Lack of water..wilting, and recuperation? (in flowering)

[Tact]

Quick question.

I have 13 ladies in their 6 week of flowering (37 days), and I normally alternate between watering/feeding every 4 days. This week I was pretty busy and when I would get home the lights would be off so I had to water on the 5th day, and the difference was pretty startling. Most of the plants are fine and slightly drooping but 3 of them look like willow-trees, no yellow and crunchies yet but green and wilting in a pile with leaves groping the soil. I watered everything today. What is the recuperation for situations like this? Will those 3 plants harvest significantly less then if this had not happened? All these plants are in 5-gallon pots, I was under the impression that giving them too much water would make them prone to bud-rot. So I have been running a dehumidifier 24/7 and watering every 4 days, it seems they could take water every 3 days though, and 5 is clearly too long. I can provide pictures if needed?

 

[2Dog]

mine like more water when they first start producing bud..so I up the watering. when they are little it is as needed..in veg about every other day and in flower about every day...it is really hard to just schedule I water as needed. plus some of mine need more than others..I think they will pop back up fine I had this happen when I went to mexico..all mine bounced back..good lukc!

 

[leafminer]

AFAIK bud rot is caused by high humidity or getting the bud wet and having no air circulation, not overwatering.

 

[legalize_freedom]

I'd say they will be allright, and your yeild should not suffer. I honestly only water/feed once a week all the way through. I grow in 5 gallon pots, and for the last 4 grows have just thouroughly drenched them once a week, and have never had any need water in between feedings. I don't run a dehumidifier very often either though...I'm sure this is takeing away some moisture.

I have seen others that do as 2Dog suggested and water a little bit every/everyother day.

I don't think that budding plants need to go through the "dry cycle" like vegging plants do, because by the time they are flowering the roots have already stretched to their limits...and taken up all the avaliable space.

 

[dirtyolsouth]

HIya Tact...

If your plants recover they'll do so within a half a day more than likely. Ime they really need a thorough soaking each watering and then allow them to dry out thoroughly on the top 3 inches or so of the surface before you water again. This is going to be a ever changing frequency due to the plant's needs always changing. Remember that overwatering is watering plants too often before the soil has a chance to dry out adequately. Overwatering has nothing to do with giving your plants plenty to water/nutes to thoroughly saturate the soil when you do water. If you water s-l-o-w-l-y until you get decent runoff you'll be giving them what they need. I also like the slight stress that plants get from drying out and the positive effects on trich production ime so I go with a very wet/dry cycle up until the end of flowering.

As far as watering and bud rot goes, ime you should keep saturating the soil when you do water until you get to the last week or so before harvest, when they are in the 'finishing' stage. During the end of the ripening process with very dense colas pouring on lots of water can give the buds too much moisture and botrytis (bud rot) can get started. So for the last week or so, during the final week of plain water feeds I water them just enough to give them adequate moisture for a couple days and I water them more often but much less.

Anyhooo... I hope this helps!

 

[2Dog]

you may lose some leaves...I lose a lot of mine. I think it prob did effect prod am a bit...just being honest course it depends on how thirsty they are/were. I water til I see a tiny bit of runoff out the bottom of the pot..I dont water more because if water is at the bottom of the pot I get gnats and mold etc..

 

[ssjric]

I use to have a "watering schedule" but then realized that they all require different amounts of water. I have three different groups of plants that I water different days of the week. I usually go by feeling how much they weigh since watering them. I can tell when a plant is light as feather that it needs to be watered. They will bounce back fast from water depravation as long as it hasent been to long.

 

[ta2dguy]

if you have/let a plant dry out to the point of letting the poor thing wilt over near death you can actually watch the water travel up the stalk and start to spread out into the plant . i have watched it happen on some plants that i had right at the point of death(not a full recovery cuz of dried roots) and it was pretty neat.... they gotta be real dry and barely living. i lost alot of leaves and stunted growth alot but they still lived and produced smoke . good luck and happy growing.

 

[zem]

ya it all depends on how dry they were. the dehumidifier is very effective in removing moisture, it also adds heat to the room increasing evaporation, you would need to water more when running it

 

[matt612346]

soooo you dont go into room b/c the lights r off? you can get a LED green light installed .... they're around $60 put well worth it i can simply flick a switch and go in the room and work if need be. LEDs can be found at a hydro store