I have been watering every 3rd day but I have read many posts that say during the growth stage I should be watering once a week. I water with nutrients only once every two weeks. I wonder what would be better, to water a lot once a week or a little bit every other day? The plants seem to do better when left a little more on the dry side. I am growing in soil (fox farm) in 10 gallon pots. Some pots have more than one plant and each plant is about a foot tall. Also, it stresses me out that my plants droop a little after watering. This seems to be normal but I poke a couple holes with a pencil to give my ladies some air. If the plants droop after watering does that mean you watered too much?? Is this just normal? I discovered a ladybug on my indoor plants today and have no idea how it got there. There doesn't seem to be any aphids on my plants. What is it eating?? THANKS FOR ANY INPUT
I think the best thing is to wait til the soil is almost dry, just before the plant starts to droop a lot, and then soak it completely. It depends on the size and type of your container, humidity, size of plant, etc... But 3-7 days between watering seems to be what I see the most. You want to be sure your pots have good drainage, you should be able to soak them, but most of the water should drain off within a few minutes. If they are taking to long to drain it could be choking the roots. Ladybugs are a great sign of luck!!
each soil holds moisture differently, especially when you start mixin in different things. there's no specific watering cycle, as some soil will drain a hell of a lot faster than others. your plants will tell you when they need to be watered. i do a dryness test of the top layer, and weight.
I use something between soilless and soil and I water roughly every day in the flower room and every other day in veg. both the dudes above are right, every soil is different, try this; right before you water next time pick up the pot and gauge it's weight, not it's actual weight but how it feels in your hands...sound s goofy right, but after a few times you have it dialed and will be able to water right before it begins to droop. also a plant in needs O2 and it draws it through the soil, if your plant is small (1ft) it's root system is small and it will suffocate trying to draw O2 threw such a big pot, it will work don't get me wrong but it's not ideal. you want to increase your pot size to match the volume of the plant/root mass. I grow to about 3.5ft tall topped/supercroped which gives a 3ft canopy and 20+ main colas and i grow in 3g's...it droops because while it is heavily saturated it cant breath...soil is cool and i dig it if your all organic and shit, but to use a soilless mix allows far more control and you can nute far more frequently nute/water/water/nute....as far as the ladybug goes don't kill it. they eat spidermites, not saying you have them but people buy ladybugs as a natural predatory bud...keep it, she's cool