Water Frequency in Ground

Outdoor Growing
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@Myfriendis410 @Rexx @highcountrygal @1BigFella
Hi Buds.
I have some questions on watering frequency outdoors in the SoCal area. Everything is in the vegetable garden transplanted from 2/3 Gallon buckets FF Ocean soil . Good drainage, plants healthy 1-2 ft tall, 8 weeks old from seed indoors. Currently, I’m watering once every 4-5 days, approx. 3-5 quarts per plant, water – feed (lightly) etc.

I noticed after 2-3 days, sorta dry/slightly moist soil 3-4 inches down, they could use a little water, but I wanted to avoid over-watering, so I stretch my watering’s out 1-2 days. Average temp is 75 (getting warmer), full direct sun.

Is it nearly impossible for me to overwater plants in the ground?
Should I water over a one-hour period or water over a 3-5-hour morning period?
My grow time is May-July veg, Aug-Oct flower (plants already 8 weeks old) so i’m trying to adjust the trio schedule, do i stay diliuted on nutes over the longer period of growth time?

Plants currently can handle full FF Trio mix schedule without burning, I’m fertilizing every 6-9 days, I can probably start pushing this some, just closely monitor my plants. I’m at 13.5 hours sunlight day so these girls will veg for a few more months.

Any advice would be great

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Over watering ought to be less of a problem outdoors than in. I would probably water on a set schedule depending on your soil drainage and taking into account the plant will increase it’s demands as it gets larger and in flower. If you provide a couple of days to adequately dry out between waterings you should do fine.

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There is almost always drainage of water down into deep underground. You can get a pretty good idea of the plants state of hydration just by looking at it. Cannabis has a strong cycle of turgor: After an hour of sunlight the leaves really stand up. At night they droop. If the plant can’t get enough water, it can’t spring back. So checking it at night and then the next day tells you a lot.

If you want to get more precise, use a tensiometer. It measures water availability in the soil. I would use the shortest one because the roots will be near the surface. Your local commercial ag supply store should have them. You want to water when it gets up to 15 centibars on the dial.

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