I have some issues

Hey guys. This is my first indoor grow I am growing 8 autoflowers from growers choice in 5 gallon air pots. These plants are in a 4x8 grow tent under two 1000watt mh bulbs. They are 17 days old from the day they spouted. 4 are doing great and 4 are showing some signs of problems.



In the top 2 pics you can see that the 2 plants on the left side leaves are very droopy. Also if you zoom in you will see that the bottom leaves are turning yellow and getting brown spots. The bottom picture is the right side of my grow tent and you can see two plants with very droopy leaves. They however have no yellowing leaves or brown spots.

The medium is 50/50 happy frog and ffof. With the top 3 inches happy frog only. The seeds where germinated then planted directly in the pots they are in now, and have been in this tent under the same lights since planting. I water 2 quarts every 2 to 3 days depending on how dry they are. There is a little run off from the plants when I water and it comes out at 6.3 PH. They have only been fed water. I have not used any nuts with them at all.

I thought that this might be a calmag problem. So i bought advanced nutrients calmag xtra. I mixed 1 gallon of water with 5ml of calmag and watered the 4 questionable plants with 1 quart each. The temps in the tent stay between 70 and 75 and the humidity fluctuates between 39 by day 3 of no watering. But it maintains between 50 and 60 when I water every 2 days. Any help would be greatly appreciated

Hey JR. I'm no expert but one of my biggest problems has been watering and I know over-watering can be a cause of drooping. I couldn't do the lift and feel when it's light thing because I'm not a scale. So I weigh my plants with a postage scale every day to see if they need water. I weighed dry when transplanting to see what dry would weigh and never water until it reaches that weight. You have to write down each plant's weight every day.

I guess you cant do that now but I suggest maybe you get a scale for $30 or so. I can tell you these 4 pots won't weight exactly the same. Go by the rate of weight loss per day to help you. I'm in soil too. You have a shitload of watts so I guess you can afford to water more than I do, but then again distance and temp will matter too. I tend to water light because I had fungus gnats last grow and they love wet. I have similar pots and water less than 1/2 quart and some plants need every 2 days some every 4.

Overwatering? If so, It's an easy fix in a smart pot.

gonna say most likely over watering

raggyb said:

Hey JR. I'm no expert but one of my biggest problems has been watering and I know over-watering can be a cause of drooping. I couldn't do the lift and feel when it's light thing because I'm not a scale. So I weigh my plants with a postage scale every day to see if they need water. I weighed dry when transplanting to see what dry would weigh and never water until it reaches that weight. You have to write down each plant's weight every day.

I guess you cant do that now but I suggest maybe you get a scale for $30 or so. I can tell you these 4 pots won't weight exactly the same. Go by the rate of weight loss per day to help you. I'm in soil too. You have a shitload of watts so I guess you can afford to water more than I do, but then again distance and temp will matter too. I tend to water light because I had fungus gnats last grow and they love wet. I have similar pots and water less than 1/2 quart and some plants need every 2 days some every 4.

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Hey Raggyb, thanks alot for the response. I am using a hydrometer along with feeling the weight of the pots. I don't believe I am over watering because I don't water until my hydrometer reads 1 and the soil feels dry. And I am not under watering because the leaves don't stand back up once I water. Thanks again though.

Ok so now 3 people think over watering. Maybe I'm wrong then lol what should I do then not water until my good plants show signs of wilting?

jrbritton said:

Ok so now 3 people think over watering. Maybe I'm wrong then lol what should I do then not water until my good plants show signs of wilting?

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That you have a hydrometer does throw a twist into the theory. I didn't even know there were such things lol. I wonder if it's accurate?

It seems your pictures are evidence that maybe it is overwatering a little bit, because the ones with problem are smaller than the happy ones. Once they get behind they actually need less water. See what I'm saying?

If you water all at the same time and the same amount then I'd say that's a problem. I've stopped doing that and things have been going a little better for it.

raggyb said:

That you have a hydrometer does throw a twist into the theory. I didn't even know there were such things lol. I wonder if it's accurate?

It seems your pictures are evidence that maybe it is overwatering a little bit, because the ones with problem are smaller than the happy ones. Once they get behind they actually need less water. See what I'm saying?

If you water all at the same time and the same amount then I'd say that's a problem. I've stopped doing that and things have been going a little better for it.

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Yea I'm going to hold of watering for a while. Until I see signs of thirst lol

jrbritton said:

Yea I'm going to hold of watering for a while. Until I see signs of thirst lol

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if they wilt a little at the bottom one time from thirst they should be ok. Watch it under those thousand watters, but they will spring back.

In soil like ff of or happy frog I like to water when the pot is alarmingly dry. When I tilt it it’s like “oops”.

More scientifically when a probe style moisture meter is inserted into the soil 3/4 the way down the pot it would read towards dry. Very dry above that.

I learned by waiting an extra day past when I thought I should water. That waiting day tends to be their happiest day.

Michigan med grower is right about the waiting an extra day ... Also overwatering sometimes means u are giving them too much water at a time ... Your plants are still small so maybe watering the whole plant might be too much maybe water in a circle around the stem and when it turns to watering everyday u can either make your circle bigger or water the whole plant...

Tx-Peanutt said:

Michigan med grower is right about the waiting an extra day ... Also overwatering sometimes means u are giving them too much water at a time ... Your plants are still small so maybe watering the whole plant might be too much maybe water in a circle around the stem and when it turns to watering everyday u can either make your circle bigger or water the whole plant...

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Excellent technique if in a too large pot. I like to transplant up so each stage can be saturated to runoff then left to dry without over watering symptoms.

MichiganMedGrower said:

Excellent technique if in a too large pot. I like to transplant up so each stage can be saturated to runoff then left to dry without over watering symptoms.

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IMO those plant look good for a 1 gal or 3 gal pot 5 is too big...... this is the technique I used when I grow autos and it works for me..

They are in pots far too big for them so definitely over watered. Patience.

Ok guys thanks again for all the help. I am confident that this is a over watering issue. Three of the four droopy plants have perked back up some. So how bad is this overwatering going to effect these four autos? Also I here everyone is saying my pots are to big. I did alot of research and everything I read said to plant autos directly in the pot you plan to finish them in, not to transplant. I also read to use 3-5 gallon pots. Did I make a mistake planting these guys in these pots?

I was not planning on running auto flowers at first. The only reason I did run them was because my tent is in my basement and with lights out my temps where getting to cold. It is not feasible for me to heat my entire basement at this time and I do not trust running a electric space heater in my tent. So I figured screw it heat the tent with lights and grow autos until it gets warmer here in the north east lol.

jrbritton said:

Ok so now 3 people think over watering. Maybe I'm wrong then lol what should I do then not water until my good plants show signs of wilting?

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Ya. a little wilt won't hurt. Make sure you catch it right away and don't leave them wilting for days.

Soon you will be a pro and you won't have to let them wilt to tell you when to water,.... You'll just know.

jrbritton said:

Ok guys thanks again for all the help. I am confident that this is a over watering issue. Three of the four droopy plants have perked back up some. So how bad is this overwatering going to effect these four autos? Also I here everyone is saying my pots are to big. I did alot of research and everything I read said to plant autos directly in the pot you plan to finish them in, not to transplant. I also read to use 3-5 gallon pots. Did I make a mistake planting these guys in these pots?

I was not planning on running auto flowers at first. The only reason I did run them was because my tent is in my basement and with lights out my temps where getting to cold. It is not feasible for me to heat my entire basement at this time and I do not trust running a electric space heater in my tent. So I figured screw it heat the tent with lights and grow autos until it gets warmer here in the north east lol.

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No U did right on starting them in final pot just make sure u water correctly water in a circle around the stem or just water less...

jrbritton said:

Ok guys thanks again for all the help. I am confident that this is a over watering issue. Three of the four droopy plants have perked back up some. So how bad is this overwatering going to effect these four autos? Also I here everyone is saying my pots are to big. I did alot of research and everything I read said to plant autos directly in the pot you plan to finish them in, not to transplant. I also read to use 3-5 gallon pots. Did I make a mistake planting these guys in these pots?

I was not planning on running auto flowers at first. The only reason I did run them was because my tent is in my basement and with lights out my temps where getting to cold. It is not feasible for me to heat my entire basement at this time and I do not trust running a electric space heater in my tent. So I figured screw it heat the tent with lights and grow autos until it gets warmer here in the north east lol.

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I meant the too big pot comment in reference to the amount of water it would hold. Lots more than a smaller pot. Plant has to drink it all first before needing more. When using big pots, water once then go away for a while.

So I thought everything was going good. The plants I over watered had come back and where looking good. Then when I checked on them today I see this.



This is one of the plants that I think I over watered. 2 plants look like this. The leaves are very brittle. This all happened within the last 24-32 hours. Any help with this would be appreciated

Along with the other techniques given to you, keep an eye on the lower leaf sets of the plants. If those leaves are drooping abit it is time to check the moisture content of the soil.