Droopy leaves please help, thanks

[Bigdylan04]

Hello everyone don’t mean to sound like a broken record here but this is my first grow. Seems to be pretty easy yet time consuming up to this point. Recently my leaves have stated to droop and my soil ph is at a solid 7. Ive tried to lower by watering 6.0 ph but didn’t seem to change much if any. My tent is alittle crammed right now and my training is alittle wacky but I’m getting the hang of it and learning day by day. If someone can please give me advice to get my plants healthier and soil back to a safe ph. Thanks in advance

I pulled some dead leaves off bottom and dropped them into soil before I decided to create a forum online but not sure if that was good idea or not

 

[Bigdylan04]

[No message]

 

[Subu]

Looks like possibly over-watering which can cause very big problems if you overdo it so recommend you start figuring it out.

I am not sure if it was the way you worded your sentence.. but no you shouldn't leave the dead leaves in the soil. They should go in the bin.

 

[Bigdylan04]

Thanks subu could be overwatering due to my fight to lower the ph levels

 

[Subu]

Thanks subu could be overwatering due to my fight to lower the ph levels

That's probably better done with something like Dolomite Lime which is fairly non-intrusive and slow acting.

 

[Bigdylan04]

So I did some research on dolomite and I like the idea of it but everything I’m reading says it’s used to raise or maintain ph to 7. But I’m trying to lower ph alittle bit, also do you think 7 is fine and I shouldn’t mess with it right now?

 

[Creeperpark]

The pH will swing by its self and 7 pH is ok, so stop overwatering and let the soil dry out. When I water my plants with water that's in the low 6s it swings upward to the 7s by its self. Let the pH find equilibrium without trying to force it. Keep your intake water steady like you are doing, and be patient and the plants will be ok. When you keep the soil wet you cut off the oxygen in the root zone causing the plants will wilt.

 

[f-e]

I don't see any pH like issues. Both 6 and 7 are in range. Right at the extremes, but that means you have an average of 6.5 and there is little more you could want.

They look drenched. Were they alright 10 days ago? there are no long term signs of this.

 

[Bigdylan04]

Hey everyone thanks for the feedback, before I made this post I fed them and honestly they are looking better already must’ve been a deficiency, but if you folks think I shouldn’t worry about ph then I’ll leave it for now, I read all different things online but seems to be doing fine.

 

[flylowgethigh]

How big are the soil containers? How much light and what size tent? I ask because it looks dark in there. Have you inoculated the soil with microbes?

 

[Bigdylan04]

How big are the soil containers? How much light and what size tent? I ask because it looks dark in there. Have you inoculated the soil with microbes?

2x4 tent
3.5 gallon pots
2x spider farmer 1000
and I use photosynthesis plus for my microbe situation

Pretty bright in there I think it just reacts weird to my camera but could be wrong

planning on getting a walk in size tent if this grow goes well as space is tight (three small plants in middle hiding will be going to a friend next week)

 

[f-e]

The living leaf is dying back very quickly. This seems common where damp is concerned. I think as the leaf tissue weakens, The composting bacteria are not waiting for it to fall. I see the large leaf laid out on the compost has one blade where mold or bacteria have taken one edge completely.

I have been thinking about over watering quite often. How much is too much? It's not possible to water more than DWC. It's a bucket of water for a pot.

The water doesn't actually matter, so much as the oxygen it contains.

In hydro, the answer is generally h2o2 or aeration, or both, or even ozone, though I'm not fully versed on that idea.
In soil, older water can be washed away with fresh oxygenated water. Not always, but sometimes. However it rarely lasts and isn't sustainable behaviour. Some way should be devised to ensure the pots dry quicker.

 

[flylowgethigh]

My digital Blumat reads 39-41on the SWICK bed. In flower now, with 10 gallon bags, the plants are using 3/4 gallon per day. I have good ventilation to outside, which is where most of the water goes. Are you using plenty of cal-mag?

https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0242/5585/files/marijuana-deficiency-chart-jorge-cervantes.jpg?853

 

[HempKat]

PH is important despite that some tend to downplay it. It's important because when it's off either too high or two low certain nutrients get locked out meaning no matter how much nutes you add the plant can't take them up. This creates conditions that can easily be misread as a deficiency causing people to add even more nutrients and that leads to toxicity. Now which nutes get blocked depends on which direction the ph is going if it's too high certain nutrients get locked out, too low other nutrients get locked out. Once you get everything dialed in and your more experienced you can reach a point where you can virtually ignore ph but in the beginning as a new grower I say it's important to keep a reasonably regular eye on the ph levels. At first it's a good idea to test your water/nutrient mix so you know what it is going in but the more important thing to measure is the excess drainage as that is more reflective of what the roots are experiencing and that's where things get locked out. Usually the nutrients we add will being the ph down which is why mixing dolomite lime into the soil can be a good thing as it will help offset that lower ph plus it becomes a source of calcium and magnesium which the plants usually don't get enough of that.

Now watering itself is also a challenge for the new grower to adapt to. A common mistake new growers make is they try to add nutrients at every watering and then on top of that they tend to water almost every day. They kind of act like they believe if they keep throwing a lot of food at it and often it will force the plants to get bigger but it doesn't really work that way. Plants at the stage your plants look to be at should be getting watered at about the rate of every other day or roughly 3 times a week and every third watering should be just water. This help to prevent too much nutrient build up in the soil and it gives the ph a chance to adjust itself if it's getting off. Unfortunately you can't take that as a hard fast rule for the entire growth cycle. In the beginning when the rootball hasn't really developed yet you might find that you need to water every 3 or every 4 days instead of every other day. Also in the beginning you can usually get away with just giving plain water for the first 2-3 weeks of veg. Eventually at some point in flower if everything goes well that rootball will fill up the soil allowing the plant to drink more in a shorter time to the point you might find you need to water daily. The most tried and true method for judging when to water for soil is what is called the lift method. This is where you lift the pot when you first set things up and feel what the weight is like when the soil is fairly dry, then you water until you start to see some drainage and lift it again and make a mental note of how heavy it feels with the added water. Then every day you lift the pot to feel it's weight and you don't water again until the pot feels about as light as it did that first time before you first watered it. At that point you water again and the cycle repeats. Granted this is not a particularly scientific method but it works reasonably well and you'll usually find you get used to it pretty quick. Of course if you go too long and the soil gets too dry the leaves will wilt but once you water it again they'll spring back. You don't want to get comfortable with that happening though because it's hard on the plant. When you lift it you don't have to lift it much just an inch or so off the ground is fine just so long as you're feeling the weight of it without the pot touching the ground. Now one final think to be aware of is if you overwater your plants that can also cause the leaves to wilt but they're wilting for an entirely different reason and it doesn't quite look the same. The tendency for new growers is to add more water though which you would want to avoid and using the lift method will help you to avoid that.

One final thing when you're first starting a plant out it's usually a good idea to use a smaller pot then what you plan to finish in. The reason being is that if you use a bigger pot and you don't have many roots in it yet, it will take a long time to dry out as much as 5-7 days which is a long time between waterings. If for some reason you have to start out in the pot you plan on finishing in then you'll probably want to avoid watering it until you see drainage. Instead you want to try and guesstimate how much water it needs to get by for two days. If you get that right then keep that up for about two weeks and then you can probably go with watering until you get drainage. It's alot to get used to at first and can seem overwhelming but like I said, you'll adjust fairly quickly and after a grow or two you'll have it down without thinking about it.