Underwatering or Overwatering

MrMuffin

420 Member
Ok so i have an improvised grow with about 175 wats of CFL lights with a mixture of blue and yellow lights. I have 5 plants total, 3 of them are very young (6 days) and the others are a bit older (17/18 days). The younger ones are doing fine but the older ones are showing some signs that i am having trouble understanding if they are related to under or overwatering.

They were transplanted around 6 days ago and after the transplant i watered them twice, once for the transplant and another time 4 days after because they looked dry. One of them is looking healthier with only little signs like the tips of the leaves curling up and a slight droopiness. The other one has a more severe drooping and shows the same curling tips. At 1st we had no ph tester and because we knew that the tap water was around 7,5 we were adding 3/4 drops of cider vinegar wich now we know it dropped the ph to 6/6,5. I am sort of convinced it may be underwatering because the leaves look really thin and papery but my girlfriend thinks its overwatering because the photos we see online look similar to our symptoms. both opinions seem valid enough to be true so i am making this post to try and find an actual answer and maybe a solution.

Extra Information
We are using pre-fertilized soil with a ph of 6,5 with perlite (about a 1 part perlite to 2 parts soil)
The soils is not muddy and pretty loose
We have a fan that is always on (not too strong but it does the job)
The place has a high percentage of humidity (we estimate around 60/70%)
We still haven't used any nutrients because they seems too young for it and the soil is pre-fertilized as stated above
We have them on a 20/4 light schedule


PS: The first 6 photos are of the extra droopy one and the other 3 are from the one that looks healthier but still with some signs like curly tips
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IMG_20210503_165234.jpg


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IMG_20210503_165330.jpg


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Mmm quite a simple test to do is...

Check the weight of pot.

Dry pots weigh less than a pot which has been over watered :thumb:


Happy growing bud.
 
Whats the size of the pot?
How much water do you use for watering?
How do you know when its dry to water again?

You can put your finger in the media, down around 5cm deep, and see if you notice any humidity sign.

You can also use a chopstick to check the bottom of the container (usually overwatering is because of lack of oxygen, and you can have a soaked bottom but dry top, and still have overwatering issues), if the chopstick comes out humid, you may have an overwatering problem.

You can also try the lifting pot method. Get a novel pot, and fill it with you medium, but dont water it, see how light it is.
Your weed should not come to the weight of a dry pot, but near it.
This technique can help you knowing when its time to water again, by pot weight.

Also recommend, Emylias topic for watering a potted plant, its very good for beginners.
 
Whats the size of the pot?
How much water do you use for watering?
How do you know when its dry to water again?

You can put your finger in the media, down around 5cm deep, and see if you notice any humidity sign.

You can also use a chopstick to check the bottom of the container (usually overwatering is because of lack of oxygen, and you can have a soaked bottom but dry top, and still have overwatering issues), if the chopstick comes out humid, you may have an overwatering problem.

You can also try the lifting pot method. Get a novel pot, and fill it with you medium, but dont water it, see how light it is.
Your weed should not come to the weight of a dry pot, but near it.
This technique can help you knowing when its time to water again, by pot weight.

Also recommend, Emylias topic for watering a potted plant, its very good for beginners.
The pots are 5L and almost full and the last time i watered them i used between 400/500ml of water. when i changed pots it was less. just enough to get the soil circulation going and give them a comfy medium to settle in. I'll try the chopstick method because with my finger it feels like it has very low humidity up to 3/4cm deep.
 
Give the link in my signature a read. The watering with the BLT method :headbanger:
hey mate, great guide, very clear and fun info to read. i will fill a pot with just soil and weigh it and then weigh the pots with plants so i can have a decent notion of how much water is still in the pot. thanks again ill give my plants a proper BLT next time. happy grows
 
The pots are 5L and almost full and the last time i watered them i used between 400/500ml of water.

That is not enough water for a pot that size !

More likely could take 1.5 to 2 litre of water or in till the point of run off occurs then at least you know you have watered well.
 
ok people i have new data. i filled a pot with just soil and weighted it and it came up to 1222g and the ones with the plants that i watered 3/4 days ago and they came up to 1750g and 1830g on the other so there is still a lot of moisture inside. so now i think im gonna wait a couple of days before watering them and then ill do the run off method and all the things i have seen about how to water them properly.
 
Is your fan blowing directly on the plants? And are the ones closest to the fans affected any more than ones farther away? I've seen kind of that crinkling around the leaf serrations at the very edges in my tents due to wind stress from too much direct fan power on them while they were pretty young
 
Is your fan blowing directly on the plants? And are the ones closest to the fans affected any more than ones farther away? I've seen kind of that crinkling around the leaf serrations at the very edges in my tents due to wind stress from too much direct fan power on them while they were pretty young
It is. But its not very strong wind and i do a rotation of the pots so no plant is closest to the fan all of the time.
 
Ok so i have an improvised grow with about 175 wats of CFL lights with a mixture of blue and yellow lights. I have 5 plants total, 3 of them are very young (6 days) and the others are a bit older (17/18 days). The younger ones are doing fine but the older ones are showing some signs that i am having trouble understanding if they are related to under or overwatering.

They were transplanted around 6 days ago and after the transplant i watered them twice, once for the transplant and another time 4 days after because they looked dry. One of them is looking healthier with only little signs like the tips of the leaves curling up and a slight droopiness. The other one has a more severe drooping and shows the same curling tips. At 1st we had no ph tester and because we knew that the tap water was around 7,5 we were adding 3/4 drops of cider vinegar wich now we know it dropped the ph to 6/6,5. I am sort of convinced it may be underwatering because the leaves look really thin and papery but my girlfriend thinks its overwatering because the photos we see online look similar to our symptoms. both opinions seem valid enough to be true so i am making this post to try and find an actual answer and maybe a solution.

Extra Information
We are using pre-fertilized soil with a ph of 6,5 with perlite (about a 1 part perlite to 2 parts soil)
The soils is not muddy and pretty loose
We have a fan that is always on (not too strong but it does the job)
The place has a high percentage of humidity (we estimate around 60/70%)
We still haven't used any nutrients because they seems too young for it and the soil is pre-fertilized as stated above
We have them on a 20/4 light schedule


PS: The first 6 photos are of the extra droopy one and the other 3 are from the one that looks healthier but still with some signs like curly tips
IMG_20210503_165234.jpg
IMG_20210503_165234.jpg


IMG_20210503_165214.jpg


IMG_20210503_165223.jpg


IMG_20210503_165330.jpg


IMG_20210503_165336.jpg


IMG_20210503_165406.jpg


IMG_20210503_165417.jpg


IMG_20210503_165426.jpg
These last ones almost seem like signs of heat stress maybe is it to hot in there?? The heat is usually what causes the tips to curl up and in like that. Overwatering causes drooping clawing and yellowing tips I just had to deal with a case of it lol but now she’s doing better.
 
Did the leaves perk up after watering? If they didn’t it could be a case of overwatering. What I should’ve trusted was to let the soil completely get dry like to where the pot is super light and wait for the plant to slightly droop then water again, just don’t miss the cycle to add the water it would be very detrimental to the plant. Just pay close attention. They’ll usually tell you what’s going on if you truley pay attention and another important thing is to not overthink! Lol
 
Did the leaves perk up after watering? If they didn’t it could be a case of overwatering. What I should’ve trusted was to let the soil completely get dry like to where the pot is super light and wait for the plant to slightly droop then water again, just don’t miss the cycle to add the water it would be very detrimental to the plant. Just pay close attention. They’ll usually tell you what’s going on if you truley pay attention and another important thing is to not overthink! Lol
Hey @Young connoissuer hope you are well today.
Just wanted to let you know that member disappeared in May and might not answer you.
Top left corner of a post has the date.

Stay safe
Bill
 
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