What's going on?

In my current grow box there are 5 plants and she's the only one that's currently showing this kind of problems. Leaves look droopy, lower leaves are yellowing and growth looks like it's been stunted. She's growing in Atami Bio Mix (pre-fert) and I've been giving only some N like once, a week ago. Didn't fed her any water in the last 4 days and gave her some water(pH 6,4) yesterday since the pot felt really light and the medium felt quite dry. She's been in this conditions for 5 days now and I'm starting to worry that I might loose her. Conditions in the grow box are 31°C and 45% RU.

Can any of you guys identify the issue?

That looks a little bit too dry for my part. Why didn't you water it for 4 days? You also shouldn't have given her fertilizer if the soil was unused and fresh. Also, if she's the only one that shows these signs and the others are ok with your watering and fertilizing style then this plant may be just a simple runt or it doesn't fit with your current style of growing.

It also looks like nitrogen deficiency, which almost never happens because of lack of nitrogen outside of heavy flowering.

Lack of nitrogen is therefore almost always a lockout, not a deficiency. So more nitrogen won't help the situation.

I agree with Need4Seed that the soil looks pretty dry.

You should look into watering blankets (capillary matting), which the plants absolutely love. The soil remains moist throughout, yet water never pools and overwatering is impossible. Also it imitates the way water moves through the soil when it isn't raining - which in the subtropics, where most strains come from - can be most of the year. The water moves up through the soil, never flushing out nutrients. You put the nutrients in the soil, and clean water in the reservoir, and the EC will never be higher than the nutrients you gave the plant, which prevents roots getting burned or the EC rising to uncomfortable levels between watering.



Also it seems to light a fire under the growth of the plants, probably because a constantly moist soil also makes nutrients constantly available.

You put the plants on one part of the mat, the other goes into a reservoir/tub/saucer with water in it.

Watering plants has never been easier.

Thanks for the replies. So I'll be feeding some clean water just to wash off any N in excess. Will look into those mats but not sure if they're easily found in Italy. I've been watering every 3 days to allow the soil to dry up well. To me it looked like overwatering and that would have explained the lockout at the roots level thus the N deficiency. But the plant didn't get any better after drying up the soil so I'm thinking that either the pH is off or it's really just the opposite (under-watering). Will provide to give 1lt of water today and see how she responds. She's planted in a 4lt pot and leaves have a dark green color. I'm also considering that she might be root-bound but might be too soon for that.

Muarco said:

Thanks for the replies. So I'll be feeding some clean water just to wash off any N in excess. Will look into those mats but not sure if they're easily found in Italy. I've been watering every 3 days to allow the soil to dry up well. To me it looked like overwatering and that would have explained the lockout at the roots level thus the N deficiency. But the plant didn't get any better after drying up the soil so I'm thinking that either the pH is off or it's really just the opposite (under-watering). Will provide to give 1lt of water today and see how she responds. She's planted in a 4lt pot and leaves have a dark green color. I'm also considering that she might be root-bound but might be too soon for that.

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I'm sure they're available in a greenhouse supplier near where you live - or on the internet.

https://www.orlandelli.it/eu-en/search.aspx?fti=capillary+matting

Also, if there is surplus water in the plants, the mats just guide the water back to the reservoir.

Is there anything else I can do in regard of the plant? It's an autoflowering strain and stunting the growth like this it's gonna cost me some grams at the harvest...

45% RU is kind of low. Mist the soil at least.

TanzanianMagic said:

It also looks like nitrogen deficiency, which almost never happens because of lack of nitrogen outside of heavy flowering.

Lack of nitrogen is therefore almost always a lockout, not a deficiency. So more nitrogen won't help the situation.

I agree with Need4Seed that the soil looks pretty dry.

You should look into watering blankets (capillary matting), which the plants absolutely love. The soil remains moist throughout, yet water never pools and overwatering is impossible. Also it imitates the way water moves through the soil when it isn't raining - which in the subtropics, where most strains come from - can be most of the year. The water moves up through the soil, never flushing out nutrients. You put the nutrients in the soil, and clean water in the reservoir, and the EC will never be higher than the nutrients you gave the plant, which prevents roots getting burned or the EC rising to uncomfortable levels between watering.

View Image

Also it seems to light a fire under the growth of the plants, probably because a constantly moist soil also makes nutrients constantly available.

You put the plants on one part of the mat, the other goes into a reservoir/tub/saucer with water in it.

Watering plants has never been easier.

Click to expand...

Years ago Silverback recommended using ShamWow towels for this same reason.

Muarco said:

Is there anything else I can do in regard of the plant? It's an autoflowering strain and stunting the growth like this it's gonna cost me some grams at the harvest...

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In a greenhouse the growth of autos can explode, like with any other plant that you put into a greenhouse...So thats something you could do, put it in a greenhouse.

NEED 4 SEED said:

In a greenhouse the growth of autos can explode, like with any other plant that you put into a greenhouse...So thats something you could do, put it in a greenhouse.

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I'm growing indoor with a 150W lamp. Sometimes I move the plants on the balcony to get some extra hours of light but I'm not able to build a greenhouse due to current legislations in my country. I gave her some water and raised RU to 55%. Seems to feel better but I don't understand why the bottom leaves are yellowing so early...Looked like overwatering but it actually wasn't.

You shouldn't worry so much about those 2 yellowing leaves. These indicate nothing at this point. In my observation these first leaves often degrade when the plants get rootbound in their early pots. Some of these leaves get back to life, some don't. The plant doesn't die from it.

NEED 4 SEED said:

You shouldn't worry so much about those 2 yellowing leaves. These indicate nothing at this point. In my observation these first leaves often degrade when the plants get rootbound in their early pots. Some of these leaves get back to life, some don't. The plant doesn't die from it.

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Hey N4S, thanks for your answer. I'm planning to keep the plant in that pot since it's an autoflower. The pot has a capacity of 4,5l or 1,10gal. Do you think it will be too small to grow this autoflower in it? People usually frown upon repotting an auto.