by Nebula Haze
Fertigation means adding nutrients to the water you give your plants. Cannabis plants typically grow faster when they get nutrients from the water as opposed to seeking out nutrients in the soil. When cannabis growers talk about fertigation, they’re often referring to high-frequency fertigation, which means watering plants with nutrient water frequently.
High-frequency fertigation means giving nutrient water to cannabis plants as often as 5 times a day. When set up properly, marijuana plants typically grow faster in high-frequency fertigation than plants watered a few times a week.
Give water multiple times a day by using drip-lines that pump nutrient water to plants on a timer
High-frequency fertigation must use a grow medium that contains air pockets even when wet to prevent roots “drowning” from lack of oxygen. The most popular grow medium for high-frequency fertigation for cannabis is a coco + perlite potting mix (another option is clay pebbles/hydroton, which can handle watering even more often than coco).
In this grow style, cannabis plants are usually given nutrient water automatically on a timer via an automated drip-feed. Automatic irrigation will save a ton of time compared to hand-watering multiple times a day!
Quick tips:
- use well-draining potting mix (50/50 coco/perlite works well)
- use hydro or coco-specific nutrients (such as Canna Coco or Flora Trio)
- for more frequent fertigation, use smaller pots
- get an automatic watering system (you will forget if you try to hand-water!)
- give nutrients every watering
- try to ensure EC/PPM of water going in and out are about the same
- if plants look perpetually droopy give water less often or less water at a time until plants are drinking more
- maintain 5.5-6.5 pH of the water
- always remove runoff water or have it drain away (never let plants sit in runoff water)
You now understand the general principles of growing cannabis with high-frequency fertigation. This should give you a base level of knowledge to help guide you as you read other fertigation tutorials and decide if this grow style is right for you.
Feel free to submit pictures of your high-frequency fertigation setup and we may feature you on this page!
