Plant Moisture Stress - Symptoms and Solutions

Hey, first grow here. I planted this bagseed baby in a small pot (0.5 gal?) on my window sill, about 6 weeks ago, my medium is 50% sterile garden soil, 50% biologically active home made worm castings. The medium takes a little bit to take moisture in, but I (think) I'm sufficiently careful not to overwater. In this pot I watered daily (the temp where I live right now has been about 85 - 100 F daily, with very low relative humidity). The plant had about 6 hours of full direct sunlight. Everything was going good, no pests, no spots on the leaves (maybe just the very bottom ones and cotyledons) and grew very well.

I recently (maybe 10 days) transplanted to a bigger pot (about 3 gal) with the same medium, and moved the plant over to the roof, where it gets about 8 hrs of direct sunlight, the heat has been the same and the same goes for relative humidity. But as you can see, the plant doesn't seem to be faring perfectly. I have damage in the edge of the leaves, which started from the bottom of the plant upwards. I'm pretty sure it's not nutrient burn, as I haven't added any fertilizers as of yet (since worm castings have given me pretty good results on other plants). About overwatering, I'm doing it every other day now, or less often if I feel the pot is still heavy, so I think that would not be the problem. The plant has grown pretty fast, currently about 1.2+ ft (when transplanted, about 4 or 5 inches of main stem got buried to promote roots), and I just did a FIM topping. The pics are from yesterday just before the FIM.

So what do you say, nute burn, lack of nutrients, overwatering, underwatering, heat shock, not sufficient hardening when moving it to the roof... I'm pretty much lost...

I'm thinking of another transplant, still in the hot and sunny roof (no other option for me) to a 5.3 gal planter, adding 1/4 of perlite or something similar to get better drainage. I wouldn't want to use synthetic ferts (there are no organic ferts where I live), but I will do it if necessary. Any thoughts?

Help please!!

Hahaha ur plant is like a foot taller than mine and 2weeks younger

I guess growing in the tropics has it's advantages (and IF it's a heat problem, clearly some disadvantages too!)

The newest system I tried solved over and under watering and nutrient problems and all my plants thrive now. I learned about this from a friend who grows medical grade for his dispensary. They are capillary action self watering pots. Simple and low cost. Try these and be happy. The site is 420GS.com.

Free the weed!
What is the deal with DEA handing out 55 grow licenses to big pharma companies?!!!

rolas said:

Any thoughts?

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Next time you water do this

give about half the water your normally do, then wait for about 30 min, then give the rest, water enough to get some run off

measure the EC of the runoff,

If you EC goes up too fast and the plant doesn't have time to build up salt it will simply lose water and it will have the appearance of being under watered

plants can take high EC's but they must not change rapidly or it can pull salt out of the plant (if it drops too fast) or can pull water out of the plant (up to fast)

this can happen if you have a lot of evaporation


I'd also suggest sparying some pure water on it

If the measured EC is say above 6, that could mean it is climbing rapidly, it could also mean it got their slowly and is no problem, you have to measure it several times over a week to see the trend

so a high EC isn't really bad, you have to measure it day be day or week by week to get an idea if you want to really understand the reading in the context of

Great Thread,

any help with this plant:

All this needs is some pics and it's a masterpiece Good read.

Hi guys, so I have two plants growing right now, I am doing the exact same watering for both, one of them is growing very nice and loks great, the other one however keeps displaying yellow/brown crispy edges on the bottoms leaves. I thought it was too much nutrients ast first so I changed to just straight water for that one, I still keep losing bottom leaves on this one plant and as of lately it seems to have stopped growing. I know it is not root bound, I thought that it was over nutrient but must not be. What do you guys think? They are in dirt.

Very informative thread. I'm lovin' RIU

Produkt said:

Hi guys, so I have two plants growing right now, I am doing the exact same watering for both, one of them is growing very nice and loks great, the other one however keeps displaying yellow/brown crispy edges on the bottoms leaves. I thought it was too much nutrients ast first so I changed to just straight water for that one, I still keep losing bottom leaves on this one plant and as of lately it seems to have stopped growing. I know it is not root bound, I thought that it was over nutrient but must not be. What do you guys think? They are in dirt.

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they need more food not less , i can tell without even knowing anything else. are you growing "organically" ?



wyteboi

I think you may be right, I've upped the nutrients and it seems to be helping./
what do u mean by "organically" ?

Produkt said:

I think you may be right, I've upped the nutrients and it seems to be helping./
what do u mean by "organically" ?

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which food do you use?

I see a lot of posts about over watering symptoms and such, but how do you fix a plant that is stressing from being over watered?

On the last page in my journal there are pics of my lemon skunk plants. The new growth has been wilting or rolling down for the last 4 days with no signs of improvement. The older leaves are straight and dark green, which is the norm for this strain but I can't seem to find a "fix" for the wilting/drooping. Someone suggested a nice h202 and water solution once they dry out. Would this solution help my babies or if there is something else I can do, what? Any help is appreciated!

1.25ml of 35%h202 per gal of water, water to flush. what are the temps/rh in your room and how often have you been watering in what medium

Fox Farm, Happy Frog and worm castings is the medium. Originally I was watering these LS ladies with my other two strains, every other day. I have blue cheese and master kush that take water just about every day now. Lights on temp is 83-86F (rH between 44-51%) and lights off I keep it around 75F (rH never gets above 60%).

I was advised by a few people that a flush followed by a light nute solution would help so that's what I did last night. Hoping to see a change in their progress tonight when the lights come on. Wish me luck!

watering every other day in fox farms is way too much water unless your roots are filling the pot and it's sucking all that water up that soon. If you are showing leaf cupping but only on the new growth, did you transplant recently, anything different>? I use basically the same mix and I only water every 4-6 days depending on the size of my girls, my thirstiest one only drinks every 4 days bro. Any more water and you are getting too much. How big are your pots?

lbezphil2005 said:

watering every other day in fox farms is way too much water unless your roots are filling the pot and it's sucking all that water up that soon. If you are showing leaf cupping but only on the new growth, did you transplant recently, anything different>? I use basically the same mix and I only water every 4-6 days depending on the size of my girls, my thirstiest one only drinks every 4 days bro. Any more water and you are getting too much. How big are your pots?

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If I don't give them water every day, my plants wilt. As soon as I water them, they perk back up. They're in 5 gal warrior pots and are extremely thirsty girls (except the lemon skunk). Week 4 of flower just started yesterday. The temp in their room has gone up this week thanks to the major heatwave that hit us. At some point it was up to 93F. I run a 70 pint dehumidifier during lights off along with 4 box fans and an a/c unit. rH is always between 40-47%. Anyways, I'm coming to the conclusion that the lemon skunk ladies were not over watered but were suffering from heat stress. Two 1000w hps were running approx. 12" from canopy. I raised them up to 16" recently. The flush and nute feed seemed to help the LS for the most part. Now they're just trying to catch up to their roommates.

Hello! i have been experiencing some major problems with my first grow. i am using Sunshine Mix #4. im using 1 gallon containers. the room temp is between 77-81. humidity is between 45-50. sometimes it creeps a little lower, sometimes its creeps a little higher. i have a 12" circular fan osolating at all times. they are in veg at 24 hrs of light per day on 4-bulb 4 foot florescent lights. i have been watering only when the containers are light and have been feeding them: starting the first few feeds with Botanicare's line of Pro Grow for hydro, Liquid Karma and Cal Mag. all at 3.75ml per gal the first 3 feeds then jumped to 5ml per gal the last 2 feeds. i have been on a every other day watering schedule. R/O water all the time. i have been loosing A LOT of leafs. i hear that is normal from some growers, and not normal form others. i have probably lost about 2 full plants worth of leafs. all the leafs on the bottom are the problematic leafs. all growth from the middle up looks really good. they dont have that luscious green almost leathery look (im colorblind, thats the best i can describe healthy looking plants) im getting really nervous that this is a bigger problem than i think it is. growth is still very active. the plants are in there 5th week of life, started from seed. they seem like there growing fine, the growth at the top looks healthy. i am highly confused. i have grown once before in soil back in the mid nineties (god, that ages me...lol) and this is my first hydro grow. i check the ph at the end of every neut mixing and it appears to be at 6.0 (using the color coded drops with PH UP & DOWN). i have lost a shit ton of leafs and im getting majorly concerned. can anyone tell me what im doing wrong? the lights are about a half an inch above the tallest plant which is at 17.5inches. the others are about 12inches. the tallest plants are on the left and right of the light and the shortest plant being in the middle with an arch from left to right. i have developed a small gnat problem but am slowly dealing with that issue as organically as possible. i know the line of nuets im using are organic based. i was referred by everyone (online) to get FOXFARM. didnt find enough positive things to use it, guy at the store knew exactly what i was going for when i told him the style of grow i want to do. and he referred me to BC's line of nuets. i started using all 3 of the BC products i picked up and have not seen any promising results yet!! i have been using them for over a week now, just about 2 weeks. an nothing. very slight tip burn, possible neut burn, but those marks on the leafs where there before i started using the nuets.

please help me!! if you need pics, just ask. i have some from about a week ago. but i can get updated ones asap!!! i need advise asap!! the lights seem to be in the correct position. my waterings are not excessive, anyways i dont think they are. what am i doing wrong?? what am i not doing right? im dying to know!!!!

Dubbz0r said:

If I don't give them water every day, my plants wilt. As soon as I water them, they perk back up. They're in 5 gal warrior pots and are extremely thirsty girls (except the lemon skunk). Week 4 of flower just started yesterday. The temp in their room has gone up this week thanks to the major heatwave that hit us. At some point it was up to 93F. I run a 70 pint dehumidifier during lights off along with 4 box fans and an a/c unit. rH is always between 40-47%. Anyways, I'm coming to the conclusion that the lemon skunk ladies were not over watered but were suffering from heat stress. Two 1000w hps were running approx. 12" from canopy. I raised them up to 16" recently. The flush and nute feed seemed to help the LS for the most part. Now they're just trying to catch up to their roommates.

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There is no "correct" way to water. Some plants are thirsty, some hardly drink. Your doing it right, feed to your plant's needs not to what some book or internet strange says. 93 is definitely a little too hot. Growth slows above about 83F, stops at about 87-90, damage above 90.

bigbud888 said:

Check out my time lapse vid and tell me whatcha think.

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I think you should have put the camera in the same place each picture.
I also think putting reflective material directly under and touching the leaves is a ridiculously bad idea.

blackxs said:

There is no "correct" way to water. Some plants are thirsty, some hardly drink. Your doing it right, feed to your plant's needs not to what some book or internet strange says. 93 is definitely a little too hot. Growth slows above about 83F, stops at about 87-90, damage above 90.

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I have to disagree with this a little. My room right now is currently at 88F. It's definitely not where I want it to be but I'm blasting my c02 over 2000ppm. I've read that high c02 ppm's can help a plant strive in a high temperature environment. My plants seem to be flourishing under these conditions thus far but we'll see how the end result is...