How long can soil be dry before plants start getting damaged?

Say your soil is dry on the top, how long can it stay dry before your plants start getting damaged from being under watered?

Well that depends on a lot of factors, where you are growing them, lighting, heat/cold, etc... If the soil at the top is cracked you need water. And once given water, I have seen my plants rebound from an arid grow (outside)

Hi how are you today? The plants can dry out to the point of laying the leaves down on the stalk and still be okay, they really prefer it, to being wet. In tall 3 gallon pots it takes mine a full 7 days to dry out enough for me to want to give water/feeding. The top will looked cracked and dry as hell, but the bottom may still be wet, always pick your pots up to judge how dry it is, if I cant pick one up one handed there is still moisture in the bottom.
MD

Under watering is much better then over watering. If you see the leaves wilting and laying against the stalk, it's watering time.
You should be able to tell if they need water by picking up the potted plant before the leaves get wilted.

inside grow use a 2 prong simple meter. in 5 gal pots, every 3 days pay attention. if they droop a bit, feed um. the girls like dry more than wet

its never what we want, NO!!, its what THE GIRLS want is what rules us. its a curse sunofabitch!

I think of my plants like my kids lol, I watch them everyday and make sure they have whatever they need/want to make them happy... Wait hell, my kids don't even have it that good, my kids get what they get and love it, plants get much more lol

As long as your using true soil and not soiless, a healthy plant can sustain drought for quite some time IF its healthy, the same goes for cuttings.

I feel root damage has already began once the leaves sag to the stem.

You'll probably need to skip a few days of watering after she droops to actually kill it, probably take much less to kill it in coco.

SPLFreak808 said:

As long as your using true soil and not soiless, a healthy plant can sustain drought for quite some time IF its healthy, the same goes for cuttings.

I feel root damage has already began once the leaves sag to the stem.

You'll probably need to skip a few days of watering after she droops to actually kill it, probably take much less to kill it in coco.

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Drooping is just caused from lack of water in the plant to create hydraulic negative pressure as the light makes the plant circulate the water to the top, for it to respire through the leaves. Not necessarily that the roots are damaged yet. Just that there is no water to sustain pressure.

Not trying to be obstinate or disrespectful, just clarifying. You probably knew that, though.