Timing Soil Watering During Flower

[electricbuddha]

Hi -

Just curious what the best approach is for timing of watering / feeding cannabis in soil during the flower stage? My plants are in FFOF and I've been using the Fox Farm trio for nutrients. All good so far but just trying to get ahead of any potential issues...

During veg - I would always wait until the soil was bone-dry and the plants were sometimes drooping slightly before watering/feeding. I read that letting the soil get completely dry would result in better root development. Plants would always bounce back and leaves would start praying again ~30 minutes after watering.

I always try to water / feed at the beginning of the day - and during veg when the plants were smaller it was easier to time it that way. Now the plants are in flower and are much larger and drinking water faster - the timing is a little more tricky.

My question is really around whether it's better to water / feed the plants as needed (e.g. 2PM) or wait until the next morning and let them totally dry out and potentially start to droop? I heard slight drooping isn't a huge issue in veg but can be really bad during flower. So far - I've been trying to stay proactive and watering even if the soil isn't 100% dry to prevent any potential drooping.

Any other general advice is also welcome - the picture is from day 12 of flower. The plants are stretching more than I expected and the tent is starting to get crowded - is it worth trimming some of the overlapping side branches?

Thanks!

[SoOrbudgal]

I don't over think my watering/feeding time. I water when the pot feels light, no i don't wait for them to droop.

[Cloud]

From what I hear letting them droop shocks the plant and slows growth.

[MrPNW]

The growers at Trail Blazin’ where I got my clones said to do the water just as they droop method also. Said it makes stronger adults and lessens chance of mildew here in the wet NW. I’ve gotten to know my plants so well I know when to water just slightly prior to this now.

I’m looking into some gravity fed systems currently as my plants switched to 12/12 on 01 Jan.
https://forum.growweedeasy.com/forum...at-this-beauty

[dphipps1020]

I can attest to the drooping hurting yields during flower. Like SoOrbudgal said, just wait until the pot is light and water until heavy. My 5 gallon pots get watered about every 2-3 days, depending on the size of the plant. Some even go up to 4 days because they're a little smaller.

[dphipps1020]

For seedlings I use a spray bottle, works pretty well.

[MrPNW]

Sorry, I should have clarified nematodes.

https://forum.growweedeasy.com/forum/growing-community/478752-fungus-gnats-and-african-violets

[dphipps1020]

Gotcha. I should have remembered that one

[bboyfromwayback]

Looks like you’ve done good so far. The only thing hat should change during flower concerning watering is the type of nutrients you use and the frequency. They’ll be a time you may water a extra time if two a week while they stretch then it’ll settle back to normal before they stop drinking hardly any water at all