Over and Under Watering

Im wondering how i know if im over watering my plants

and how often i should water them and how much

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otherwise ide like to know howw often i should flush the plants with just water, weekly>?

water them when the soil is dry. if your plant starts to wilt water more. if you're watering a lot and it gets droopy water less. not really rocket science, it'll come through experience. just pay attention to the plant.

When you first transplant your plants to a new container you can lift it to get an idea of the dry weight. When it weighs that much again water it. That’s what I like to do.

As to how much, some people like to use a measuring cup the first time, or anytime it‘s dry really. You just let it run very slowly, so you can be sure none is running down the sides and out of the pot, when you see a bit coming out the bottom look and see how much water you used . That is how much you should water. As the plants get bigger you will need to water more often.

For the flushing monthly at most. I like to clone to flower “donkey dick” SOG. I use 2 and 3 Lt soda bottles that the plants spend 8 weeks flowering + 1 week veging in and reach 18” to 24”. I like to top dress w/ some worm castings and don’t flush until the last week before harvest. Sometimes a little home made tea is used if I see a need. I clone from the same moms and have sort of learned what the plant needs by the looks of it but I have a long way to go yet and we all fuck up.

Most of my kills have been from over watering and over fertilizing. You can recover from too dry but rarely from too wet and the same holds true for fertilizer. Too much flushing is not good and will kill. Anyway good luck.

Start your seeds or clones in Jiffy Peat Pots, Rapid Rooters or Jiffy Seed Starting Mix. I say that, because they are all, almost, impossible to overwater. Takes some of the bite - out of the learning curve.
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Low, Slow & Steady for watering & feeding. Water one week, feed the next in rotation. If you mixed your soil properly, it should hold some water, but drain well also.
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It's better to give a good heavy watering, once a week, instead of frequent light ones. Mary only stretches out her roots as far as it takes to find water & food. If you water & feed too frequently - you are guaranteed to have a smaller rootball. Smaller rootballs equal, smaller yields.
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If your soil is not dry down at least one inch below the surface, don't water. Most Walmart's & Home depots carry a small moisture meter for around $ 5. You just push the probe down into your soil and it gives you a reading of the level of wetness in the mix. A good investment for any grower.
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Hope this helps....
Keep it Real....Organic.....
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RE: moisture meters . . . use in conjunction with common sense. Mine'll say the soils fine when I know it's time to water, like up to 2 weeks! Use meter as a guide, not gospel. If I can't a find pretty damp spot with an entire index finger's tip, I water thoroughly.

MrFishy said:

RE: moisture meters . .Use meter as a guide, not gospel.

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MrFishy.... Exellent point. Common sense must apply with all aspects of growing. Double checking, by using more than one tool, is the way to go. I use my meter & my index finger to determine moisture levels.....
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Keep it Real....Simple....aka - Organic.....

Ohsogreen said:

Water one week, feed the next in rotation.
It's better to give a good heavy watering, once a week, instead of frequent light ones. Mary only stretches out her roots as far as it takes to find water & food. If you water & feed too frequently - you are guaranteed to have a smaller rootball. Smaller rootballs equal, smaller yields.
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so your saying to flush every other week
and to feed every other week?
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otherwise i agree to give your plats a healthy watering I just wonder if that means once a week or what...

I talked to someone today that said to water every 2 to 3 days
im guessing hes talking about small amounts

he said to feed once or twice a week then to just feed with water
but yeah i doubt im going to have to feed more than 2 times a week

selectz said:

so your saying to flush every other week
and to feed every other week?

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Selectz...... By watering one week then fertilizing the next, in a continual rotation. You are not really "flushing", like the hydro crowd does, so much as, you are allowing the plant to use what is present in the soil. Now to clearify that, let me say, I do not water every day for 7 days. I water once (a good soaking), then wait a week to fertilize. If the weather, is wicked hot, then I go back in 3 days and water again - but only when it's real hot.
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This prevents a build up of NPK in the soil, encourages root expansion and helps the micro-beasties (good bacteria & fungi).
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Micro-beasties can be couch potatoes too. If you are dropping them some easy to digest NPK every two or three days - they will not do their jobs. They will be just like teenagers, jacked up on Mtn Dew & Cupcakes. Too high on sugar to be useful.
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Their job is to break down the natural NPK present in the soil, making it more solube for Mary to take in through her rootball. Over application of ferts will kill them and in soil growing, the micro-beasties are very important to Mary. Without them, the soil just becomes a sponge that requires frequent doses of ferts to keep your plants alive.
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Hope this helps...
Keep it Real....& don't over water / over feed Mary - she does not like it.

I'm not 100% sure but as long as your container has holes for excess water to drain out you cant really over water your plant, and on that note don't it benefit your plant to flush it out to get rid of the salts and other minerals that build up?

PresidentKush said:

I'm not 100% sure but as long as your container has holes for excess water to drain out you cant really over water your plant, and on that note don't it benefit your plant to flush it out to get rid of the salts and other minerals that build up?

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Not true at all buddy! Regardless of how good your drainage is you can still overwater.
Let your soil completely dry in between waterings and water until you have some runoff.

yea, way to straighten it out ganjababy, you beat me to it!

gangjababy said:

Not true at all buddy! Regardless of how good your drainage is you can still overwater.
Let your soil completely dry in between waterings and water until you have some runoff.

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I see thanks for clearing that up for me. That could have been a bad mistake on my part, I'm starting the growing process in a few days.

No problem, but if you are not sure of the correct info don't give advice. Someone could take it as fact and mess up their grow!

damn ganjababy you're all over it homie

It just frustrates me when people give out wrong advice...

gangjababy said:

Not true at all buddy! Regardless of how good your drainage is you can still overwater.
Let your soil completely dry in between waterings and water until you have some runoff.

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I think he talking about too much water at 1 time.

Dirtyboy said:

I think he talking about too much water at 1 time.

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I was talking about at one time not sure if that makes a diffrence though?