drooping before ligjts out

These plants start to droop about 2 hours or an hour and a half b-fore lights out, but they perk up when the lights go on in the morning. They all look healthy save for some browning on the lower leaves. They are 28 days old in MG w/ perlite under a 600w metal halide hung 36" from plant tops on a 16/8 schedule.

Looks like overwatered to me. How often you watering and how much at a time? Also what°s temp like in the room?

Don't mist them on top, and there in MG, bad stuff.
Mist under the leafs when they get droopy and see if they perk up.Make sure you are not over watering, I don't think youa re being they get droopy just before lights out.
Lights ~ 18/6 or 24/0 Bring the height down to 30" and see if they take it.

After a few days of 30" above bring it down to 24 -26 and see how they do.

Its definitely not over watering. I have been very careful not to do that. Its not temps either. Day time temps never top 79F and night time temps run ~68F. As for the misting, I just did that to see if they would perk up with a little foliar water and less light. I know that some drooping late in the light cycle can be caused by excessive transpiration and that the plant is tired and is using water faster than it can replace it. I'll drop the lights today after they have been on a few hour. As for the soil, its all I have access too beside manure and topsoil and I am not brave enough to start mixing my own soil. I have read all about MGs pH problems and over-nuting issues, so I mixed dolomite lime in with my soil and I take it easy with the water, only every 2-4 days when its dry, they I water until the pot feels heavy but doesn't run off.

silentzombie said:

These plants start to droop about 2 hours or an hour and a half b-fore lights out, but they perk up when the lights go on in the morning. They all look healthy save for some browning on the lower leaves. They are 28 days old in MG w/ perlite under a 600w metal halide hung 36" from plant tops on a 16/8 schedule.

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thats just means they are getting ready to go to sleep thats all man and you might have nute burn from the mg stuff

ur plants should be perky before lights out!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! leaves pointing to the sky, dont missunderstand me for curling upward thats not good but the whole leaf pointing up, maybe ur slightly overwatering my friend!! good luck

Big buds Right, perky until lights out.
You can't find a place that sells some FF or Roots organic? Look around I am sure you can.

Get yourself a plastic container like wal mart has that is only 6 " high or so and is 2x2 or even 2x4 feet and then get something you can sit those pots on, I use PVC 1/2 pipe, I cut a bunch in 4" lengths. then you sit pots on them and water until water comes out of bottom. Water goes in plastic bin and after a hour or so you remove bin and dump water on plants,shrubs,etc. outside.
I give each plant one gallon of mixed goods/water/nutes/etc. and that way there is less salt build up.

oh yea, the dreaded salt build up. I'd have to travel about 50 miles or so one-way to pick up FF soil and am currently too poor to afford to have it shipped.

just somrthing to add here, if u suspect salt build up rem, flush flush flush, no harm in a flush now n again, another thing to avoid salt build up is to only give ferts everyother feed.

I've had strains that just do that no matter how healthy they are but I'd check for anything limiting nutrient and water uptake like soil ph being off or not feeding them enough. Check the health of the roots, look for root rot or bugs, look for spider mites, deficiencies, anything you can think of.

everything seems to be in order, but my ph meter is cheap and doesn't give good readings. I suspect there are pH swings in between watering, pushing the plants into the low 6's high 5's probably. The meter I have reads ~7, but its not digital and measured lemon juice @ ~4.5, so I'm pretty sure its lying to me and not helping. I have been watering with a teeny amount of hydrated lime to see if it helps.

if ur water is around 6.2 / 7.2 u realy dont have to worry much about ph, people make a fuss about ph but the nore grows u do the more u relaise the less u fuss with ur plants the better they turn out, let them do theyr own thing, u adding lime n that could cause probs u could have avoided m8, thats only my opinion. good luck.

bigbud x northenlights said:

if ur water is around 6.2 / 7.2 u realy dont have to worry much about ph, people make a fuss about ph but the nore grows u do the more u relaise the less u fuss with ur plants the better they turn out, let them do theyr own thing, u adding lime n that could cause probs u could have avoided m8, thats only my opinion. good luck.

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it's true, less fuss is best, unless you know what your doing. Fluxuating ph is very deprimental to the root system that takes up the nutes.
6.5 every time in my garden, and thats not being fussy, thats just good gardening.

The drooping is getting better with the lights closer to the plants, but I'm still losing lower leaves on a few plants, they yellow out and go brown at the tips... I'm concerned because I know MG soil is full of ammonia nitrate, and I don't want to flush and run the risk of giving the babies terrible nute burn... I'm trying not to be fussy, I have been watering with distilled water, but will switch over to my tap which runs a high pH... I'll just let it sit for a few days w/ a bubble stone in it.

oh no, the droop is back and I haven't watered for fear of overwatering. stems are red, and leaf tips are browning. Is this a P or K deficiency?

Lack of water.

I think they are pot bound as well... going to transplant and hope for the best.

silentzombie said:

These plants start to droop about 2 hours or an hour and a half b-fore lights out, but they perk up when the lights go on in the morning. They all look healthy save for some browning on the lower leaves. They are 28 days old in MG w/ perlite under a 600w metal halide hung 36" from plant tops on a 16/8 schedule.

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I would not worry .. my current grow.. i was veging 18/6 and my plants always droop 2 hours before lights out.. i never thought anything of it.. my plants are nice and healthy