3 Proven Ways Overwatering Creates Cannabis Root Establishment Problems

The key to success in cannabis cultivation is establishing great roots. Why? Because without large, strong roots, you can’t push the plants to reach their full potential in terms of quality and chemotype expression. However, one of the most common mistakes that cannabis growers make is overwatering, which directly hurts root development.

Overwatering and limiting root development is a widespread problem that has to be solved in order for licensed cannabis cultivators to operate in a financially competitive and sustainable way in the future.

With that said, here’s what cannabis cultivators need to know about the ways overwatering creates cannabis root establishment and development problems, so you can implement solutions:

1. Reduced Oxygen Absorption

When soil is water-logged, it reduces the oxygen supply to the cannabis plant’s roots. Oxygen is essential to root development, so it’s crucial that your plants’ roots have adequate access to the oxygen needed to grow to their full potential.

To ensure your plants’ roots are getting the oxygen they need, use a tensiometer to measure the amount of water available to your cannabis plants. Rather than simply measuring how much water is in the growing media using a soil moisture meter, a tensiometer measures how much water is actually available to a plant at a given moment in time. The instrument acts like an artificial root by mimicking the root in the plant and measuring how much water the root can access.

2. Water-Logged Zone Avoidance

There is a reason why only certain types of plants can grow in ponds and other bodies of water. Most plants’ roots avoid water-logged areas. Common sense tells us that people and animals don’t want to drown, and neither do plants.

Like many types of plants, cannabis plants don’t like to explore overwatered areas, which means you not only need to avoid overwatering but also, your growing media must provide plenty of space for roots to expand and reach their full potential. That space comes in the form of air porosity as well as available water pore space.

Roots can grow in the pores occupied with air in your soil. On the other hand, roots can’t grow in solid pore space, and roots won’t explore the portion of soil that is water unless you let the water drain. In other words, when you saturate your soil and allow it to drain, that’s the space left for roots to develop. Therefore, you need to use a substrate that has a low solid and high water and air porosity profile to give roots room to explore and grow.

For example, bio365’s BIOALL substrate is only 18% solid. The rest is pore space for air (21%) and water (61%). However, if you always keep the 61% of water space filled, roots won’t go into that space (they avoid water-logged zones). If you don’t let the water draw down, the roots won’t grow into that pore space. Bottom-line, overwatering would still limit root establishment and growth.

On the flip side, competitor soils are 48% or more solid (compared to 18% for BIOALL), so there is only so much room for roots to grow. Said another way, 48% of the space is never available for roots to grow. The solid pore space is like hitting a wall and automatically denies roots nearly half of the volume of a container using that competitor soil compared to just 18% of unavailable (solid) space in BIOALL soil.

Bottom-line, if you want healthy, well-established roots, you need to use a substrate that offers maximum space for root development, and you have avoid overwatering to ensure as much space is available to the roots as possible.

3. Disease Susceptibility

Overwatered cannabis plants are more susceptible to infections and disease, including root rot caused by Fusarium, Pythium, and more. Negative biology promulgates in water-logged soil and can cause a wide variety of problems that not only hurt root establishment and growth for an infected plant but can impact entire crops when those infections spread.

You can reduce disease susceptibility and negative biology formation by watering only when plants actually need it and using the right growing media. For example, bio365 living soils are free of pests, pathogens, and contaminants and include beneficial biology that makes your cannabis plants healthier and more resilient.

Key Takeaways about Overwatering and Cannabis Root Establishment Problems

Without large, strong roots, your cannabis plants won’t reach their full potential or grow to what you want them to become. One of the most common causes of poor root establishment and growth is overwatering, which can have a significant negative impact on your operation’s plants and your business’ revenue and profits.

To solve the problem, follow the recommendations introduced in this article related to measuring water availability with a tensiometer, choosing a soil with maximum space for root development, and using a soil that is clean and consistent and includes beneficial biology.

All of the soils from bio365 tick each of these critical boxes and so much more. Contact us to learn more or to start a free trial so you can see the difference for yourself.