How Many Times Should I Water My Indoor Plants

by Nebula Haze

If you're growing marijuana in soil or some other growing medium similar coco coir, y'all will take to paw-h2o your plants. Watering is an important part of growing cannabis indoors, and knowing how to water your plants will relieve you a lot of frustration!

Watering a cannabis plant with a watering can - over or under watering are common problems, but if you follow the tips on this page you'll be watering your marijuana perfectly every time!

How often practise you give your cannabis water?

Well, you will want to water your marijuana whenever the top of the soil or growing medium starts to feel dry. I like to water when the medium experience dry up to my first knuckle, or nigh an inch.

Soil – Water plants when the soil feels dry up to your first knuckle (or if the pot feels light).
Coco Coir – Aim to water plants every 1-2 days. If coco is staying wet for 3+ days, try giving less water at a time until plants get bigger and start drinking more than. Don't wait for your coco coir to dry out out, but don't water if the tiptop inch feels "wet". If the container feels light, it'southward definitely time to water!

How to h2o cannabis properly (when using a well-draining potting mixture with liquid nutrients)…

In soil, wait until the topsoil feels dry almost an inch deep (upwardly to your first knuckle – just use your finger to poke a hole in the soil and meet if information technology feels dry).
In coco coir, you want to water every 1-2 days if possible and accommodate the amount of water y'all give appropriately. The summit inch doesn't need to completely dry out betwixt waterings.
If you're regularly calculation nutrients in the water, give enough water each time that you become x-20% extra runoff water drain out the bottom of your pot. This prevents a buildup in the potting mixture because otherwise, you are continuously adding more nutrients to the system.
Go dorsum to step one. Note: If water takes a long futurity out the bottom, or if pots accept longer than five days to dry out before the next watering, you may actually have a problem with drainage (more info beneath) or need to give less water at a fourth dimension. If your plants are very small compared to the container they're in, give h2o more than sparingly until plants go bigger.

What most watering cannabis seedlings?
What nearly nutrient deficiencies?

Growing in Super Soil?

If you're growing in super soil or another heavily amended potting mix, yous may not need to add together extra nutrients to the water because your plants tin go all their nutrients directly from the soil.
Whatever time you're non adding actress nutrients in the water, you want to avoid getting runoff water because it volition carry away some of the nutrients in the soil.
Watering until you get runoff is important when using liquid nutrients because information technology helps foreclose nutrient build upward, but with super soil try to give just enough water that you moisture the entire medium but don't get extra water coming out the bottom.

Some growers swear by the "elevator the pot" method to determine when to h2o your plants (basically wait until your pot feels "calorie-free" since the plants have used up all the water). Information technology'south up to you to decide what's easier for you.

I commonly water my cannabis with a one-gallon water jug for small grows, or v-gallon jugs for larger ones. Runoff h2o is collected in the trays and after a few minutes I suck it all upward with a pocket-size wet vac.

I like watering cannabis plants with a 1-gallon water jug - easy to find, tough and convenient!

How to Provide the Water

When I first started growing, I gave my plants h2o using a watering can. A watering can works great, but it's hard to water a bunch of plants with i watering tin can considering you have to continue filling information technology up.

An onetime-fashioned watering can will become the task washed, but they typically don't concord a lot of water at a fourth dimension, which is inconvenient if you're growing a lot of plants

A watering can will get the job done for growing cannabis!

I personally like using a Bombardment Operated Liquid Transfer Pump to water the plants. You can pump water from a bigger container to your plants. This is a three-gallon water container from Wal-Mart, and the pump but reaches the bottom.

A battery-operated water transfer pump is a really easy way to water your cannabis plants

My grow tent is two feet deep and this reaches the plants in the back. However, I don't retrieve the tube is long plenty to accomplish the dorsum if your infinite is deeper than that.

Watering the plants with a liquid transfer pump Some growers gear up elaborate drip feeds to pump water if they have a lot of plants they can't easily reach, both homemade or pre-made.

Let u.s. know if there'southward something we missed. Growers get artistic!

How to Collect Runoff Water

It'south important to proceed plants on saucers or trays and then you can remove the runoff water. You tin can collect the saucers ane by 1 and dump them out, simply that also gets inconvenient with many plants.

It's inconvenient to empty saucers one by i if you lot have a bunch of plants, but y'all don't want to leave plants sitting in runoff water You don't want to have to empty your saucers one at a time when you water your plants

Plants saucers have to be emptied one by one

If you put your constitute on plastic trays, and then put the trays on a slight incline by putting something minor underneath in the back, it will catch all the runoff water and cause it to drain to the front. The particular in the back only needs to be almost half an inch thick, for example a piece of plywood. Withal, if y'all can observe something more than water-resistant, like plastic, that'south even ameliorate.

These 1'x2′ plastic found trays work well if they fit your space. You tin fit iv of them in a 2'x4′ grow tent (this is the abound tent I utilise) with up to two plants each as long as your institute containers are 11″ wide or smaller at the base.

Put trays on a slight incline by placing something underneath the tray in the dorsum. This causes all the water to come to the forepart for easier drove. Each of these trays has a small plastic board (which nosotros institute around the house from something else) under the back. Anything that'south virtually half an inch high will do the trick. These item trays accommodate plant containers up to eleven″ wide at the base.

These plants in trays were put on a slight incline so that water would pool to the front

Get a Bucket Head on Amazon.com (or get them much cheaper locally at Home Depot)

Not sure how to remove runoff water after watering your marijuana? Wet vacuums can exist a great selection, peculiarly if you already take one in the house. I didn't have one, then I got Bucket Head zipper which can turn whatever standard 5-gallon bucket into a moisture vac. Y'all tin buy one online but it's $ten-fifteen cheaper if y'all go it in person at a Home Depot. Another like option is the Power Lid, though it'southward also a bit pricey.

A downside to the Saucepan Head is it'due south a fiddling loud, just like most wet vacs. Luckily yous only need to use it for a few minutes subsequently watering your plants!

Removing runoff h2o is a corking start to make sure you lot are watering your cannabis plants perfectly, just information technology'south too important to…

Brand Certain Pots Have Good Drainage

Information technology's very important to brand sure that water can drain freely from the lesser of the pot, otherwise, the institute tin go waterlogged and become overwatered (causing the plant to droop).

16 colas on this cannabis plant - grown in a Smart Pot

In addition to making sure the actual container has drainage (holes on the bottom, or another style for extra h2o to escape), it'south also important to make sure your growing medium drains freely. If it takes several minutes for the water to come out the bottom of your pot when you lot water, information technology means that in that location isn't enough drainage in the actual growing medium (information technology'south also dense, so h2o is having a difficult time getting through).

How to amend the drainage of your growing medium

Never employ dirt y'all observe exterior. Chances are it does not have the correct properties for vigorous cannabis growth.
Mix in extra perlite to loosen the soil and allow water to drain through more easily.
Bark or wood chips are not the best choice for growing cannabis plants, even though they're sometimes recommended to improve drainage in soil for some types of plants. On that notation, avoid using soil that contains bark or wood chips. What makes soil good or bad for growing cannabis?
Use Smart pots – these material pots assistance go oxygen to your roots (which gives you faster growth) and this blazon of pot makes it harder to overwater your plants. A cannabis plant growing in a tan fabric smart pot is pictured to the right.

This is an instance of great soil for growing for cannabis – rich, composted, and well-draining

Example of composted super soil - a perfect growing medium for growing cannabis since it's rich and contains lots of essential nutrients for cannabis growth
Composted super soil lets you grow organic marijuana without whatever extra fertilizers or nutrients

Watering Too Frequently? Barely at All?

In the start of your grow, you volition probable be watering your marijuana plants every couple of days. Watering every ii-3 days is optimal for a young plant. If it'due south taking too long for your plant to dry out out, you may need to give less water at a time until the plant is growing faster.

If you experience like you are watering your plants too oft, yous may need to give more h2o at a fourth dimension. You can likewise move plants into a bigger pot (which holds water for longer).

If plants have longer than 3-4 days to dry, brand sure your potting mixture has expert drainage and consider giving less h2o at a fourth dimension

If plants are drying out in 1 day or less, try giving more water at a time or transplanting to a bigger pot

Speaking of pot size, it is mostly all-time to start young cannabis plants in relatively small-scale containers (like a solo cup with a few holes cut out of the lesser for drainage), and motion plants into bigger containers every bit they become bigger. Starting in smaller containers makes it a lot harder to overwater your plants when they're immature, and makes information technology easier to flush plants and/or respond to problems if they occur.

That existence said, you tin can found your seeds right into their final container. Merely exist careful not to overwater your seedlings at commencement if they're in a large container equally they're non drinking much water in the beginning.

More assistance with watering cannabis seedlings

If yous started your plants in a solo cup, I'd recommend moving to a bigger pot once the plant is a week or two old, as shortly as the leaves attain the edges of the solo cup.

10-20% Extra Runoff Every Fourth dimension You Water (if you lot're providing nutrients in the water)

Rich, composted cannabis soil with a good amount of perlite for extra drainage - starting with the perfect soil makes it easy to water your cannabis correctly every time!

Every time you lot h2o your plants, brand certain that you provide enough h2o to get nearly 10-xx% extra run-off out the lesser of the container, particularly if yous're feeding additional nutrients in the water.

Sometimes soil and soilless growing mediums like coco coir start to collect natural salts from fertilizers that never get washed out.

These built-up salts tin can somewhen cause nutrient bug, pH problems, and nutrient lock-out if they're not removed on a regular basis.

Making sure y'all keep calculation water until you become run-off is also a great way to brand sure that your plants are draining properly.

Plus, this practice volition immediately alarm you to any drainage problems, (equally mentioned earlier, cannabis likes well-draining soil) because you lot'll be able to notice if the water takes a long fourth dimension to come up out the bottom, or doesn't come up out at all.

Different Nutrients for Different Stages of Life

First, brand sure you're using proper cannabis nutrients for your growing medium. They should be formulated for a plant similar tomatoes, and they should have a different feeding schedule for the Vegetative (Grow) and Flowering (Blossom) stage.

If using nutrients on a regular basis by calculation them to your water, it's generally a good thought to give your cannabis plants nutrients every watering. This ensures the amount of nutrients in the plant root zone is kept relatively stable. If you find the tips of leaves getting burnt from nutrient burn down, it may mean you demand to lower your overall strength of nutrients. Nearly food recommendations on the side of the bottle are too strong for cannabis plants, and should be cut in half unless plants announced pale or lime green (which means they want higher levels of nutrients overall).

If Growing in Composted or Amended Soil, Give Simply Enough Water That the Soil is Moisture All the Way Through

When growing in composted and amended soil, the soil itself is made to slowly provide nutrients to your plant throughout its life. Still, if you're regularly watering until you get a pregnant amount of runoff, you lot'll also exist washing away some of your nutrients.

This is good when the constitute is getting the nutrients direct in the water, to avoid unwanted buildup in the soil, but try to avoid a lot of extra runoff if you want your nutrients in the container to last until harvest.

Therefore, when growing in amended soil yous should but water until you lot get just a drop or two of water runoff out the lesser. Yous want to ensure you lot gave enough water to reach the bottom of the pot without letting a significant amount of water run out the bottom.

Learn more about growing in composted and amended soil (only add h2o!)

Proper watering practices will greatly assist reduce the amount of salt buildup and preclude nutrition problems from occurring.

Drooping Plants?

If your cannabis plants shows signs of drooping, often the plant is getting too much or too little water, but not always. Drooping can exist caused by….

Too much water at a fourth dimension, or giving water as well often
Not plenty water at a time, or giving water too infrequently
Drooping can too occur in hot weather, or when information technology'southward very boiling or dry out considering the institute isn't able to move h2o properly through the plant.
Plants sometimes get droopy if they are given a lot of h2o afterwards being allowed to dry out for too long, due to the stress of the water pressure level quickly changing at the roots.
Drooping is almost always associated with something going on at the roots, only plants also tend to put their leaves down a bit correct earlier the lights go off, as if they're preparing to "sleep" for the night. That tin sometimes be mistaken every bit drooping when its actually office of the institute's natural rhythm.

In order to prevent over or nether-watering, make sure yous water thoroughly every time (don't just water a tiny spot in the center of the pot unless you constitute is very modest for the container). Yous should be getting 10-20% extra runoff water every fourth dimension if you're adding nutrients in the water. In soil, expect to water again until the top inch of the growing medium feels dry, up to your first knuckle or so. In coco coir, aim to water the plants every 1-3 days if possible, and don't let the top completely dry out between waterings.

Underwatered Marijuana Plants

Wilting is the first sign of underwaterd marijuana plants
Leaves are limp and lifeless, they may seem dry out or even "crispy"
Will eventually lead to plant decease if not corrected

An underwatered marijuana plant

Learn more virtually underwatering

Overwatered Marijuana Plants

Drooping / Curling is the kickoff sign of overwaterd marijuana plants
Leaves are firm and curled downward all the mode from the stalk to the leaf
Volition eventually lead to foliage yellowing and other signs of nutrient problems if not corrected

An overwatered Marjuana plant Marijuana Plant drooping due to being overwatered This young over-watered marijuana plant is drooping

Learn more about overwatering

If your institute is experiencing "the claw" and not just normal drooping (like the ends of leaves are just pointing down like talons, then you may actually have a nitrogen toxicity (too much nitrogen).

Nitrogen Toxicity("The Claw," tips aptitude down, dark leaves)
Larn more about Nitrogen Toxicity

Nitrogen toxicity - marijuana plant Nitrogen toxic marijuana plant - NOT overwatered