how do you water plants whil calculating in rain?

[Punisher 421]

I have been wondering how everyone waters/fertilizes their outdoor plants while taking into account rainfall frequency and amounts.

usually I water around every 3 days or if soil seems dry, and water with ferts about once a week or so. but have been wanting to figure in rain for a while now

 

[_tessarecting]

I just give mine less when I go to water weekly

 

[plantingplants]

Well if you want to be nerdy about it, then go all the way . Get you a rain gauge and measure your garden sq footage then when it rains multiply your garden area by the amount of rainfall in inches (converted to ft to match your garden area) then multiply that by 7.481 and you'll know roughly how many gallons the sky dumped on your plants.

...or you could just water less than you normally would . It's good to be aware of the weather-- I watered my plants heavily some day in may and the next three days were cloudy and rainy. No surprise they drooped from overwatering.

 

[Slipnot]

I have been wondering how everyone waters/fertilizes their outdoor plants while taking into account rainfall frequency and amounts.

usually I water around every 3 days or if soil seems dry, and water with ferts about once a week or so. but have been wanting to figure in rain for a while now

Well for me I use true organic built soil so no feeding no teas no pesticides ,
As for watering i usually let mother nature take care of it , but i guess it would depend on size of medium and if its in a pot ??? or ground
I chose actual ground so like i said more or less let mother nature take care of it , Only time i water is when plants are in real need of water if it has not rained ?? in like 2 weeks its amazing how much moisture is in the ground , 3 - 5 feet below where root structure will grow to .
Creating a tree here is 7.5 week old from seedling o watering only mother nature she is a beast already over 3 feet
so i guess when plant starts keeling over from drought is when i intervene

 

[DoubleTripleOG]

I like to watch the weather. Wait until it supposed to rain. Water the day/morning before the rain is supposed to come with food water. Just a little bit. Then when the rain comes, it drives the nutrient water all the way thru the roots.

No science behind that, or any solid evidence that it makes them do better. Just my own observations over the years. Everything always grows after a good rain, so it's prolly all in my head, lol.

 

[neongreen]

I agree with the previous two posters. I try to only water when it's absolutely necessary (if the plants are wilting), or before rain in order to feed. The less you water, the more your plants are forced to search for water themselves, and the less maintenance they'll need when the weather gets hot. Less is more IMHO.

 

[plantingplants]

Just to balance this out, I've always been cautioned against ever letting them wilt, but that you don't want to water too often either, so that roots go searching as suggested above.

Wish there was some science about this. Why is everything about growing cannabis mired in myth and pseudoscience and anecdotes and shitty logic.

 

[Punisher 421]

That's what I was looking for. To see if there is a science behind it

 

[DoubleTripleOG]

Just to balance this out, I've always been cautioned against ever letting them wilt, but that you don't want to water too often either, so that roots go searching as suggested above.

Wish there was some science about this. Why is everything about growing cannabis mired in myth and pseudoscience and anecdotes and shitty logic.

That's what I was looking for. To see if there is a science behind it

Chimera and/or Skunkman would be who I would ask about the science aspect of your question. Don't forget about google either. I know it sucks to have to sift thru all the bullshit that comes with a search. But sometimes you can find exactly what your looking for with a simple search.

 

[Slipnot]

Just to balance this out, I've always been cautioned against ever letting them wilt, but that you don't want to water too often either, so that roots go searching as suggested above.

Wish there was some science about this. Why is everything about growing cannabis mired in myth and pseudoscience and anecdotes and shitty logic.

Believe it or not a plant that gets Some drought ends up much stronger and produces much better nd is much healthier ,,
Its like a spoiled kid ,, compared to one that is not spolied only time i intervene is when there is a long period of drought and plants is starting to droop, by allowing this the plant becomes aware
Ancient Farmer growing herb actually induced drought in flower

 

[HillMizer]

A scientific way to do it would be to to measure the moisture with a moisture tensionometer (not the cheap growstore meter then consult the chart you made that tells you what duration to run the irrigation to ensure you have the correct amount moisture.

 

[acridlab]

in s.e michigan we always just fed once a week. no matter how much it rained.. then just watered accordingly, if it were super dry or something.. worked great. no I'm too lazy to grow outside tho

 

[PoweredByLove]

even if it rains, it's so hot and humid that you need to water again anyway a few hours later. i have to water my garden like 3x a day. only 1-2x if it rains that day. rained really hard today. broke a lot of branches on my tomatoes weed however standing tall. even the little ones that are just showing sex.

 

[neongreen]

I've always been cautioned against ever letting them wilt

Well, there's wilt and there's wilt. Obviously you don't want wilt to get to the stage where every single leaf on a plant is flaccid - a plant reaching that stage is certain to be severely set back if it recovers at all!

But a little wilt likely does no lasting harm IME, and plants spring back very quickly after a good water. OTOH consistent over watering will definitely set plants back, and it's very easy to make this mistake. It's much easier to tell if a plant is under-watered than it is to tell when it's over-watered.

Given the choice, I'd rather have a little wilt than over water, but then we usually get some rain even in the height of summer here, and I keep a close eye on the plants, so I've never really come across wilt here.

If you are growing somewhere very hot/arid AND you can't keep an eye on your plants all the time, then it would probably be prudent to water on a regular basis during the hottest part of the season. If you can keep a close eye on them, then IMHO it would be better to wait to see when they start to wilt before watering. Next time you'll have a rough idea how long they can go before they need a water, so you can water before they start to get desperate, keeping in mind that as the plants grow, waterings will need to become closer and closer together.

If you are getting occasional rain I would just monitor the rain (leave a bucket in the open and check how full it is every time you visit your site), and try to get a feel for how long they can go without watering by paying close attention to the plants, especially early on in the season when they are just starting to blow up. You'll soon start to get a feel for it.


Just a thought, but if you look around at the native vegetation around your grow site, you'll almost never see it wilting, but no one is keeping it watered. Granted that that native vegetation (apart from established/well rooted trees) does not often grow as big/lush as Cannabis plants, but Cannabis is very adaptable and tolerant of dry conditions if it's well settled in. However if you mollycoddle it (or any other plant) then it'll become reliant on you, and suffer if you are not always there for it. Any reasonably experienced gardener would agree with that I'm sure - no need to find papers.

Again, it all comes down to the climate you're growing in, how often you can check on your plants, and how independent you want them to be.

There are many ways to skin a cat, and the best way to approach something like this (once you've heard all the arguments) IMHO is to experiment and find out what works best for YOU in Your environment. Don't expect to get huge yields first time, just work out which methods work best (keep careful notes), then next season you can concentrate on those techniques that worked best for you the previous season and getting the yields up.

 

[Punisher 421]

Well, there's wilt and there's wilt. Obviously you don't want wilt to get to the stage where every single leaf on a plant is flaccid - a plant reaching that stage is certain to be severely set back if it recovers at all!

But a little wilt likely does no lasting harm IME, and plants spring back very quickly after a good water. OTOH consistent over watering will definitely set plants back, and it's very easy to make this mistake. It's much easier to tell if a plant is under-watered than it is to tell when it's over-watered.

Given the choice, I'd rather have a little wilt than over water, but then we usually get some rain even in the height of summer here, and I keep a close eye on the plants, so I've never really come across wilt here.

If you are growing somewhere very hot/arid AND you can't keep an eye on your plants all the time, then it would probably be prudent to water on a regular basis during the hottest part of the season. If you can keep a close eye on them, then IMHO it would be better to wait to see when they start to wilt before watering. Next time you'll have a rough idea how long they can go before they need a water, so you can water before they start to get desperate, keeping in mind that as the plants grow, waterings will need to become closer and closer together.

If you are getting occasional rain I would just monitor the rain (leave a bucket in the open and check how full it is every time you visit your site), and try to get a feel for how long they can go without watering by paying close attention to the plants, especially early on in the season when they are just starting to blow up. You'll soon start to get a feel for it.


Just a thought, but if you look around at the native vegetation around your grow site, you'll almost never see it wilting, but no one is keeping it watered. Granted that that native vegetation (apart from established/well rooted trees) does not often grow as big/lush as Cannabis plants, but Cannabis is very adaptable and tolerant of dry conditions if it's well settled in. However if you mollycoddle it (or any other plant) then it'll become reliant on you, and suffer if you are not always there for it. Any reasonably experienced gardener would agree with that I'm sure - no need to find papers.

Again, it all comes down to the climate you're growing in, how often you can check on your plants, and how independent you want them to be.

There are many ways to skin a cat, and the best way to approach something like this (once you've heard all the arguments) IMHO is to experiment and find out what works best for YOU in Your environment. Don't expect to get huge yields first time, just work out which methods work best (keep careful notes), then next season you can concentrate on those techniques that worked best for you the previous season and getting the yields up.

Wow neon that is some great advice thank u for posting

 

[neongreen]

My pleasure Punisher. It wouldn't be a bad idea to find some growers on here that are growing at a similar Lat./in a similar climate to you and follow their grows/copy some of their ideas, but don't be afraid to ALSO experiment at first/do some things differently - you may eventually end up with bigger yields than the growers you were following!

The bar has been set high, but I strongly believe that 50lbs + per plant is possible given the right conditions and techniques. I personally have yet to achieve over 1lb (or even close to it), but my gut tells me it's possible here @52N if everything comes together!

 

[Slipnot]

Pretty much what i said ^^^^ when i grow out door i tend to leave plant be just like it would in nature not only do you get better quality of product but plants do really well again it all depends where your growing if your in the vegetable states , rather then growing in a desert also being mj is a weed people tend to plant them so they get intense sunlight ,, i tend to grow in 3/4 sun 1/4 shade in a day plants do really good recent pic thinking 7- 8 weeks from seed
and a older grow in that same spot she was a beast at 11 feet tall and same wide Cherry pie

 

[Punisher 421]

I'm at 42north. In a vegetable state lol.

 

[Punisher 421]

I kind of have a problem about just leaving them alone but I'm trying pretty hard to let em be lol

 

[neongreen]

It's easy to over-complicate things and fuss too much - common nubie errors

Most of the hard work is in the planning/prep/amending - once the plants are in and settled down apart from the occasional feed I just leave them be as much as possible. However, it's not a bad thing to inspect them for problems as often as you can.

It sounds like you're in a good location that's not too extreme, so don't stress too much

Nice plants Slipnot!