New Grower Watering little often or watering more less often

[supernaan]

Hi guys. Quick question about watering. I'm at the stage in my grow now where my plants are taking up more water than ever. I used to feed the both 1.5 litre each time every 3-4 days. Recently I noticed that 1.5 litre is sucked up in 2-3 days. So I increased the watering amount to 2 litres for the first time. They both took 2 litres with no problem. Yet its only been 2 days going onto 3 and it feels like they need watering again with the medium dry at the bottom and pot very light.

My question is should I continue to feed at 2 litres less regularly or should I feed 1.5 litres more regularly? Would there be any noticeable differences in yield adopting one strategy over the other? I could manage either easily. I just want to focus on maximising the yield.

 

[BayLee420]

Hi guys. Quick question about watering. I'm at the stage in my grow now where my plants are taking up more water than ever. I used to feed the both 1.5 litre each time every 3-4 days. Recently I noticed that 1.5 litre is sucked up in 2-3 days. So I increased the watering amount to 2 litres for the first time. They both took 2 litres with no problem. Yet its only been 2 days going onto 3 and it feels like they need watering again with the medium dry at the bottom and pot very light.

My question is should I continue to feed at 2 litres less regularly or should I feed 1.5 litres more regularly? Would there be any noticeable differences in yield adopting one strategy over the other? I could manage either easily. I just want to focus on maximising the yield.

You could water/feed until you get at least a 20%-25% run off. Pour the water slowly until you get a good run off. Let's say you water/feed 3 liters and you continue until you get 600-750 ml run off. That way you will mini flush the soil and the root ball will be saturated. Then lift the container to see how heavy it is fully watered. Wait to water until the container is light in weight and then repeat.

What size are the containers? What stage are the girls in? What's the room temp? These all have a relation to how much water you'll need to keep the girls happy.

My Nirvana Northern Light is a three gallon SmartPot. I watered her with one gallon of water/feed until I got 3-4 cup run off. In VEG she'd be watered @ 3-4 days. As she got into FLOWER she'd take the same amount every other day. As she got further into FLOWER she required the same amount less often.

Remember cannabis likes a small dry period between watering.

 

[supernaan]

I'm in the flowering stage. You can check my grow out on here. I always aim for some run off. Usually about 10-15% run off. They're in 11 litre pots. The dry period I get now is usually after two days. But the dry period only lasts like a day at most before signs of under watering start to show and you see signs of wilting. So it's quite a fine line. So what I have started to do is let it go for 2 and a half days before watering. In fact I'm almost on 2 and a half days now and have water pH'ed and ready to go with bloom nutes. Still wondering if it would be better to water less more often or water more less often. I've seen quite a few people adopt both approaches on here and just wanted to know which worked better for them in terms of yield.

 

[supernaan]

The temp is in the 24-28 degrees celsius range and I intentionally lowered humidity to 45-50% for the flowering stage.

 

[Gonzo]

Hi guys. Quick question about watering. I'm at the stage in my grow now where my plants are taking up more water than ever. I used to feed the both 1.5 litre each time every 3-4 days. Recently I noticed that 1.5 litre is sucked up in 2-3 days. So I increased the watering amount to 2 litres for the first time. They both took 2 litres with no problem. Yet its only been 2 days going onto 3 and it feels like they need watering again with the medium dry at the bottom and pot very light.

My question is should I continue to feed at 2 litres less regularly or should I feed 1.5 litres more regularly? Would there be any noticeable differences in yield adopting one strategy over the other? I could manage either easily. I just want to focus on maximising the yield.

Seems that regular watering with the right amount of water does much better as strong wet-dry cycles, when one overwaters the plant and then waits her to dry down until desert dry again (soil, not plant). ganja roots need oxygen and that is why some dry period is very necessary, but need food too, that is why intensive feeding is also necessary, so in my opinion and experience, balancing between watering/food intake and providing enough oxygene with dry periods works the best. Dry period means reduced food, watered period means reduced oxygene, so the sweet spot lays somewhere in between.

Try to find out daily needs and water daily. Besides, your plant is getting heavier and heavier and what was once very wet is now only wet and what was once dry is now superdry.

Do not rely on your feelings about weight if you had not been practicing that for a long time with a lot of plants. It might be very deceiving.

 

[supernaan]

Seems that regular watering with the right amount of water does much better as strong wet-dry cycles, when one overwaters the plant and then waits her to dry down until desert dry again (soil, not plant). ganja roots need oxygen and that is why some dry period is very necessary, but need food too, that is why intensive feeding is also necessary, so in my opinion and experience, balancing between watering/food intake and providing enough oxygene with dry periods works the best. Dry period means reduced food, watered period means reduced oxygene, so the sweet spot lays somewhere in between.

Try to find out daily needs and water daily. Besides, your plant is getting heavier and heavier and what was once very wet is now only wet and what was once dry is now superdry.

Do not rely on your feelings about weight if you had not been practicing that for a long time with a lot of plants. It might be very deceiving.

Thanks Gonzo. That's answered quite a few of my worries about watering. My pots have those little openings at the bottom so you can just press your finger against it and check if its dry or not. I'm a keen gardener so I have a good knack for telling when a plant needs watering. First time growing cannabis so I'm glad I've got you guys around to better explain the workings and cycles of the cannabis plant. Thanks once again Gonzo appreciate it.

 

[namvet25]

When watering you really can't go buy a strict schedule.Your plant will tell you when to water.It might vary according to the humidity and temps.So when you water make sure you get the entire pot moist.If you are watering more often you might want to cut down the nute dose or just feed with every other watering.

 

[BayLee420]

I'm in the flowering stage. You can check my grow out on here. I always aim for some run off. Usually about 10-15% run off. They're in 11 litre pots. The dry period I get now is usually after two days. But the dry period only lasts like a day at most before signs of under watering start to show and you see signs of wilting. So it's quite a fine line. So what I have started to do is let it go for 2 and a half days before watering. In fact I'm almost on 2 and a half days now and have water pH'ed and ready to go with bloom nutes. Still wondering if it would be better to water less more often or water more less often. I've seen quite a few people adopt both approaches on here and just wanted to know which worked better for them in terms of yield.

I've used the dry/wet cycle for all my grows. My yields have been good. Got two ounces from my Bubblicious. That was grown in a SuperBox under 348w cfls. My best advise is to let the plant tell you when she's thirsty. Water every 2nd day if she's thirsty or every day if needed. We don't need to let the plant go into a complete dry period.

Kind of keep it simple. Water till she's saturated no matter how much water you use. Then wait until she's thirsty and do it again.

Watering and yield? Got no answer for that one.

 

[Anthropolis]

(warning: I don't have enough experience about yield) I just water when I feel they need it, but this is a weird sum of various things: how light the pot is, how the leaves look, how the soil feels, and gut feeling lol. I'm organic so I don't water till runoff, I'm of the thought that runoff is bad in my situation. But I also have fabric pots too, which dry out super fast and water likes to run right through the sides and bottom lol! But I leave that runoff and it reabsorbs it in a minute. It's kinda a battle with the fabric pots lol... But the roots like em so it's a fair trade off.

Yeah as they get late in flower, they drink more than before. Then, like you mentioned, the balancing act begins haha I like to water the same amount but adjust the frequency (more or less often). This might actually not be the perfect way, but it feels like the plants like it. Don't listen to me lol, just my two cents

 

[Dreadlow]

Anthropolis im with you 100%, my watering routine is just like yours. In 20l airpots im giving them 3 l at each watering and just adjust frequency.