Should I water?

[Lottobeats]

So it’s been almost a month since I watered my 20 gallon pots filled with some good quality potting soil called recipe 420 blend I went From 2 gallon pots to 20 gallon pots the thing is when I transplanted into the 20 gallons I didn’t water the whole pot only the root ball cuz the fresh soil I used was already damped, almost wet From the factory. So I used the pot lifting method and the bottom of the pot still wet making it some what heavy but not heavy like it was before when I transplanted (4 weeks ago) The plants look droopy and some yellow/ wrinkled going on with the old leaves, the new growth seems to be growing slow and is droopy as well. I’m concerned about watering since I think they might be overwatered. These plants are outside they get a good amount of sun throughout the day. The clones have already been hardened off weeks before i transplanted them into the 20 gallons. They are sitting on concrete it gets real hot I don’t understand why the bottom part of the pot not drying out.

 

[Lottobeats]

Here’s what they look like days ago I don’t have pics of them now but they seem
Droopier when the sun goes down they look a little better

 

[HigherTheHigh]

@Emilya

 

[Lottobeats]

Here’s what they look like days ago I don’t have pics of them now but they seem
Droopier when the sun goes down they look a little better

This is what they look like now ( home security camera) you can see my Kauai thunder f*** drooping the most far right

 

[Emilya Green]

droopy can mean a lot of things, but not necessarily that it is time to water. Drooping is not wilting... wilting would be bad and would indicate a severe need of water. Drooping can also indicate water sitting in the bottoms of those huge containers and the lower roots are having trouble. Somehow you have to get a handle on the water cycle here and although it is hard with those huge containers, there is a way. If it is too much to lift up a corner to judge the weight, I would go to the old fashioned method of dip stick. Find a yardstick or similar soft wood and stick it in there to determine where the level of the water table is. Do not do a complete saturation watering until that water table level drops down in the lower inch or two, but to keep everything healthy, every 5 days slowly water the top of the container with about 1/3 what it would normally take to produce runoff. This will be rapidly absorbed by the upper spreader roots and will not contribute to the level of the slowly falling water table in the bottom half of the container. When the roots have gotten strong enough to be able to drain all of the available water in 7-10 days, then go back to completely watering the entire container to saturation each time. Hopefully by the time flower starts you will have accomplished this, and then you can start working on how much water you can give them daily.

 

[Lottobeats]

droopy can mean a lot of things, but not necessarily that it is time to water. Drooping is not wilting... wilting would be bad and would indicate a severe need of water. Drooping can also indicate water sitting in the bottoms of those huge containers and the lower roots are having trouble. Somehow you have to get a handle on the water cycle here and although it is hard with those huge containers, there is a way. If it is too much to lift up a corner to judge the weight, I would go to the old fashioned method of dip stick. Find a yardstick or similar soft wood and stick it in there to determine where the level of the water table is. Do not do a complete saturation watering until that water table level drops down in the lower inch or two, but to keep everything healthy, every 5 days slowly water the top of the container with about 1/3 what it would normally take to produce runoff. This will be rapidly absorbed by the upper spreader roots and will not contribute to the level of the slowly falling water table in the bottom half of the container. When the roots have gotten strong enough to be able to drain all of the available water in 7-10 days, then go back to completely watering the entire container to saturation each time. Hopefully by the time flower starts you will have accomplished this, and then you can start working on how much water you can give them daily.

So I should just run like 2 liters of water on the root ball area of the plant not the entire pot?

 

[Emilya Green]

not sure what you mean by the rootball area... that to me means the entire container top to bottom. But yes, just run 2L or so slowly into the entire surface of the top of the soil... don't just dump it because that will quickly sink to the bottom and make your problem worse. Slowly, like a cup at a time, water the entire surface trying to let it get absorbed in the first 6 inches from the top. Spread the water across the entire surface, enticing the spreader roots to follow that water and build out toward the edges. This way you can still keep the plant metabolism high while you wait for the plant to be able to use 20 gallon containers full of water, as well as be able to apply nutes every 5 days to really supercharge things. By just letting the plants sit for a month, they have gone into a semi hibernation state, trying to deal with all that water as best they can. The lower roots being in this shut down mode explains the periodic drooping... sort of like they do at night when they are doing things that don't involve the light and heavy transpiration.

 

[Lottobeats]

not sure what you mean by the rootball area... that to me means the entire container top to bottom. But yes, just run 2L or so slowly into the entire surface of the top of the soil... don't just dump it because that will quickly sink to the bottom and make your problem worse. Slowly, like a cup at a time, water the entire surface trying to let it get absorbed in the first 6 inches from the top. Spread the water across the entire surface, enticing the spreader roots to follow that water and build out toward the edges. This way you can still keep the plant metabolism high while you wait for the plant to be able to use 20 gallon containers full of water, as well as be able to apply nutes every 5 days to really supercharge things. By just letting the plants sit for a month, they have gone into a semi hibernation state, trying to deal with all that water as best they can. The lower roots being in this shut down mode explains the periodic drooping... sort of like they do at night when they are doing things that don't involve the light and heavy transpiration.

Sorry by root ball area I mean the 2 gallon size root ball these clones came out of 2 gallon size pots I figured the roots haven’t stretched much?

 

[Emilya Green]

they will stretch out to chase the water. Some of your roots are trying to chase the water sitting in the bottom. The spreader roots on the top are trying to fill up the first 6 inches with a fine mesh of choking roots that are designed to steal the water from the other plants around it. By making sure the outer edges of the container end up being the wettest points after your watering, whether full or partial, you entice the roots to grow and expand that direction, filling up the container laterally, thus creating an actual root ball the size and shape of that container.

 

[Lottobeats]

they will stretch out to chase the water. Some of your roots are trying to chase the water sitting in the bottom. The spreader roots on the top are trying to fill up the first 6 inches with a fine mesh of choking roots that are designed to steal the water from the other plants around it. By making sure the outer edges of the container end up being the wettest points after your watering, whether full or partial, you entice the roots to grow and expand that direction, filling up the container laterally, thus creating an actual root ball the size and shape of that container.

So I Foliar fed them Wednesday at sunset with fish & kelp and some Floralicious plus and I watered them a bit for top roots and they seem to be recovering looks like they’re beginning to perk up and new growth possibly? Here’s some pics i took this morning. Thanks for all your help I won’t water next time until pot is completely dry I hope I have some time outdoors to catch up we start flowering early to mid August over here

 

[Emilya Green]

So I Foliar fed them Wednesday at sunset with fish & kelp and some Floralicious plus and I watered them a bit for top roots and they seem to be recovering looks like they’re beginning to perk up and new growth possibly? Here’s some pics i took this morning. Thanks for all your help I won’t water next time until pot is completely dry I hope I have some time outdoors to catch up we start flowering early to mid August over here ☹

Yep, they are starting to look good... looking up, the lift, starting at the top and working its way down. Study this carefully. This is exactly what is happening at the root level. The top roots have come back to life, hence the lift at the top. The bottom roots are starting to wake up as oxygen finally gets down there... and the lower leaves are starting to respond too. As below, so it is above. It is possible to "see" what is happening at the roots.

 

[Lottobeats]

Yep, they are starting to look good... looking up, the lift, starting at the top and working its way down. Study this carefully. This is exactly what is happening at the root level. The top roots have come back to life, hence the lift at the top. The bottom roots are starting to wake up as oxygen finally gets down there... and the lower leaves are starting to respond too. As below, so it is above. It is possible to "see" what is happening at the roots.

Yes they are thanks im
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