Air circulation or deeper problems?

[momomonster]

Hello guys, I posted a question about this a few days back in another thread trying to figure out my air circulation problem.

But as I have identified what's wrong with the fan, I can't figure out whats causing my girls to droop like they have been. I initially assumed due to the blocked carbon filter, they were choked out of fresh air exchange. But now New growth are turning yellow. I have always waited for them to dry before watering but they never plump back up after feeding. I don't know whether the frequency in which I water(feed) is causing a problem?

Just getting back into growing again so I have to say i can't put my finger on the problem like a trained eye can.

Here's the lowdown:


SOIL GROW

Strain - bag seed
# of Plants - 3
Grow Type - Soil
Grow Stage - Vegetative
Bucket Size - 7 Gallon
Lights - (1) Marshydro TS1000
Nutrients - organic nutrients
Medium - Compost -40%
Garden soil - 25%
Coco coir - 25%
Rice husks -5%
Vermiculite - 2%
Perlite - 3%
rabbit manure small handful
PPM - ?
PH - ? *I use spring water
RH - 40% to 70%
Room Temperature - 24°c - 27°c
Solution Temperature - 25°c
Tent size - 3 x 3 x 6
Pests - None Known

Problem: My leaves are constantly drooping and new growth are turning yellow.

 

[Phytoplankton]

Drooping leaves is often a sign of overwatering. The plants also look hungry.

 

[Bill284]

Hello guys, I posted a question about this a few days back in another thread trying to figure out my air circulation problem.

But as I have identified what's wrong with the fan, I can't figure out whats causing my girls to droop like they have been. I initially assumed due to the blocked carbon filter, they were choked out of fresh air exchange. But now New growth are turning yellow. I have always waited for them to dry before watering but they never plump back up after feeding. I don't know whether the frequency in which I water(feed) is causing a problem?

Just getting back into growing again so I have to say i can't put my finger on the problem like a trained eye can.

Here's the lowdown:


SOIL GROW

Strain - bag seed
# of Plants - 3
Grow Type - Soil
Grow Stage - Vegetative
Bucket Size - 7 Gallon
Lights - (1) Marshydro TS1000
Nutrients - organic nutrients
Medium - Compost -40%
Garden soil - 25%
Coco coir - 25%
Rice husks -5%
Vermiculite - 2%
Perlite - 3%
rabbit manure small handful
PPM - ?
PH - ? *I use spring water
RH - 40% to 70%
Room Temperature - 24°c - 27°c
Solution Temperature - 25°c
Tent size - 3 x 3 x 6
Pests - None Known

Problem: My leaves are constantly drooping and new growth are turning yellow.

Hey @momomonster hope you are well my friend.
As mentioned I do believe they are overwatered.
How often have you been watering?
How much?
How do you decide when to water?

Stay safe
Bill

 

[HashGirl]

Drooping leaves is often a sign of overwatering. The plants also look hungry.

I agree.

 

[Sativa1970]

But now New growth are turning yellow. I have always waited for them to dry before watering but they never plump back up after feeding.

Plucking out the important bits. New growth is turning yellow but did it start with the old growth and moved up, or down? You wait for the soil to dry out before watering so I am assuming you are referring to the top few inches being dry and the bucket has adequate drainage holes. If so it isn't the watering.

They never plumped back up after feeding may be the key. You are just shy of 50% compost and manure with "organic nutrients". I haven't grown in soil for some time now but it looks more like nute lock out to me. If yellowing moved from the top down your NPK mix is too high.

 

[013]

overwatering by watering too often / not waiting for soil to dry out.

tilt your containers to steep 45 degree angle and prop them up so they won’t tip or roll. Leave them propped on steep angle for 24 hours and the containers will pee out excess water.… plants that size should be able to go 5 to 7 days easy with no water added……

 

[Phytoplankton]

You really need to get a PH tester (get a PPM/EC meter too), using spring water is no guarantee of proper PH. I have spring water, and it runs a PH of about 7.4, with up to 2400 PPM dissolved solids. Spring water can run the gamut of PH from very basic to very acid, and everything in between. I still see overwatering, and quite possibly a nute lockout working, or the PH of the water is too high or low to allow the plants to assimilate enough of the nutrients.

 

[Sativa1970]

You really need to get a PH tester (get a PPM/EC meter too), using spring water is no guarantee of proper PH. I have spring water, and it runs a PH of about 7.4, with up to 2400 PPM dissolved solids. Spring water can run the gamut of PH from very basic to very acid, and everything in between. I still see overwatering, and quite possibly a nute lockout working, or the PH of the water is too high or low to allow the plants to assimilate enough of the nutrients.

Spring water can be almost any PH but if it is all from the same spring wouldn't it all be the same PH? If the PH was always outside of acceptable range wouldn't it always have been a problem? As soon as I get outside of 5-7 PH range mine wilt whether they are a seedling or late flower.

 

[Phytoplankton]

Spring water can be almost any PH but if it is all from the same spring wouldn't it all be the same PH? If the PH was always outside of acceptable range wouldn't it always have been a problem? As soon as I get outside of 5-7 PH range mine wilt whether they are a seedling or late flower.

Yeah it should be a fairly consistent from the same source, problem is, the OP doesn't know what the PH of the water he is using. As far as it always being a problem, it could be causing a nute lockout or incomplete nute uptake, that takes a while to happen, particularly if it on the "edge" of being acceptable. In addition, he could have very high dissolved solids (ppm/ec), which build up over time and can cause issues. Lastly, the overwatering can cause root damage and interfere with nute uptake.

 

[AdaminCO]

You really need to get a PH tester (get a PPM/EC meter too), using spring water is no guarantee of proper PH. I have spring water, and it runs a PH of about 7.4, with up to 2400 PPM dissolved solids. Spring water can run the gamut of PH from very basic to very acid, and everything in between. I still see overwatering, and quite possibly a nute lockout working, or the PH of the water is too high or low to allow the plants to assimilate enough of the nutrients.

You don’t have to mess with pH in true organics. (Within reason)

Bottled Spring Water, or from the backyard spring water?

Can’t say whether or not over watered because OP hasn’t said anything besides they are waiting to dry before watering.

I think they’re hungry. You need to feed your microbes in order for them to break down the organic compounds in the soil. That process, assuming from the byproduct, makes them usable for the plant.

Is difficult to overfeed and cause lockout with raw organic because the plants only consumes what it needs, vs being force fed salt based nutrients.

Have you tried brewing a tea or recharging your microbes? Maybe add a fresh layer of soil to generate some microbes and feed.

Try using a water soluble organic nutrient for now because it takes awhile for the organic compounds to be broken down, and I believe the plants need fed now vs. later.

I use URB and/or Great White mica to recharge my soil. Some use Growers Recharge, but I never had much luck with it.

Compost teas by far work the best, but take 36 hours or so to brew. I have recipes if you’d like them.

 

[SmokingWings]

Medium - Compost -40%
Garden soil - 25%
Coco coir - 25%
Rice husks -5%
Vermiculite - 2%
Perlite - 3%

Your plants look like they were doing well for awhile until something happened. Maybe to much water or maybe they cannot get enough nutrients for their size.

Compost and Garden soil making up 2/3 of the mix might be part of the problem. Compost usually has a good amount of decomposing organic matter which absorbs and holds water. Garden soil can be anything but if it is even half way decent it also can have a good amount of decomposing organic material. That can create the conditions that the others are seeing when they say it looks overwatered.

I can understand why the others are saying that the plants look "hungry". What are the organic nutrients you mentioned, and how much are you using and how often?

 

[Roy Growin]

An interim dose of weak H2O2 solution just to the base of the plant will help waterlogged roots recover (if they are)
If the tips quickly perk up, there is the problem - waterlogging displaces all the Oxygen leading to weakened roots and a K def I'd say

 

[Emilya Green]

watering when the top 3 or 4 inches appears to be dry is NOT the way to do this. You should hold off on your watering until the bottom of the container is dry, not the top. If you lift up that container, and comparing it to a similar container with dry soil in it, if you can feel ANY extra water weight, it is not yet time to water. It is far better to dry them out to the point of wilting, than watering too often. This is at least half of your problem.

Yellowing at the top means that you are either starving the plant of the immoble nutrients that it needs, or the last feeding was deficient in some way. Growing organically means two things... you have organic raw nutrients in your soil and you have provided microbes to feed those nutrients to your plants. If you havent given your plants any microbe teas or added a microbial inoculation product, the organic feeding cycle can not happen.

You maybe are trying to use "organic" all around nutrients, like the popular 4-4-4 stuff, but that is organic only in the sense that the stuff is not synthetic, but 4-4-4 is not the proper NPK ratio to raise these plants and can cause situations like this if that is what you are relying on.

Lastly, pH. The ONLY... let me say that again, THE ONLY reason we ever need to pH adjust is when using synthetic nutes that need to be in a certain pH range to unbind the nutrients from the chelation that allows them to sit inert in the bottle. If your tap water is fine for you to drink it is fine for your plants, with the exception of the chlorine. Spring water is not going to hurt a thing. PH can not be the issue here... I think it is lack of microbes and proper nutrition. Let's hear how you are feeding and what you have done in regards to microbes so we can advise you further.

 

[momomonster]

Oh man, my mind is blown by all these responses guys. Thank you so much for taking the time to reply everyone, massive respect.

I apologize if I was missing some information on the op as I was worried I'd be saying too much.

They are 14weeks in, I have been feeding EM1 + FAA + WCA + Sea water or wood vinegar + WCA + FAA. I let most of my plants in the garden dry out Abit before I water, so I naturally watered the same way as I do my garden. Since I wait for it dry out, it takes time between feeds. There was a period where they were drooping heavily right after a feed so I naturally thought maybe my measurements were off and for the next few waterings I just used just water. Which has kinda led to what it is now.

Last week, I noticed the tent getting quite humid and had my fan at full blast only to realise it hasn't been sucking any air out for maybe 1-2 weeks. It never occured to me to check it since I hear it was always running. The drooping kinda coincided with this.

I'm still trying to dial in the correct ratio of all the different nutrients I'm feeding them, so I'm always Abit worried of these problems stemming from it. I feed the same nutrients to the veges and fruit trees out in the garden and they seem ok. I'll make minor adjustments for certain plants but most plants get the same feeding protocol.

Once again I'm super grateful to you all for taking the time.

 

[momomonster]

You really need to get a PH tester (get a PPM/EC meter too), using spring water is no guarantee of proper PH. I have spring water, and it runs a PH of about 7.4, with up to 2400 PPM dissolved solids. Spring water can run the gamut of PH from very basic to very acid, and everything in between. I still see overwatering, and quite possibly a nute lockout working, or the PH of the water is too high or low to allow the plants to assimilate enough of the nutrients.

Roger that! I started looking around for it, I think I'll get one just so I know what kinda pH the spring water is at. It'll be interesting for sure.

 

[SmokingWings]

Roger that! I started looking around for it, I think I'll get one just so I know what kinda pH the spring water is at. It'll be interesting for sure.

That is a good idea.

I do not check the pH of the water before I use it for any of my plants, not the veggies or flowers or weed.

But, I do check most of my sources once every year or maybe two. We had a decent little snow storm over the past couple of days so I decided to check that source. I will take readings of snow/water collected today and will try to remember again in a few days. It has been a couple of years since I checked water I collect after a rain so I might do that a few times this summer.

 

[SmokingWings]

That is a good idea.

I do not check the pH of the water before I use it for any of my plants, not the veggies or flowers or weed.

But, I do check most of my sources once every year or maybe two. We had a decent little snow storm over the past couple of days so I decided to check that source. I will take readings of snow/water collected today and will try to remember again in a few days. It has been a couple of years since I checked water I collect after a rain so I might do that a few times this summer.

We had some of the snows that hit the midwest the middle of last week. Got about 7-8 inches here over 3 days so nothing major in our neighborhood. It will give me enough enriched water for several watering sessions.

Tuesday, before the mid-week snows, I collected some snow from a previous snowfall in a glass, let it melt and tested with the drops and got a reading of 5.8 or so.

Collected again on Thursday. The melted snow was the upper 5.s close to a 6.0 reading when testing with both the paper strip and the drops.

Collected a glass of snow on Saturday morning. Tested in the evening with the drops and the reading was 5.9 to 6.0 so within range of the other tests.

I did find the drops kit that I use for testing aquarium water so next time I can compare a batch of water with three different tests.

Checked the rain water from the collection buckets several years ago using the aquarium test kit and those readings were 6.1 to 6.2 over 4 testing sessions.