The fear of over-watering

The fear of over-watering

I hear this all the time, “I just don’t want to overwater.”

And it turns out that almost all of these people are under watering their plants.

So let’s talk about watering.

Obviously if you have a seed or a seedling or a very immature plant it would not require much water at all.

But as soon as you have a more mature plant in mid veg, the demands of your plant will increase substantially. (it’s good to assume that the root structure is possibly the same size as the above ground plant) 

Keep in mind a few things, very often the soil that is used to grow cannabis can become deceivingly dry. You might open the bag and reach in to feel moist, heavy, black soil. But if you leave that bag open for 24 hours it will become very light, very fluffy and very dry, very fast.

Good soil is supposed to hold moisture and allow it to move easily throughout. It will allow moisture and nutrients to quickly and easily flow from wet to dry and from soil to root. 

But unless you are keeping the soil wet or moist 24/7 you probably are not at risk of overwatering.

A couple other things to keep in mind as well. If you are using plastic pots with holes in the bottom then you have a pretty visible indicator of how well you are watering your soil. If you are using fabric bags then you essentially can’t overwater unless you are watering too frequently. (how often is where you can go wrong)

Very often I see clients water their plants in fabric pots and as soon as water starts to spill out of the sides of the fabric pots they stop watering.

I will then tell them to stick their fingers into the soil and see how deep the water has actually penetrated. They are normally surprised to see that the soil is dry only 1 or 2 inches down.

With fabric pots there’s a good chance that you will need to water two, three or even four times to fully soak the soil all the way to the bottom.

**Remember this, if you water to the bottom of the roots then you are encouraging the roots to grow deeper which will allow the system to spread wider and take in more water and thus more nutrients (and grow larger).  If you’re not, then it won’t. 

A good rule of thumb (with a well established plant) is to fully soak the soil and wait in between waterings so that at least the top 2 inches of soil has fully dried out before the next watering. (always keep track of your temperature and humidity as they will also impact this process.)

These girls like to drink so don’t underestimate their appetite.

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