I topped my plant and now its drooping badly

I topped my plant and trimmed some fan leaves to make room for new growth.

I have read that you aren't meant to remove healthy fan leaves but ive done it on my other 2 plants and they were fine.

The entire plant has very soft stems and all leafs and heads are unable to hold up their own weight.

Im kinda scared im stressed it to death, but it has been vegging for 2 months and has a very strong root system.

I cant take any pics as im at work... but if they are required then ill post them up asap.

Its on 24-0 under a 65w and 85w 6400k CFL.

that plant needs sleep my friend! you stressed it out with the trimming and now it can't recover because its in constant photosynthesis. cut your lights down to 18/6 asap.

There are some details missing without pictures. Remember that a picture is worth a thousand words, and therefore, a thousands words are needed to describe the lack of a picture. Softness can be from too much water (which removing fans and tops can mean there's more root than plant and therefore be over-everything'd) or too much heat, or from parasites (wrong season for that, but you don't have tiny white flies in the area, do you?).

Best suggestion I can offer is to wait and be patient. Do nothing, and see what happens after 72 hours. I'm fairly certain all will be fine.

I trim and top like a maniac, and never had an issue with drooping related to that. The only things that caused droopiness for me either most commonly over/underwatering, and less commonly root damage from rot or pests.

ylem said:

that plant needs sleep my friend! you stressed it out with the trimming and now it can't recover because its in constant photosynthesis. cut your lights down to 18/6 asap.

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Vegitative plants need no rest. Flowering plants do. 24 hours of light is not stressful in the least. There are benefits to having a dark cycle, but there are also benefits to having zed. Both work, and work well.

I would like your post roidrage, but I'm afraid I don't know how. Kudos, and be blessed.

It was nice and perky last night before bed when I did it. Only to find when I woke up 7 hours later that it was drooping.

yelm, I will switch back to 18-6 as soon as i get home. They have been on 18-6 their entire life, I only switched to 24-0 3 days ago when I made a new,larger grow room. Thank you for the comment!

grnMn, the plant is over a foot tall now. The roots showing thru the holes at the bottom appear white and healthy. I try not to feed them if my soil moisture meter isn't in the red. I will switch back the lights and not touch it unless for feeding for 72hrs. I have no pests in my grow closet, although I did find a worm in the soil of one of my plants. It was shop bought soil too. Thanks for the comment!

Hah you guys reply too quick.

Ok so leave them on 24-0?? The soil is still moist so im not feeding it anytime soon. so the common advice is to just wait and see what happens?

24 is fine, and wait. There is no negative result from vegging full time.

PS, worms can be good, but best if you have controlled medium. White flies are a very bad thing, but you don't have them so never you fear.

Ok cool I will post in here in a few days with results. I really hope that it recovers.

The soil Im using is pretty shit. I was going to grow the clones from these (which may be my mothers after sexing them) in a hydroponic store bought perlite and verm mix. http://sog.shopau.biz/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=1229

I've never quite liked vermiculite, but perlite can be wonderful. I prefer to use jiffy (peat) pucks or rockwool for cuttings, transplanting to either hydroponic mediums or soil, depending on the application. Both work beautifully.

Since you mentioned roots showing through your drain holes, plant and stem limpness can also be a symptom of being root bound. I've let my plants sit a little too long in pots that are too small and haven't had too much issue, however it is a textbook symptom.

i love vermiculite in my mix. it fills spaces between the perlite, yet breathes. good stuff, but you'll need some other stuff in that mix. compost, lime, worm castings.......

i think the light is not strong enough for the plant. how big is she and how close are your lights i use cfls as well side lighting is key to a good cfl grow

kinamongpawns said:

i think the light is not strong enough for the plant. how big is she and how close are your lights i use cfls as well side lighting is key to a good cfl grow

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2 months in veg, over a foot tall. The lights are definitely enough. I raised them with just a 85w up till 2 weeks ago then added another 65w flower cfl.
The lights are never more than 2-3 inch away from the highest plant. Up until I topped this plant it has been thriving.

Will be updating my grow journal soon as SO MUCH has changed in the last 4 weeks.

they sound thirsty.

apbx720 said:

they sound thirsty.

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If anything they are probably overwatered according to this thread: https://www.rollitup.org/marijuana-plant-problems/150004-plant-moisture-stress-symptoms-solutions.html

At the time of trimming, it had been fed 16 hours eariler... its now been about 32 hours since feeding and the soil is still moist, giving me the impression that its not drinking as much water as it was a week ago.. even tho its larger..

I will post a pic as soon as i get home.

Wow its gotten worse since this morning

It looks so sad.

However, I put in the soil moisture meter and it was indicating dry.

So I fed them untill they ran off, then let it soak in the tray for 2min. It should be completely wet up in there.

I fed them with a mixture of Growzilla nutes, h202, superthrive and its had an airstone in it for a night so should have a high DO level.

What do you guys think now? Yesterday before the trim it was like its siblings. Stood straight and tall.



Link to my grow journal.

https://www.rollitup.org/grow-journals/501078-noob-mirco-stealth-cfl-grow.html#post6891447

I had a plant do the same thing, was healthy (looking) and everything was going fine till I topped/pruned. Looked exactly like the last pic you posted and kept getting worse. I just threw it away, something was obviously wrong with the plant and it was sick

I would wait to see if it gets worse. If it does I would just scrap it, even if you spend the time trying to recover it probably will be to stunted to produce

Not saying this is the same thing or it will happen to your plant but just a similar story.

According to the pics those were severely under watered.