Vacation extended, how long after a plant dries out can it rebound? wk 5 flowering

[karr]

Ok so i had been planning to return to my grow after a 4 day(and one night) vacation. To sustain them i pretty thoroughly saturated the soil(not dangerously so) and added one of those water bubbles(self watering glass bubbles for houseplants) to each plant. Generally i water 3 plants (one small one med one bigger) two gallons (actually under).

the last water was 1.5 gallons 2 days before. 1 gallon the day before then one gallon the night of departure in addition to the glass bulbs which only hold maybe 20 oz or so.

generally the 2 gal(under) lasts about 4 days, or just under.


so given the amounts described puts me safe for about the four days. i will be returning a day late which puts me to about 1.5 days after the soil may be dry.

if the soil goes dry at the 4 day mark, how long can plants realistically recover from? keep in mind the plants have completed their fifth real week of flowering.

should i try to get back earlier? i just don't want to come back too late.


ah and the plants are in a 5 gal smart pot, 3 gal normal pot, and 2 gal smart pot. in descending order from biggest plant to smallest.

thanks for the help and plus rep for good advice

 

[noober doober]

My guess as a noob is they will be fine. The 2gal may be a bit dry and droopy but will most likely pop back to life within hours of a nice watering. I just did this with some 3 gallon smart pots and the plants looked like they were weeping willows and immediately popped back to greatness after some water

 

[karr]

yeah i have hit that drooping time as well, im just really after knowing how long is too long. how far can they be, and what are the adverse effects. i imagine potency and yield could suffer as the plant does what it can to survive.

i know there are too many variables to really give any real helpful answer. so how about horror/recovery stories, what have you all faced and overcame?

thanks

 

[Nullis]

I can't tell you how much longer a plant has before it is past the point of no return from lack of hydration, but I can say that once it is wilting severely it needs water sooner than later. No water also means no nutrient uptake, slowing life processes and once it gets so bad that the plant is wilting I am sure vascular breakdown isn't very far behind. Obviously the healthier the plants are in the first place the better.

There are some other products you might want to look into, not sure what they are called exactly but the stuff is used to provide hydration over extended periods of time. It comes either as "water-holding crystals" or possibly some sort of gel, they usually sell these things at home improvement stores and garden centers and they are supposed to hydrate for up to 30 days.

 

[jesus of Cannabis]

O 1 gallon the day before then one gallon the night of departure in addition to the glass bulbs which only hold maybe 20 oz or so.

they will die from all the water

 

[karr]

I should say that those gallon figures are divided by three. If I gave each plant that dead for sure, but as it sits I'm more afraid of the dry than the wet

 

[Captain Jaz]

They will recover if you are 1.5 days over as planed, I have had to do a similar thing in the past. Question you gotta ask yourself, is the extra time on holiday worth damaging your bud producing time by about 5+ days... (2 or so from no water, and another 3 ish to recover and start growing properly again)

 

[Captain Jaz]

Next time, spend $30 on a bucket, a times, some drippers and a small pump.. But I guess everythings easy in hindsight eh??

 

[Tym]

What kind of light are you using?

 

[Captain Jaz]

though how much water they need/use is greatly effected by the temps/light/humidity in your room, so I can't really say for sure...

 

[karr]

yeah i know the best we get are guesses, but its a start. unfortunently the extra day is non negotiable at this point. hopefully i get just the start of bad droop and all it will need is some water, likely though i will be a bit into the dry and recovery time will be needed, its shit i know.

the trip itself was not planned, well it was planned for 3 days, somehow turned into 5 with no prep time(left after work) otherwise the diy section has a great self watering build that would have been perfect, just not prepared.

just hoping for the best now.

 

[NoDrama]

It will be fine.

 

[karr]

Oh and im running a 400w cmh well cooled

 

[Tym]

Yeah, you should be fine..

 

[karr]

Repped it up as much as possible, need some good karma about now ;p

 

[karr]

Thanks for the good words. i got home yesterday which put it at about 5 days since watering. two of the plants were dry as were their water globes. the last was dry and the water was still in the globe hah, that particular plant has some real crap soil, so it probably clogged upon insertion.

all the plants were showing their frustration. about 10% of their fan leaves actually died, and even a day later a few look like they will not rebound. Most of the fan leaves are recovered and look to be not entirely bad. when i first got in all the leaves were extremely drooped over. an hour after watering em many of them already picked back up.

Had a quick scare about a hermie problem with all three. Turns out that it just looks like some swollen calyxes as they are teardrop shaped with hairs coming out.

they definently got hurt, i pretty much consider the whole 5 days as negative, probably further from the finish now. Some hairs are turning orange, but trichs look mostly clear.

when you guys are not growing a lot of plants, how do you like to inspect the trichs? snip a bud leaf from near the top? something that would be trimmed later anyway? i have been looking at the trichs while on the plant, but noticed that im pulling a lot off with my scope.