Getting the right wet and dry cycle for your cannabis plants is crucial and every plant is different—you can expect that plants that share the same genetics might have slightly different watering and feeding preferences. Our goal is to ensure plants get enough water to take in nutrients while not getting so much water that pathogens like fungus grow. While each plant has its own preferences, which you will learn as you water, plants still hold to a general schedule for watering. Let’s take a look at some of the parameters for watering during the Vegetative stage for growing in soil:
| Activity | Frequency | Amount/Volume/Degree |
| Watering | Every 2 – 4 days | Enough to have some runoff |
| Nutrients* | 1 – 2 times per week | 12-6-6 (N-P-K) |
| pH levels | —- | 6.0-6.8 |
| Flushing | In sudden change in nutrient cycles or nutrient burn/lockout | Enough water until the runoff runs clean(ish) and the TDS is the same as the water you use to flush |
More about watering
The key to successful watering schedules is to constantly observe your plant and its medium. Try sticking your pinky finger ½ – 1 inch into the soil – if the soil is moist then you likely do not need to water but if it feels dry then go ahead and water. Of course, the amount you’ll water depends on the medium and the size of the pot, just make sure that you have some runoff when you water but not so much that you rinse away nutrients.
More about Nutrients
Nutrients are a little trickier. We’ll try to cover a bit about nutrients here but we recommend that you follow the instructions on the label or review the manufacturer’s website as nutrients vary.
When your plants are in early Veg, it is better to give them fewer nutrients – approximately 10 – 20% of the nutrients you would give them if they were fully developed in Veg. You’ll want to slowly increase the amount of nutrients over time rather than starting them off with full doses. And for the types of nutrients? Vegetative-stage plants require higher nitrogen (N) and lower phosphorous (P) and potassium (K). Your plants will also need calcium and magnesium but in lower doses than NPK; your soil may have enough cal-mag in it initially but eventually you’ll want to supplement. Most nutrient mixes labeled “Veg” or “Grow” or some variant of that will have the right nutrient mixture your plants will need. Remember, it is better to underfeed than overfeed because fixing problems caused by too many nutrients is hard to do.
We hope this short introduction will help you during Veg! Check out our other blogs for greater details on growing indoors.
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