Little help with watering.

Ok so, let me start by saying a little about myself and my situation.
From Okanagan BC
About 18 months ago I took over a 126 light show. I don't have decades of experience, just what I've gained since being here and working at a buddy's for a year before this.

I normal use 5 or 7 gal plastic pots and have 6 per light. Ceiling height is only about 7', watering once every 2 days. Always do well. Well, that is until now.

Over the last several months with the price dropping dramatically I've been trying to save a buck anywhere I can. Someone suggested using 3 gal pots to save on dirt. At first this seemed to be great. Used less then half the dirt I normally would.

I knew that with smaller pots I'd have to water more often, as my 5s and 7s can get pretty dry over the course of 2 days.

I just can't seem to get the right amount now. Seems like I'm either over or under watering, and the girls are really showing signs thats they've been treated like shit. This rounds almost done, 10 days to go and likely cutting sooner as I've got too much yellow already.


I can drench a pot one day and the next will be bone dry. I've even left they pot tray half full of water so it won't dry right out witch keeps it from drying out by next day but then the problem is there not dry enough to water but not wet enough to make it til next day. So I just give them enough to get by, but feel like nd looks like I'm suffocating them. Wondering if I should be filling my pot tray right up so they make it a full 2 days and hopefully dry properly. Or try and watch more closely and possibly water 2 times per day with less water at a time. I don't know. I've tried a few other ways but always feel like it's not right. Never using 3 gal again unless my girls are half the size.

I have next round witch is in week 2 and are also in 3 gal. I haven't fucked them up yet but am concerned over the next couple of weeks I will if I can't nail down my watering. With those I've been giving them a heavy water on day 1 and day 2 give them just enough that it comes out the bottom. Seems to be working ok, however, they look healthy but r still showing slight signs of underwatering


Any suggestions.

Just water them when the lights come on every day & if you can check them just before the lights turn off & give them another light water if needed. Leaving the roots sitting in trays of stagnant water for longer than 20-30 minutes isn’t ideal

What soil are you using? With coco, I water 3 gal pots twice per day, to lots of runoff. With a peat based mix, it seems like you could get away with watering once every two days. How are you fertilizing them? Liquid or dry nutrients? Mineral salt or organics? IF you are using mineral salts, you should allow for plenty of runoff each time you water. If you let the plant absorb that back in, you will have HIGH soil EC issues in short order. IF this is a sphagnum/peat based media, one thing that might be happening, especially because you said you arent getting runoff, is that peat is hydrophobic, so it can be hard to water the entire media evenly. I would try watering with a wetting agent, with plenty of runoff, and try it again, watering once every two days, or if that's no good, once per day. Good luck!

MrsFrontButt said:

Any suggestions.

Click to expand...

If you can't figure out how to water, my suggestion would be to sell off the business. With dwindling profit margins you're only going to get yourself in the hole deeper. Good luck.