Leaf curl & tacoing & reaching for the light after transplant (first grow)

From a noob first time grower

After 15 days under a t5 I sprouted roots on 7 cuts. The other four were some cuts given to me with roots already. 2 pink lemonade, 2 prism, and 7 mac1 cuts. I planted the four rooted clones and then planted the 7 mac's 3 days later. It's been 3 days now and I'm noticing problems I'd like to discuss.

I planted everything in 70/30 coco, perlite mix and ran a first week shedule feeding from Remo nutrients. After transplant I fed the 1gal pots until saturated. I fed 24hrs later the same and have now waited till days.

My lights, 2 Mars-hydro sp250, were hanging 18in from canopy for the first week and I raised them today to 3ft (at time of photo) thinking they might be getting to much to soon.

Im noticing that there still firm and stiff leafs but there curling down. The front one has now started to look straight up and the last few are starting to taco or canoe.

I've been reading the forums and going down YouTube holes but I'd like to see what you gromies thought and what I might try to fix.

Much appreciation,
@Savvygrower

I'll be honest, I don't use that medium. So I had a couple questions, and comments...that you should probably just ignore lol.
18 inches from your new transplants , straight out of cloning is probably not the best. They don't need much light straight off. Keep it up for a bit or dimmed then get them into the light slowly over a couple days or so.

Did you say u saturated the soil 2 days in a row then left it 3?
How fast.does it dry out? They look like they are wilting, and the soil is dry as F in spots but u have wet patches?.
Make sure your watering consistently, and evenly.
The yellowing could be from a lack of n. But you got a lot going on at once I believe.
I'd love to hear more on this issue so I can learn too.
Good luck with help from a more knowledgeable grower.
Take care.

They’re not lacking water. Not at all. Note the stem is erect even though the leaf is drooping. Turn that fan way down and redirect the flow. What are temperature and humidity?

The lights were too close imo

hotrodharley said:

They’re not lacking water. Not at all. Note the stem is erect even though the leaf is drooping. Turn that fan way down and redirect the flow. What are temperature and humidity?

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I did just those things. I turned down fan and redirected upwards. I raised lights to 4ft, my temp and RH maintain 73 to 78 and 50 to 60 rh. I data log and its consistent. I fed tonight and didn't have any runoff this time and plan on feeding that same amount daily. It's a strong plant I hope for the best......hobby grower

Savvy1 said:

I did just those things. I turned down fan and redirected upwards. I raised lights to 4ft, my temp and RH maintain 73 to 78 and 50 to 60 rh. I data log and its consistent. I fed tonight and didn't have any runoff this time and plan on feeding that same amount daily. It's a strong plant I hope for the best......hobby grower

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Don’t water for a while. They’ll pick back up. The droop is from water they’re unable to transpire. The humidity is low enough that if you don’t water it will begin to get rid of it.

Savvy1 said:

From a noob first time grower

After 15 days under a t5 I sprouted roots on 7 cuts. The other four were some cuts given to me with roots already. 2 pink lemonade, 2 prism, and 7 mac1 cuts. I planted the four rooted clones and then planted the 7 mac's 3 days later. It's been 3 days now and I'm noticing problems I'd like to discuss.

I planted everything in 70/30 coco, perlite mix and ran a first week shedule feeding from Remo nutrients. After transplant I fed the 1gal pots until saturated. I fed 24hrs later the same and have now waited till days.

My lights, 2 Mars-hydro sp250, were hanging 18in from canopy for the first week and I raised them today to 3ft (at time of photo) thinking they might be getting to much to soon.

Im noticing that there still firm and stiff leafs but there curling down. The front one has now started to look straight up and the last few are starting to taco or canoe.

I've been reading the forums and going down YouTube holes but I'd like to see what you gromies thought and what I might try to fix.

Much appreciation,
View attachment 4395128 View attachment 4395129 View attachment 4395130 View attachment 4395132 @Savvygrower

Click to expand...

Nice work for a 1st grow, cloning can be a difficult task.
Growing in coco is a bit different than growing in soil.
What type of water are you using?
Do you PH your water after adding nutrients? What do you use to test PH?
Do you have an E/C or ppm meter to test your water?

hotrodharley said:

They’re not lacking water. Not at all. Note the stem is erect even though the leaf is drooping. Turn that fan way down and redirect the flow. What are temperature and humidity?

Click to expand...

Good to know, are you looking at the stem becuz it's a clone? Just to get more specific. I love info, and looks like you got some good stuff.
So I was talking about them looking like they do before the roots set in for clones, or sometimes if your leaves are to big. Or general wilting from lack of water.
In my hydro cloner I never get limp stems. Anywhere else I did.
That's why I was GUESSING lack of water....
Hind sight,saturated 2 days in a row had me thinking.....how the hell did they dry out so fast? Clones in that big of container? Then the water spots on top.... made me think he's pouring water on top also.
Lastly, the dry trays......
Why I recommended even,consistent watering.
Looking at it from what I've learned from you already,the fan is making so much sense. Soil so dry on top....looks straight out of the bag.
In addition I believe he had an issue or two more than that, like those LED's yellling at the clones from 18 inches. At least I do if I try it.
Good info, thanks for your time.

Kushash said:

Nice work for a 1st grow, cloning can be a difficult task.
Growing in coco is a bit different than growing in soil.
What type of water are you using?
Do you PH your water after adding nutrients? What do you use to test PH?
Do you have an E/C or ppm meter to test your water?

Click to expand...

I use city water filtered through one of those RV hose adaptors I got from the hydro store.
I have a bluelab combo meter that test for ph, ec, and temp and i calibrate once per week.
My water before nutes test at 0.4 E/C and 6.4 PH. After adding nutes and bringing the ph down I measure at 5.7ph and 1.5 ec.

I have four other plants in the tent that were already rooted and a little bigger that seem to be doing fine and are experiencing new growth they were planted 4 days before these little guys. Here's a pic from this morning.

So I raised the lights and gave them half strength nutes and came home today with slightly better looking plants. The clone that had the best roots is showing what looks like new growth. And the others do to as well. Leaves are still curled but looking like they are bending back the other way. I will be keeping a consistent feeding schedule now. I think it may have been a combination of transplant shock, weak roots, light to close. Hopefully tomorrow they will look even better.

i had a couple clones that were looking like that. i new it was nutrient lockout from salt build up from letting the solo cups get to dry. they were stunted, purple, and leaves looking just like that. I want to emphasize that I was in soil cups and the roots were well established in the solo cup. but i rinsed or flushed the clones (which were in coco/perlite as well). i did it until the runoff was good looking and they made a quick quick turn around. the purpling slowed down, but most obvious was the leaves started to look much healthier and the plants were back in active growth. I did not read everyone's response, so I dont know if someone suggest nutrient lockout at all. it may not be as easy to flush things being that you are in much bigger pots. im just giving my anecdotal knowledge

Hydrowannabe said:

i had a couple clones that were looking like that. i new it was nutrient lockout from salt build up from letting the solo cups get to dry. they were stunted, purple, and leaves looking just like that. I want to emphasize that I was in soil cups and the roots were well established in the solo cup. but i rinsed or flushed the clones (which were in coco/perlite as well). i did it until the runoff was good looking and they made a quick quick turn around. the purpling slowed down, but most obvious was the leaves started to look much healthier and the plants were back in active growth. I did not read everyone's response, so I dont know if someone suggest nutrient lockout at all. it may not be as easy to flush things being that you are in much bigger pots. im just giving my anecdotal knowledge

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My very first feeding was from a 20gal rez that I may or may not have done correctly. I have since then been mixing up 1gal at a time to minimize my mistakes. I have four plants that are doing just fine with the nutes and the 7 cuts I have I've been mixing 1gal at half strength. And I am keeping a consistent watering schedule. I hope to have a better update in a few days. I did notice they were doing better after the last feeding the following day.
Thanks for your feedback I'm a glutton for grow info.

Savvy1 said:

My very first feeding was from a 20gal rez that I may or may not have done correctly. I have since then been mixing up 1gal at a time to minimize my mistakes. I have four plants that are doing just fine with the nutes and the 7 cuts I have I've been mixing 1gal at half strength. And I am keeping a consistent watering schedule. I hope to have a better update in a few days. I did notice they were doing better after the last feeding the following day.
Thanks for your feedback I'm a glutton for grow info.

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yea hopefully those ladies respond soon. thats what i "flushed" my coco with,...1/2 strength solution, and it worked great. i did it in two feeds, but im sure it could be split up into many feedings

Well I can breath now, it seems my ladies are coming back to me. I adjusted the light and mixed 1/2 strength nutes with regular feedings.

My cuttings have made noticeable improvement and I am now seeing new growth.

Yeah note the leaf has a magnesium def look but its on higher part of plant also has a red vein on the leaf, that's from the lights been too close.

You are right, too much light plus transplant equals shock and no drinking. Should sort itself out now.

Personally I would drop your EC, but if you do run at that level you must allow run off. Salt build up is a nasty thing.

coreywebster said:

Yeah note the leaf has a magnesium def look but its on higher part of plant also has a red vein on the leaf, that's from the lights been too close.

You are right, too much light plus transplant equals shock and no drinking. Should sort itself out now.

Personally I would drop your EC, but if you do run at that level you must allow run off. Salt build up is a nasty thing.

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i agree, letting enough runoff come out the bottom is very important. i just learned that lesson recently. i thought i was giving my plants 10% runoff everytime, but i wasnt getting close to 10% runoff. now i make sure i give plenty runoff. id rather have healthy plants and lose a little on nutes and save nutes and have sick plants. thats for sure