Droopy plant

[grower7155]

Hey guys. Growing a single mr nice mango haze in a 4x4 in a 8gal airpot. I'm under a 200w cxb3590 fixture and recently added 4 Rw 75 area 51s. So here's my problem...My plant droops a lot. It's usually worse in the evenings and after I water. She will droop and than look much better the next morning on a daily basis but even when she's good she's not as perky as I would like her to be. Temps and humidity are dialed in so that's not the problem. I really doubt I'm overwatering because I really let the soil dry out. Any ideas what it could be?

 

[grower7155]

Ups didn't mean to upload the same picture 3 times

 

[Scrappy-doo]

Have you looked at the roots? Easiest way to know for sure if it's overwatering. How often are they needing more water?

Another possible cause might be lack of food. If they're getting plenty of light but don't have the food to match it's hard for them to keep up.

 

[corky1968]

Overwatering and/or using cold water when you water the plants?

Could be something else.

 

[grower7155]

Watering about once every three days. I don't see how I could look at the roots without causing major stress...She always droops in the evening so whatever it is should explain that...

 

[slownickel]

Droopy,

There is the issue of how to water. You say you let things dry out and then you water. Pick up the container before you water and then gauge when to water. That is part number 1, second part is you may have high bicarbonates in your water. They suck up all the available calcium in your soil. And then there is the third possibility, you are putting on too much water at one time. Irrigating correctly means applying small quantities of water over the whole area, let it soak in. If you still see the surface glisten like glass, wait. Wait til there is no more glisten and even wait a bit longer, then apply more water. I would have a conductivity meter to test the water coming out the bottom of your container.

Sounds like the bottom of the pot is always full of water....

 

[happyjane]

I want to agree with slownickel and corky. What time of day do you water them and are you feeding them at the same time? How much water are you giving the plant? What is the humidity like in the evening vs the morning?

I currently have some Mango Haze on the go and have been really trying to learn her eating patterns, they seem different than our other strains... They don't seem to need as much food and water as the heavy indica strains, they tend to grow a bit slower.

 

[SamsonsRiddle]

what kind of soil? is there any way you could be underwatering? air pots dry out extremely fast and they may be drooping after you water because they are finally getting water but not quick enough.

is there any v'ing? it's an indicator of the plant trying to direct water from leaves to roots.

 

[corky1968]

For the next week or so. Try watering in the morning and this way it will give the plants the entire day to use the water.

I also water 2-4 plants at the same time. This way I don't put too much water on any one plant at the same time.

 

[slownickel]

Yep, missed the most basic. Never water at night or the evening. Plants only pick up water when there is evaporation. This is no evaporation at night. I was assuming that you already knew that, may not be an issue but is important.

You can tell how much water is there by just picking up the plant. You can also take a small stake, bamboo, metal, wood, the size of a pencil or so and jam it down into the soil. Let it sit there a while. Then pull it out and look for where it is wet. Like a dipstick. Also, smell it up and down the length (sounds like a porno). If it smells earthy, then it is aerobic (w/air), if it smell like a septic tank (not good) then it means there is no air. I always put rocks at the bottom of my pots and mix them into my mixes. Guarantees air space.

If the leaves are drooping after every water, you are putting in too many nutes or you are sitting in water.

Think of irrigating correctly like this. A glass of water. When the glass gets to about half full, you should put in some more water. But not a lot. Just enough to wet the top soil. This allows the soil down below a chance to dry out. You may have to do this light irrigation three or four times prior to putting on a full drench where water comes out the bottom again.... depending on how water retentive (heavy or lots of OM) your soil/medium actually is.

There is actually a science behind this....

 

[grower7155]

Thanks for all the replies. I will start watering only in the morning( I never watered in the evening but sometimes in the afternoon). I think it may well be underwatering since I am very focused on not overwatering.

 

[corky1968]

I know that watering plants during the hottest part of day isn't the best thing either.

It's nice to get the watering done in the morning I think.

When I do guerilla growing. I start watering the minute the daylight appears.

Watering at high noon sucks.

 

[Scrappy-doo]

Especially once August comes around.

 

[grower7155]

It happened again today and I didnt even water. Much perkier in the morning, even better by the afternoon and now it's almost lights out and she is droopy again...

 

[7thson]

Plants droop at the end of the light cycle,in veg,it's normal.

 

[grower7155]

It starts like 3 hours before lights out and gets very droopy by the end, even worse than in the picture

 

[rykus]

If a plant droops near the end of light cycle then the roots have not enough capacity to fuel the plant till the end of the light cycle.... IMO is is less stress on the plant to turn the light off when the plant leaves hit horizontal with the floor.... Use a led or flouro to supplement..less stress on the under developed root system.

Next is water cycle. First of all, if it goes three days you are over saturating your medium, if you're not adding more than. 20% the total size of container size then maybe you have a Mg build up, either way start to water 1/3 the amount or less every day instead until the roots catch up with the above ground demands.

Just think if your cycle is 100 days +\- then you have 33 chances to influence soil at every three days... 50 at every 2, and 100 if you water every day.... So if you feed every second time that is over double the feed cycles!

The other advantage is the % of air/water/medium the roots see.... If you are adding an excess of h2o to the medium your soil could be 30-40% h20, 40-50% medium leaving only 10-20% maximum for air retention... So maybe for a ful day your plants are not being efficient because of over saturation.... Then they get to a desirable level for a day and the roots recover slightly... But then the air % raises too high and the roots once again shut down and are less efficient...


Basically the more often you add a smaller amount of fluid the closer you can get too maximize the uptake of the roots... And once they custom tailor that they will reward you with much better health and in turn growth/health and yield.

Good luck!

 

[SamsonsRiddle]

Thanks for all the replies. I will start watering only in the morning( I never watered in the evening but sometimes in the afternoon). I think it may well be underwatering since I am very focused on not overwatering.

Do you water until runoff? A lot of people thinks it's necessary, but it isn't. Maybe towards the end of flower or if you are feeding at high ec levels.

I still haven't seen what medium you are using other than "soil" (which brand soil or soilless), because i have used a few different ones and most like to go from wet to damp.


I must be the only guy who's ever underwatered here.

 

[SamsonsRiddle]

I guess no one has ever used fabric or whatever those pots you are using are called either...

 

[grower7155]

I'm using canna profesional plus soil.