One of the most important factors in successful outdoor growing is watering the plants properly. Medicinal cannabis plants grown outdoors need a lot of water, especially if they are tall. The large plants in the vegetative stage or tall flowering cannabis plants can need 30-80L of water daily when it gets hot in the summer. This requires some logistical effort and a little planning beforehand. Smaller plants or marijuana plants in containers have a correspondingly lower daily water requirement.
Proper watering of plants and water quality have a critical impact on grow success. In addition, watering, whether by hand or with an irrigation system, should be unobtrusive and discreet in many parts of the world. In the backyard marijuana garden, patio or balcony, watering outdoor plants is relatively easy to implement and can be done with a watering can, a water hose or a self-installed irrigation system.
A Watering system for outdoor plants can be installed with little effort and saves quite a bit of time.
For guerrilla gardens, watering the plants is usually much more costly and strenuous. The water can be transported in plastic bottles in a backpack or often has to be stored in a water tank near the plants for larger plants and cultivated areas if no water is available on site.
The water consumption of your plants depends strongly on the climatic conditions (solar radiation, wind, temperature, rain) and on the size and variety of the respective plant.
The cannabis plants should be watered in the early morning, so the water they need during the day is available to them and can be well transported away from the roots. If the water stands too long in the soil by the roots or collects in the pot, there is too little oxygen in the root zone. The plants do not like this. If watering is done later in the day, overwatering occurs more easily, which can lead to slowed growth and root rot.
The soil should ideally always be moist, but not wet. It is important to check the outdoor cannabis plants daily to see if water is needed. When the top layer of soil has become dry about 3-4 cm below the surface, it is time to water again. 20-30% of the water should flow out of the drainage holes at the bottom of the pot. Cannabis plants planted directly into the ground are watered until the entire soil is completely wet all around.
With multiple plants, larger ladies or little time, it makes sense in many cases to install an automatic irrigation system. Outdoor is mainly used drip irrigation. However, an automatic watering system also requires daily control, possibly readjustment and adjustment, control that all nozzles are free, the plants are really watered correctly and sufficiently, and so on. Contrary to the opinion of many beginners, automatic irrigation is not a self-runner that you only have to set up once. You save time and work in so far that the water does not have to be carried individually to the plants or all plants must be run off with a hose. You cannot save the daily control with it. An irrigation system can help to ensure that the plants always get the water they need at exactly the same time, and that there is no harmful drying out of the plants because you only had time to water them two hours later. This can often be a really helpful thing for people who are busy. Automatic watering systems are controlled by a timer and should also start early and saturate the soil with enough water.
By placing windbreaks around the plants and mulching the soil, the water consumption of the plants can be reduced, or it is thereby achieved that less water can evaporate.
Watering Tips:
- Outdoor container plants are watered whenever and only when the top layer of soil has dried 2-6 cm, depending on the size of the pot.
- 20-30% of the watering water should run back out of the drainage holes at the bottom
- Never leave pots and roots in water for more than a few minutes, otherwise roots will begin to die.
- When the cannabis plant is already drooping leaves and wilting, watering is needed, at this point do not wait with watering.
Large plants always need more water than small ones. This is in the nature of things. Small plant pots usually need to be watered more often than large ones. The healthier a plant is, the better it grows and the higher its water requirement.
Sativas have a larger root system and therefore generally need more water than indicas. If there is good drainage in the pots/soil and excess water can run off, it is difficult to overwater large cannabis plants outdoors. If the marijuana plants are exposed to a lot of wind, water consumption can be much higher.
Healthy outdoor plants in 8-11L pots usually need watering 1-2 times a day in summer (possibly more often if very hot and a lot of wind). During the flowering period, outdoor plants need extra water to form their flowers. Lack of water at this point can lead to small buds and reduced flower growth.
For cannabis plants planted directly in the ground, you should always consider the neighborhood, plants that are nearby. If plants are next to a large hedge or various trees, they can need 3x as much and more water than plants that are in an open area. Indeed, large plants and trees near the marijuana plants also suck a lot of water from the soil. Accordingly, more must be watered.
With a soil moisture meter, the exact moisture of the soil can be measured and that at different places and depths of the soil.
Small plant pots dry out quickly at high temperatures and must be watered daily (possibly several times). If you forget to do this once or do not get around to it, the plants begin to wilt. The fine hair roots dry out and die.
- 3-4 drops of biodegradable (organic) dishwashing liquid to 1L of watering water will ensure that the water can better penetrate the soil. This also helps with those rock-hard packed-out blocks of soil in the pots.
If a smaller plant pot is completely dry and the plant in it visibly suffers, you can also submerge the entire pot in a bucket of water for 3 minutes. Only the pot, the plant is above the water surface. No longer otherwise roots may die and excess water should then be able to drain from the plant pot.
Especially the soil in pots can become very hard and like a block over time. If you then water the cannabis plant, everything runs past this baked-out block of earth and simply out of the drainage holes again at the bottom, without the roots having come into contact with water. This then also leads to desiccation. Using Smart Pots or other Texpots can prevent this problem. Another option is to carefully loosen and break up the top layer of soil with clean fingers or a rake so that water can be reabsorbed. When doing this, be careful not to destroy any roots that are close to the surface. There is no need to panic about a torn root, but wild stirring in the plant pot should be avoided.
If the soil around the cannabis plants planted directly in the ground becomes too compact and hard, the surface should also be carefully loosened with a rake. In this way, more water and also air gets back into the root zone, which is beneficial overall.