Finding it hard to tell when my plants need water

ok so I have read everywhere, wait until the first 1/2 inches of your soil is dry. for me though this works out at only watering my plants every 4 to 5 days or longer.

I just transplanted my plants into a bigger container after 12 days growth, I watered the pots with very light nutes until I got some drip. It's been 4 days now since I last watered and the soil is still moist. it is very slightly starting to dry out on the top, but it seems like forever until it will be dry 2 inches down.

Should I just wait it out? is it ok waiting this long between watering?

wait it out, its a bigger container and can hold more moisture the roots will spread out in search of the water and will absorb faster as as it grows

mr.mike said:

wait it out, its a bigger container and can hold more moisture the roots will spread out in search of the water and will absorb faster as as it grows

Click to expand...

what he said. if you are worried about watering i would suggest a probe moisture meter for around 10 bucks. with the probe you can determine exactly how far down the moisture is and just how saturated it is. once you have that down you can just go by the weight of the pot. if the soil comes away from the side of the pot you waited way too long.

+1 on a meter. It will alleviate any real question you might have

Here's how I do watering:
For seedlings they are either in clear solo cups where I can see the moisture in the cup, or peat pots, which are nice because the pot absorbs moisture, so you can get a good idea how dry it is by how dry the bottom of the pot is.
Once I transfer into 1 or 5 gallon buckets you can stick a finger in the soil (should be ~4") and see if it is moist at the deepest point you can reach. Many people use 'dry down to 4"' as an indication that it is time to water again, and this worked pretty well for me when I first started out.
Now I just watch the plants. I check them a few times a day and have a very good idea how they normally look. As soon as I see any leaf droop at all, I water immediatley. The plants perk right back up, but I really drench them, so after 30-60 min they will be slightly droopy again (this time from excess water), and will take a day or so for the leaves to straighten back out perfectly. Then I just watch again for the first sign of drooping to tell me when to next water. Depending on how hot it is here I end up watering as often as every 4 days, and as infrequently as every 7.

Total Head said:

what he said. if you are worried about watering i would suggest a probe moisture meter for around 10 bucks. with the probe you can determine exactly how far down the moisture is and just how saturated it is. once you have that down you can just go by the weight of the pot. if the soil comes away from the side of the pot you waited way too long.

Click to expand...

.

what do you mean soil comes away from the side of the pot? if i flex the pot slightly then the soil stays as a solid piece and comes away, and I can even look down the side of it. but its still damp on top?

your roots are not large enough to absorb the water in the new soil from transplanting yet. for the first few waterings it will take longer to dry up, it is very important to not water too much at this time. you want your roots to move through the new soil searching for water. it the roots dont have to search they wont expand and will just grow down to the bottom of the pot. dont worry that its taking longer, if the leaves are not all droopy its finding the water it needs. wait it out.

been a week now and I still haven't watered them. the roots reached the bottom of the pot like 3 days after the transplant. so... just wait it out still? The top is totally dry, but about an inch down its still moist. should I wait for that to totally dry out too?

how do the leaves look? if they are not droopy the roots are still finding water. when they are more developed you will be watering every few days again, you will see.

just lift the pot up,,,,if the pot feels lite then water it,,,,if the pot feels heavier then it has water in it...thats all i do boss and seems to work fine.

I second xxxcmackk. A dry pot will be considerably lighter than if it has adequate water.
mr. mike answered your question. Your leaves will droop if they are in need of immediate
water. Early on overwatering is just as harmful, if not more....just my $.02

Supa

your roots need oxygen as well. if your plant's container is allowing for adequate watering for a week before next watering i would be happy about it since its less work. what i do is i let my plants go without watering JUST until i see the leafs starting to droop, not all the way, just when they start to point downwards. i make note of that, and water one day before. as your plant gets bigger and abigger rootball the amount of time it takes will very. but if you use this method you are allowing the maximum amount of oxygen to the roots before submersion.

my plants when from being a clone (2-3" tall) to being overly tall for my tent in a month, a good 1'ft taller and bushy as crazy