Watering Weed Plants Guide

How to Water Marijuana Plants

There is no exact method of watering marijuana because what goes on in the root and other parts of marijuana is not visible to humans’ naked eyes. The climate of your grow room also determines the amount of water that is needed by your marijuana on a day to day basis.

Though there are no straightforward guidelines for everyone on how to water cannabis while growing, below are the indications that determine your weeds need proper watering.

1. You will observe the leaves turn dark or yellow in appearance.
2. Check out your plant if they are healthy, firm, and vibrant
3. The texture of your soil should be fluffy if they are adequately watered.

Most beginners may tend to overwater their plants, if you want proper growth for your marijuana, you only need to moisten and not to overwater it till it is waterlogged. Marijuana roots also need a form of dryness or dehydration to thrive.

An efficient and straightforward way to know if marijuana plants need watering is, dip your finger a few inches into the soil; if it appears to be dry, then it requires watering.

One of the ways to also know if marijuana needs watering is this, if you are using a pot, measure the weight of the container when it is being watered. This will enable you to know when it needs the next watering. All you need to do whenever you feel there is a need to water the plants is to measure the pot then compare it with the measurement of when the container is watered. This will help you know if watering is required.

Marijuana plants that are under-watered appear fatigued, weak, with brownish or yellowish leaves. Most of the time, the leaves’ strength is absent, and they seem lifeless and dull. There is a slight difference between this and overwatered plants, but you have dark green and curl leaves compared to the yellowish leaves you get when marijuana plants are underwatered.

It is always better to underwater marijuana plants than to overwater them because pests prefer to breed in an environment that is drenched and can exterminate your plants fast.

Besides, plants find it difficult to breathe when they are overwatered, but plant roots attract oxygen as the soil dries. Timing is crucial in knowing the right time to water your marijuana plant.

How Much Do You Need To Water Marijuana Plant

The quantity of water needed depends on some factors which are listed below:

1. The size of the pot/grows room.
2. The outside climate/temperature
3. The general health of marijuana
4. The current growth phase of the marijuana

If you are using a pot, there is nothing wrong with watering the plant till it overflow. But after a few seconds, the water should drain from the surface, making the surface slightly drenched. When watering the plant, the water comes out of the drainage hole swiftly.

After you have watered the marijuana plant on a pot, water it again after fifteen minutes so it can get into the nooks and cranny of the pot/soil and makes it absorb water.

The fact is, a flowering marijuana plant with bigger roots will take more water compared to plants at the seedling stage. This shows you should water flowering plants daily while a young plant can wait between 2-3 days before they are watered.

How to Know If Your Marijuana Plant Is Thirsty

I am sure everyone reading this is now aware of how often cannabis needs water and how it varies in different stages of their development. Below are details on the signs they manifest and when to exactly water marijuana.

1. Plants are usually weak: Whenever marijuana plants are vulnerable, you will recognize slouch/wilt in their leaves. Almost every part of the plants gets lifeless, withered, and these effects can not be overlooked.
2. Cannabis plants turn brown or yellow: Lack of water reduces the yield of marijuana, and it changes the color of leaves to brown or yellow. Skilled growers know that it is normal for marijuana leaves to turn yellow in the last week, but when the leaves are becoming foliage or looking dehydrated, then your marijuana plants are lacking in water.

How to Water Your Marijuana Plants

There is a simple rule that is associated with watering weed. Water occasionally, but whenever you water, water them very well! So instead of giving your marijuana plants a tiny amount of water at times, try to saturate the whole space whenever you water every once in a while. The next question should be, how much water is enough?

If you use a pot to cultivate marijuana, watering your cannabis with half of the pot size is recommended. For instance, if the container is seven liters, water the pot with a 1-gallon (3.5-liter) volume of water, but you must ensure 15 – 20% of the water you’re pouring into the container is coming off from the bottom of the pot.

Please note, those using peat medium should know that it doesn’t retain water quickly and may not adequately contain water until it is soaked or saturated. Most of the time, you will need to manually do pot lifting to ascertain the absorption rate of the soil.

Ensure Your Marijuana Plants Are Not on Runoff

It is advisable to have holes beneath the containers, so run off water can vacate quickly, but it is recommendable to lift the container/pot every once in a while, so that warm liquid is drained as and when due. If this stale/warm liquid is not completely exhausted, pests and bacteria might start living in such an environment.

Importance of PH In Watering

Organic marijuana growers don’t need to emphasize the PH condition of the soil. This cannot be assumed for marijuana growers because most of them use a grow room where everything is regulated.

Marijuana usually works with soil water because there is a present level of PH that can absorb nutrients in the grow room. The lack of nutrients also happens when the PH level is either too high or very low. The nutrients will only be in the hydroponic/grow room set up, but the marijuana plant won’t utilize it.

The actual PH for organic growers (those that grow in soil) is within 6.3 – 6.8, while the ideal PH for hydroponic should be lower compared to the organic method, which should be within the range of 5.5 to 6.1. Knowing your water PH is very easy, get a Ph calculating stick or a measuring drop, then dip it into your set up or in the soil.

Overwatering Marijuana Plant

Overwatering marijuana plants is easy; most growers want to ensure the marijuana plants are not thirsty or lack water; that is why they eventually overwater the plant. Marijuana uses its roots to transpire and exchange air; whenever it is waterlogged.

Waterlogged could also cause drowning to your plants. Besides, the growth rate of overwatered marijuana is stunted, and leaves get curled most of the time.

Patience is the best way to cure overwatering, be sure the topsoil is dry before watering again(pouring additional water). If you are using a pot, be patient to see excess drained water(runoff). You need the soil to be damp and not flooded.

Underwatering Marijuana Plant

This means growers are not reaching their marijuana plant’s nutrients/water requirements. The root needs to be moist and dried for the necessary growth to occur. When you don’t use the accurate pot/container size, then underwatering is bound to happen.

This problem could occur in two ways, imagining planting young seedling in a big pot; most times, the seedling will find it difficult to take up water before it runoff. The second one is to imagine a small container with a flowering marijuana plant; the roots will find it difficult to spread in the pot, affecting the growth rate.

Water Quality Is Supreme

Not all water parameters support the high yield of marijuana. Expert growers know that marijuana plants are made up of at least 90% of water. Water is required in all the stages (transpiration and photosynthesis) a plant goes through.

Whenever you use unclean or contaminated water to your marijuana, your plants will experience stunted growth, which eventually affects your harvest. 

Parts Per Million

It is mostly called PPM; it is also related to the marijuana plant’s water quality. PPM is an approved way to test the level of minerals/nutrients present in the water. For instance, 80ppm shows there are 80 milligrams per liter of nutrient in the water.

In conclusion, it is good to test PPM of water before using it on a marijuana plant; this will help you know the quality of the water you’re applying and the mineral it contains. Marijuana plant in the vegetative stage thrives in a PPM around 500 while it doubles that figure during the flowering stage, 1000 PPM is preferable at the flowering stage.

Keep in mind that the best way to solve overwatering is Patience, be sure the topsoil is drained before adding more water to the plant.