do leaves sleep?

So I'm just under a week and a half into flowering. In the daytime my leaves are mostly horizontal with a slight curl downwards... look fairly normal. At night time they look like this:





This has happened to me a couple times before... and I've been unable to figure out what's going on. The leaf tissue looks perfect. The leaf shapes are nuts.

I guess some info.... 3rd generation clone, 1 week into flower, growing in 60/40 coco/hydroton, watering every other day, pretty sure I'm not over fertilizing, light is 2 + feet away, temps are 70-75 (may be a bit less for 6 of 12 hours while sleeping), humidity has been at 45% (may be significantly higher for 6 of 12 hours while sleeping). this curling is much more pronounced on new leaf growth... the stuff that has shot up since switching to 12/12. In the daytime the leaves level out. At nighttime they do what is pictured. I've noticed this only in the last 3 or so nights.

What's interesting...is that plant in the background- Those leaves are not all curled down like the bottom ones are.
So, I would either say overwatered? Heat levels? They do look pretty darn green and healthy!

they do that sometimes. some say it starts about an hour before lights out

i have 6 plants in my grow room right now. 4 (snow whites) are still in the growth phase and look great (the ones in back). 1 (blackjack) is 6 weeks along in blooming and having no problems. the one I'm having issues with is a clone of the one 6 weeks along. I just flushed it with a couple gallons of water and florakleen to be safe. I'll re-nute tomorrow and see how it goes.

what do the beginnings of a salt buildup look like?

Was noticing the same thing on my two plants yesterday and figured it was due to light changes because i had to move them from the 400w MH to some temp fluro. Today I put them in the yard because it was nice and sunny and after a couple hours they perked right up, they look healthy otherwise so just let em do their thing.

could be circadian rhythm

Try letting the plant dry out more before lights out, looks like could be overwatering...

and... this is what it looks like 10 minutes ago... 8 hours later after giving it 2 gallons of water with 20 mg florakleen:



So... if it looks better after giving it 2 gallons of water... i'm doubting over watering. But thanks for your responses guys. i think maybe I should just accept this as "normal" and move on.


P.S. This is what it looked like yesterday morning as well... after a night of curly leaves. Infinitely better.

mysunnyboy said:

they do that sometimes. some say it starts about an hour before lights out

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Thats exactly right, I see it as well

M B P said:

and... this is what it looks like 8 hours later after giving it 2 gallons of water with 20 mg florakleen:

View attachment 2152086

So... if it looks better after giving it 2 gallons of water... i'm doubting over watering. But thanks for your responses guys. i think maybe I should just accept this as "normal" and move on.


P.S. This is what it looked like yesterday morning as well... after a night of curly leaves. Infinitely better.

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Well, it doesn't seem bery harmful, but it would bother me too- just to want to know. In regards to leaves sleeping, the stomata closes and transpiration ceases. This can cause the plant to lose a little turgidity (but this one looks a little more pronounced). The leaves don't really sleep though, they are taking in oxygen (co2 at daytime/oxygen at night) and converting sugars into starches for storage and transporting it to other regions. That's why it's nice to give them a break and not use 24 hour light in veg. This might just be normal for your pheno, but I am curious if you find anything else (temps perhaps?)

the only thing I can think of is that for 6 of the 12 hours of sleep, I'm moving the plant out of the grow room and placing the plant in a large floor safe with another plant. When its in the floor safe, temps can drop to 60f... and humidity can probably rise to 80-90%. But again... that's only for 6 hours... and the other plant that hangs out in the safe is just fine.

p.s. total side note: funny... I just finished posting on another thread about 18/6 vs 24/0. I suggested 18/6. They still grow when they are sleeping.

M B P said:

the only thing I can think of is that for 6 of the 12 hours of sleep, I'm moving the plant out of the grow room and placing the plant in a large floor safe with another plant. When its in the floor safe, temps can drop to 60f... and humidity can probably rise to 80-90%. But again... that's only for 6 hours... and the other plant that hangs out in the safe is just fine.

p.s. total side note: funny... I just finished posting on another thread about 18/6 vs 24/0. I suggested 18/6. They still grow when they are sleeping.

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Yeah, I wouldn't worry about it too much. I also like the 18/6 cycle better as it seems more natural, and yes sometimes I see more growth after a night than in the day. Never hurts to save electricity since the plant can only use so much lite anyway. I think I remember reading a scientific study saying the plant goes into it's "nighttime sleep" routine regardless of if the lights are on 24 hours or not, but I figure they might like the cooler temps and give the leaves a break from the light anyway.

mysunnyboy said:

they do that sometimes. some say it starts about an hour before lights out

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yeh it starts about 15 hours into veg, ive always said they are sleeping lol
the leaves curl over so much it could even look like they are wilting, but i grow hydro so
that is not possible
it seems to happen more at the height of the growth spurts during veg and flowering they look cute when they sleep
i have also noticed late on during the flower period at about 10 hours of 12/12 some of the leaves point upwards
instead of out horizontally ... like the plants are putting their hands up in the air .. i know outdoors as the sun moves
across the sky, the leaf blades would shift towards the light, but indoors with static lights, why do they still move
they must be confused lol

peace

My plants do that outdoors at not, not as much as that only if it was raining or it's dewing very heavy or both. But at night they curl down.

yeh its perfectly natural, don't mistake the sleeping for wilting and over water them

lol right on duct tape

I think thats normal when its lights out my leaves tend to droop when its nearing lights out but i've never looked at them during lights out

@5:45 pm... just before lights out:





daytime... leaves are back to normal. I flushed today and found a new dark area to store the plant in... one that breaths a little easier. I'll try to post some more pics later and see if the leaves go nuts again tonight.

Trichy Bastard said:

sometimes I see more growth after a night than in the day.

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Or is that stretch?

yeh i did that too noe of my plants once c02 turned out it was looked healthy as fuck but droopy almost bent over(one was bent over) turned ou was too much c02