Droopy?

[norcal bud]

Hi,

this plant (and a few similar others) aren't looking too good. Not too sure what's wrong-- temps are in the 70s and the light isn't too close. They're not underwatered since I watered another one yesterday that was looking like the one in the pic and that one I watered is drooping even more now.

Growing SOG in 6" x 6" x 8" pot, fox farms ocean forest (ffof). drooping plants are almost 3 weeks old (grown from clone).

 

[MrMiracleGro]

Suggestion:

don't feed for 2 weeks. young cannabis seedlings have all of the nutrients/energy needed to sustain life for two weeks without any outside nutes.. so i would start in a mix like promix or fertilome, which those are just inert soils, and then transplant to ffof bc sometimes it can be too hot for young seedlings

can't see the picture, so i'm merely guessing

 

[Tead]

How are you judging your pot's moisture level?
It might be moister than you think.

 

[Rifleman]

Need photos but a guess would be over watered.

 

[norcal bud]

updated with image

 

[Rifleman]

Does the pot feel light before you water? It should surprise you at how light it feels before you water until you get used to watering by weight. The top two inches can be dry, but the roots still be saturated.

 

[norcal bud]

I have not fed or watered this one ever and it's been healthy up until recently. pot doesn't feel very light.

 

[Tead]

updated with image

Isn't that the same photo as the first one?

 

[MrMiracleGro]

Okay..

Under-water: Green, dull, lifeless, droopy leaves.

Over-water: Green, firm, pretty, droopy leaves.

This appears to be under-watering, especially if you haven't watered or fed at all?!

I would also recommend grabbing a smart pot, or at least a plastic pot. Clay pots suck moisture from the soil much quicker than your other alternatives.

EDIT:

The top of your medium looks dry, too. Add some damn H2O!

 

[MrMiracleGro]

What light are you using? If you are using standard CFL's, the "sweet-spot" is 2-3 inches away from yer babies.

 

[norcal bud]

I would think underwatering too but I've killed so many plants by overwatering I'm hesitant to water, especially given the pot doesn't feel light... I think there's still water in the bottom..

will buy some bottled water today and feed one or two of them using that. Maybe my tap water is causing the problems..

lights are 1000watt metal halide dimmed to 500w. Plants are about a foot and a half away from the light.

EDIT: underwatering* not overwatering

 

[Major PITA]

If you have droopy leaves and the plant is not under-watered, it is probably over-watered. If that isn't it either, you have root problems. Your picture doesn't appear to be a nutrient problem. I'd up-pot it and see what's going on down below. Wet? Dry? Root bound? Root rot? Perfect?

 

[norcal bud]

I think we can rule out root bound - I have another clone same genetics a little bigger and it looks great..
we can rule out root rot also - that happens from overwatering right? I haven't watered this particular plant yet. about 3 weeks old and the pot still feels heavy.

 

[Major PITA]

Root problems can come from other things, too. I had a problem with root aphids on my first grow.
I still think it might be worth knocking it out of its pot. If everything is perfect, just put it back. No harm. No foul.
The obvious question, that pot has drain holes, right? It looks like it, but we might as rule out the simple stuff...

 

[MrMiracleGro]

I would think underwatering too but I've killed so many plants by overwatering I'm hesitant to water, especially given the pot doesn't feel light... I think there's still water in the bottom..

will buy some bottled water today and feed one or two of them using that. Maybe my tap water is causing the problems..

lights are 1000watt metal halide dimmed to 500w. Plants are about a foot and a half away from the light.

EDIT: underwatering* not overwatering

If you are using tap water, do not use it immediately! Fill a gallon and allow it to sit open for 24 hours to rid it of most of its chemicals.

I use distilled water... i would encourage it, too! purest water of them all

 

[norcal bud]

hmmm I think I just found the problem... the municipal water report for my area shows the pH well over 8.5..

 

[Major PITA]

hmmm I think I just found the problem... the municipal water report for my area shows the pH well over 8.5..

I'll probably be "odd man out" on this, but those droopy leaves do NOT look like a PH issue to me. PH problems usually look like nutrient deficiencies and good quality potting soil is PH buffered so that the PH of water has little to no impact.

 

[norcal bud]

It wasn't the water-- plant is still droopy and more are looking droopy today. Will upend one later today and see if anything looks wrong with the roots.

 

[norcal bud]

I take that back-- it could still be the water- I didn't give much last night for fear of overwatering. will water some more when I get home

 

[OldMedUser]

I cannot stress enough how water quality can affect your plants.

Most towns/cities still have old cast iron pipes feeding your tap water to your home. If their feed water is slightly acidic then they add stuff like calcium carbonate to it to bring the pH up over 7. Perfectly acceptable and actually good for us. Not so good for our plants or fish if we like to grow exotic breeds of either.

If the pH is below 7 then the pipes corrode faster. This causes more leaks and even worse than that you get all sorts of contaminants in your water that will make you sick or even foster cancers after years of drinking it.

It's all well and good to pH your water before feeding it to your plants but if your tap water has a lot of basic/pH up things in it you will never be able to maintain a healthy pH in the root zone. The minerals in your tap water will build up with every watering until it kills your plants.

I only use RO or distilled water to feed my plants or ourselves. Sure it costs a bit more but what is your health worth to you?