much for fluffier mediums like coco, rockwool, or plain perlite, etc.
But I'm just going to refer here to the medium as 'soil' for the sake of making it easier to write this.

Overwatering is what happens when roots stay too wet for too long without getting a dry period. Overwatering is the number one killer of cannabis seedlings, and will seriously screw up a plant of any age and cause all sorts of problems. Watering properly is really one of the most important things to consider in your grow. Roots grow best in fairly dry conditions. They really don't do well if they don't get a chance to dry out a bit.

My whole grow life schedule revolves around how often I have to be there to water. And how often I have to be there to water revolves around the plant size to pot size ratio.

There are a couple different stages of plant growth, and you have to water differently depending on what stage you're at.

---- One stage is, basically, when the plant is too small for the pot. The size of its root system and/or foliage is too small to allow it to properly deal with the amount of water that would be contained in that pot if it was soaked down. So it has to be babied along till it gets bigger.

This stage usually always includes new seedlings. But it also includes to a lesser degree plants that have been recently transplanted into large pots, and plants that have been chopped or pruned down very small and lost most of their foliage. (Like a post-harvest reveg attempt).

But seedlings are the most delicate and most likely to die.
When I plant a seed or a freshly rooted clone, I plant it into 'soil' that I have premixed with a little bit of water. It should be evenly moist. Never wet.
Try this. Grab a handful in one hand and squeeze it. It should form somewhat of a clump, which should still fall apart quite easily when you open your hand.
If it stays solidly clumped it's too wet. If it doesn't clump at all it's too dry.

Once you have your container full of that mix- weigh it in your hand. That's the ideal amount of moisture it should have in it for roots to thrive. I've seen people weigh it with a scale. But really you can very quickly do this by feel with minimal practise.

I usually plant my sprouts and cuttings into one gallon pots, they don't need watering for the first couple weeks after that. Solo cup size containers will obviously dry out sooner. In the first couple weeks your plants will need maybe just a few dribbles around the edges to touch up, or use a spray bottle. That will vary slightly depending on your humidity. Most moisture loss at this stage will be from evaporation, not transpiration.

Never soak down a small plant which is in a large pot. Very roughly speaking I never soak a plant down till it's about 1.5 times the height of the container it's in.
The same rule applies to any small plant in a large pot. You have to baby it till the roots and foliage gain size.


----- The other stage is when the plant size/pot size ratio is in a better range. Roughly speaking this means the plant is two or three times the size of the container. Then you can soak it down. Aim for some runoff out the bottom.

At this point you can do a wet- dry cycle. Soaking the pot to runoff washes excess nutrients out the bottom and keeps salts from building up- keeping the plant healthy and avoiding many problems.
But, after soaking, then it's very important to let it dry again, so that the roots get a chance to access some oxygen and stay healthy.
Do not water it till it's dry again- by weight as compared to a same sized container of almost dry soil. One way to do this is to leave the plant till it dries and starts wilting just slightly. Then weigh the pot by hand so you know how heavy a dry pot feels.

The length of the wet-dry cycle is determined by the plant/pot size ratio. To me an ideal wet-dry cycle (in soil/peat moss) would be around five days. Less than three days means the pot is too small and the plant is probably rootbound. More than 7 days is too long and you're facing overwatering issues.

I judge all my watering needs by lifting the pots, from solo cups up to 15 gallon pots. Occasionally the top of the soil will dry out a little too much while the main mass is still wet, then I'll dribble a little on the top and edges just to touch them up.

Excuse the mini- essay.


Check this link. How to Grow Marijuana Everything You Need to Know
Scroll down to the watering section and check the thread called something like the 'lift the pot method'.

Good information. MagicJim had shared a link on my first grow "the proper way to water" I don't think it's a sticky though, maybe you could double check. It was packed with information that helped me.

 

[Weaselcracker]

You mean the thread by Emilya? The proper way to water a potted plant. ?

 

[MsSinful]

You mean the thread by Emilya? The proper way to water a potted plant. ?

Yes! That is it.

 

[Weaselcracker]

The Proper Way to Water a Potted Plant

 

[XobeMan]

Go buy a weigh scale a decent one that measures how fat you are lmao

Then before you ever plant a plant take the bucket with your medium in and weigh it. This will tell you the weight of it when its all dry.

Then pour PH'd water into it till you start to see a bit of run off
... not a ton of run off... and weight it this will give you an idea of the weight when the medium is somewhat half wet... then pour more water till you get about 20% run off and weigh it as this will and idea as to when the medium is fully watered.

No also make sure its not Overwatered.

Afer getting used to the weight you will get the hang of when and when not do water.

Yeah the clumping the soil is a decent idea as well to see of its moist and so forth, but weighing it like i said will give and idea.

Of course once a plant is in ot it will weigh more.. weigh the pot with a plant in to to see and as it gets bigger well ya should already know by that time when and when not to water.

 

[Weaselcracker]

Another reason I wanted to try and put together more definitive answers to some of these questions that we keep answering over and over again, to save in my 'notes' somewhere- is - I find I'll often type out a mini-essay of some sort, trying to help someone and answer their burning question, and they never even return to read it, or answer. . No biggie, but like most, I don't have unlimited time to waste.

 

[Skunkworkz]

Coco, unlike peat, has essentially perfect oxygenation. Meaning it's nearly impossible to overwater as long as you have proper drainage. As to feeding, plants in coco @ 12/12 lighting should be fed when the lights come on. In veg @ 24-on, feed daily as needed, no set schedule is necessary. Growing in coco is hydroponic, as coco has no amendments & is basically plant . support-so daily feeding is generally necessary. Notice I say "feeding" not "watering." Because, hydro.