watering question

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puffdog

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I have two plants in 5 gallon buckets and three in 4 gallon buckets, lets say the soil is about as moist as when you buy it in the bag. If it's dry about 2-3 inches at the top I water it but my question is how much? I usually do about 1-1/2 quarts per plant maybe every 5 days, should I be doing more?
Thanks for any help, Puffdog
 
it really depends on your grow medium. my plants are in about 4 and 1/2 gal of soil in 5 gal buckets and if i dump 1/2 gallon in it will have just a tiny tiny bit come out the bottom...thats is what you want. water slow and give it just enough that you have a tiny bit run out the bottom.
 
Thanks guys, it seems I'm on the right track. My buckets all have holes drilled in it, 12 or so about 1/2" round and I have 1/2" stone about 1 1/2 " deep.
 
A suggestion...
Get aquainted with the weight of your buckets just before you water them.
Using this method you'll get a good idea when they'll be thursty.
Also watch the leaves as they get closer to watering time. You'll notice how they begin to look sort of limp lookin.. That's about the time for more water.
Note that plants will bounce back from occasional underwatering but overwatering can be disasterous..
Good luck..
 
I ''forgot'' to water one of my plants for like a week once... when I checked on it it was soooo shriveled up and almost looked dry enuogh to smoke... I put the water rite to her... and BAM within 20 minutes I saw a HUGE improvement... and actually that was my best yeilding plant that grow... i wish i woulda had a clone of that girl.. she was a tough one
 
Some very good advice here!

GreenThumbs' comment about getting to know the weight is a very good tip and I use this method all the time with my indoor grow (in 5 gallon containers).

However, my outside plants are in 20 gallon containers and thus much harder to pick up and weigh.

What I do, with my outside plants, is to wait for them to show me that they are dry and need a drink. When the plants start to look limp and the surface of the soil is very dry I water each plant with about 2 1/2 gallons of water and or water/fertilizer.

I still have about a month to go, with my current crop, and some of my sativas this year are well over 10 feet high.

Good luck with your grow!

:D :D :D
 
Best advice on watering I have to offer is do it twice. I use small pots so it is very important to totally saturate the soil. I water a little bit at first, not looking for run off this time, and then 10-15 min later I water again til runoff.
The first watering and the 10-15 min wait breaks the surface tension of the soil in the pot, so the second watering is a more efficient watering. And the second watering is always to 5-10% runoff, so that I know fresh O2 is being sucked into the soil.
 
You can always save a few lower popcorn bud spots and reveg the lady after harvest.....for a bunch of new clonies. If you have something that is killer looking and never cloned it.....is never too late
 

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