Just underwatering or is there more?

[superbeachbum]

Here are the pictures of all of my plants.
All of these pictures were taken on 7/13/09.

Background info:
They are clones of bubba kush that were cut about 2-3 weeks ago. They grew for about 1-2 weeks inside and were all perfectly healthy. All of them are growing outside in my yard in southern cali. The highest temp it has gotten has been around 75 probably and it shouldn't be too windy in their current spot since there are a lot of walls around to break the wind. The 3 plants in the black pots are in a slightly different fox farm organic potting soil than the 3 plants in the clay pots. The 3 in the clay plants were also transplanted from cups into their current pots, while the plants in the black pots started in those same pots and did not have to be transplanted. I have added no nutes yet but will begin to today unless someone feels otherwise. The potting soil looked like it came with everything you could want (blood meal, bone meal, worm castings, perlite, etc.). I have not checked the pH of the soil and just assumed it would be in the neutral range - is this a mistake? I am using distilled water right now.

I definitely feel like I underwatered them the first couple days after they were transplanted outside but have since started watering more often. Also, the same dry areas in the middle of some leaves look similar to heat stress. just a guess. This is my first time growing and taking care of any plant let alone weed. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
-bum

 

[kmk420kali]

It looks like heat stress to me-- Do you have a thermometer out with the plants?? If the weather says it is 75, they measure that in the shade...in the direct sunlight, it can easily get much hotter than that--

 

[BrotherMonk]

Sometimes Fox Farm soil is a little too "hot" for clones and sprouts. Did you harden them off before putting them outside, or did you put them into direct sunlight? Ya hafta ease small plants into the sunlight when moving from indoors. Perhaps a little shock from the move.

Also, please don't use distilled water. It has no trace minerals in it. It is basically sterile water. Tap water that has been set out for 24 hrs to de-chlorinate would be better. You may have to adjust the ph of tap water tho. Do you have a way of collecting rain water? Even better!

They really don't look too bad yet, and I think they will improve as they grow. The new growth seems to be fairly ok.

 

[superbeachbum]

I did not get a chance to harden them off and I did shock them a bit on the transplant. Figured those things plus the heat is whats doing it. Got a chance to get a thermometer and it was reading 80 F around the plants. I'm not too worried because they're still growing and only the lower leaves tend to show stress signs. I'm thinking about putting the pots under ground to help keep the roots cooler. Do I only have to worry about the temperature of the roots being above 75 F or do I have to worry about what is above ground overheating as well? I have heard that 75 F is the max for growing, but how do other outdoor growers get around that? For now I plan on leaving them in a spot that gets shade during midday and direct sunlight later in the day from about 2-5. I also realize that they wont be getting 5 hour direct light per day. Do you guys think in a week or 2, that they will be ready to try for direct sunlight in the middle of the day? Thanks again for the help.
-bum

 

[superbeachbum]

I will post pics of my hopefully much stronger ladies soon. I'll start using tap water thats been left outside for a day. Thanks for the tips kmk and monk.

 

[superbeachbum]

These pictures were taken on 7/17 They're looking a little bit better!

 

[superbeachbum]

Pictures taken on 7/20: GROW! GROW!

Also tied back some branches of the tree providing the shade to allow for direct light to hit the plants at a slightly earlier point of day since the clones should be closer to hardened by now(12th day outside). I'm a bit afraid to put them back into the direct sun at midday. The thermometer has been reading around 80 and i'm in socal if any other growers have local knowledge Any thoughts or tips would be greatly appreciated.
-bum