please... help me finally figure this out... pics.

every once in a while, one of my plants will go nuts. The leaves will hook and curl. This is not the look of the nitrogen claw... but something else. I've never been able to figure it out. Its happening again with one of my girls and I'm not sure what to do. Here are some pics:







Some details... Plant is papaya (basically straight indica) 8 days into bloom. growing in 60/40 coco/hydroton. 600w hps. floranova line of nutes. Currently feeding 5 ml bloom, 2.5 ml diamond nectar, 2.5 ml florablend, 2.5 ml floranectar, 5 ml CaMg+, 2 ml liquid kool bloom, and 1 ml floralicious plus (per gallon). After adding 2 ml pH up... I'm at 5.7-5.8. Watering every other day.

This plant is doing this alongside other plants that are on the same schedule... same nutrient program... and looking perfect. Which perplexes me even more. Here's a pic of another papaya, also 8 days in... looking like it should.



This is maybe the third or fourth time in as many years that I've encountered this problem. So... what the hell is going on here?

I've heard before that this is caused by over-regulating the ph of your water, believe it or not. The guys at advanced nutrients said it isn't recommended to adjust your water's ph so it is perfect daily, but rather check it every 48 hours. I know it sounds weird, but just what I've heard through the grape-vine. Anybody else heard this, or have any other ideas?

Try watering each individual plant when the medium dries out rather than watering them all at the same time.

Feel the weight of the pot when it is just watered. Don't water it again until it is significantly lighter.

Different plants in different spots in your grow will have differernt watering needs. Even when they are from identical clones.

Just a guess.

HeartlandHank said:

Try watering each individual plant when the medium dries out rather than watering them all at the same time.

Feel the weight of the pot when it is just watered. Don't water it again until it is significantly lighter.

Different plants in different spots in your grow will have differernt watering needs. Even when they are from identical clones.

Just a guess.

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right... I was thinking this might be along the lines of overwatering... but I'm not really convinced of that either. I was watering this plant every three days. I just switched to every two days (vegging plants are watered every 3 days... blooming plants every 2... this plant was recently sent into bloom). However, the problem actually developed when I was vegging... and watering every three days. I flushed the plant and waited a week. everything looked better. So I sent it into bloom. 8 days later... back to the same thing.

I'm flushing it now just to be safe. I guess after a few gallons of water/10ml florakleen. I'll re-nute and wait a 3,4,5 days to water again... see if conditions improve.

M B P said:

right... I was thinking this might be along the lines of overwatering... but I'm not really convinced of that either. I was watering this plant every three days. I just switched to every two days (vegging plants are watered every 3 days... blooming plants every 2... this plant was recently sent into bloom). However, the problem actually developed when I was vegging... and watering every three days. I flushed the plant and waited a week. everything looked better. So I sent it into bloom. 8 days later... back to the same thing.

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Hmm. Man. I haven't really had the issue before so all I could do was guess.

If it was happening in my grow, I think the first thing i would check out is measuring the ph of the run off. Did the root system look pretty healthy?

I haven't had this happen, so i really should have just moved along. Fuck, I'm bored as shit.

Flushing is a good call. Measure the ph of the water going in and what comes out. Maybe it is a ph issue.

The batteries in my pH meter are dead. I have checked the pH of the runoff in the past... its always been between 6.0 and 6.3. 90% sure it's somewhere in that range. I like your call on over-watering. I was thinking and researching the same thing when you posted. As I said, I'm not absolutely convinced that its overwatering yet... Its supposed to be almost impossible to overwater in coco... but... the droopy look... nearly perfectly matches what I've got going on.

way over waterd dude

its not ph lol its a watering issue ph locks out nutes it doesnt make you plant sag.

100% over waterd no question about it

stickyicky0420 said:

its not ph lol its a watering issue ph locks out nutes it doesnt make you plant sag.

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right. Aside from the curling... the leaves are healthy (texture, color, whatnot)... which led me to believe that the ph and nute levels were fine.

Overwatering it is.

yep just let the medium dry out i like to stick my finger in about 3 inch if you feel any moister at all it doesnt need to be waterd the roots are starved of oxygen right now so they arnt takeing in enough water causeing the water pressure in the stems to drop causeing them to droop

i gotta agree with the above post that its over watered. it has that over watered sag to it. the plant looks healthy otherwise. its green as hell and the branches are standing tall and not leaning over like sick plants tend to do. whats confusing to me is it doesnt have the big fat swollen blades on the leaves but yet it has the sag going on. ive only seen them from my own grows and they go hand in hand...fat swollen blades +the sag = over watered.

i'm going to go along with over watering. But... I'm still not 100% on board. How could I have overwaterd a plant in coco by watering every 3 days? I'm not really looking for an answer to that... Just putting that out there.

for sure dude...let the soil dry out. wait to water again till it gets dry and dusty on top.

one last question: If it was overwatering, would I see the same look on all the leaves, top to bottom? Because the leaves on the lower half of the plant are fine.

edit... I just checked again... by fine, I mean healthier straighter looking leaf blades, but still curved stalks.

its a crazy world and some shit u just cant explain. i grow in 7gallon smart pots and some plants i water every other day and some go 3 or 4. all mine are around the same size and for sure the same age but they still dont feed/water the same. its just one of those weird ass things that happens...like when the smaller plant takes more water than the 2x bigger one and im like WTF??? it just one of them things...lol

id like to see the results of this.. im kinda on your side if you only watering every 3 days that should be fine

im my experiences, its the tops that show the signs first. if u hold back on the water once u notice the problem the bottom will never show signs....unless u keep putting the h2o to it. like i said...i have a few that look just like that every now and then plus mine get big swollen blades and i just let um dry out, and i mean DRY OUT. ill wail till it almost starts saggin from under watering and then add water. it will perk right back up with in a cpl hours and go through a sweet lil growth spurt

Grown n Oregon said:

im my experiences, its the tops that show the signs first. if u hold back on the water once u notice the problem the bottom will never show signs....unless u keep putting the h2o to it. like i said...i have a few that look just like that every now and then plus mine get big swollen blades and i just let um dry out, and i mean DRY OUT. ill wail till it almost starts saggin from under watering and then add water. it will perk right back up with in a cpl hours and go through a sweet lil growth spurt

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you are never supposed to let your coco get dry... or you get major problems. But i can let it get close to that. I'll wait 3, 4,5 days... check the weight of the pot.

honestly, ive never used coco.. im a FF and happy frog fan. untill they fail me wrong, ill never switch my soil.