The overwatering is a phenomenon that is commonly taken as a nutrient deficiency because it holds similar symptoms while it is more common in the indoor gardening plants compared to the plants growing under natural climatic conditions. There are several indications that overwatered plants exhibit while growing indoor that is common to some nutritive deficiencies but actually this is not the case.
While looking for overwatered pot plants proceed with the following symptoms that are the major characteristics of such indoor gardening plants.
Signs of overwatering plants may exhibit one or more prominent features listed for the grower’s guidance.
Roots of the plants absorb water that contains essential nutrients through their tertiary roots or roots hairs on the primary & secondary roots in the presence of oxygen that is contained in the soil micropores. In the case of overwatered cannabis, plants are drowned into the water while the soil pores are filled with water droplets that don’t allow the plant to breath limiting their growth.
Leaves start to wilt and show brownish shade along with becoming soft and droopy.
Due to imbalance in the evapotranspiration ratio, turgor pressure increases in the tissues of the leaves that give rise to blisters on the surface of the leaves that may puncture to form brown warts on its surface. By combining all factors together, yellow leaves on plants become prominent and trigger their falling pace, they are overwatered. There might be an issue with your growing media, soil pH, water holding capacity, watering intervals, frequency of watering and size and location of the pots where you are growing that need to be corrected systematically if you want to fix such issue.
How do I fix an overwatered plant?
Besides discussing many options to regulate water in the Cannabis plants, some extra arrangements can be done if you are growing indoors:
- Stop watering immediately or reduce it half than the previous level.
- Increase water interval.
- Check for the holes in the containers. Make more holes, if necessary.
- Place jute bags under pots to absorb excess moisture.
- Place your plants at a well-ventilated place.
- Water in the morning instead of the evening.
- Provide your plants with some extra light or direct sunlight.
- Use exhaust fans to lower the humidity level of the grow room.
- Check for the possibility of root rot in the root zone and apply fungicides. i.e Copper or Sulphur.
#1 Akarden 100 Pcs Plastic Nursery Pots
How to fix overwatered plants starts from the right size of containers used to grow Cannabis in any indoor site. The size of the pots is very important if you are growing indoor along with its capacity to drain out excess water through underneath holes. Look carefully if the plants facing problems are growing in the right sized container as they need space to branch out their secondary and tertiary roots to absorb moisture and oxygen from the surrounding soil.
These are excellent PP plastic pots with 4.4 inches of diameter to start growing indoors. It can be used for raising nursery seedling of microgreens and Cannabis plants having 9 holes in the base of each pot. It will help you in drying out excess moisture and keep your nursery plants in shape.
#2 Espoma AP8 8-Quart Organic Potting Mix
How to dry out over watered soil needs changing or altering the potting soil and mixture. At priority, check with your potting mixture, media or potting soil where you are growing and facing the problem. If the soil is either too clumpy or hard and doesn’t leach water down after irrigating your favorite greens or Cannabis plant and the water keeps standing in the pot or bed for hours, it needs replacement.
An awesome soil for growing Cannabis, vegetables, herbs, and indoor gardening plants for it contains earthworm casting and Myco-tone that saves water to the level needed to grow efficiently and drains out the excess moisture from the media. Plants will neither overwatered nor drought stress even if the watering intervals are not monitored carefully.
#3 Soil pH Meter-Kit
After you have selected the right sized container and growing media, work on the pH level of growing media inside containers whether they have optimum pH needed to grow them successfully. For this purpose, you can use a hand-held soil pH meter to determine the right pH.
The majority of indoor and gardening plants need a variable range of pH to thrive well which varies from 5.5-7 although some plants grow well even out of this range.
If you are adding 3-in-1 Soil Kit to your gardening tools it can benefit you 3 ways. It will determine the right pH along with telling the percentage of moisture and light needed to grow your Cannabis and other gardening plants that will lead you to how to save an overwatered plant in your Cannabis garden. It will prove a super-secret for all of your gardening endeavors to know things in advance with precision. It is fairly easy to use. Just insert the tester into the gardening soil and know soil pH, moisture and light. Make corrections in all 3 factors, if needed.
#4 DIY Micro Automatic Drip Irrigation Kit, Self-Watering System
This self-watering system facilitates us better on how to water weeds plants ideally. When you are facing overwatering issues in indoor plants growing in pots, it is better to regulate their watering needs in the way that it doesn’t need to look them again and again. Indoor plants have little watering needs but we keep them pouring whenever someone in the house gets a chance to water them but they are absolutely stressed when moving away for the weekend tour or long holidays. One of the best options to irrigate such indoor plants is converting them to a self-watering system like.
That irrigates indoor plants without worries for as long as 30 days. One such system is enough for watering 15-20 indoor pots whereas it can be adjusted in 15 minutes to start its operation. Time delay and memory options can be utilized for workable programming using alternative power supply on the large LCD, installed for the purpose. It saves 70% water consumption while you can set the frequency and intervals of your choice for watering your favorite Cannabis, vegetables and indoor plants.
#5 Drip Irrigation Line-6″ Emitter Spacing (Netafim Emitters)
and for emitters
Overwatering in a garden or outdoor Cannabis plants can be fixed by installing an underground irrigation drip line with emitters and a controlled pumping out from the reservoir to distribute water equally to all growing plants. Controlled irrigations save up to 70% water while the supplies can be regulated according to the need of the plants and can be adjusted to increase or decrease discharge depending on the weather conditions.
¼” drip irrigation line contains 6” spacing for emitters that can release 2 gallons of water per hour where plants on the emitters line perceive a similar amount of irrigation water along with nutrients and are considered the best watering Cannabis plants in your outdoor garden. No need to level land for irrigating Cannabis as all plants receive a balanced supply of water even, they differ in topography and location of the plants whereas this system best suits to small nurseries, greenhouses, and home garden if you are growing Cannabis, vegetables and other microgreens including shrubs and fruit trees.
#6 Axe Sickle Set of 50 Drip Emitters
These drip emitters can also help you a lot to stop overwatering your Cannabis and vegetable plants. This 5.2-inch-long emitter can be inserted to any garden soil or raised bed where you are growing Cannabis or other microgreens as it allows you to regulate water using a 360-degree angle. Every drip emitter contains 8 holes that serve as a water outlet and can be connected with a ¼ inch drip irrigation line easily.
It takes water where you actually want to direct it whether it’s Cannabis, microgreens or vegetables and herbs in your edible garden. You can also use it on ground covers and landscape plants to adjust its flow from the hole cap. Irrigate your gardening greens to the limit they need it to look them healthy and good looking whereas it saves a lot of money otherwise go waste to manage irrigation resources.
#7 Elecrow Arduino Plant Watering System
The final solution for the regularly overwatered Cannabis plants comes with this Arduino based watering system that involves the precision techniques to water your plants using sensors placed in the gardening soil or soil of the potted plants. Sensors placed senses the moisture content of the gardening soil where you are growing your Cannabis plants and trigger the motor to start watering until it the sufficient moisture level is attained in the potting soil.
Its board is powered after loading the Arduino program while 4 moisture sensors are placed in different containers or pots to judge moisture contents. The Relay switches on the power when moisture contents drop below 40% Relative humidity. The system can be used for 4 plant containers simultaneously whereas the tubing and sensors will permit moisture flow to the only container that is deficient in moisture. This smart system is ideal for indoor Cannabis or microgreens during your long absence or holiday where you don’t need to worry about your favorite plants if you are away from these loved ones. A large reservoir can run longer in your absence if installed.
How often to water plants?
It’s a tricky question while it varies widely for different types of plants, growing medium, soil and surface temperatures, type of the soil and age of the plants in different plant species.
The general rule that applies here for all gardening or horticultural crops is directly associated with the root health and irrigation demands that 1 square meter of a plant with completely developed foliage will require 4 liters to 6 liters of water in a day while in new plants that haven’t developed foliage yet will need some 3 liters of water in a day. The rule will remain the same if you are growing more plants in 1 square meter with little or fully developed foliage. Another rule of thumb is that almost 50% of the water applied to any growing plant is wasted either in leaching down effect or as surface runoff. So, we can employ it in the general watering plant procedures that apply water only when you feel that plants are in real need. You can also check the top 2-3 inches of the garden soil by inserting some spoon or finger into the soil, it appears wet, don’t apply the next water until it dries fully.
How to water marijuana properly?
Similarly in marijuana, plants need little watering at the seedling stages while water needs increases as the marijuana develop foliage and especially under warm, dry climate, it may need more water but remember thumb rules for watering your plants, always. Only water your fully developed marijuana plants when topsoil layer dries 2-3 inches in depth and for the seedling or small plants, keep the soil surface moistened not wet because roots are intact with the upper soil surface. Plants growing in sandy soil will need water more frequently than the plants growing on loamy soil while the plants growing in potting mixtures need to keep these wet and maintain good drainage for drying excess moisture.
#8 Southern Ag -Copper Fungicide
It contains 27.15% Copper Di-ammonia in the complex metallic form and works well against a variety of fungi and bacteria soil-borne diseases on the Cannabis plants. Add 5-6 teaspoon of the Liquid Copper Fungicide in 1 gallon of water then apply the entire plant foliage using a hand-held pressure sprayer.
You can also use a similar solution to drench your Cannabis plants followed by watering them.
#9 Automatic Drip Irrigation- Slow Release Control
This is an excellent system if you are growing like 10-12 indoor plants and worried about regulating their watering during vacations. You can control the watering speed with these spikes using a slow-release option and set them the desired rate and limit the number of droplets. You can design 1 droplet to release either in 2 seconds or in 90 seconds depending on your choice and need of the plants.
You can use any soft drink bottle of varying capacity from 500 ml to 2.25 liters having 1.1 inches of an inner diameter while one bottle can go for 15 days or longer in watering your Cannabis or indoor microgreens. A very cheap alternative for worry-free watering during vacations.