Causes of drooping leaves?

[YourHighness]

Hi all!

What are the possible causes of drooping leaves, and what would be the best solution to fix the problem?

I searched this forum, but I couldn't find exactly what I was looking for, so I just asked the question straight!

Thanks in advance!

 

[Antics]

Too much water
Not enough water
General shock/stress from transplant, environment, etc..
Damaged roots
Nutrient deficiencies
Nutrient burn
PH too high/too low

Just to name a few. The ones listed at the top are most common to cause drooping leaves, start there and work your way down ruling out each problem until you find the culprit.

 

[YourHighness]

Too much water
Not enough water
General shock/stress from transplant, environment, etc..
Damaged roots
Nutrient deficiencies
Nutrient burn
PH too high/too low

Just to name a few. The ones listed at the top are most common to cause drooping leaves, start there and work your way down ruling out each problem until you find the culprit.

Thank you Antics! Great answer!

+REPS!

Recently I've been wondering if perhaps my CFL lights are too close to my leaves. Could that be a possible cause? It seems as if only the uppermost leaves are curling downwards, and this is where the lights are closest to.

I imagine the heat from the lights could dehydrate those leaves. What do you think?

 

[wufo]

It won't be heat with a cfl u can practically have them touching because that don't create that much heat plus if it was heat your leafs would start curling in to protect themselves.

 

[YourHighness]

It won't be heat with a cfl u can practically have them touching because that don't create that much heat plus if it was heat your leafs would start curling in to protect themselves.

I've noticed that the tips of the leaves closest to the lights are burning (I have accordingly moved the light further away...), so I do think that my cfls are a bit hot.

What do you mean by "curling in to protect themselves"? Perhaps I have mistakenly identified droopiness instead of this curling that you speak of.

Thank you for your input wufo!

 

[wufo]

They curl inwards like a boat, and tip burn could be over nutes,
I'm new myself so you would have to look into it more.

Cannabis Plant and Pest Problem Solver: Pictorial

Look in here too.

 

[Antics]

Thank you Antics! Great answer!

+REPS!

Recently I've been wondering if perhaps my CFL lights are too close to my leaves. Could that be a possible cause? It seems as if only the uppermost leaves are curling downwards, and this is where the lights are closest to.

I imagine the heat from the lights could dehydrate those leaves. What do you think?

What do I think, or what did I learn from my mistakes? lol

I used 23w, and 45w CFLs in my grow. I learned twice that both bulbs can damage leaves. The spiral design allows the leaves to be blown in between the tubes, and the leaves can become trapped there. But what will happen from what I've seen, is the leaf that's touching the bulb will dry out, it will turn from green, to yellow, and then quickly turns brown.

With an oscillating fan, I would leave a gap of 2.5cm/1" MINIMUM between the bulb and the closest leaf when the fan blows it towards the bulb. 5-7.5cm/2-3" is the preferred distance when you'll be away from the plants for any extended length of time (At school, at work, sleeping, etc..) This will help protect your plant during any growth spurts it might go through during that time.

EDIT: How close are your leaves, and what wattage/how many bulbs are you using? And what is the temperature at the canopy?

 

[wufo]

Plant Abuse Chart
Look here too.

 

[YourHighness]

What do I think, or what did I learn from my mistakes? lol

I used 23w, and 45w CFLs in my grow. I learned twice that both bulbs can damage leaves. The spiral design allows the leaves to be blown in between the tubes, and the leaves can become trapped there. But what will happen from what I've seen, is the leaf that's touching the bulb will dry out, it will turn from green, to yellow, and then quickly turns brown.

With an oscillating fan, I would leave a gap of 2.5cm/1" MINIMUM between the bulb and the closest leaf when the fan blows it towards the bulb. 5-7.5cm/2-3" is the preferred distance when you'll be away from the plants for any extended length of time (At school, at work, sleeping, etc..) This will help protect your plant during any growth spurts it might go through during that time.

EDIT: How close are your leaves, and what wattage/how many bulbs are you using? And what is the temperature at the canopy?

What do you think I would like to hear your opinion.

My leaves are between 3-6 cm away from the lights, but I do not have an oscillating fan. I have one 85W daylight 6500K and two 20W warm white 2300K lights, and I fimmed my plant early so now I have 4 distinct colas, and my 85W light is in the middle of the colas to get closer and provide more light. The 2 20W are on a y-splitter and hanging outside two of the branches. I rotate the pot periodically to get an even coverage.

I don't have a measure of what the temperature is, but I know it gets moderately hot. My ventilation isn't great.

I'm trying to manage it by using some LST on the branches to keep them an even distance away from the lights.

I'm kind of on the fence about defoliation as harvest gets closer, so what do you think about me keeping the plant close, allowing the leaf tips to burn a little bit, then just snip off the burnt tips with a sharp scissor? I would like to maximise the light that my bud sites get, but I do not know if the trade-off for extra stress caused by heat is worth it.

 

[YourHighness]

They curl inwards like a boat, and tip burn could be over nutes,
I'm new myself so you would have to look into it more.

Cannabis Plant and Pest Problem Solver: Pictorial

Look in here too.

My leaves do curl over, but the thing is the leaves don't appear to be unhealthy, they just look like a different type of leaf. I'm wondering if the fact that my plant is a Sativa (Durban Poison) is just fooling me into believing that my leaves are struggling since when in reality it's a misdiagnosis.

I don't think it is nute burn. I do not feed her a lot of nutes.

Thank you for the great references!

 

[DaTrueWhiteMa]

Dont water too often,may be ox problem,make a good drainge,people usually uploads pics you know and come up with more details than my plant is drooping,and now start guess.

 

[wufo]

What time do you notice them droop, are they constantly droopy. they can droop a couple if hours before lights off, when they have taken all the light they can that day, so they relax and get ready for bed.

 

[YourHighness]

Dont water too often,may be ox problem,make a good drainge,people usually uploads pics you know and come up with more details than my plant is drooping,and now start guess.

How would one go about improving oxygen levels? I assume you mean in the soil, right?

I started this thread to find out more about drooping leaves, not to diagnose my own growing problem. Otherwise I would have named the thread differently and posted it in a different forum subcategory. That's why I haven't uploaded pics and given more details: the focus of this particular thread was not intended to be on my plant.

Thank you for your input!

 

[YourHighness]

What time do you notice them droop, are they constantly droopy. they can droop a couple if hours before lights off, when they have taken all the light they can that day, so they relax and get ready for bed.

Is this something you have noticed from your own experience? If so, that's a very interesting find! I've never heard of anything like that happening before, nor have I noticed it with my own plants.

The only time I have seem my plant's leaves change noticeably in rigidity is a few hours after I water them, and I would guess that the reason for that is that the leaves were starting to get dehydrated, which caused them to droop a little more.