Overwatering and Its Solutions

Water is essential for any plant, including cannabis. Without a stable supply of high-quality water, crops can never truly thrive and reach their full potential. Too much of a good thing can be bad! However, this certainly applies to the amount of water supplied to a crop. Overwatering is one of the biggest mistakes that new growers would make, too much water can be just as damaging to the crop as over-fertilizing. Especially in the early stages of growth, seedlings absorb a lot of water, although the demand may change at different stages, this demand will still continue throughout its life cycle. The soil should remain moist but never saturated and flooded, and should have standing water. If overwatered continuously, the plant will develop poorly and you will never get a satisfactory yield.

Signs of overwatering

If your plants have too much water, they will give you clear signs to confirm this. Pay attention to these warnings your plants give you. If you take action in time, you will have the chance to improve your cultivation and make the crops return to normal. If you do it wrong, your crops will not be able to grow and eventually wither, or at best lead to poor harvest.

Drooping leaves

Healthy and unstressed cannabis plants have no drooping leaves. Drooping leaves may indicate that the plant is getting too much or too little water. Overwatered plants will have leaves that curl and droop, while plants that are under watered will only droop. Plants that are too dry will have dry soil on the surface and the two to three inches below the surface. If plants have not been deprived of water for long, they will recover within two hours of receiving water. Drowning is a much more insidious pain.

Yellow leaves

In addition to dripping water, plants that are over-watered will also produce yellow leaves, which is a classic sign of an unhealthy or over-watered plant. If waterlogging or drainage issues are not corrected in time, the plant will not be able to thrive. Yellow leaves usually appear after the beginning of shedding. Yellow indicates that the plant does not get enough oxygen from the root system. In fact, these plants will drown and the roots need to be fully dried before they can operate normally again.

Solutions

The solution to overwatering is obvious: stop providing so much water! This means reducing the number of watering or reducing the amount of water when watering, or both.

Let the soil of the plants become dry, and in extreme cases, if drainage is also an issue, relocate them to a suitable new pot with cool, moist but not soggy soil. If you tend to overwater, smart (fabric) pots are an excellent alternative to traditional planters, which almost eliminating the possibility of overwatering - although you do need to water more frequently as the soil in the smart pots dries out quicker. Let the roots of the plant dry out in the pot for a few days before watering it. Once the plant starts to grow normally, healthy and with a sturdy green leaf structure, water it carefully in moderation.

Sometimes seedlings and young plants need more water than usual. Since they start with one single root that quickly starts branching, it is important to keep the early delicate roots from drying out. Young seedlings are very susceptible to overwatering, so make sure that the soil is very moist but absolutely not too wet.

Once the seedling is over the size of the seedling and a few inches tall, water should be given every other day or when the pot is dry. As humidity varies from place to place, some plants will dry out quicker in some places.

Water the plant when the surface of the soil is dry. Check the dryness of the surface with your finger. It should be slightly moist below around an inch of the surface. Add water until it runs out of the drainage holes, if reuse, collect it in the ground or drip trays. No more than 25% of the supplied water should be lost. If too much water comes out, or the surface of the soil stays moist for more than two to three days, reduce the water supply.

Another way to check the soil dryness is by lifting the pot to check its weight. The pot will be much lighter if the plant needs water. This is a quick and easy way to find out if watering is needed.