Overwatering/Underwatering? Shock?

Estrange

Member
Woke up expecting my typical salute from my plants, pointing upwards and reaching towards the light.
Instead when I checked my plants they looked really droopy. I gave them each about 1/3rd gallon of water 2 days ago, the soil feels ever so slightly moist at a knuckle deep still, but the pots are light to lift, some more-so than others. Others have soil that still seems somewhat moist on the surface and they seem to be drooping just the same. I did take a few clones off of 3 of my plants yesterday, but plants that I did not take cuttings off are drooping just the same.IMAG0467.jpg
 

blimey

Active Member
What size pots?
Sounds like underwatering. Everytime you water you should water each plant so that some water comes out of the bottom of the pot.
Pot weight is my favorite method of telling when they need water. When it's light, they used it all up.
 

Estrange

Member
What size pots?
Sounds like underwatering. Everytime you water you should water each plant so that some water comes out of the bottom of the pot.
Pot weight is my favorite method of telling when they need water. When it's light, they used it all up.
3 Gallon pots. I do water until I see just a bit of run-off, if I water to 20% runoff they tend to get a bit droopy. I'll go give em some aqua! Thanks guys.
 

warble

Well-Known Member
Three gallon fabric pots? How old are they? It could be root bound. Up pot them before you flower. Just water? They may need nutes, but they look nice sized. The leaves look a little rough. Could be humidity, lights too close or magnifying foliar sprayed water. What is your RH? How far are your lights? What is your temperature?
 

Estrange

Member
Three gallon fabric pots? How old are they? It could be root bound. Up pot them before you flower. Just water? They may need nutes, but they look nice sized. The leaves look a little rough. Could be humidity, lights too close or magnifying foliar sprayed water. What is your RH? How far are your lights? What is your temperature?
Thanks for the response Warble! I got them as clones, and they've been in Fox Farms Ocean Forest Soil for 26 days. I have them in 3 gallon rootmaker pots that has been their home for just under three weeks.The temp is running anywhere between 69°F at lights out and 77°F during the hottest part of the day. I've been giving them nutrient free water for the past two waterings as they showed signs of nutrient burn at a low level of Humboldt 5-9-4 in previous waterings.The RH is unfortunately much lower than I'd like it, at 15%-22% at most, but I haven't noticed any adverse effects of the low humidity. The light is probably about a foot away from the tallest plant currently, and I'm planning on moving them over to the flowering room in the next week. I gave them a bit of water and they perked back up several hours later, attached are photos of the pots they are in and them after the watering! Do you think a transplant is necessary or would it be possible to flower in their current pots?
 

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warble

Well-Known Member
I'm not sure what the theory of the rootmaker pots is.They look like short Devo hats. Maybe three gallons is enough. If your girls finish in eight weeks or less, you shouldn't have a problem w/ them getting root bound. If they have some sativa in them and take longer to finish, you might want to have a gallon or two extra, in the root zone. So, yeah, I'd x-plant and veg for ten more days before contemplating going into flower. Then again, maybe those rootmaker pots work better then the fabric grow bags, that I use. Your temps sound nice. You might want to work on that RH, you say it hasn't caused any harm, but has it helped? I have a humidifier, but you could hang a wet towel. If that is T5 or cfl you might be able to get away w/ bringing the light closer to your canopy. How much light? What nutes are you running? Are you supplementing calmag? I'm jazzed they perked up. I think you'll like what they do when you put them in your flower zone. Enjoy.
 

trychrome

Well-Known Member
I dislike those pots. I've tried tomatoes in them but not cannabis. My problem with them is that plants need a nice wide root base and these pots force the complete opposite. I think those pots were designed for step transplanting as it would seem to lend itself to that very well. Think of your root system as an upside down tree. The further down you go, the further you want the roots to spread. As fast as the top would dry out, and with light and air, there's usually not much root system at the top of the soil. Even if there is, it is drying out much faster than further down where you want the mass of roots for H2O and food uptake.

~just thinking out loud~
 

BuzzD2Kill

Well-Known Member
If you opened the room right before lights off the plants will be almost sleeping "droopyish". But could be a problem listed also. IMO foilar spray isnt going to burn your plants, if it did rain would be bad but nature loves sun after the rain, go figure. Unless theres a bunch of nutes in it.
 

Estrange

Member
The plants look perfectly fine. Don't change what your doing.
Hey Cpappa, Thanks for the compliment, It really has been a learning experience on my first grow, and without this forum there's no way it'd be going this smoothly!

I'm not sure what the theory of the rootmaker pots is.They look like short Devo hats. Maybe three gallons is enough. If your girls finish in eight weeks or less, you shouldn't have a problem w/ them getting root bound. If they have some sativa in them and take longer to finish, you might want to have a gallon or two extra, in the root zone. So, yeah, I'd x-plant and veg for ten more days before contemplating going into flower. Then again, maybe those rootmaker pots work better then the fabric grow bags, that I use. Your temps sound nice. You might want to work on that RH, you say it hasn't caused any harm, but has it helped? I have a humidifier, but you could hang a wet towel. If that is T5 or cfl you might be able to get away w/ bringing the light closer to your canopy. How much light? What nutes are you running? Are you supplementing calmag? I'm jazzed they perked up. I think you'll like what they do when you put them in your flower zone. Enjoy.
Aha Warble, They look exactly Devo hats, spot on comparison! The plants are all indicas (maybe indica dom hybrids) and are going to flip to flower any day now. How do I watch out for the plants getting root bound? Are there signs I should be looking for? I intend to work on the RH after the first harvest, just short a bit cash at the moment and don't feel like shelling out for a humidifier, but I see your point, the humidity likely hasn't helped. I worry about transplanting them as I don't have too much experience and certainly don't want to damage the root zone, but I suppose rootlock would be just as bad. \ The plants are chilling under a 1000w MH. Not running any nutrients at the moment, I was running Humboldt Oneness 5-9-4 at half strength once a week but noticed signs of nutrient burn, hadn't planned to start feeding nutes until they look like they need it, is this something I should reconsider? I'm not too familiar with CalMag, i'll have too look into it. I don't want to leave them in Veg too much longer, as they're already over 2 1/2 feet and I worry about them getting too tall (the ceiling of my bud room is only about 6'8"). I've just ordered two more HPS 1000 watt ballasts to put these 10 under, but they won't show up until March 3rd or so. I've read there are some advantages to budding under MH, do you think it would be okay to start them budding under the MH bulb until my HPS show up, at which point I'll move them over?

I dislike those pots. I've tried tomatoes in them but not cannabis. My problem with them is that plants need a nice wide root base and these pots force the complete opposite. I think those pots were designed for step transplanting as it would seem to lend itself to that very well. Think of your root system as an upside down tree. The further down you go, the further you want the roots to spread. As fast as the top would dry out, and with light and air, there's usually not much root system at the top of the soil. Even if there is, it is drying out much faster than further down where you want the mass of roots for H2O and food uptake.

~just thinking out loud~
Hmm, if you want them to spread further as you go down more these rootmakers do seem counter intuitive. The guy at the hydro store had me pretty convinced these were the right choice, and aid in root development, but truth be told I haven't the slightest how they work. What is step transplanting ?
 

trychrome

Well-Known Member
Hey Cpappa, Thanks for the compliment, It really has been a learning experience on my first grow, and without this forum there's no way it'd be going this smoothly!



Aha Warble, They look exactly Devo hats, spot on comparison! The plants are all indicas (maybe indica dom hybrids) and are going to flip to flower any day now. How do I watch out for the plants getting root bound? Are there signs I should be looking for? I intend to work on the RH after the first harvest, just short a bit cash at the moment and don't feel like shelling out for a humidifier, but I see your point, the humidity likely hasn't helped. I worry about transplanting them as I don't have too much experience and certainly don't want to damage the root zone, but I suppose rootlock would be just as bad. \ The plants are chilling under a 1000w MH. Not running any nutrients at the moment, I was running Humboldt Oneness 5-9-4 at half strength once a week but noticed signs of nutrient burn, hadn't planned to start feeding nutes until they look like they need it, is this something I should reconsider? I'm not too familiar with CalMag, i'll have too look into it. I don't want to leave them in Veg too much longer, as they're already over 2 1/2 feet and I worry about them getting too tall (the ceiling of my bud room is only about 6'8"). I've just ordered two more HPS 1000 watt ballasts to put these 10 under, but they won't show up until March 3rd or so. I've read there are some advantages to budding under MH, do you think it would be okay to start them budding under the MH bulb until my HPS show up, at which point I'll move them over?



Hmm, if you want them to spread further as you go down more these rootmakers do seem counter intuitive. The guy at the hydro store had me pretty convinced these were the right choice, and aid in root development, but truth be told I haven't the slightest how they work. What is step transplanting ?

Transplanting in steps. Red cup/peat cup--> 1 gallon--> 3/5 gallon--> 10/30/45 gallon. Or however you'd like to do it.
 

GroErr

Well-Known Member
The plants look perfectly fine. Don't change what your doing.
Agreed, look like they may have needed some water, other than that they look good.

As far as fabric pots, only down side I've seen after using them for a year or so is they dry out quicker because they allow air to the roots, which is also their biggest benefit for building stronger roots/plants. I certainly wouldn't worry about them being root bound in fabric, you could go bigger in 3 gal fabrics and they wouldn't get root bound. Take one out when you're done and check out the root ball, they build a solid root ball all the way up/down the pot.

Here's my last run I'm just beginning to harvest the smaller one's in 3gal fabric pots, the larger one's are up to 42" from the soil line in 5gal's and I could go bigger in those 5gal's if I had the head room.
All-Day53-Day42-3.JPG
 

warble

Well-Known Member
Going from mh to hps is the usual way to go. The mh is supposed to have good blues for growth and the hps is supposed to have good reds for flowering. Six foot eight, is plenty of room for an indica. If it gets rough, you can bend and tie down the tall parts. The low stress should help flower. I don't know about step x-planting, but I think, you start out w/ very little soil, and when they look bound, you pull them out, put in some more soil and put them back on top of the soil and add more to fill up to the next level. I use five gallon fabric grow bags for my sativas, and three gallons for my indicas. Try the wet towel to bump your RH up. Enjoy.
 

Estrange

Member
Going from mh to hps is the usual way to go. The mh is supposed to have good blues for growth and the hps is supposed to have good reds for flowering. Six foot eight, is plenty of room for an indica. If it gets rough, you can bend and tie down the tall parts. The low stress should help flower. I don't know about step x-planting, but I think, you start out w/ very little soil, and when they look bound, you pull them out, put in some more soil and put them back on top of the soil and add more to fill up to the next level. I use five gallon fabric grow bags for my sativas, and three gallons for my indicas. Try the wet towel to bump your RH up. Enjoy.
I gotchya, What I was trying to say was would it be okay to initiate flowering/switch to 12/12 cycle under my MH bulb, for a week or two until my hps lights show up? I'll definitely try the wet towel, I'd actually never even heard of this method, I'll letchya know how it goes!

Agreed, look like they may have needed some water, other than that they look good.

As far as fabric pots, only down side I've seen after using them for a year or so is they dry out quicker because they allow air to the roots, which is also their biggest benefit for building stronger roots/plants. I certainly wouldn't worry about them being root bound in fabric, you could go bigger in 3 gal fabrics and they wouldn't get root bound. Take one out when you're done and check out the root ball, they build a solid root ball all the way up/down the pot.

Here's my last run I'm just beginning to harvest the smaller one's in 3gal fabric pots, the larger one's are up to 42" from the soil line in 5gal's and I could go bigger in those 5gal's if I had the head room.
View attachment 3358421
That's a beautiful garden there GroErr! What strains are ya' running? Looks like you've got a nice spread of color in those buds! Mine aren't the fabrics though, they're solid plastic rootmakers!

Transplanting in steps. Red cup/peat cup--> 1 gallon--> 3/5 gallon--> 10/30/45 gallon. Or however you'd like to do it.
I meant as far as the actual process, gently removing them from the soil without damaging the root structure etc... they went from really small cups--->Solo Cups----> 3 gal Rootmaker Pots, I wouldn't have room for anything more than some 5 gallons in my grow space, do you guys think its worth bumping them up to 5's before throwing them into flower?
 

warble

Well-Known Member
Starting your flowering under mh is supposed to make your buds tighter. I would give them three or four weeks under mh, then switch to hps. Yes, I would think its worth the five gallon bump up.
 

GroErr

Well-Known Member
That's a beautiful garden there GroErr! What strains are ya' running? Looks like you've got a nice spread of color in those buds! Mine aren't the fabrics though, they're solid plastic rootmakers!
Hey thanks, these runs were mainly DIY pheno hunts, there's 2x Jack The Ripper x Blueberry, both sweet but the larger one in a 5gal is the keeper. 2x Pure Power Plant x Blueberry (blah, not great phenos smell-wise). And the big one on the left is very nice Jack The Ripper pheno (TGA) I've been running for about a year. Took out 2x 3gal Harlequins over the last couple of days. Reloading tonight with some 2x Blue Pyramid and 1x THC Bomb in 5gal. Lots of variety, have about 9 strains going right now :)
 
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