Water Shock is a reality you should understand...

[BushyOldGrower]

Do you know what I am talking about?

When we grow indoors we often supplement with co2 in order to get a peak growing metabolism going mid day as the temperatures rise but do you ordinarily water in the morning as I have taught?

Since then I have reconsidered. The reason being that I don't like moldy buds and watering late in the day could cause the plants to be too wet at times especially at night when temps drop and mold can occur.

But what is watering shock? It is the thing you see a while after a good watering in which the uplifted leaves drop some for a time. You don't want this to happen during peak metabolism time so what do you think about this issue friends. Personally I am trying watering at the end of the day now to see about all this theory. BOG

 

[Crazy Composer]

I like to water in the am, just after the lights go on. For no other reason than to avoid having sopping wet roots all night. However, if it looks like (by mid day) that the soil will need water before morning, I give them their water in the middle of the day.

Seems to me that water shock isn't really shock (unless it's cold water), it's more to do with the vacuum that is caused when plenty of water is suddenly made available.

A good way to understand this vacuum action in plants is to look at plants about an hour after the lights go out at night... The leaves will all droop down, as if losing their erection. As with other types of erections, it's the fluid pressure inside that keeps the leafs erect. This pressure is caused by evapotranspiration (or plant sweating). As a drop of water is lost through the leaves, another drop of water is brought in to replace it through the roots - thus keeping the erection going!!!

Now, to relate this to water shock (drooping of leaves when you water in the middle of the light cycle), we just need to think about how watering plants in the middle of the day can cause a temporary decrease in water pressure inside the plant. Seems backwards, but it makes sense when you think about it...

When water is suddenly made plentiful at the roots, the vacuum inside the upper plant gets higher, because the water is introduced at the end of the hose (at the roots). Just like if you were to put a shop vac's hose into a bucket of water, the engine would be put under more stress trying to move that water upward. AND the hose itself will have a higher vacuum pressure - until the water has moved up into it. Basically, the pressure of moving water up into a plant that is in need of water, causes the plant to pucker up with internal vacuum pressure - for a while - until the water makes it up into the plant and the pressure evens out...


cc

 

[Guest]

I like to water my plants by hand twice a day.Once about an hour after lights on and then i check them mid day and feel how heavy,then water accordingly.I dont really water them heavy.I just give them a fair amount twice ,and in the morning they are wanting more water but not too dry.I have a heater on at lights out set to 69 f so that keeps it from getting cold or moldy at night.I did have a SB that i over watered n it got wilty lookin,but it bounced back.

 

[Crazy Composer]

^^^ You're a Yankee fan, so that disqualifies you immediately!!!

Go SOX! World Champions! hahahah! j/k... Not about the world champs thing tho :smile: hahahaha!

 

[Urban Spaceman]

Well Crazy C. That makes perfect sence to me bro. I have 1 strain inperticularthat seems to do what you're talking aboutsometimes. I've been trying to figure out the droopy leaves syndrome.I knew it wasn't to much nutes, and was wondering if it didn't like H2O2. That didn't seem to be the problum. I came to the conclusion that I was letting it dry TO MUCH before watering, thus what you just explained. It all make sense.

 

[shopvac]

as stated i water when they need water obviously, but i like to either water about an hour after lights go on or about 2/3-3/4 of the way thru the lights cycle.

I find that when i water at the later point it tends to get slightly less droop, and/or pick up quite fast afterwards of what droop there is.

this is just what i have noticed, and still do have to do the occasional random water before lights out, and all that fun stuff we try and avoid. but i also havnt made any real steps to seeing how this turns out with others standards.

 

[Guest]

Damn Bo Sox. lol

 

[Crazy Composer]

Mite damage? Where? I think you might be mistaken this time bro! hehehe. Looks like the only damage on that plant is some physical leaf damage...

 

[Guest]

I think Bog said it in his thread that he took the plant out to the garage for a couple days or a day and he had alittle mite damage.You can see it good in another pic he has.

 

[Crazy Composer]

I guess it's up to BOG to tell us... Doesn't look very mitey to me though. The spots are too big. But I guess a closer pic would be the only way of tellin.

I may be wrong, if I am, I'll send FJ any cutting he wants from my stable! hehehe There's a good chance that there is mites there now that I hear he said there was a mite problem on one of them. So FJ, start choosing what you'd like! hahaha!

 

[Guest]

Check out the 10th pic in his gallery. He said it was very light damage

 

[Crazy Composer]

Yeah, looks like mite spots in that pic, but they're weird, the spots are usually grouped together when I get em... We haven't had mites around here for about a month. Thank the Gods! It took about 8 months to get rid of them organically. They just kept creeping up on me, but the neem and picking off leaves with new colonies finally got rid of them - knock on wood. But yeah, I usully see them making tight grouping of spots, not so spread out as this plant's are.

 

[Guest]

I have about 20 safer bug strips in and around the grow at all times.So hopefully i will not get them.Knock on wood.I had my hair get stuck to one the other day bending down to trim off some bottom branches that were teeny.That shit is like super super glue,it ripped out a bunch of hair gettin it off.

 

[Crazy Composer]

Neem is absolutely AWESOME for taking care of mites - especially when it's used exaclty as the bottle says, applying for 3 weeks in a row... Then keep an eye peeled for new spots, remove those leaves right away, and keep this up until there's no more mites to worry about.

I also think that pests like this can evolve very quickly. I have some fungus gnats right now that I'm battling. They used to be very susceptible to neem treatments, but now they do very well, even WITH neem treatments. So it seems we've killed off all the neem-susceptible gnats, and are now dealing with a population that is better-able to cope with neem. So, when you start using neem to kill a population of insects, do it right from the start, taking your time at it might give enough time for a particularly neem-resistant family of insects to take hold. Whack em fast! hehehe

Oh yeah, this thread isn't even about mites.

 

[Guest]

Hiya friends i usally water when i first get up in the am ...i havent seen the droop on my soil plants i used to get it in hydro..i beleive its from root stress as in being root bound slightly ...i dont see it at all in my pro mix mixture even when lights go out... the watering at night can surely cause rot to set in ..and increase humidity when lights go out...good luck on the test....

take care
greenfriend

 

[Harry Gypsna]

Personally, I do my watering before lights off in the flower room, just beacuase i thought that a plant takes in all the goodies at night while at rest??? If i was totally wrong there, shows how much I know, lol.
I havent had any problems that have een related to this I dont think, my worst issues have been over ferting.

 

[Guest]

I water my plants when the lights are on and when I can get away from the kids. Plants needs be damned! Seriously, Ive watered at probably every possible time in the light on period and have never seen a difference one way or the other. But I havent been looking, either.

 

[valk]

My waterings happen more around when I have time and not based on any particular schedule or time of day. I generally end up watering no earlier than late afternoon/early evening. I've never had any mold/pest problems (knock on wood), so this isn't anything I've even considered.

The only shock I've ever heard of with regard to plants, is temperature related (cold water).

To me, the term shock lends itself to a sudden, extreme, even violent change, which in my opinion isn't what actually happens. I would consider what we're talking about to appear suddenly but since there's not any real damage to the plant, it's more like creating a "less than optimal" growing environment, thus impeding its progress.

I could be wrong as hell too, I sure don't claim to know everything, (or all that much either ) I'd like to see how this experiment turns out either way.

 

[kov]

Every gardener, and I'm talking about outdoor soil vegetable and fruit gardening will tell you that it is essential to water in the evening, when the sun is lown down, and not giving out much heat anymore.

I'm not sure about the specific reasons to that, but I 've heard that more delicate species of plants tend to develop a sun burn when watered in full sun, and also because moisture evaporates quicker so the quantity of nessesary waterings rises .

I don't know if it all applies to indoor Mj cultivation, but I'm happily watering in the evening with no apparent harm to my plants. My watering schedule for a mature plant in a 3 gal pot is once in approx 4 days.

No water shock for me.

rgds, kov