What's wrong with my drooping plants? Picture

[Zeripper]

Hi there, 1st time grower here.

I'm baffled by my plants. They broke seed 24 days ago (except one who was waayyyyy late), and growth has been steady if slow, due to a hot summer.

They're all pretty bushy, one of them is just glorious, but 5 days ago they started drooping a little, I'm not sure if it's from overwatering, underwatering or anything else really. At first I thought it was from the weight of the leaves but I have doubts. Also some of the leaves' stems are reddening a bit.

I grow in a 4x4' tent, with a 600W HPS lamp with cooltube. The lamp is 2' above the plant (used to be closer but I read somewhere it could be the cause of the drooping).

Once every 2 times I water, I feed them nutes from France Hydroponique (part 1 is 6-0-3 and part 2 is 1-4-2) and a root stimulant. I used to water everyday then every 2 days cause I didn't know better, now it's more of once every 3-4 days. The plants are in 3.6 liters (1 gallon) pots.
I topped them 4 days ago.

Strain is moneymaker from strain hunters.

Any feedback is appreciated

Whole tent

The bushier one, and the one most drooping

Ain't that some tight internode?

 

[Robert Celt]

The nodes are definitely nice and tight, and in the last photo the coloring looks good, no signs of deficiencies or toxicity. So my best guess would be under or over watering.

Check your soil, stick your finger down into the soil past your 2nd knuckle. If the soil feels soggy then too much water, if dry too little water. Your soil should just feel damp at that depth. This is a general rule of thumb.

The other thing you've not mentioned but could be a factor. Do your pots have drain holes in the bottom? If not, water could be pooling in the bottom and drowning the roots.

 

[Zeripper]

Thank you, I've tried watering 1 of them yesterday to see if it'd go better or worse, will check when the lights kick in.

I'm partial to the knuckle thing, last time I tried I broke a small root :'(, and I wasn't even sure if what I felt was dry or damp .
I think I'll try having a dry pot besides and try the weigh difference technique.

Oh and as for my pots, they indeed have holes in the bottom, and there's 2 inches of clay balls there before the soil.

 

[PurpleGunRack]

Yeah it looks like under/over watering(I'm the master of doing both somehow)

If you have 2 inches of clay pebbles in the bottom of your pots I'd guess that your ladies roots has filled up the pots by now and it might be a good idea to transplant to bigger pots after they've recovered from the topping.

Fingering the soil is a good method for telling if they need water - I've learned that when I stick the finger in so the soil just covers the first joint and the soil feels bone dry the plant will look droopy the next day and the leaves are thinner and dry to the touch.

 

[Cannabelle]

The colors do look good and your plants don't look too droopy.

What is your air circulation like? A light breeze through your leaves serves in improving water uptake by helping the leaves release ethylene gas which in turn initiates cation and fluid uptake. It's like the leaves are a pneumatic hand pump using wind power. A light breeze helps build stronger leaves and stems as it stimulates salicyn/silica and fiber build-up much the same way a body builder builds muscle mass through exercise.

 

[Zeripper]

I have a 460 m3/h (sorry for the metric) extraction with a passive intake, and a 7.8 inches fixed fan, that's not well positioned, but it's a clip fan that wouldn't clip on the tent's bars -_- .

 

[Zeripper]

it might be a good idea to transplant to bigger pots after they've recovered from the topping.

We have a winner!!

I wouldn't have checked that early if you didn't say it a possibility, so thank you sir (and everyone else of course). Guess that root stimulator is good stuff.
Tomorrow is flush / transplant / feed time

 

[Zeripper]

Just a follow-up, I transplanted them all 5 days ago, from 1 gallon to 3 gallon pots, and I can already see roots poking out of the new pots. Is there an end to this? Should I transplant them again?

I'm not sure I have enough room for bigger pots

 

[PurpleGunRack]

3 gallon pots are fine, when you have 12 plants in that size tent bigger pots could make your plants too big to all fit inside your tent.

 

[Tizyite]

try raising your light so the plants really stretch. the slow growth and tight nodes are due to the hps and the close light. Try a mh light for veg

 

[Zeripper]

Thanks for your answers, I'll let them be in the 3 gal pots. As for the MH, that'll be for the next crop, I'll raise the light however.