When to water in daily light cycle

I have always watered in the first few hours of “lights-on”. My plants start drooping before “lights-off”, which Rasta Jeff says may indicate the plant has reached it’s DLI, and are perky in the early hours. And the first indication of over-watering is drooping, so I read that as the plant not wanting anything at the moment. IMHO it appears the plant is more receptive to water/feeding early in it’s day.

Bro-science?

Anyway I’d like to hear thoughts on when to water in the daily lighting cycle.

Peace!

Toad

11 Comments

GroWObsessioN420 on February 22, 2021 at 7:53 pm

Hey bud nice looking women right there lol my lights turn on at 230 in the morning and i water when i wake up around 4 works for me ., funny how u say this i was growing autos for the first time not to long ago and this same shit happened to me i taught i was over watering at one point but . Welll idk maybe i was lol but every night at 5ish they would get droppy ..

Coach Steve on February 22, 2021 at 8:32 pm

Doesn’t matter for soil, but no sense in watering coco at or before lights off. No such thing as overwatering when there’s oxygen at the roots.
Soil is an art is this way.

Chad.Westport on February 22, 2021 at 10:13 pm

I like watering when you do, within the first couple hours of lights on. During the day, the plant is transpiring (sweating) and pulling up water and nutrients from the root zone. At night, the plant is mainly using its stored energy and sending sugars and other byproducts down to the root zone.

The plant does not drink the same at night and watering at lights off or right before lights off can lead to soggy soil with lower oxygen levels, which remain during the entire lights off cycle. Based on that, I feel it is more efficient to water at the time you currently are.

Audrey-Junior on February 23, 2021 at 7:18 am

I grow in a 70/30 coco/perlite mix. Lights on at 6am, first feeding at 7am, second feeding at 3pm, lights off at 10pm. With temps running in the low 80’s a single watering isn’t enough for my setup. Good luck with it. 😀

SoCalDank on February 23, 2021 at 8:01 am

I just finished up an Auto in a soil-based hempy bucket running 20:4 (lights Off @ 1am / On @ 5am). I would always water around 2pm in the afternoon which happened to be right at about mid-day for the plant. Every time I check the plant in the morning (usually around 6am) it looks happy and praying.

I think that consistency is most important, however, knowing the plants don’t uptake during the dark cycle makes me think it may be beneficial to water earlier in the plant’s day rather than later. Especially when considering the extended dark cycle during flower for a photoperiod plant.

#growerslove

RASUFA on February 23, 2021 at 11:25 am

I am not at my spot so I water when I get to the grow. lol. It’s just how it is. If the light cycle is half way through or more I will wait a day. At dark cycle RH goes up and transpiration goes down. The plants don’t take up during the dark cycle like they do in light cycle.

SCdungslinger79 on February 23, 2021 at 11:44 am

As best as I can I have the ppfd at the canopy set high enough to meet their DLI and they start drooping about an hour before dark time. If I am running several cultivars I use the lowest common denominator. I run them like this from 3rd week of veg til the last 10 days of Flower and begin flush, then I go back to 18/6 to pack on weight during flush.

I too water during the day (in soil/coco/perlite) for the same reason as my buddy Chad Westport mentioned, transpiration. Happy Growing 🙂

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- RASUFA on February 23, 2021 at 12:55 pm
  
  back to 18/6 during flower huh? Now that is an interesting concept.
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  - SCdungslinger79 on February 23, 2021 at 2:17 pm
    
    Yea Rasufa, I had heard it before from good growers, then heard it from Rasta Jeff. I did it on my last grow and it does pack on weight and trichomes. It also sets you up for reveg, as you already have 10 days back in veg when you harvest and your soil is cleaned out. Now all you have to do is harvest, trim down plant for reveg and start feeding light veg nutrients. If you go over 10-14 days at 18/6, she can start to reveg before harvest. Rasta Jeff’s Grow Fresh Your Heart podcast #566 Revegging. Happy Growing 🙂
    
    Recharge the Fourth Macronutrient
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    - RUSTY-KNUTS-KEK-KING on February 24, 2021 at 6:07 am
      
      loved that episode.. thats where i first heard it as well. Will definitely give it a try in a small tester tent before i hit the whole crop with it.
    - RASUFA on February 24, 2021 at 11:24 am
      
      I don’t want to re-veg. I plan full harvests so I can work on cross more hybrids and stabilize them. I will still look into this tho. thanks

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