What is the maximum amount plants drink per day in flowering?

Indoor Growing
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Hello again everyone,
I’m in the process of setting up an automated watering system, problem is, I’m very short on space in my closet where to put the rez. I literally only have about 30 cm from the closet wall to the side of the tent. So it’s going to be a challenge finding a rez small enough to fit there but hold a substantial amount of water. So, what I’m asking is please, is how much on average does every plant drink per day when it’s in it’s peak? (i.e. the most it will consume, I imagine this will be sometime during flowering).

I’m growing in a 4x2 and have 3 plants in there, so I reckon they’ll end up being medium sized plants rather than big ones. I’m growing in a 70/30 coco perlite mix, in 3 gallon airpots, and planning on going the high frequency fertigation route (5x a day in flower if possible) like shown on cocoforcannabis. Planning on manifolding the plants also the Nebula method like shown on growweedeasy. Here’s a pic of my space and the girls, this pic was taken 2 days ago.

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I found a 33 litre (almost 9 gal) dwc bucket that would exactly fit, but will this be enough to tide the girls over?

Thanks once again for any helpful advice :slight_smile:

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my plants vary, some plants drink more that others. i check by the weight of the pot, but i am sure there is a few peeps on here that have a precise answer.

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It really depends upon your specific growing techniques and how large the plants are. I grow in soil with 10 gallon fabric pots. The plant canopy is about 32" across.

During peak veg and most of flowering my plants consume about 2 gallons each. That amount does vary from one day to the next.

I hope that this helps you figure yours out. The best way to figure it out for you is to monitor how much water your plants consume over the course of a grow.

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I think you’ll find your drink per day won’t be tied to number of plants or the size of the pots. Square footage of the canopy and how dense the canopy is will be the factors in how much water you’ll have to provide. As a ballpark, be prepared to provide 1 quart for each square foot of dense canopy. Maybe more, maybe less - but it’s a ballpark.

If you’re filling a 4x2 from corner to corner you may need upwards of 2 gallons a day.

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You might find a tall kitchen trash can makes a good res for the area you have to work with

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Hello again everyone, thank you all for your replies, I really appreciate this. This is my first grow so I’m dialing everything in at the moment.

@BudzMS yeah, I figured as much, thought that some strains would require more than others, but just wanted to get a general idea to make sure I get a rez that’s enough to at least last them a day till I get home from work and I could top it all up again.

@merlin44 Dang, 10 gal pots? You must have monsters plants! Thanks for the guidline, even with 2 gallons per plant, the 9 gal dwc bucket I found would be enough for the girls for a whole day, and I imagine since I’m in 3 gal pots as opposed to 10 gal (although I’m in coco not soil), they should be drinking less than that, making the rez last longer.

@DrWoo Thanks also for your input DrWoo. 2 - 3 gallons a day would be perfect if so, cause a rez would last about 3 days like that! Why wouldn’t the size of the pots matter though? For coco I read I should be watering around 5% of the pot’s volume on average and aiming for 10%-20% runoff. I understand of course that the bigger the plant is, the more watering it would require, but that’s where I thought you increase the number of fertigations per day rather than the volume given at one time. Currently my girls are drinking 2 litres exactly between them 3, and I’m getting the runoff I’m aiming for. Thinking I’m going to need to start fertigating more than once daily soon once the runoff won’t be achived with the same amount. Am I going about this the right way?

@Allinherhead That’s an awesome idea which I actually was contemplating about yesterday while I was at work. Saw this thin (26 cm) but tall green trashcan we have where we dispose of papers in, and was thinking it would make an awesome idea for the rez I’m looking for. Ah, the beauty of growing, just looking at any day to day object and seeing how it could be modified into growing apparatus lol.

Not to sound paranoid bringing this up, but food grade material for the rez, does it make a difference? I’ve read other topics where this is heavily debated, some say use anything, others are weary cause of the acidity in the nutrients reacting/leeching with the plastic. Any opinions?

Thanks again to everyone, this community is truly awesome and has such passion for growing our favourite plant! :smiley:

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As for type of plastic for rez ive never considered it im using big totes from home depot

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I even grow some of my plants in 3 gallon mop buckets from dollar tree just drilled some drain holes. Ive abandoned fabric bags since i only veg a couple weeks before flipping so plants arent around that long.

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Just thinking out loud, might need a frozen 2l bottle at time to keep temps down. But if that limited on space, and you are mainlining plants to keep short , could have plants on a table or stand. And fit a home Depot tote underneath to hold a good amount of water for auto watering .

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This is what I’d suggest. I’m doing a topwater automated coco grow using a 29 gallon tote, timer running for 3 minutes twice a day. This delivers 1/2 gallon of water per day to plants.

You do not need to water to runoff each time and if you use something like Jack’s nutes you likely won’t ever need to flush either.

I used standard drip irrigation lines and 1/4" valves at each plant to tune the output. One inexpensive pump, a small wavemaker to agitate and a digital timer.

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@Allinherhead thanks again for your helpful replies and ideas. I thought I was being too paranoid with the food grade plastic and whatnot, but figured I’d ask and get some opinions from the pros.

@Joshmcginnis28 and @Myfriendis410 That idea did also cross my mind and would easily solve the problem, but it will create 2 more in turn which is why I abandoned it:

  1. It gets ridiculously hot here in summer (around 30C (86F) indoors), this is without the lights on emitting heat, just normal room temp. My original plan was actually to go hydro, but went for coco instead cause I was advised here to not operate hydro with those temps (unless I get a chiller). I’ll be recreating that problem by putting the rez inside the tent :frowning:

  2. I really wouldn’t want to sacrifice more headroom if possible, I’m already working on benches to make an auto draining system under the plants, and that already is going to elevate the plants by another 20cm. So that paired with the pots taking up another 30cm, I almost have 2 feet lost just from the ground up till where the plants start. Plus a foot lost from the top for the extractor and carbon filter, and suddenly the tent space really got much smaller than I anticipated (and I have an Amnesia Haze growing in there which from diaries I’ve seen could grow up to 48 inches indoors!)

Another bonus why I would like to have the rez outside would be that I could top it up / clean it etc even during lights off. (I’m on an inverted clock, lights come on at night, off during the day, this will help manage temps better in summer and keeps the babies warmer in winter)

Thanks A LOT for your suggestion though, and also for taking the time to read the whole thread (since you noticed I was going to be mainling/manifolding from my original starting post).

Thanks also @Myfriendis410 for pitching in again to one of my posts, this isn’t the first time you’ve helped me :slight_smile:

You stick to twice daily fertigation for the whole grow, or is that just what they’re drinking now? I read they could take up to 5 times a day in flower on cocoforcannabis.

I imagine you mean 1/2 gallon per plant per day, not total?

I’m using AN pH Perfect. Won’t it lead to salt buildup if I don’t water to runoff though? I read that EC will heavily spike and burn the plants if those salts aren’t moved about and left to settle in there.

Yep, that’s what I’m planning on doing also :slight_smile: I have a timer that could be set in seconds though, so that could help dial it in easier. You had suggested the wavemaker to me as well in a previous topic you helped me out in, I’m still contemplating on that or a fountain pump to break the surface of the water.

Thanks again everyone, you really are awesome! :smiley:

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This.

If you will be dealing with temperature issues you will likely have to come up with a means to reduce temps in rez regardless of where it is. That said, it’s not anywhere as critical as it would be if doing hydro (where the roots are immersed in the liquid continuously). Coco will not be anywhere near as finicky: if you maintain cleanliness and keep solution agitated you won’t have to worry bout temps anywhere near as much as you would in straight hydro.

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@Joshmcginnis28 and @Myfriendis410 Just so I don’t come off as a pr*ck that doesn’t take the advice given to him, here’s an explanation of what I have to work with:

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As you’re seeing from the first pic, there’s only slightly more than 8 inches from the wall to the tent door, so apart from the other issues I mentioned about having the rez in the tent, it’ll be extremely difficult to deal with a tote (let alone getting one in there) inside the tent. Thankfully I’m quite a skinny guy and manage to squeeze in there to open the tent lol. The things we do for something we love so much…

Second pic is the space I have to put the rez in, that’s about 12 inches from the side to the tent.

The joys of living in an apartment in a totally overpopulated country…

Thanks, that’s pretty close to the 2 gallons a day total for the whole tent that DrWoo suggested.

Dang, that’s worrying, so pythium is still an issue, even though not in hydro? :confused: Thankfully frozen water bottles will last longer being outside the tent rather than in there with the lights blaring on it. Average temp is 3 - 4C (6 - 8F) less outside than it is in the tent.

I was planning on cleaning the rez every week. pH Perfect only stays ‘perfect’ for a week, so I’ll have to replace the solution anyway, and figured I’d give the rez a cleaning once I’m at it. Bleach, soapy water, or is there some specific product? What would you recommend?

Thanks once again for your time and effort in these replies everyone! :slight_smile:

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Most of your water loss/use is via transpiration from the leaves. The more leaves, the greater the loss. Pot size comes in as a factor if your pots can’t hold the water needed to support the canopy feeding off that pot until the next day. If so, you need multiple fertigations per day. You’ll also lose some water via evaporation from the top of the pot, but I suspect (not know) it’s nowhere near the amount lost via transpiration.

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@DrWoo Thanks for the explanation DrWoo, always appreciate learning the scientific reasons behind how this whole process works. So people don’t fertigate multiple times a day because it helps the plants grow bigger and quicker, it’s just cause the containers can’t support the daily watering amount required?

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That’s pretty much it. If the pot already has plenty of moisture in the medium all you’re doing is generating runoff.

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I don’t think that will be the issue; rather the standing rez may get nasty in just a few days. The coco should not cause any issues with root rot and you do want it to remain damp to wet. Never let coco dry out as it becomes hydrophobic.

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Peroxide is your friend. Standard 3% works a treat.

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Thanks for this, I’ll keep that in mind when setting up the schedule for the automated watering.

The solution in the rez won’t be ‘standing’ anymore though if I use a wavemaker or some form of circulation pump though correct?

Yeah, I read a lot about always ensuring the coco doesn’t dry out, thanks for also pointing it out.

Awesome, thanks! :slight_smile:

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I don’t know if the rez water will develop microbial growth if you gave a wavemaker. I’m not an auto guy. I can warn you, though, that ph will tend to rise over time. Speed and range will largely depend on you starting water. I’d suggest checking ph daily for at least the first week to get a feel for what it does when you leave it, then check periodically through the grow.

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