Am I watering too little?

P

pakist0ned

Well-Known Member
Test Continuation:

Plant #1 got more 1L with 0.4L run off.
Plant #2 got more 1L with 0.3L run off.

Totals:
Plant #1: 3L with 0.9 run off (30%)
Plant #2: 4L with 0.5 run off (12.5%)

Conclusions for now:
Seems strange that the lighter pot (#1), with the tallest plant, needed less water than the small one still in veg.

If I was overwatering, it was about frequency and not quantity. And due to low quantities, the only thing I can think of, is that the bottom soil was so dry, that it was not draining any water, and water was being retained in the middle. Otherwise I can't see how they were overwatered.

I also read in a few places, that droopy leaves could also mean underwater.

So now, I'm sure they had plenty of water to moisture all that soil. Let's see how they react to this in the next couple of days and see if I can take some conclusions.

Also, these pots can definitely take more water then I was giving to them.
 
Hollatchaboy

Hollatchaboy

Well-Known Member
pakist0ned said:
Test Continuation:

Plant #1 got more 1L with 0.4L run off.
Plant #2 got more 1L with 0.3L run off.

Totals:
Plant #1: 3L with 0.9 run off (30%)
Plant #2: 4L with 0.5 run off (12.5%)

Conclusions for now:
Seems strange that the lighter pot (#1), with the tallest plant, needed less water than the small one still in veg.

If I was overwatering, it was about frequency and not quantity. And due to low quantities, the only thing I can think of, is that the bottom soil was so dry, that it was not draining any water, and water was being retained in the middle. Otherwise I can't see how they were overwatered.

I also read in a few places, that droopy leaves could also mean underwater.

So now, I'm sure they had plenty of water to moisture all that soil. Let's see how they react to this in the next couple of days and see if I can take some conclusions.

Also, these pots can definitely take more water then I was giving to them.
Click to expand...
Overwatered plant has turgor.

SacajaGanja-growery-1.jpg

Underwatered, does not.

Screenshot_20220110-105003_Google.jpg

See how the stem is droopy? That's underwatered.
 
P

pakist0ned

Well-Known Member
Guys, I won't bother you anymore with this. I will take my own conclusions after I see how they respond.

But in case I have over watered them, what can/should I do? Just wait until leafs are not drooping anymore?
 
twentyeight.threefive

twentyeight.threefive

Well-Known Member
pakist0ned said:
Guys, I won't bother you anymore with this. I will take my own conclusions after I see how they respond.

But in case I have over watered them, what can/should I do? Just wait until leafs are not drooping anymore?
Click to expand...
Overwatering is watering them too often. It has nothing to do with the volume of one watering.

When you water/feed the entire pot should be soaked. Then you wait until the pot is light again (dry) and then you repeat.
 
LeastExpectedGrower

LeastExpectedGrower

Well-Known Member
I honestly have a hard time believing in a full 5g pot that going from 'dry' to saturated is less than 2 liters of water. I think you've got dry spots and pockets of wet but that things are not getting evenly saturated.

When I prep soil before planting I'm putting more than 2L in just to get it fully 'damp' to work with.

I'd look at watering technique to see if that can be improved as well. It's a pain, but I water slowly...I find that it takes more water to get to the runoff point when I do that which means more of it is finding the dry pockets in the soil.
 
P

pakist0ned

Well-Known Member
Guys! Plants look much better today! They were thirsty!
IMG_20220111_085539.jpg

Plant #1 still have curled down tips, although she has them since pretty much day 1:
IMG_20211220_174759.jpg
IMG_20211222_084117.jpg

I will try to water her less often. Also, she's not a award winner, it came from a wholesale seed which costs like 1€. So, variety might have it's own issues.

Even though, I will try get her dried up.

So, I also believe issue was wet spots inside the soil. I was definitely using very little volume to water them.
 
LeastExpectedGrower

LeastExpectedGrower

Well-Known Member
Looks better...also check your nitrogen levels...one of those pics has leaves that are seriously clawing.

Figure out a good watering routine (not schedule)... For instance I have a few watering cans and I much prefer the one that dispenses the slowest. That allows me to make sure that I'm watering the soil evenly and slowly. I also start by doing the outer edges of my bags then work the rest of the soil, and work around the bags evenly and repeatedly. I do a liter at a time and you can actually hear it percolating through the medium. It takes about a gallon before I hit any runoff and then I keep going for a bit (because just because it's dripping water doesn't mean all the water has found the dry soil yet.

Generally I know that I'm on a 4-day cycle, but I check every day anyway to make sure the soil is doing what I think it should.
 
Dank Bongula

Dank Bongula

Well-Known Member
It is harder to water smaller plants in large containers. It looks like you are over watering, because you are....you are watering too often....but the amount you are using is too little so it dries up around the edges quickly, but the water down by the roots is still there and does not have a chance to dry before you are dumping more water on it. It isn't a case of under watering or over watering but incorrect watering. Saturate your entire media, then let it dry out. Don't water again until your leaf stems are about to droop. Then saturate the entire media again. Do not water a particular amount on a particular schedule. Just water when the plant needs it.
 
Kushash

Kushash

Well-Known Member
LeastExpectedGrower said:
I honestly have a hard time believing in a full 5g pot that going from 'dry' to saturated is less than 2 liters of water. I think you've got dry spots and pockets of wet but that things are not getting evenly saturated.

When I prep soil before planting I'm putting more than 2L in just to get it fully 'damp' to work with.

I'd look at watering technique to see if that can be improved as well. It's a pain, but I water slowly...I find that it takes more water to get to the runoff point when I do that which means more of it is finding the dry pockets in the soil.
Click to expand...
Well said. I was following and betting he doesn't hydrate his soil before putting it in pots.
 
P

pakist0ned

Well-Known Member
Dank Bongula said:
It is harder to water smaller plants in large containers. It looks like you are over watering, because you are....you are watering too often....but the amount you are using is too little so it dries up around the edges quickly, but the water down by the roots is still there and does not have a chance to dry before you are dumping more water on it. It isn't a case of under watering or over watering but incorrect watering. Saturate your entire media, then let it dry out. Don't water again until your leaf stems are about to droop. Then saturate the entire media again. Do not water a particular amount on a particular schedule. Just water when the plant needs it.
Click to expand...
Exactly my conclusions of this.
 
Kushash

Kushash

Well-Known Member
pakist0ned said:
Not sure what you mean "before putting in pots"?

I hydrated the soil 36 hours before putting the seed in the pot.
Click to expand...
Some people take soil straight from the bag and put it straight into a pot then water the pot. This can be a problem if the soil is to dry and the person doing it is inexperienced. I guess it's not an issue if you hydrated the soil for 36 hours before putting it into a pot.
 
LeastExpectedGrower

LeastExpectedGrower

Well-Known Member
I sort of used that as an example of how much water soil can hold. A few liters of water in dry soil and you can hardly squeeze it together and get it to 'clump.' I'll be feeding my plants this evening, I have 4; in two's a week apart in development, so they're different sizes/needs. For my feeding cycle I do 1.5g per 5g bag. That will net me some runoff, but not as much as I like to see on 'watering day' where I'll do 2g per bag to get about 1 or 1.5 liters of runoff per. My plants aren't huge...these are autos and the two biggest top out at about 32". My cycle is feed-rest-rest-rest-water-rest-rest-rest-feed. So it's two irrigation events for every 8 days. I generally aim at having more runoff on watering days to remove excess unused salt based fertilizers from the previous feed.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top