Plants need enough water, air, sunlight, and nutrients in order to have a sufficient growth. Giving your plants enough amount of water tend to be the hardest to meet. There is no exact way in watering your marijuana garden but there are ideal and best ways to water weed plants. Since there are a lot of growing mediums, you cannot observe your roots properly under the soil. But there are a lot of products and techniques that can help in keeping your garden healthy and hydrated.
Why Water is Important for your Cannabis Plants
Water is essential for dissolved minerals and nutrients, and this is absorbed by roots before it spread throughout the plants. It also cools down your plant, fills up the cells, and is a requirement for photosynthesis.
Generally, it is important to water enough to keep your soil moist, but not necessarily wet. If you have a soil that is too wet, you can induce fungal growth as well as root damage.
Moderation is the key
Over-watering your plants is a common mistake that a lot of growers make. When you over-water, it can lead to botrytis (grey mold), Pythium (root rot) and powdery mildew. This can also cause toxicity in nutrients and anaerobic conditions in your soil. These can be really disastrous, and if you are a newbie, these issues can be sometimes difficult to correct.
A lot of growers agree that soil must be dry out slightly when feeding because this can prevent your plants from mold, rot, and nutrient burn. This can also encourage your roots to be denser. You must water your plants before your roots dry out.
It is important to find the right balance when watering your plants. This may vary depending on the strain that you are using. Take note that tropical Sativa can be really thirsty while the Indica abhors damp. Also, the size and the growth stage of your cannabis should also be considered when knowing the amount of water needed for your plants.
Techniques in Watering your Cannabis Plants
Temperature, size, health and the growth stage of your plants are the most important factors that you need to know when determining the ideal amount of water that you give to your plants. Under-watering your plants can make them weak and droopy. If this happens, your plants can have weaker leaves and they may feel lifeless. On the other hand, over-watered plants may also have the same effect, but the leap tips of over-watered plants may curl. It is important not to undergo these two conditions. If you figure out the right watering schedule for your marijuana plants, you will know that under-watering your plants may be more beneficial than over-watering it. You have to supply your roots enough oxygen in order to survive.
Best way to Water Cannabis Plants in Soil
A lot of novice growers usually ask the best way in watering their marijuana crops when planted in soil. Your plant needs to have lots of water, and over-watering is never tolerated. If you use the right ways, you can have optimum results for your plants.
The ideal amount of water that is needed for your irrigation should be at least a quarter of the total amount of the container or medium that you are using. Below is a simple guide which you can use:
- 1L pot – Ideal volume of water is 0.25L in each irrigation
- 4L pot – Ideal volume of water is 1L in each irrigation
- 12L pot – Ideal volume of water is 3L in each irrigation
- 30L pot – Ideal volume of water is 7.5L in each irrigation
The recommended number of times you should water your plants is 2 to 3 times, and this should be done uniformly and slowly over the surface so that you can moisten the substrate entirely.
You may notice that your medium may become heavy when you finished watering, and this can cause difficulty to move them. When this happens, you have to weigh your containers, and when you noticed that they lost a lot of weight, that can be a good basis to water your plants again. Take note that you can use your hands in weighing them. You can also utilize a pot that is filled with a dry substrate so that you can compare their weights.
This can be an effective technique and is proven to be efficient and suitable for any kinds of plants. When you use this method, watering your strain every 3 to 6 days is normal. However, there are still some factors which should be considered for frequent irrigation like those plants in small pots, hot and dry climate, sun exposure, etc.
Under watering
Under watering usually happens when your plants receive too little amount of water, thus making your leaves to start wilting. This is very common but when you grow indoors, there is a big possibility to avoid this from happening although the opposite may happen. Cannabis plants should have a little amount of dry period so that their potency and optimum growth will be fully achieved. However, this should not be put in total extreme to the point that the leaves start wilting. This happens when the water pressure in the leaves is not enough, thus, making the cells shrink. Because of this, the overall structure of the leaves tends to bend under its weight. You can still compromise this by introducing water to them. Upon doing so, you must start seeing that your leaves strengthen which means that they can be already good to undergo photosynthesis.
Overwatering
This is the most common mistakes that inexperienced growers commit because they often tend to supply a lot of water without realizing that too much water can slow down the growth of their plants. When you use excessive amounts of water for your cannabis plants or even any other plants, there is a very big tendency that they can grow fungus or mold which can greatly affect the growth of your plants. You may notice that your leaves begin to curl and bend and the tips of the leaves start to turn yellow. This mistake cannot be corrected immediately but when you allow your plants to use up all the water that you gave, this can let them recover and continue to grow. It is important to utilize the best ways to water weed plants to benefit you in the future.
