Watering question

osowhom

osowhom

Well-Known Member
Growing in 7 gallon pots using organic promix just started flowering I have a moisture meter but not a long enough one so far I have been giving two thirds a gallon every three days hard to tell by lifting because they are so heavy and I forgot to weigh them originally does that sound about right or should I step it up to a gallon or more frequently asking someone growing in same medium thanks
 
Autodoctor

Autodoctor

Well-Known Member
I give mine at least a gallon each every 2- 3 days in my 5 gln fabric pots cause their drinking a lot.let them dry out and feel couple inches down and can tell when their light. Just don’t over water to often. Not sure how much run off u have. Want 15-20%. fabric pots are easy to tell when light but don’t have to weigh. When u lift up pot after watering you will tell by lifting pot when heavy compaired to light. Can also get another pot and fill dry and weigh so u have an idea. I have learned the closer to harvest the less they drink. I haven’t gotten a meter that actual works correctly. One either always says wet and one always says dry. Gave up on those things
 
twentyeight.threefive

twentyeight.threefive

Well-Known Member
osowhom said:
Growing in 7 gallon pots using organic promix just started flowering I have a moisture meter but not a long enough one so far I have been giving two thirds a gallon every three days hard to tell by lifting because they are so heavy and I forgot to weigh them originally does that sound about right or should I step it up to a gallon or more frequently asking someone growing in same medium thanks
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If they are so heavy that you can't lift them they don't need water. Water when they are light.
 
osowhom

osowhom

Well-Known Member
Autodoctor said:
I would think 7 gln pot would go 4-5 days before needing watered
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ok thanks i will try not to over water i can dry them out once and weigh them a gallon of water is about 8 pounds so i can go by that i havent watered until runoff i dont want to soak them
 
D

Driver733

Well-Known Member
osowhom said:
ok thanks i will try not to over water i can dry them out once and weigh them a gallon of water is about 8 pounds so i can go by that i havent watered until runoff i dont want to soak them
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To be blunt, you DO WANT to soak the plants when you water, that is why you water to get 20% runoff. The runoff washes the salt out of your medium, to keep the roots healthy. Overwatering is watering too often.

Each plant is totally different, there is no set schedule by which you can say "water every x days in y size pot". It doesn't work like that.

I am growing two White Widow plants right now, both from seed, sprouted the same day. One plant has been really thirsty from the start, in veg I was under watering because I was going by what I thought the plant should need based on how many days since the last watering, but the plant wanted more water, lots more water.

Once I started flowering, in 3 gallon fabric pots, this plant needed water every 24-27 hours, while the other plant was every 48 hours. That has continued the entire time in flower, we are now in week 8 and the watering is starting to slow down, the one plant is now about every 30 hours while the other one is still about 48 hours or more. It was hard to believe I needed to water every 24 hours but the results speak for themselves (I can post a picture tomorrow).

I weigh each pot with a small scale so I know exactly when they will need water again. If I didn't weigh each pot, I would be guessing and not doing a very good job (I am terrible at estimating weight). Every plant is different and needs will vary, adjust your care accordingly.
 
osowhom

osowhom

Well-Known Member
Driver733 said:
To be blunt, you DO WANT to soak the plants when you water, that is why you water to get 20% runoff. The runoff washes the salt out of your medium, to keep the roots healthy. Overwatering is watering too often.

Each plant is totally different, there is no set schedule by which you can say "water every x days in y size pot". It doesn't work like that.

I am growing two White Widow plants right now, both from seed, sprouted the same day. One plant has been really thirsty from the start, in veg I was under watering because I was going by what I thought the plant should need based on how many days since the last watering, but the plant wanted more water, lots more water.

Once I started flowering, in 3 gallon fabric pots, this plant needed water every 24-27 hours, while the other plant was every 48 hours. That has continued the entire time in flower, we are now in week 8 and the watering is starting to slow down, the one plant is now about every 30 hours while the other one is still about 48 hours or more. It was hard to believe I needed to water every 24 hours but the results speak for themselves (I can post a picture tomorrow).

I weigh each pot with a small scale so I know exactly when they will need water again. If I didn't weigh each pot, I would be guessing and not doing a very good job (I am terrible at estimating weight). Every plant is different and needs will vary, adjust your care accordingly.
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Yes I am going to use a scale then water til runoff ty
 
D

Driver733

Well-Known Member
This is the scale I use, small enough to slide under the pot in the tent (on a cookie sheet) and get a reading.

20200815_094355.jpg 20201005_095152.jpg

You can see the minimum weight I have established for each size pot I use. Unfortunately, this is a guide and not foolproof, I will explain why.

When I started my current grow, described in my post above, (two White Widow from seed, sprouted same day), in the pot that weighs 1200 grams dry, I was getting wilting leaves on one plant at 1300 grams, long before it should be dry and need water. Despite the drooping, I waited until 1200 grams to water and after I watered, instead of perking up right away like they should, it would take a day or two for the leaves to perk up, almost about time to water again. However, they would start drooping again before the pot dried out to 1200 grams. It was frustrating.

When I transplanted to the 3 gallon fabric pot the roots looked fine but the issue persisted in the larger pot. The pot would weigh 4500 grams and the leaves are drooping, it should not need water until 4000 grams yet waiting seems to make it worse. I finally decided to water at 4500 grams and that is when the plant really took off!!! I flipped to flower and started watering every 24-27 hours, around 4500 grams, and that plant is nearly double the size of the sister plant which has continued to need water every 48 hours, when it gets down to 4000 grams.

Hopefully this is not too confusing, the bottom line is that I had to break my own watering rules for this plant and it has paid off big time. I will post a picture later this morning. Honestly, I am myself amazed at the difference in the needs of each plant, since other than the frequency of watering they have been fed the same nutrients. I feed every time I water, that was also hard to do watering every 24 hours but I have learned from past experience my plants don't like plain water. I keep a constant roughly 850 PPM all thru flower, just now in week 8 I am gradually reducing the nutes.
 
osowhom

osowhom

Well-Known Member
Driver733 said:
This is the scale I use, small enough to slide under the pot in the tent (on a cookie sheet) and get a reading.

View attachment 4938464 View attachment 4938477

You can see the minimum weight I have established for each size pot I use. Unfortunately, this is a guide and not foolproof, I will explain why.

When I started my current grow, described in my post above, (two White Widow from seed, sprouted same day), in the pot that weighs 1200 grams dry, I was getting wilting leaves on one plant at 1300 grams, long before it should be dry and need water. Despite the drooping, I waited until 1200 grams to water and after I watered, instead of perking up right away like they should, it would take a day or two for the leaves to perk up, almost about time to water again. However, they would start drooping again before the pot dried out to 1200 grams. It was frustrating.

When I transplanted to the 3 gallon fabric pot the roots looked fine but the issue persisted in the larger pot. The pot would weigh 4500 grams and the leaves are drooping, it should not need water until 4000 grams yet waiting seems to make it worse. I finally decided to water at 4500 grams and that is when the plant really took off!!! I flipped to flower and started watering every 24-27 hours, around 4500 grams, and that plant is nearly double the size of the sister plant which has continued to need water every 48 hours, when it gets down to 4000 grams.

Hopefully this is not too confusing, the bottom line is that I had to break my own watering rules for this plant and it has paid off big time. I will post a picture later this morning. Honestly, I am myself amazed at the difference in the needs of each plant, since other than the frequency of watering they have been fed the same nutrients. I feed every time I water, that was also hard to do watering every 24 hours but I have learned from past experience my plants don't like plain water. I keep a constant roughly 850 PPM all thru flower, just now in week 8 I am gradually reducing the nutes.
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i am growing clones and have had success with these when watered less but more frequent i have 3 plants i am going to try and experiment with 1 and let it get really dry see what happens theoher 2 i will water as i normally do thanks for the input
 
twentyeight.threefive

twentyeight.threefive

Well-Known Member
osowhom said:
i am growing clones and have had success with these when watered less but more frequent i have 3 plants i am going to try and experiment with 1 and let it get really dry see what happens theoher 2 i will water as i normally do thanks for the input
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Haven't you had to trash your last couple runs because you couldn't get them to the finish line? If you're in soil, watering less but more often is a recipe for disaster. If you were in coco that'd be a completely different matter.
 
osowhom

osowhom

Well-Known Member
twentyeight.threefive said:
Haven't you had to trash your last couple runs because you couldn't get them to the finish line? If you're in soil, watering less but more often is a recipe for disaster. If you were in coco that'd be a completely different matter.
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ok i will try to water until runoff but these pots are huge it may take 2 gallons
 
osowhom

osowhom

Well-Known Member
my last 2 werent great but i still got about 40 ounces the buds were just small because they never swelled i mean it smokes just fine no complaints i just dont want to make mistakes early again
 
twentyeight.threefive

twentyeight.threefive

Well-Known Member
osowhom said:
ok i will try to water until runoff but these pots are huge it may take 2 gallons
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If the roots are filling the pot that's how you water plants. You give them however much water they need to get to runoff. Over watering isn't giving too much water, it's giving water too often.

You water to runoff and allow the pots to dry out. Soil needs to dry out for the roots to be able to take in oxygen.
 
Dreminen169

Dreminen169

Well-Known Member
Autodoctor said:
often. Not sure how much run off u have. Want 15-20%. fabric pots are easy to tell when light but don’t have to weigh.
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Don’t listen to this advise, since your running organic you don’t want to have any run off, it’s a huge waste of nutrients. Really what ever works 4 u, however ideally you want to aim for 5% pot volume daily, so since your in a 7 gal you want to be around 45oz daily.
 
Dreminen169

Dreminen169

Well-Known Member
Driver733 said:
To be blunt, you DO WANT to soak the plants when you water, that is why you water to get 20% runoff. The runoff washes the salt out of your medium, to keep the roots healthy. Overwatering is watering too often.
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What salt? OP said he was in coast of Maine platinum organic mix. If there was by chance any salt in that medium the organic amendments that is included in the mix will help reclaim.
OP unless you are feeding salts don’t water to run off (& in a badass medium like that you shouldn’t need any salts just top dress or feed a tea if needed), it’s a huge waste to water to runoff. 5%. Pot volume is the general rule of thumb.
 
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