Overwatered my plants 2 times now... how do I prevent??

So, I've overwatered my plants 2 times now since I started growing.

I'm pretty much convinced my soil isn't mixed with enough drainage medium... so even though the top 1 inch is dry as a bone, it's holding moisture in the middle/bottom.

My question is, how do I figure out how to water? I feel the pot and it's "light"... but maybe not too light...

Is it worth it to grab a moisture meter???

I've fked up 2 times, and both times it's stunted the growth by about a week or so....

Thoughts??

stop using dry inch rule

thick sticky sock said:

stop using dry inch rule

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That's not good enough advice. You need to tell me what replaces that rule!

Dry top 1 inch + 2-3-?? days?

I don't want to underwater, just so I can say I don't over water...

So how do I know what's not going to over water, or underwater?

when pot is light and plant is thirsty then water, stop thinking in terms of days, only think when plant is a little droopy "I water, ok?" And plant perks back

thick sticky sock said:

when pot is light and plant is thirsty then water, stop thinking in terms of days, only think when plant is a little droopy "I water, ok?" And plant perks back

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That assumes droppy is ok.

Is it? I thought a drooping plant can be a stunted plant.

If I have access to my girls 24/7 and usually check the girls every 12 hours, is drooping ok?

slight droop yes, will be fine plants need strife, babying these plants only creates plant that needs babysitting

you are learning, do you need them to be going full out or staying alive. If you wait until it droops then you have a guage for whats too dry. Fully water them once they droop.

MJCanada said:

So, I've overwatered my plants 2 times now since I started growing.

I'm pretty much convinced my soil isn't mixed with enough drainage medium... so even though the top 1 inch is dry as a bone, it's holding moisture in the middle/bottom.

My question is, how do I figure out how to water? I feel the pot and it's "light"... but maybe not too light...

Is it worth it to grab a moisture meter???

I've fked up 2 times, and both times it's stunted the growth by about a week or so....

Thoughts??

Click to expand...

If you want to take the guess work out of it weigh a pot of dry soil to learn the dry weight and weigh the plants you are going to water. Keep records and find their happy place. Noobs that are willing to do this will find they are usually watering to soon, not letting the plants have a dry period.

If you see the plants a few times a day just keep your eye on them, they will tell you when they need water. As posted above you don't need to guess when it's time to water. You will see the droop, It seems easiest to see near the top of the plant, just wait until you see it, it wont hurt your plants, especially in veg, a little stress can be a good thing. If you need to combine this with lifting the pot to see if your diagnosis rings true. Cannabis roots do best with a wet/dry cycle. After a while you will get good at reading your plants.

When your plants are over watered they droop too but it's a slightly different droop.

"Over watering has the look of drooping leaves, under watering is when the entire leaf is drooping from the petiole (stem that attaches the leaf to the plant)."

If they are over watered and droopy keep your eye on them, as they start drying out the roots will be able to "breathe" better and take in oxygen previously not available in their flooded state. The plants will start perking up, leaves will no longer be droopy. At this point you can just watch for this to reverse itself as the plants get thirsty and begin to droop.

If you have small plants in big pots it could easily take 5 days or more for an over watered pot to be ready for water again.

PS, a moisture meter will do you no good, I have tried a few and they call for water a long time before it's needed or prudent.

Seedling in a big pot can take over a week. Even if the plant totaly wilts from lack of water they bounce back in a couple hours. Hard to kill this plant just from lac of water. Over water though....

1)add dry soil and plant to new container with a functioning drain hole, kick it, tilt it, feel the weight.
2)now add exactly 1/4 of the container volume in water all at once.=four gallon container --one gallon water
3) feel the weight of a properly watered pot.
4) repeat when feels like 1 again, and before plant wilts from dry.
keep your fingers out of the top inch, nothing good happens from that, pervert