help with watering, starting to droop.

[ProfGerbik]

alright i could use some help, ive been growing in hydro ever since i could remember, i just recently got some 5 gallon smart pots and some ffof.

so far its been great started off good been growing the same as hydro, but im noticing my plant is starting to droop more and more, when the light comes on it seems to perk up but by the time the light is about to shut off its drooping pretty badly now, just started this week.

everything is perfect literally water, temp, ph, ec, pest and fungus control. i think im not understanding how often to water or watering too much.

to give an example, i will use 1 gallon of water per each 5 gallon pot, this always gives me 10-20% run off. by day 3, the surface feels pretty dry but with very very little moisture, so ill tend to wait till day 4 to water. wondering if im letting it get too dry and my plant is letting me know its thirsty by drooping, i do notice when i water it, it seems to really perk up afterwards so maybe thats my answer.

what do you think? could really use your help before it becomes a problem im scared i might not be able to get it to recover, it looks perfectly healthy not a flaw on the plant, its just the drooping lately.

id take pictures but no need, pretty easy problem to describe, its just not looking as lively as before.

 

[hazydreams]

easiest way to know is to pick up the pot. fill an empty smart pot up with FFOF and pick it up. That is dry weight or at least as dry as you want it to prevent stress. if its heavy dont water until it feels similar. This is the easiest method i know of.

The quantity of water your using seems spot on, you want to water until you get a slight amount of run off. 1 gallon in a 5 gal pot seems right.

How old are the girls? every three days seems a little often for young plants in 5 gallon pots unless its smoking hot where your growing.

Keep em green.

 

[Rednick]

You don't want runoff, you want full absorption.
Lift that bitch in the air, till you can eye it.
FFOF starts off with enough nutes for your girl, but then needs supplemental nutes after awhile.

 

[geopolitical]

A little bit of runoff is fine, but you really don't need a ton unless you already HAVE a problem.

I'd second the weight the pot method.

 

[legalizeDK]

Every time i water i lift up the pot don even stick my finger in the soil anymore

 

[ProfGerbik]

i thought you want run off every time you water? i hear so many people say that even professional growers. i mean im not flushing, im just getting 10% runoff mostly, guy at the hydro store told me to do that and he has some excellent looking plants.

god this is just confusing me more and more, so many people water differently and it works so im just confused so many different ways.

well i test 2 inches of the top of the soil when i put my finger in and it doesnt seem wet enough ill water.

yea i know ffof has nutes to start off, its been three weeks though and your supposed to start adding nutes after 2-3 weeks.

 

[ProfGerbik]

i guess i shouldve said its three weeks old. im trying to narrow it down seeing as im getting a lot of the same responses, im going to guess im not watering enough.

there is a lot of air circulating and the guy at the hydro store told because im using the smart pots im definitely going to need to water every 3-4 days because they dry out faster, it seems right during early stages i let it go a full 4 days and watered on the 5th and it was completely bone dry so i started water on the 4th day because i hear letting your soil get too dry is bad..

so that points more to underwatering wouldnt you say? my plant was fine earlier another thing i might add is i had some CFL's really close to it? do you think that couldve played a part in making the leaves droop?

well if anything im going to water it tonight hopefully it will perk back up. what im thinking is this, as before the soil got extremely dry on the 5th day, so 4th day may have been fine for seedling because they dont take up much water, but being as its three weeks old now and pretty big almost big enough to start flowering, maybe because its taking up more water i should water it on the 3rd day instead when its not almost completely dry? how does that sound?

 

[YobLamina]

From what you are describing it seems like you are over-watering. Def start using the lift pot method, it takes a bit of practice but you'll get a hand of it within a few waterings!

Let the soil go ALMOST bone dry and water it. If you recently transplanted the girls to the 5gal pot the roots are not fully alocated and it will take longer to dry out the pots. My 5 gals used to take about a week to dry out in the beggining, at the end of flowering about 3/4 days.

Good luck, and resist that urge to water even if the dirt on top is dry!

 

[YobLamina]

Also make sure to water it slowly, if you want you can even water it twice to make sure all the roots get wet. Water with about 1/2 gal and then wait 30/40 minutes and water it again with the other 1/2 gal.

This way you ensure that the water doesn't just slips straight down!

 

[ProfGerbik]

never mind, i just called the guy he said you need at least 10% run off every watering. he said its completely normal for your plants to start drooping when the light are about to shut off just means you have a healthy plant that knows its environment and gets ready for bed time.

he said exactly what i said, he said because its gotten bigger its taking up more water so the 4 days will be shortened and so on as it grows until im watering almost nearly every day. makes sense why its only showing these signs now being as its getting pretty big and ive always been watering on the 4th day.

phew glad its not a big problem.

thanks guys for helping me.

 

[ProfGerbik]

i think most of you are giving me advice for normal pots, i figured out im not watering enough.

because i have smart pots, they are very aerated, the soil pretty much sits on its own without anything disturbing it. so my pots dry out very quickly.

and yes i water evenly as possible and i wait about 10-15 minutes after using half of what ill put in, then i use the other half so the water settles properly.

according to my local hero, he says im doing everything right and its normal what im seeing, he said its more than likely not watering enough because they dry out so fast and my plant has gotten larger.

 

[GoneRooty]

i guess i shouldve said its three weeks old.

3 weeks old from seed? If so, and in a 5gal pot, you are most likely overwatering. I would say you probably only have like a gallon worth of roots in the pot, which mean like 4gal of soil just holding water. Check and see how wet the bottom of the soil is in the pot, it could be way wetter than the top of the soil.

 

[ProfGerbik]

3 weeks old from seed? If so, and in a 5gal pot, you are most likely overwatering. I would say you probably only have like a gallon worth of roots in the pot, which mean like 4gal of soil just holding water. Check and see how wet the bottom of the soil is in the pot, it could be way wetter than the top of the soil.

i dont mean to sound arrogant but im not sure how big your plants get at three weeks but mine get pretty big very fast, i use co2 so ive always had a increased growth speed. i also only use 1 gallon per 5 gallon pot for watering so i dont think its bad. if i was over watering, wouldnt i be seeing worse symptoms by now, and not when my soil seems and looks pretty dry.

the bottom of my pots arent that wet, i talked to someone who literally owns a shop and grows on the daily basis he asked me to do all those things and i did, he said its not watered enough. i mean the bottom is cold and slight very slightly moist but its not wet and it doesnt really stick to my fingers like wet soil does, so im guessing its dry enough.

i need to buy a damn moisture meter, i dont like lifting or putting my finger in.

 

[ghostnugz]

did you cut the FFOF with perlite before planting??
if not this could be your problem

 

[ProfGerbik]

from the way every one asks me to touch the bottom of my soil, does this mean all my soil has to be completely dry for me to water again? so many damn questions.

 

[ProfGerbik]

did you cut the FFOF with perlite before planting??
if not this could be your problem

no, mine came with a lot of perlite already in it. not sure if its a new thing they added cause of that problem but i made sure to ask for perlite before i bought the bag and was told it comes with way more perlite now and should be fine, so i bought it and it had plenty of perlite.

 

[ProfGerbik]

and how dry is dry, if im supposed to let it all dry out, it cant be good to let it get too dry? so how dry is dry...

 

[ghostnugz]

no, mine came with a lot of perlite already in it.

it definitely doesnt have enough perlite in it straight outta the bag. you need atleast 3:1 but i would go 2:1 to be safe. i imagine you have some issues going on with compacted/soggy soil not drying out in the bottoms of your pots.
jus my 2 cents

 

[ProfGerbik]

it definitely doesnt have enough perlite in it straight outta the bag. you need atleast 3:1 but i would go 2:1 to be safe. i imagine you have some issues going on with compacted/soggy soil not drying out in the bottoms of your pots.
jus my 2 cents

well i would think that was the problem but my bag was filled with tons of perlite so much so you can see it everywhere in the soil im pretty sure its enough perlite. on top of the fact i have smart pots to make it even more aerated, i dont think the soil could get soggy if it wanted to in the smart pots.

 

[ProfGerbik]

well if i water it tonite and it doesnt get any better, then i will assume im over watering, but its just been this past week since its been pretty big ive noticed this happening more on the 4th day before i water, so i have a really strong feeling its just not enough water for how big it is right now.

now that i think about it, i know it isnt watered enough because in my 2 gallon res in my water farm, my three week olds would easily drink up a half a gallon or more of water in one day and they never showed any signs like this.

oh well wish me luck, ive bothered enough people about such a simple matter. i think i got all the information i need to know if im doing something wrong now. cheers.