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Watering Your Cannabis Plants
Watering Your Plants
Watering your plants is obviously one of the most important aspects of growing marijuana. However, even though it seems to be a simple task, it does come with some real dangers. Over-watering your crops can obstruct oxygen intake and keep your plants from receiving the nutrients they need. Under-watering your crops can lead to wilting of the plant. It's important to have a balance when it comes to watering. Keep an eye on your plants and make sure that you are giving them the attention they need. Completely saturating the soil doesn't necessarily mean your plants are adequately watered.
How Do I Know if It's Too Much or Too Little?
If your plant is beginning to look droopy and wilted, it's a sign that your plant is being underwatered. If your plant is overwatered it will look droopy, but it will look like the leaves are folding in on themselves. Sometimes over-watering can show the same symptoms as nutrient deficiencies. Plants do take in oxygen through their roots, so constantly having them saturated with water can be harmful in the long run.
Flushing Your Plants
Once your plants have grown buds and are heading for harvest, you'll want to flush your plants. Flushing your plants just means that you are no longer giving your plants nutrients and you're flushing the soil of remaining nutrients before the harvest. If you haven't been feeding your plants nutrients then there isn't too much of a need to flush your plants.
There's no need to overwater your plants to flush out any remaining nutrients. All you would do is stop giving your plants any nutrients whatsoever and continue to water it the way you would for seven to fourteen days. This is what it means to flush your plants before harvest.
Identify Trichomes and Their Stages
In order to start you will need a small handheld microscope. This will help you further identify which stages your trichomes are in. By understanding which stages your trichomes are in, you will have a much better idea of when you should harvest your plants.
Your trichomes essentially go through three stages when maturing:
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In the first stage, the trichomes look like clear raindrops. This indicates that the trichomes haven't reached full maturity and need some more time to become more potent.
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The second stage is when the trichomes have had more time to mature and they become a cloudy white, almost opaque, indicating the trichomes increased potency.
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The final stage is when the trichomes turn amber in color. This usually happens when the plant is left to mature a few weeks past the second stage.
You can harvest your plants in whatever stage you'd like. If you harvest your plants in the first stage your plant will likely lack potency. This is a sign of harvesting a little too early. This doesn't mean that the plant won't be good medicine, it just means that it won't be as potent and effective as it could have been.
Most growers believe that if you harvest your plants in the second stage you will harvest them at the right time but will more than likely receive stimulating and energetic effects. If you harvest them when the trichomes have turned amber most believe that will produce more of the sedating effects that come with cannabis consumption.
Just be sure to keep an eye on your plants and give them the attention they need. Pay attention to symptoms of underwatering, overwatering, and nutrient deficiency. Harvest your plants whenever the trichomes mature to the preferable stage.
