Please read this post - this is what over watering does to a plant

[Guest guest]

Over watering is a very common mistake, even many experience growers make this mistake.

In wanting to do the best for our plants, we unintentionally do the worst.

I returned to growing, after a break of 10 years, and was a little rusty.

I started with 5 Himalayan Gold plants and one white rhino

We had a very hot summer last year, with temps over 40 c.

This is what too much water does to a plant, although the temperature did not help, I made matters far worse by watering the plants too much;

below is how the plants looked in the beginning,

here is how the plants looked from over watering, which resulted in the plants suffering from root rot;

The Himalayan gold I had to destroy.

The white rhino had very few roots left, but i learnt from my mistakes and with a lot of mothering, time and care, I managed to bring her back to this:

and today this is a clone taken from that plant:

In an effort to do the best for our plants, we do the worst when we give them too much water.

You would be surprise how long a weed plant can go without water and look better and much healthier for it.

It is a very, very common mistake;

The art of watering is a real skill, but one that can be learnt, if you watch your plants closely - they will let you know what they like and dislike.

We all make mistakes, but only a fool knowingly repeats the same mistake twice .

It was a painful experience, and I did question my abilities as a grower, but I came out of that grow a better grower, because i did learn a lot from that failure, and this turned it into a success.

happy growing, and may growing the weed always be a rewarding enterprise;

CUT BACK ON THE WATER, and watch your plants thrive as they stretch out their leaves pursuing the light and it always will be.

to many productive harvests,

john

[Guest superbluehaze]

thank you tokage.

It was a very painful experience; it is a very common mistake, one that i see here all the time.

It was not easy to show these pictures or to look at them again, but it is all in a good cause;

to many happy and bountiful harvests

john

[Romeu9]

Thank you, John!

Perfect post! Excelent lesson, the rhino still lives!

take care, my friend

[anguscr]

John... Great post & example of overwatering, u're absolutly righ, watering is an art....

[Jimmy]

You are an inspiration source that I can always rely on. You are the man. Would be fun to meet you sometime and just sit and talk about cannabis cultivation. But who knows the earth is not so big, so maybe we will meet sometime in the future. Friend continue to do what you do, for you do a super job. Take care of yourself.

Your freind Jimmy

[Jimmy]

I have a question for you my friend. Do you know how good it is to water their plants with carbonated water? I have done it at some point and my plants seem to like it but it's good for them?

/ / Jimmy

[Guest superbluehaze]

thank you, Romeu, angusc, and Jimmy,

There is no better lesson learnt than a hard one; over watering is a mistake made by even experienced growers, and a plant can still look reasonably healthy, but still have too much water, but when compared to a thriving vigorous plant that is not over watered, then the difference is seen, and, of course, it all effects the final yeild.

Jimmy, the roots expell co2, but breath oxygen;

Soda water is good, I believe, but only spray the leaves, as they take in co2, but expell oxygen and soda water is just co2 and water.

If you are usinng co2 in canisters, it should not be necessary to do this as it would be expensive if you have a number of plants. hydrogen peroxide is excellent to add to your waterbut as it comes in various strengths, I can not give you an appplication rate, but google it and you will find a correct dosage rate for the particular strength you are using, it comes in 10 volume, 20 volume and up to 50 volume but no stronger than that if it is too pure it becomes abn explosive. Its formula is h2o2,; it easily loses a milecule of oxygen to become h2o, or water, and the roots love oxygen, but be careful as if it is too strong then it becomes an oxidizing agent and damages the fine root hairs. Some hydro stores sell it particularly for this purpose and it is used to prevent or to kill various root diseases, as well as to give the roots more oxygen. It does kill benificial bugs in the root zone, though, and that is why I do not use it for.

At the moment, my co2 generator is a small camping heater that burns propane. i know how much gas it burns per hour so i can guess how high the flame should be. It is a hit and miss affair but I have a burn that blows the gas over my plants and I do not have the heater up very high. The plants, if the gas it moving around the leaves still get some benifit, but since I added another light at the side, I cannot use it as, even though the flame is low, it produces too much heat(31c at the top of the plants) so I have stopped using it and just make sure there is plenty of fresh city air coming into my room.

thank you all for your encouragement, and I do hope to be in Holland in around 6 to 8 months, and Porugal, Sweden and Germany are not that far from there, so who knows. It would be an honor to meet you all,

to many bountiful harvests and to the plant we have given out hearts too,

cheers,

john

[Guest superbluehaze]

She does, my friend. The white rhino still lives.

happy growing,

john

[Romeu9]

Portugal would be a nice place for you, my friend!

It would be very good to personaly meet you, my friend!

Take care, John!

[anguscr]

John... So you'll be "on the road" in about 8 months, I guess that Costa Rica is not in your "map" right now, but if it is I'll be more than glad to be your host, if not, I think that I can do the trip to Amsterdam by then, I'll love to meet all the SH on the next Cup, but I cannot do it in time so....

[strainhunters admin]

good post buddy!!

[Guest superbluehaze]

I am sorry anguscr, I thought u lived in germany. Costa Rica is a place I would love to visit; but money is always a problem for all of us, but we may be in Holland at the same time, but if u or any of my friends here are ever in Australia(sydney), then you will have a place to stay, and Sydney can be quite a town.

happy growing,

john

[Guest superbluehaze]

thank you admin;

I hope we can meet one day; perhaps we could have a chat about unix and linux.

happy coding, my friend,

john

[Guest superbluehaze]

Hi romeu,

I have an interest in the The knights of Malta, so I would love to visit your country - there is a lot of history there.

happy growing, my friend,

john

[Guest superbluehaze]

Hi tokage,

as you have described it is exactly how it happened. With the church, if you look at the post of the church and it phenotypes, it almost happened again; you will see the leaves are just a little yellow. I cut right back on the water and they came good. Watering is a skill and it does take time to get it right.

happy growing,

john

[anguscr]

Hi John... Certanly we can meet in Holland, just let me know with a couple of months in advance, man, you can be suse that I'll visit you in Sydney, it's a place always wanted to visit & now I have an excuse. I just need to complete some work that's going to take me about 8 months & then vacation time....

We may find a way for u to visit Costa Rica too, it's a nice place to visit too.

[Romeu9]

Knights of Malta I think it's not part of the history of Portugal, is it? :puzzled:

[Guest jangles]

Superbluehaze -- I doubt the problems you are seeing is from overwatering. It is impossible to overwater in hydroponics esp. Leca/hydroton because of how well airated both the medium and the nutrient is... most active hydroponic systems run either on cycles or continiously.

My Ebb & Flo tables flood and drain 2-3 times per day and my aeroponic system starts the jet pump up for 4 minutes every 10 minutes, no signs of overwatering.

Overwatering is a term that is common in soil that has poor drainage/airation properties and is a result of the medium becoming waterlogged and displacing a large amount of oxygen from the roots. This creates a perfect breeding ground for all sorts of bacteria and fungai that thrive in anaerobic conditions.

It appears as you had Pythium infection probably due to high root mass or air temps. The plants end up competing for nutrient and oxygen when the root rot speads and they get the worst end of the deal showing signs of wilt and slow growth.

I have found the best way to cure a pythium infection is to clone from the base of the plants and reroot in sterile medium or one innoculated with benificial bacteria. I noticed you transferred to soil that sometimes works too because now the friendly bacteria present in the soil can try to out colonize the bad bacterias.

[Guest superbluehaze]

I have been there and back - you are talking theory.

Every sort of plant is different; cannabis can not take having its roots wet all the time.

I Know because I have seen it many many times.

No system can take the place of experience.

I do know about root rot, and I did have one plant that had been in soil.

It was a combination of things, but you must certainly can over water using hydroponics, and getting the water cycle correct is something many poeple, who use these system do not get right.

in fact certain hydroponic systems are prone to root rot; i,e, aeroponic systems - that is why you have to use a cooler to keep the nutrient at a certain temp.

These pictures are months old, check my latest posts, especially my video.

happy growing,

john

[Guest superbluehaze]

with all due respect, mr jangles - you are talking shit.

happy growing,

john

[Guest superbluehaze]

hi romeu,

I think they did have some links to Portugal, but i could be wrong on that,

happy growing,

john

[Guest superbluehaze]

there is always a bed for you, and a friend, anguscr, to show you the sights,

happy growing, my friend.

john

[Guest superbluehaze]

it was heat as well as watering too much, mr jangles; moreover, any clone taken from a sick plant is never going to amount to anything.

happy growing,

john

[Guest superbluehaze]

mr jangles,

next time get your information from a reliable source and not "wilipedia" REad this carefully and learmn:

Hydroponics

If a plant's roots are suspended in water, it will absorb oxygen rapidly. If the oxygen content of the water is inadequate, the plant growth will slow in proportion to oxygen availability. Thus the trick is to co-ordinate the supply of water, nutrient and oxygen with the crops' needs according to other environmental factors like temperature of air and water, CO₂ levels, ventilation, humidity, moisture capacity of the rooting media, size and type of crop, and day length. This can be difficult in some extreme conditions, but when applied properly the results can be quite dramatic. Hydroponic growers stimulate plant growth by controlling the amount of water, minerals and oxygen in the nutrient solution. These growers work within a narrow realm between irrigating their crop and allowing oxygen into the root zone. Ebb and flow hydroponic systems are based upon the natural principle of irrigation and oxygenation of plant roots. Mineral-rich water is pumped into gravel-filled beds in which the crop is planted. The irrigation ceases and the water quickly drains away. Oxygen follows and fills the gravel bed, allowing the roots to breathe. The roots release CO₂, and absorb oxygen. Then the irrigation is repeated and drained away again, basically emulating nature but very quickly. This basic hydroponic method is very reliable; it has been used for decades with different medias such as gravel, sand, wood chips, sawdust, perlite and Rock Wool.

The down side of ebb and flow hydroponics is that the crop is provided with moisture and mineral nutrients at alternating times from oxygen. In other words, when the roots are breathing, they are not being provided with a constant stream of moisture and nutrients. If the media is too absorbent, then the irrigation cycles must be infrequent to allow time for oxygen to penetrate the roots.

"Constant drip" is a more recent irrigation method designed to level out the availability of moisture, minerals and oxygen. Mineral-rich water is constantly provided in a slow drip to plants that grow in a rapidly draining media. The idea is to maintain a constant balance of moisture and minerals without drowning the crop. It can be somewhat tricky to consistently provide a perfect balance. On a hot summer's day, a large plant can transpire a lot of moisture, so water must be provided at a far higher rate than would be required on a cooler day for a small plant.

In recent decades, the leaders in the development of hydroponic technology have moved into "water-culture" methods and away from rooting media. The first and certainly one of the best recognized is the Nutrient Film Technique (N.F.T.), developed in England in the sixties and seventies and made famous by Dr. Alan Cooper. A breakthrough in its day, N.F.T. was based upon the principle of a very thin film of nutrient-rich water flowing slowly over plant roots held within a plastic envelope. The idea is that the nutrient film provides both moisture and nutrients while above it the roots receive a constant supply of oxygen. Today N.F.T. is widely used and well respected by commercial growers and scientific researchers throughout the world. The only drawback is that there is a fairly critical balance between the right amount of moisture and air required in the rooting envelope. If the film is too deep, then the plants will suffer from oxygen deficiency that can lead to root disease. On the other hand, if the pump fails and the film of moisture is interrupted, even for a relatively brief time, the crop can be lost. Because of this drawback, a more reliable and less risky method of water-culture was sought, so "Aeroponics" arose. Aeroponic systems provide roots with a spray of nutrient rich water. Generally, the plant is supported with its roots dangling in the air. A fine mist of nutrient solution is constantly or intermittently sprayed over the roots. This is a great method as long as there is no failure in the pumping system or clogging of spray nozzles...still not completely forgiving or reliable and generally expensive and tricky to set up and run.

The next generation of water cultivation methods was "aero-hydroponics," in which the root zone is divided into two sections. The root tips are immersed in a constantly flowing stream of nutrient solution while the upper roots hang in an air gap and are sprayed or misted with nutrient solution to provide optimum oxygen levels. This is a superb method since a pump failure does not result in water loss to the roots. Generally, aero-hydroponics is more forgiving than the other water-culture methods. Rather than causing dehydration of the crop, pump failure will result in oxygen deficiency from which most crops can recover without a disaster, provided the pump is fixed quickly.

The common link in all of these methods of hydroponic plant cultivation can be found in the oxygen content of the water. As you now understand, warm nutrient is somewhat oxygen deficient, which can have a lot of meaning for a hydroponic grower. Many root diseases, including fungus infestations can proliferate in oxygen deficient environments. I first realized the magnitude of this phenomenon when I observed Pythium destroying crops in Holland growing in Rock Wool. In this case the oxygen deficiency started when the Rock Wool was over-watered. The plants were growing in a saturated sponge. As the Rock Wool dried out, the situation improved, but the next watering led to saturation again. The problem was compounded by the presence of fungus gnats, which seemed to be the vector, or source, of the Pythium. One thing led to another until ultimately, the crop was lost. From this model we learned the importance of deeply analysing problems to learn from experience. Gnat larvae ate and damaged the plants' roots; oxygen deficient conditions caused by high temperature and over-watering stimulated Pythium and the Pythium entered the impaired roots to destroy the crop. In nature, many variables can interact, causing wonderful-or horrible- things to happen. When the plants grow well, there is a lot more things going on than you realize. Similarly, when things go wrong you must look deeper than the obvious to find answers. By better understanding the physical chemistry of water, you can obtain a deeper and richer comprehension of the many phenomena to observe while growing plants.

this shows quite clearly, that in hydroponics, a plant can be OVER WATERED.

happy growing,

john

[Guest superbluehaze]

I first realized the magnitude of this phenomenon when I observed Pythium destroying crops in Holland growing in Rock Wool. In this case the oxygen deficiency started when the Rock Wool was over-watered. The plants were growing in a saturated sponge.

I rest my case.

happy growing,

john