Watering Your Cannabis Plants – How to Get It Right?

The Main Signs of Overwatering Cannabis and How to Avoid It

It takes quite a lot to have a successful harvest from your cannabis plant. Lighting, humidity, airflow, and nutrition are some of the critical elements required for the finest yield. However, water is one of the most crucial aspects of keeping your cannabis plant healthy and strong. 

Ironically, watering is also one of the most significant challenges growers face, especially new ones. This article helps you understand the proper way to water your cannabis plant, how to tell when your plant has been overwatered or starved from water, and how to save your precious plants from watering problems.

Why Proper Watering Matters

Watering is more complex than it seems. Most growers think that the daily saturation of their plants with water will help them grow faster and produce high-quality marijuana seeds. Yet, in fact, watering your cannabis plant is a careful balancing act that takes time and practice. Overwatering causes a myriad of problems, including hindering the plant’s oxygen intake. On the other hand, depriving the plant of enough moisture may cause your plant to wilt. Let us delve deeper into the issue and discover the effects of overwatering vs. underwatering cannabis.

What Happens When You Overwater Your Cannabis?

Research reveals that most novice cannabis growers tend to overwater their cannabis plants in the hope that it grows faster and produces more harvest. They quickly get disappointed because overwatering leads to more problems than good. The problem develops as overwatering your cannabis plants before they hit their growth spurt poses a significant risk. Water can build up at the bottom of the vase and cause the roots to rot. It ends up inhibiting the plant’s growth, resulting in super short plants with low yields. 

If you have planted your cannabis indoors, the overwatered crop can get dwarfed by the healthy plants, which create shade over it, cutting off light and killing the shorter plant. 

The plant’s roots hold it in place while absorbing water, oxygen, and nutrients throughout growth. Excessive watering drowns the roots and blocks the nutrient intake process. 

So, how can you tell that your plant has been overwatered? Let’s see how you can recognize the signs of overwatering cannabis and solve the problem.

How to Tell That Your Cannabis Plant Is Overwatered

Overwatering is a common mistake when growing your cannabis, even for experienced growers – see more about it at https://askgrowers.com/cannabis-growing-guide/overwatering. It does not necessarily mean you are giving your plant too much water; it could also mean watering it too frequently. As a result, the plant has insufficient time to absorb moisture before the grower adds more. Here are some of the indications that your plant is excessively watered:

• One of the main signs of overwatering is sagging leaves, but not in a wilted way, as is seen in a dehydrated plant. The leaves are so saturated with water that they curve in on themselves due to the excess weight.
• Overly watered plants experience slower growth. If you notice that your plant’s growth is stunted or has dramatically reduced, you have probably overwatered it. In extreme cases, the plants stop growing altogether.
• Since plants absorb a significant amount of nutrients and oxygen through the roots, overwatering cuts down their supply, leading to the yellowing of a plant’s leaves.
• Another sign that appears in overwatered cannabis plants is mold or rotting buds. Mold thrives in damp and humid conditions, which can be catalyzed by excessive watering. Such buds are no longer consumable, which affects the profits from the cannabis harvest.
• Overwatering causes the roots to rot, leading to slimy, twisted roots that release horrible smells. So, when you notice unusual odors from your plant, it is time to check the watering situation.
• In an overly watered marijuana plant, the base of the stem can feel soft and weak. The excess water creates an environment for mildew and other fungal root diseases to thrive, thus leaving the plant appearing sickly and withered.

How to Correct the Situation

The solution to overwatered hemp plants is quite simple – cut down the water supply. Allow the plants to absorb the water in the soil and process the nutrients before adding some more. 

Still, the risk with this approach is that you may end up drying out your plant. So how do you balance that out? Regularly check on the soil’s moisture content by inserting a stick into the potted plant and check on the wetness of the stick.

Drain and Transplant

In extreme cases where proper drainage is challenging, it is wise to transplant the weed plant into a new pot with fresh, moist soil and avoid watering it until the cannabis overwatering signs disappear. If you are prone to overwatering, it is better to choose smart fabric pots for your plants. The smart pots have a good drainage ability, ensuring that water does not stagnate at the bottom of the pot. The planting container also allows the roots to breathe correctly. You must observe the plant keenly to ensure it doesn’t dry out due to a lack of moisture.

Regulate Watering Schedules and Quantity

Young plants and sprouts require less water than grown plants. For that reason, they are more vulnerable to dehydration. To avoid underwatering or overwatering the plant at that stage, you should mist the soil and ensure that the soil is moist but not wet. As the plant grows, the watering frequency and amount significantly reduce. Watering schedules vary depending on the temperature and humidity of your weed-growing environment.

Treating with Enzymes

Once you have transplanted the plant in a fresh pot, you must start using enzymes to restore the root system’s health. Enzymes are compounds that significantly increase the speed and efficiency of mineral and nutrient absorption from the soil. Enzymes also break down the dead roots and turn them into nutrients for the plant, thus restoring its health.

Conclusion

The most accurate way to water your cannabis plant is by doing it in stages; the water needs vary as the plant grows. Mistakes happen, so if you have overwatered your plant, you have the solutions here. Rectifying the problem in time will save your crop and, hopefully, give you good returns from your cannabis farm. We recommend that you read more on how to properly hydrate your plants so that you can take better care of your crop.

Lana Braslavskaia, the author of this article, is an experienced writer at AskGrowers who is passionate about the cannabis industry and its possibilities. She advocates for equality and resource equity in the cannabis business as she continues educating people on the subject of marijuana through her projects.