How Often Do You Water During Flowering?

John Ames

John Ames

420 Member
I'm 17 days in to flowering and have been watering a gallon every 2 to 3 days. I'll water every time I notice it starting to droop. It's an indica/sativa mix from bagseed, 20" tall.

I'm curious as to how much other people water during flowering? I know it depends on strain, mediu, etc. But just to get an idea....Anyone?

:thanks:
 
John Ames said:
I'm 17 days in to flowering and have been watering a gallon every 2 to 3 days. I'll water every time I notice it starting to droop.
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I am old school. I do not wait until a plant in flowering starts to wilt or droop. A drooping plant while in the vegetating stage is acceptable because that plant is building a large root mass looking for moisture. As these plants enter flowering they are no longer building the root system and instead concentrating hormones and sugars on building the buds.

The water, in my theory, now has to be a steady supply with minor drying of the soil, definitely not like what happens during the vegetating stage. I get an idea of how much water is in the soil by lifting the pot, by looking at the overall condition of the plant and I will occasionally dig a small hole into the soil in order to be sure that I am still on the right track.

When I say a small hole I am not talking about sticking my finger into the soil down an inch to the first knuckle. I have a spoon from the silverware drawer and I dig a hole 3 to 4 inches down.

Sometimes I water once a day, sometimes every other day, sometimes every day and a half and at times two or three times in a day. Whatever it takes to maintain a decent moisture level in the soil without that soil becoming waterlogged.
 
SmokingWings said:
I am old school. I do not wait until a plant in flowering starts to wilt or droop. A drooping plant while in the vegetating stage is acceptable because that plant is building a large root mass looking for moisture. As these plants enter flowering they are no longer building the root system and instead concentrating hormones and sugars on building the buds.

The water, in my theory, now has to be a steady supply with minor drying of the soil, definitely not like what happens during the vegetating stage. I get an idea of how much water is in the soil by lifting the pot, by looking at the overall condition of the plant and I will occasionally dig a small hole into the soil in order to be sure that I am still on the right track.

When I say a small hole I am not talking about sticking my finger into the soil down an inch to the first knuckle. I have a spoon from the silverware drawer and I dig a hole 3 to 4 inches down.

Sometimes I water once a day, sometimes every other day, sometimes every day and a half and at times two or three times in a day. Whatever it takes to maintain a decent moisture level in the soil without that soil becoming waterlogged.
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@SmokingWings Thx! Actually you're right. The water has to be a steady supply. I'll keep more eyes to maintain a decent moisture level in the soil.
 
One autoflower going at the moment with many bud sites. I water every 6-7 days, takes almost a gallon til I see runoff. I’m waiting for this growth spurt to start when I’m sure watering will be more often.
 
John Ames said:
I'm 17 days in to flowering and have been watering a gallon every 2 to 3 days. I'll water every time I notice it starting to droop. It's an indica/sativa mix from bagseed, 20" tall.

I'm curious as to how much other people water during flowering? I know it depends on strain, mediu, etc. But just to get an idea....Anyone?

:thanks:
Click to expand...
Sorry hit quote accidentally but was going to say I think it depends on what strain. CL🍀
 
SmokingWings said:
I am old school. I do not wait until a plant in flowering starts to wilt or droop. A drooping plant while in the vegetating stage is acceptable because that plant is building a large root mass looking for moisture. As these plants enter flowering they are no longer building the root system and instead concentrating hormones and sugars on building the buds.

The water, in my theory, now has to be a steady supply with minor drying of the soil, definitely not like what happens during the vegetating stage. I get an idea of how much water is in the soil by lifting the pot, by looking at the overall condition of the plant and I will occasionally dig a small hole into the soil in order to be sure that I am still on the right track.

When I say a small hole I am not talking about sticking my finger into the soil down an inch to the first knuckle. I have a spoon from the silverware drawer and I dig a hole 3 to 4 inches down.

Sometimes I water once a day, sometimes every other day, sometimes every day and a half and at times two or three times in a day. Whatever it takes to maintain a decent moisture level in the soil without that soil becoming waterlogged.
Click to expand...
This ^ ^

For a traditional soil grow at least, build roots in veg by repeated dry cycles, and use them in flower by giving the plant everything it wants.

I now grow in SIPs which takes the guesswork out. I just fill the reservoir once or twice a day and call it good.
 
Well just to get an idea.. I'd say it very much depends on the medium for starters, pots used, phase the plant is in, heat & ventilation conditions.
So yeah soil or something like coco, huge difference, even hydro has a bunch of very different watering techniques & frequencies.

I'm in soil and currently in flower and it's every 2 to 3 days now, I feed pouring a couple of cups until it pools and trickles down and sounds like rice krispies, and repeat until the pot is soaked.
I did use Bill's method of layering the root pouches alternating with soil & perlite and It's the first time I haven't experienced any droop not from overwatering or underwatering.

As previously with just soil I've had moments where you water as the pot is light and dry but around the rootmass in the centre it's probably still too moist, so you water and then she droops a bit, ah damn to soon, so then next time you wait until she gets low because she really needs water.. but yeah that can't be good.
 
Azimuth said:
This ^ ^

For a traditional soil grow at least, build roots in veg by repeated dry cycles, and use them in flower by giving the plant everything it wants.

I now grow in SIPs which takes the guesswork out. I just fill the reservoir once or twice a day and call it good.
Click to expand...
:thanks:
 
The SIPs I'm using now are in the @Nunyabiz style of keeping the soil constantly moist, and I can say the plants I've grown in it are consistently the biggest and healthiest of any I've ever grown. But the SIP pot introduces air right to the roots which is similar to what he is doing with injecting additional air into his water before watering his plants.

In a normal pot, I think you have to be a pretty good grower to pull that off, keeping the soil moist but not too wet. Too wet and you get root rot and that is probably the most common problem new growers have. The SIP pot totally eliminates that as an issue as you basically water through the fill tube every day until excess runs out the drain hole and that's it. You can't over or under water if you fill the reservoir each day.
 
Looks like the group that was interested in the question asked above is divided between 'keeping the soil moist' and 'letting the soil dry out before adding more water'.

I became curious and knew that going from wet to dry before watering again is the recommended way to build up a good root mass during the vegetating stage as explained many times in the thread called The Proper Way to Water a Potted Plant by @Emilya Green .

That curiousity meant I spent two afternoons (I really did not want to do any chores anyway) reading through the 56 pages currently in that thread to see what was being said about the wet & dry cycle for plants already in flower. The first link is to message #69 which is an Addendum specifically about watering a flowering Marijuana plant in a pot of soil. While the idea of letting the soil dry out before adding water works while in the vegetating stage there is an important change to the method once the plant is in the flowering stage and the stretch is finishing.

As the stretch is ending the grower should start to add water before the soil has completely dried out; preferably while still moist but not necessarily still wet. Some loss of moisture is acceptable but totally dry or almost dry is not recommended and certainly not waiting till the plant is in full wilt. Keep in mind that the "wet to dry back to wet" during the vegetating stage works because the plant will grow roots outwards searching for water. My thoughts at this point is that after 2 or 3 weeks into flower the plant no long produces as many hormones promoting root growth so fewer new roots. If any roots are damaged or killed during a dry stage that went to far then it is unlikely that the plant will replace all or even most of them.

Each link listed after the Addendum (the first link) goes into more detail why there is a recommended change in the watering method as explained or described by Emilya. Also note that after reading the message found in each link the next several messages will often go into more detail as members ask specific questions and Emilya replies. So each link below might actually involve as many as 5 messages. (Three of the links have a notation which means something to me so they stay but the link itself is still valid.) While each link shows the same line it actually goes to a different message in that important thread.

I eliminated as many casual references to the wet dry cycle in the vegetating stage as possible and tried to stick to just the ideas behind how often and when to water a flowering plant. Also, tried to eliminate every time someone asked "where is the Addendum" which I noticed was starting to get on Emilya's nerves.

The Proper Way To Water A Potted Plant
The Proper Way To Water A Potted Plant
The Proper Way To Water A Potted Plant
The Proper Way To Water A Potted Plant
The Proper Way To Water A Potted Plant
The Proper Way To Water A Potted Plant
The Proper Way To Water A Potted Plant
The Proper Way To Water A Potted Plant
The Proper Way To Water A Potted Plant
The Proper Way To Water A Potted Plant
Drought Stress as an Enhancer in link below
The Proper Way To Water A Potted Plant
The Proper Way To Water A Potted Plant
The Proper Way To Water A Potted Plant
The Proper Way To Water A Potted Plant
The Proper Way To Water A Potted Plant
The Proper Way To Water A Potted Plant
Seaweed Extracts in link below
The Proper Way To Water A Potted Plant
Takes Experience in link below
The Proper Way To Water A Potted Plant
 
@SmokingWings , thank you! I am truly grateful for your clear synapsis and compressing of my ideas into this one resource. You have indeed picked out the most salient points and brought them clearly into view. Thank you for this work, for the community has gained a resource here, from which more knowledge will spring forth. Hats off to you Sir, I am in your debt.

As my original watering thread approaches a half a million views, it is clear that these ideas have changed the way the world grows weed. There still is much more to be learned however and just recently the ideas of SIP growing have changed the way that I look at watering. I can see that a lot of the ideas I had after the Addendum explain why the wick watering system works so well, but I still believe that the wet/dry cycle is still of primary importance at least to a point. I am currently doing a massive experiment in SIP and am trying to find the best time to first apply this watering method. I have in my mind as of this date, that by following age old ideas on successive uppotting we will find our answers.

I can already see that this constantly wet environment is NOT the best way to start a seedling. Some are having success by disabling the SIP at first by not filling the reservoir. Mine starting in a wet SIP have taken a week to 10 days to even get to the second leaf stage. Those having success in starting seeds in the final SIP, are treating the small plants exactly as I describe that one must water a small plant in a large container, in my second watering thread, The Proper Way To Water A Seedling In A Large Final Container .

I am already convinced that the best way to start seedlings is in a small container and by establishing a wet/dry cycle as early as possible. My only debate is whether to go solo cup to the final SIP, or to do one more intermediate uppotting to a container at least 3x bigger. That general rule tells me that I probably should wait till at least the 1 gallon stage before transplanting into a 7 gallon final container. The rumor is, that this will give me a 2-3 week pause in the grow as the plants adjust to SIP. I need to do another experiment to see if this is true, but I transplanted to SIP twice now and did not see that delay. To the contrary, I noticed a fairly rapid increase in vigor and growth after moving to SIP.

More experiments need to be done. I do know that plants that are watered more often in bloom, are bigger plants. I can see that SIP is allowing that to happen as if on steroids, and this excites me. I also see that it might not be wise to totally give up on the old methods while in veg. I am also playing around with an idea that I had the other day, that in order to "use" the SIP, the plant does need to adapt a little bit, and I think this takes a plant with a mature "brain" to be able to figure out. Young seedlings are working on instinct, roots chasing water, but I believe that without first developing that thick knot of root mass right below the surface, that cluster of central root mass that might just be where the plant's sentience is held, the plant is not yet "intelligent" enough to figure out the SIP. We know plants are sentient and experiments have shown that plants can and do react to us, and even our thoughts. We just don't know how or where this happens. We still have lots to learn.
 
The only reason I believe it's necessary to wet dry in veg is when the medium has a lousey tilth.
In Hydro roots are free to grow as fast as possible because they have plenty of oxygen and they're just reaching out to get as much as they can.
In coco, same thing, lots of oxygen and like hydro you keep the soil very moist basically wet from start to finish.
In my chosen method which is LOS if you get your soil tilth right, lots of aeration and in large fabric pots with worms and cover crop roots etc then again same thing as hydro and coco.
The roots grow like wildfire and just as important the mycorrhazal web is allowed to grow quickly colonizing the pot effectively more than doubling the root mass.

So all depends on what medium.
The wet dry in veg is mostly for roots trapped in smaller plastic pots of poorly aerated soil because there's not enough oxygen.
If plenty of oxygen is present then the wetness of the soil is of little concern.

When talking about this particular type of soil and method everything you said here and Emily's are absolutely correct.

growers that wish to use bottled nutrients should really just grow in coco,, its a much more forgiving medium for that, its a blank slate that holds oxygen and you just water it everyday.

The only time I use something similar is at seedling stage the first week of growth i water in a circle several inches away from the tap root to get the roots to reach out.
After that I just water daily small amounts with oxygenated water to keep the soil uniformly moist with lots of dissolved oxygen right at the sweet spot as best I can.
I might get a few drops of run off about once a week in 20+ gallon fabric pots.

And like everything else in life everyone has that method that just works for them, some prefer hydro, some coco, some SIPS, some even get great results somehow from small plastic pots in poorly aerated soil feeding synthetic nutrients which to me is witchcraft.
I am too damn lazy for all that so I just grow soil and let it do all the hard work for me.
 
Factors that determine tilth include the formation and stability of aggregated soil particles, moisture content, degree of aeration, soil biota, rate of water infiltration and drainage.

According to this definition, most of the soils that we talk about regularly on these forums, have excellent qualities in all the above criteria. The water retention and flow through rates are carefully adjusted, perlite is added for extra aeration, and indeed, many of us add extra perlite for extra aeration and to avoid soil compaction.
Nunyabiz said:
The only reason I believe it's necessary to wet dry in veg is when the medium has a lousey tilth.
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First, it is never necessary to wet/dry... you are free to grow however you want to. I have found however that with my aggressive wet/dry techniques I can regularly get hydro grow rates, in a solo cup, with ordinary out of the bag soil. To each his and her own I guess, and I am glad that carefully maintaining your LOS soil produces such amazing results for you. Did you know that tilling a field can actually reduce its tilth and that there is no such thing or even a number that can indicate perfect tilth? All we can do is try our best, and for me, paying $20 per bag of soil and not re-running it so many times that it begins to break down, is as close as I am going to get.
 
Emilya Green said:
@SmokingWings , thank you! I am truly grateful for your clear synapsis and compressing of my ideas into this one resource. You have indeed picked out the most salient points and brought them clearly into view. Thank you for this work, for the community has gained a resource here, from which more knowledge will spring forth. Hats off to you Sir, I am in your debt.
Click to expand...
Thank you.

I wanted to get around to making a notation on each link to show that they are all point to a different msg as a way to eliminate any confusion as to why each line looks the same. But, I was running out of time and posted the list as currently shown.
 
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