Another Watering Question...

I finally tossed the cheap moisture meter away, doing the "check the soil and read the leaves" thing to tell me what they want, or what I think they want to be honest, on my 2nd grow here and shooting from the hip on this. I'm noticing that they tend to really droop just before the lights go out, as if they know bedtime is coming, did the Google thing and found this...

When you see plants with droopy leaves, you are seeing evapotranspiration outpacing water replacement. Leaves are losing water to the air faster than roots can take it up. At night, evapotranspiration slows down, allowing roots to catch up. So, by morning, a healthy plant's leaves will be back to normal.

I'm doing 5% daily watering's, alternating from top and bottom right now. Yesterday I watered the fabric pots from below, they're sitting in catch trays so easy to do, ant yes the water is gone within the half hour. Today the watering will be from the top, so 5% of the pots volume in total for watering. (I roughly calculated 6 cups for 7 gallons)

The question is... should I water some more for the evenings droopiness? I feel like I'm holding them back.

Sorry, don't remember what your medium is? Watering every day in soil seems odd, unless you've got a big plant.

For proper soil, top watering should be done when it's sorta dried out--but it should be fully saturated when it is watered. With organic soil, you don't really want runoff most of the time--so you can keep all the goods.

Got pics?

JimmyJackCorn said:

Sorry, don't remember what your medium is? Watering every day in soil seems odd, unless you've got a big plant.

For proper soil, top watering should be done when it's sorta dried out--but it should be fully saturated when it is watered. With organic soil, you don't really want runoff most of the time--so you can keep all the goods.

Got pics?

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Yeah thanks, I don't think 5% will give me any runoff, and yup daily. Gets warm in the tent during the lighting cycle, about 80-82 Fahrenheit, then drops to about 75 when the garage temps drop to 54' Oddly the tents air fills with moisture when the lights go out, from 45-50 to 70% humidity. Here's the thing, my tent is in the garage where the temps drop to 54' and I decided to run the light cycle during that time at night when it's at it's coolest. The heat from the lights keeps it at 75' all night and morning then during the day (because the tent is in the garage) it's in near complete darkness where the warm days 80' don't matter because no lights are on. (I live in the desert) doing the 18/6 light cycle for now. (Im 4 weeks into Veg) my signature has all the soil and amendments I'm using at the moment.

Week4@inCharge said:

I finally tossed the cheap moisture meter away, doing the "check the soil and read the leaves" thing to tell me what they want, or what I think they want to be honest, on my 2nd grow here and shooting from the hip on this. I'm noticing that they tend to really droop just before the lights go out, as if they know bedtime is coming, did the Google thing and found this...

When you see plants with droopy leaves, you are seeing evapotranspiration outpacing water replacement. Leaves are losing water to the air faster than roots can take it up. At night, evapotranspiration slows down, allowing roots to catch up. So, by morning, a healthy plant's leaves will be back to normal.

I'm doing 5% daily watering's, alternating from top and bottom right now. Yesterday I watered the fabric pots from below, they're sitting in catch trays so easy to do, ant yes the water is gone within the half hour. Today the watering will be from the top, so 5% of the pots volume in total for watering. (I roughly calculated 6 cups for 7 gallons)

The question is... should I water some more for the evenings droopiness? I feel like I'm holding them back.

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Water/1-tsp dawn dish soap/ 1- gallon pH checked water it's a wetting agent

I just answered my own question here. I think out loud sometimes, like way out "start a thread" loud ... the google find I found answered it for me, I reread it 6 times ..lol,
The lights just switched on and the leaves as usual we're not drooping. So it's normal? Maybe. I better stop crying wolf here.

When you see plants with droopy leaves, you are seeing evapotranspiration outpacing water replacement. Leaves are losing water to the air faster than roots can take it up. At night, evapotranspiration slows down, allowing roots to catch up. So, by morning, a healthy plant's leaves will be back to normal.

Week4@inCharge said:

Yeah thanks, I don't think 5% will give me any runoff, and yup daily. Gets warm in the tent during the lighting cycle, about 80-82 Fahrenheit, then drops to about 75 when the garage temps drop to 54' Oddly the tents air fills with moisture when the lights go out, from 45-50 to 70% humidity. Here's the thing, my tent is in the garage where the temps drop to 54' and I decided to run the light cycle during that time at night when it's at it's coolest. The heat from the lights keeps it at 75' all night and morning then during the day (because the tent is in the garage) it's in near complete darkness where the warm days 80' don't matter because no lights are on. (I live in the desert) doing the 18/6 light cycle for now. (Im 4 weeks into Veg) my signature has all the soil and amendments I'm using at the moment.
View attachment 5041341

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Plants look green and vibrant, though a bit rumpled like they're getting lots of light. Makes me wonder about your light setup?

Not sure on strain--or strains? Are they growing well, or kinda slow? The one in the bottom right looks a little haggard for some reason. Otherwise, nothing alarming at a glance.

Let me know your light details.

Check out sub irrigated planters. No more watering issues, soil waters itself from a reservoir Cheap, simple, and effective.

JimmyJackCorn said:

Plants look green and vibrant, though a bit rumpled like they're getting lots of light. Makes me wonder about your light setup?

Not sure on strain--or strains? Are they growing well, or kinda slow? The one in the bottom right looks a little haggard for some reason. Otherwise, nothing alarming at a glance.

Let me know your light details.

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Thanks @JimmyJackCorn I was ignoring that part, kind of in denial about it but you saw that and pointed it out, so thank you for that. Member here (I won't call him out he seems a little private) has been egging on me about getting a PAR meter. I know..I need one. but, for now it's a amazon.com lux meter. (groans) I have my lights at least 24 inches above the ladies and measuring 24,000 LUX average. After reading your response I ran in the garage and tuned them down a bit. I probably need to get better circulation n there too, feels a a sauna sometimes but the humidity is at 50% so don't get that part. found a pic of when they were a little smaller with my light set up
Mars Hydro 2000 & Growers Choice ROI-E680

*the bottom right (both plants at the bottom of pic are Dos Si Dos 33)has this interesting marbling going on with the leaves, never seen anything like it. The top right is End Game, the middle ant top left is MAC1 , so yeah, Brady Bunch thing going on.

GrassBurner said:

Check out sub irrigated planters. No more watering issues, soil waters itself from a reservoir Cheap, simple, and effective.

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Earth Boxes!

Week4@inCharge said:

Thanks @JimmyJackCorn I was ignoring that part, kind of in denial about it but you saw that and pointed it out, so thank you for that. Member here (I won't call him out he seems a little private) has been egging on me about getting a PAR meter. I know..I need one. but, for now it's a amazon.com lux meter. (groans) I have my lights at least 24 inches above the ladies and measuring 24,000 LUX average. After reading your response I ran in the garage and tuned them down a bit. I probably need to get better circulation n there too, feels a a sauna sometimes but the humidity is at 50% so don't get that part. found a pic of when they were a little smaller with my light set upView attachment 5041380
Mars Hydro 2000 & Growers Choice ROI-E680

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I don't have any kind of light meter, but I don't run lights as powerful as yours. I can see why someone might give you that advice! Still, you might be able to save on that cost by getting to where reading the plants is more natural.

Based on your soil (assuming you mixed it for this grow and haven't top dressed yet), the light, watering habits and fabric pots--if I were you I'd ride out turning the light down a bit and see how they do, if you're that concerned about how they're behaving.

Based on the fabric pots and how much you water them, your higher RH makes sense to me. If your tent's air exchange rate has been low, that would make sense as well. I live in a drier climate and I find that a lower RH is preferable to worrying about powdery mildew, so I would keep the ventilation up.

Nothing alarming overall. See if they pray more often with the light turned down.

JimmyJackCorn said:

I don't have any kind of light meter, but I don't run lights as powerful as yours. I can see why someone might give you that advice! Still, you might be able to save on that cost by getting to where reading the plants is more natural.

Based on your soil (assuming you mixed it for this grow and haven't top dressed yet), the light, watering habits and fabric pots--if I were you I'd ride out turning the light down a bit and see how they do, if you're that concerned about how they're behaving.

Based on the fabric pots and how much you water them, your higher RH makes sense to me. If your tent's air exchange rate has been low, that would make sense as well. I live in a drier climate and I find that a lower RH is preferable to worrying about powdery mildew, so I would keep the ventilation up.

Nothing alarming overall. See if they pray more often with the light turned down.

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On it, will take this advice for a few days, thanks again . . I'll keep you guys posted. Dropped it to about 15,000 Lux. See what happens. (might skip that watering tomorrow too)

@JimmyJackCorn Well blow me down and pick me up... I had to check this morning before the lights went out and ...they're praying. Sold! Thanks for the huge tip my friend.

Week4@inCharge said:

@JimmyJackCorn Well blow me down and pick me up... I had to check this morning before the lights went out and ...they're praying. Sold! Thanks for the huge tip my friend.

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Leaf droop is normal. Depends on a lot of factors. When the stem the leaf is attached to droops then they're dry. Too dry.

UPDATE!! The ladies were still acting a little funny and always towards the end of the light cycle too. And I'm almost 100% sure I've dialed it in to a definite answer. I searched and found this vid from TheDudeGrows Q&A and in that vid someone had the same situation as me where the leaves would droop towards the end of the lighting cycle of that day. Turns out the temps were below what the ladies liked so they showed it with the dropping leaves. I thought and have read that 65' was ok for cannabis. So never paid mind to it. But for that vid I placed a little heater in the tent and set it to 75'. Everything is back to normal now. Case solved.

I appreciate you following up!

Does that mean you've turned your light back up?

JimmyJackCorn said:

I appreciate you following up!

Does that mean you've turned your light back up?

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I did by 10%>>> just to be safe.