How Often Should You Water Cannabis? The Pot Weight Method
By The Budometry TeamPublished Updated
There is no correct watering schedule, because a plant's needs change every week with its size, the temperature, and the humidity. There is only a correct method.
Part of our pillar guide: Watering and Feeding Cannabis: Water Types, EC and Schedules
Learn the weight
Lift a freshly watered pot, then lift it again when the plant genuinely needs water. Those two weights become your gauge. Within a week you will know by feel and never overwater again.
Water thoroughly, then wait
Small daily sips keep the top wet and the bottom dry, and roots never chase downward. Water until you get 10-20% runoff, then wait until the pot is light again. That wet-dry cycle pulls oxygen into the root zone as the medium dries.
Coco is different
Coco is a hydroponic medium that should never fully dry. Feed to runoff daily, sometimes multiple times a day in late flower, always with nutrients in the water.
Reading the plant
Overwatered plants droop with heavy, wet pots and leaves that curl down from the stem outward. Underwatered plants droop with light pots and thin, papery leaves that recover within an hour of watering.
Frequently asked questions
- Should I water every day?
- In soil, rarely. A mature plant in a 5 gallon fabric pot typically needs water every 2-4 days.
The full guide on this topic
Watering and Feeding Cannabis: Water Types, EC and Schedules
Which water to use — RO, city, well, softened or distilled — plus EC and ppm targets by stage, Cal-Mag rules, runoff percentage, and how to fix nutrient burn.