Droughting and its medicinal effects in cannabis

Here is a wee update of my Mango Sherbert, how she was this morning on her 8th day after receiving a 'rescue drink' of 2 cups of water yesterday evening which at that point I'd not watered her for 7 days.

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I then gave her about 2L (half a gallon) as a 'survival watering' with a bit of her usual worm wee or worm farm leachate added to it.

Here she is early afternoon about 1:30pm. Perking up a little.

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And 1 more pic late afternoon about 5pm

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At this point I will re-evaluate in the morning what I do next, but depending on the weather ahead I would like to continue with cycles of 'survival watering' with continued cycles of wilting towards a projected harvest date somewhere around mid April. Who knows with the weather will bring, but I am glad that I have already got her 'droughted' to some extent which must be good for the 'resination' or increased potency, that I am after by droughting (a term Maritimer often uses), haha. Cheers.
 
What, no LWA measurements??! :laughtwo:

See @Krissi1982 , more than one way to get 'er done. :goof:
 
Just to share how the droughting is developing for my Mango Sherbert that is growing in a 50L (13 gallon) container.

This morning was her 9th day.

To re-cap, 7 initial days no watering, then 2 cups of water as a 'rescue drink' on the evening of the 7th day.
Then a 2L (half gallon) 'survival drink' on the morning of her 8th day (yesterday).

Here she is this morning. In spite of having had a 'rescue drink' and a 'survival drink', her soil has still pulled away by at least half an inch from her pot walls. Her lower leaves are looking pretty tired and tatty. But when droughting, 'prettiness' isn't what we are after, it's 'potency', and that to me is the whole aim of doing this.

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So amongst my considerations; is the forecast ahead, that the weather will be sunny without rain for another 4 days and even then maybe only a little shower. I intend to harvest her somewhere around 2 - 3 weeks time. So I have to keep her going the distance without pushing her too hard so I don't cause her to be an easy target for pests. I decided to give her another 'survival drink' of 2L (half gallon) of water this morning (on her 9th day). Here is a pic of her later in the afternoon, about 4pm. She has perked up a little but still looks stressed.

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By now, she must have got a good shock from the water restrictions that she has been under. I want to keep her going under similar stress for as much as possible for the remaining 2 - 3 weeks to create a good 'resination' response from her. Here are some bud shots of her that I took today.

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So to reiterate, I am not going to a plan, but very much 'shooting from the hip' and being flexible to whatever this process throws up. My expectation is, that tomorrow morning she will again look as I found her this morning. I feel I will probably have to give her another 2L 'survival drink', and I may even be more generous and re-wet her soil more, then let her get drought stressed again.

My thinking is... I feel I have sufficiently shocked her into drought stress by withholding water, following that I have given her insufficient water to satisfy her thirst, but enough to keep her alive. This should have triggered a very good initial drought/resination response in her. So now, given that the weather ahead looks dry and sunny, I feel I can 'reward' her a little, with maybe a bigger drink tomorrow to strengthen her up, then immediately return to no further watering until she is drooping and wilted again, then 'rescue' her again, and so on.

Anyway that's an update of my current outdoor droughting attempt. I am just chucking it into the mix so hopefully, good or bad, we can learn something from it, but at the same time I feel a bit guilty for photo bombing the thread.
 
Awesome job, man. Those girls are looking great. Your extended, and repeated draught is an interesting twist on the standard accepted approach, but also is closer to your prior year experiences, except this round you're doing it intentionally and attempting to draw out a predetermined response.

Fun to follow along. :goodjob:
 
Azimuth said:
Is this to prevent rain water from getting to the soil? If so, it would have to be pretty wide since it's generally accepted that a plants roots extend at least to the drip line of the leaves. Could help minimize the amount of water. Interesting idea. :idea: Maybe you could use a cheap tarp to cover more ground.

I've seen setup instructions for the earth boxes where they cover the entire pot surface with a black plastic, then cut an 'X' in the middle and stick the plant through it. Watering then happens only through the fill tube.
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The black plastic is to keep the water loss to a min, from evaporation & also when doing it on the ground it keeps heat in As far as droughting cannabis in the ground you can do like cabbage in the fall & break some roots , so the plant doesn't drink as much
with cabbage you just give the head a twist. cannabis you could spade the root ball, close to the stem, say a foot or so away
at this time the plant is going to the chopping block so anyways so you don't need that much roots
You might have to stake it to keep it standing though
 
Brewsterman said:
The black plastic is to keep the water loss to a min, from evaporation & also when doing it on the ground it keeps heat in As far as droughting cannabis in the ground you can do like cabbage in the fall & break some roots , so the plant doesn't drink as much
with cabbage you just give the head a twist. cannabis you could spade the root ball, close to the stem, say a foot or so away
at this time the plant is going to the chopping block so anyways so you don't need that much roots
You might have to stake it to keep it standing though
Click to expand...
Which is why I suggested an elevated dome. I work with all types of sheet-metal. But plastic or a thick, waxed cardboard may also do the trick. This is about how the cut should look like:
IMG_20220328_134413_resized_20220328_014554182.jpg
 
scottreid1966 said:
I have a question and possibly an insight for outside droughting.
What does LWA mean?
Click to expand...
Leaf Wilt Angle. It is the preferred method of measurement in this study that allows you to judge when the drought should be over. There is a baseline angle on a chosen leaf or two taken prior to drought. That angle will change during the drought as the plant shows its stress mainly in the leaves (although I am finding that is not true on all strains. Some have shown me different signs while the leaves remained turgid throughout the droughting process)
scottreid1966 said:
outside droughting. :I was also wondering. I will be planting 2 ladies straight into soil and 2 others into pots sometime in June (I hope). I could make a slightly elevated cone a tad larger in diameter than my pots or canvas. Could be done in plastic but I work with sheet metal. May not work as well with the ones planted into the ground but the potted ones would only be able to water themselves from the leaves.:hmmmm:
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I am definitely thinking a sheet metal cone would possibly cause too much light to refract? With that said, I am unsure what purpose you intend for the cone. Could be that my head is in a whirl right now with a hermied plant I just found but could you please clarify for me?
Azimuth said:
For some probably, but there will be others that are turned off by the need to be so precise and measure stuff.

Maybe a "best practices" approach with the numbers, but also a more casual approach for others and provide the broad concepts. After all, @Stunger got it done without really even trying or even knowing that that was what he was doing, and may have even gotten better results by doing it all season.

I kind of see it similar to other aspects of growing. Take watering. While there are some broadly accepted ways to do, there is no one right way. Lots of approaches to get done, each with their own nuances and outcomes, but many of them work.
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This is perfect. Thank you Az
OOps, That was @Krissi1982 that answered me. Still a little lost. lol
 
everytime i check in on this it reminds of the live and let die school. but that was all outdoor.
 
bluter said:
everytime i check in on this it reminds of the live and let die school. but that was all outdoor.
Click to expand...

if you be interested check back a bit further to see my hempy drought,, it worked out quite well and i might be a believer, indeed

it certainly did not hurt,, saved nutes, saved labour, saved water, made trimming easier cuz most of the fan leaves shriveled and fell off,, win, win, win, win in my books
 
Stunger said:
Funnily enough Scott, I had thought the opposite, of having a reflective dome giving them even more sunlight, but my hesitation in doing so is because of my concern that helicopters passing overhead may be alerted to my 'shiny' bud enhancing beacons, so I never followed thru on that.
Click to expand...
I had thought so also, Stunger. But when Krissi expresses a concern, it makes me think twice. She said;

"I am definitely thinking a sheet metal cone would possibly cause too much light to refract? With that said, I am unsure what purpose you intend for the cone. Could be that my head is in a whirl right now with a hermied plant I just found but could you please clarify for me?"

I will be creating a perpetual grow journal next week. Have enough seedlings to grow both outside and inside. 2 in the ground, 2 elevated that will get the sun all day 'round. I will cone-drought one of each and post the results. Really excited about the next grow.
 
heya friends,,

i am in the midst of droughting three plants,, sativa drought this time,,

my plants seem to be max trichoming these days anyway,, so any added bonus from the drought process is just that,, a bonus

this is day eight of the drought for all of the three,,

this a 'mama thai/thai stick',, eighty days in flower today,,,, this had a twin but it hermied on me a cpl weeks ago, and is now being smoked/vaped

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pic dunna show how pretty this plant is,, so smothered,, it foxtailed a bit,, which can open it up a bit for lettin them trikes swell up swell

this is a pineapple chunk/golden tiger cross,, this a bit fluffy as well, and i don't have a ton of experience with this plant, so we shall see

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leaf wilt reaching up near the top now,,

i have a twin of this plant which does not look nearly as stressed, so i may extend the drought a bit,,no refresh and redrought,, just an extended single drought

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this sixty four days in flower now,,

i shall return for an update soon,, post drought,,
 
nivek said:
if you be interested check back a bit further to see my hempy drought,, it worked out quite well and i might be a believer, indeed

it certainly did not hurt,, saved nutes, saved labour, saved water, made trimming easier cuz most of the fan leaves shriveled and fell off,, win, win, win, win in my books
Click to expand...


if you're doing hempy normally it should always get a periodic "drought" in flower. my buckets weigh less than half than they do in veg when we feed. there's no moisture at all. on the larger buckets we extend the feed intervals. i don't always feed every day unless in 2L buckets. in the 5L we feed every other day at most. i'm keeping to every third on this one.

most of it depends on how large you run your bucket and res. i get 3 - 5 gal production from the size of a pop bottle when managed correct. nothing else can replicate the footprint. but it's constantly sucking itself dry in flower. i could water multiple timers per day in flower, but we don't. we want that dry cycle.
 
Abby (Hindu Kush) on day 65 of flower, day 9 of drought. She got 2 liters on 4/2, 1 liter yesterday and 1 liter today. Not much more than wetting the surface.
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Abby 4/5 Day 65 (Drought day 9)

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Abby 4/5 Day 65 (Drought day 9)

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Abby 4/5 Day 65 (Drought day 9)

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Abby 4/5 Day 65 (Drought day 9)

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Abby trics 4/5 Day 65

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Abby trics 4/5 Day 65

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Abby trics 4/5 Day 65
 
Having a fundamental command of the English language, I am fortunate in that I can express myself adequately without the use of gratuitous expletives
FUCK ME!! :cool: lol
 
Stunger said:
Looking great @LKABudMan!
Click to expand...
Thanks @Stunger watching your drought is what gave me confidence to try it again. I loved your rescue drinks and have used that to keep them from drying too quickly in the 5g cloth pots.
 
LKABudMan said:
Thanks @Stunger watching your drought is what gave me confidence to try it again. I loved your rescue drinks and have used that to keep them from drying too quickly in the 5g cloth pots.
Click to expand...
I agree. @Stunger 's drought was thought inspiring and will be experimenting:goodjob: on both my indoor and outdoor grow this journal.
 
Just don't forget droughting in early part of flowering or vegging will harm your roots
so smaller root mass = smaller yield
it may be more potent but there is a down side
 

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