Autoflower With Bad Drainage! Help

[Jdpropagator]

I have a king Tutankhamon currently veg into mid week 4, I planted into a 5 gallon homedepot bucket drilled out big drain holes at bottom and sides, it’s current in a mix of 40%cow manure and 40% vigoro 20% perlite i aswell amended the soil prior with all purpose fertilizer from dr.earth and some bone meal now I’m noticing the soil isn’t draining fast enough and worried about potential root rot the plant showed some signs of burn but not really sure on what my next steps should be… wether or not to transplant again into a different soil or continue growing in this one and feed accordingly. Its my second plant ever and I used whatever resources I had available at the time.

 

[Pushrod Monkey]

I would transplant and next time use some perlite and a grow bag instead of a bucket. Your medium mix is holding water. Your roots will suffer.

 

[lvstealth]

well... you bought soil you dont need to feed, then added some really rich stuff to it, then added more food by way of a totally different fertilizer that says only 1/4 cup per 5 gallon every 4 or 5 months... what more do you want to feed them?

watch transplanting an auto and especially an auto in flower. it will not end well.

dont do anything. wait it out. you cant force it to drink.

dont feed it anything till it looks like it needs something. you gave it a ton of stuff. just water when the pot is light like sawdust.

it will be fine, just litfa, i think that is what it is called (leave it the ... alone<---i saw that and laughed and thought i need to use it too!)

 

[Ponky]

I reckon you could just water it plain until it's finished. Let it go wild.

 

[Jdpropagator]

Will possibly transplant to a 5 gallon fabric pot hopefully that alleviates the roots from suffocating. At this point I’ve realized I can only continue low stress train to even the canopy. Does the plant look healthy ?

 

[ComfortablyNumb]

Drill a zillion holes in that bucket. You are drowning the plant.

 

[Pushrod Monkey]

Drill a zillion holes in that bucket. You are drowning the plant.

This is not overdoing it. Promise. If you do this now you might be able to save it. It looks like it will be fine once roots can breathe again. Roots must get oxygen.

 

[Edinburgh]

Yes that is indeed a problem, same thing just happened to me, you must put clay pebbles at bottom of pot for proper drainage, i ran out but was lucky bc my auto although a female would not flower so cut cycle to 12 12 to induce flowering, fed bloom nutes 1 time and slightly burned leaf tips, it's 12 weeks old and just keep it watered, only thing i can tell u is you could try and transplant into a bigger pot with proper drainage.

 

[Backyard_Boogie]

If its and auto I would NOT recommend repotting it at this point especially since its in a bucket. It will be tricky to remove and I can almost guarantee it will do some form of shock to the plant. This could vey likely do more harm than good. Your soil blend is lacking just a tad in perlite in the mix this accompanies by a thick plastic pot is leading to slow drainage/evaporation. Since you already got it started go ahead and finish it in the bucket. Next time consider fabric grow bags instead they are very forgiving with watering and drainage. to save your current plant do what the other guys said get your cordless drill and start punching a bunch of holes as evenly as you can. I would start around the bottom edge and rotate the bucket while punching the wholes in a spiral formation going up. You can make them pretty close to each other. You don't need to bring the holes all the way to the top in fact I would stop at probably 5 inches or so from the dirt line. If you drill them too high I can see your water draining out before it soaks in while your watering. Most important is the bottom area that is where the water gets swampy and nasty there is the least oxygen there due to the soil being so wet down there. I would punch a punch of wholes in the bottom half of that bucket and hold off on the watering for a while. Like a handful of days really let it start to dry out and then ease back into water very carefully.

You will know its working when these lighter green new growth shoots start to darken back up. This yellowing right here is beginning sings of root rot due to lack of oxygen...

 

[freezeland2]

Will possibly transplant to a 5 gallon fabric pot hopefully that alleviates the roots from suffocating. At this point I’ve realized I can only continue low stress train to even the canopy. Does the plant look healthy ?

If you go to a fab pot use 10g minimum. I have 5 gal plastics and a 10g bag ain’t much bigger.

 

[lvstealth]

Transplanting a flowering auto isnt a great idea.

Leave her alone. It will dry.

If you actually want to affect the water lay it on its side.

Drill holes, don't drill holes, won't hurt either way but won't dry it faster either.

Do all these things to a basically healthy plant that isn't drying as fast as you want, it gets pissed and stops drinking and it stays wet longer.

All these things like holes and transplanting are just something that makes you feel like you helped, in the end they are all small shocks which makes her stop doing anything. That means she won't dry, that means she will just get worse.

 

[Jdpropagator]

Looks like I won’t be doing anything but watching it dry up what kind of yield can I expect from this ?

 

[ComfortablyNumb]

Drill holes, don't drill holes, won't hurt either way but won't dry it faster either.

I disagree.

Marijuana Watering, how media, pot size/shape and environment affect it

Ok lots of posts on how to water plants. So I thought I would put together a thread on how different factors contribute to different results that ppl see. This will be a long read based on my personal knowledge, opinions, research and others work to consolidate information for our members. I'm...

www.thcfarmer.com

 

[Backyard_Boogie]

I disagree.

Marijuana Watering, how media, pot size/shape and environment affect it

Ok lots of posts on how to water plants. So I thought I would put together a thread on how different factors contribute to different results that ppl see. This will be a long read based on my personal knowledge, opinions, research and others work to consolidate information for our members. I'm...

www.thcfarmer.com

Yeah I too am a bit perplexed by this. How would drilling holes not allow for it to dry out quicker? I think it most certainly would dry quicker by opening up more air flow. I mean Im not trying to start a debate about physics but in my mind opening up airflow would most definitely dry it out faster this is why fabric bags need to be watered more frequently than plastic its because the material breathes better. What your basically saying is opening up your windows after you clean your carpet wont help your carpet dry faster. same exact principle and we all know the cleaners always tell you open everything up. Or its like saying leaving the top off of a bottle of water wont allow it to evaporate quicker. Ummm Im pretty sure the more open it is the faster it evaporates but hey maybe Im way off. Maybe myth-busters should do a special on 5 gallon grow buckets

 

[Ponky]

My theory is transpiration is the way the majority of the water leaves the pot. Through the roots to the leaves. Not from the holes and pot surface. The difference is fabric pots and landscape pots in watering times doesn't standout to me. Plant size seems to decide.

 

[Backyard_Boogie]

My theory is transpiration is the way the majority of the water leaves the pot. Through the roots to the leaves. Not from the holes and pot surface. The difference is fabric pots and landscape pots in watering times doesn't standout to me. Plant size seems to decide.

Yes I totally understand your point and it is true that the larger the root ball on the bottom the faster the roots will pull the moisture out of the soil. However in his specific situation I think the plant may not have filled the entire 5 gallon bucket with roots yet. I think thats part of the problem when he waters the soil gets saturated and wet but since his perlite ratio is low and the bucket doesn't breathe as well the soil isn't drying out in between his waterings. Given the fact that his auto plant isn't very big yet and the roots aren't sucking up the moisture quick enough this is compounding the problem. This is why they always say don't put a small plant in too big of a pot it can cause problems. But this is a catch 22 with autos because they also say to start your auto in the same pot your gonna finish it in. This is why 3 gallon (ideally fabric) is great for autos its the Goldilocks size in my opinion for autos. I will sometimes use 5 gallons when I do outdoors cuz you gotta run them longer and they get bigger and bushier and they will fill the entire pot with roots the bigger plants benefit from the extra few gallons. Indoors I like to run them faster and smaller so 3 gallon is good. Here is good tip if you gotta put a small plant in a bigger pot I like to water in a ring around the plant. I keep the middle dry and only water on the outside edges of the pot as to not drown the little plant in the middle. As the plant gets bigger and roots more developed I will slowly bring my "water can spiral" tighter and tighter to the middle. By the time the plant if full size you can flood the pot it doesn't matter cuz the roots suck it up quick before any oxygen problems can arise.

 

[lvstealth]

it might dry a day quicker, lets even give it two. drilling the holes will not please her and she is already pissy at you, so she slows by 5 days... did you win anything?

any time a plant doesnt do what you think it should everyone says do all these things. its always (not always, but might as well be) water. google the threads here. read them. google other places... they always say all kinds of things to do, but look at dates, they all take about the same time whether they drill, put fans on, lay it on its side (which actually might help), or wait (and let me tell you there are tons of ideas on it).

the ideal situation would be for it to be a photo and you transplant it to a bag or have started with a bag. but we have what we have. you put it into a tall pot that is plastic.

if you read Aqua man's sticky post on watering and pots and all you will see what has happened. you watered, it gathered at the bottom, the top dried so you watered, this continued. the first thing the first root does is go down till it cant. so yeah, the roots are at the bottom. so now it has to dry. and it will take a long time. but the roots are down at the bottom and the water is down there,

there is a hole in the bottom you said, so if there were standing water it would flow out and it is not. so the soil has wicked it up and is holding it.

with some holes you will dry some of the outsides, like you dried the top, but you will still have a wet medium. you drilled the one hole so you know, you are not talking about a little tap and shes done, you are talking about jarring, vibrating and otherwise pissing her off for quite a lot of holes to make a difference. so you shock her she stops trying and then just time dries it. she is, at this point helping, she is trying to grow so she is using water.

that is my analysis. i know nothing, i do read a lot and i make spreadsheets. i like numbers. that is what i have come up with. i can be wrong, they can all be right. that is how it all works. i wont take it to heart. my only information is data. i collect a lot. i have never used anything but a bag pot for cannabis. my house plants are all in regular prettier containers and my garden is in the ground. so i am by no means an expert and they might well be.

 

[Jdpropagator]

it might dry a day quicker, lets even give it two. drilling the holes will not please her and she is already pissy at you, so she slows by 5 days... did you win anything?

any time a plant doesnt do what you think it should everyone says do all these things. its always (not always, but might as well be) water. google the threads here. read them. google other places... they always say all kinds of things to do, but look at dates, they all take about the same time whether they drill, put fans on, lay it on its side (which actually might help), or wait (and let me tell you there are tons of ideas on it).

the ideal situation would be for it to be a photo and you transplant it to a bag or have started with a bag. but we have what we have. you put it into a tall pot that is plastic.

if you read Aqua man's sticky post on watering and pots and all you will see what has happened. you watered, it gathered at the bottom, the top dried so you watered, this continued. the first thing the first root does is go down till it cant. so yeah, the roots are at the bottom. so now it has to dry. and it will take a long time. but the roots are down at the bottom and the water is down there,

there is a hole in the bottom you said, so if there were standing water it would flow out and it is not. so the soil has wicked it up and is holding it.

with some holes you will dry some of the outsides, like you dried the top, but you will still have a wet medium. you drilled the one hole so you know, you are not talking about a little tap and shes done, you are talking about jarring, vibrating and otherwise pissing her off for quite a lot of holes to make a difference. so you shock her she stops trying and then just time dries it. she is, at this point helping, she is trying to grow so she is using water.

that is my analysis. i know nothing, i do read a lot and i make spreadsheets. i like numbers. that is what i have come up with. i can be wrong, they can all be right. that is how it all works. i wont take it to heart. my only information is data. i collect a lot. i have never used anything but a bag pot for cannabis. my house plants are all in regular prettier containers and my garden in in the ground. so i am by no means an expert and they might well be.

I appreciate that

 

[Backyard_Boogie]

it might dry a day quicker, lets even give it two. drilling the holes will not please her and she is already pissy at you, so she slows by 5 days... did you win anything?

any time a plant doesnt do what you think it should everyone says do all these things. its always (not always, but might as well be) water. google the threads here. read them. google other places... they always say all kinds of things to do, but look at dates, they all take about the same time whether they drill, put fans on, lay it on its side (which actually might help), or wait (and let me tell you there are tons of ideas on it).

the ideal situation would be for it to be a photo and you transplant it to a bag or have started with a bag. but we have what we have. you put it into a tall pot that is plastic.

if you read Aqua man's sticky post on watering and pots and all you will see what has happened. you watered, it gathered at the bottom, the top dried so you watered, this continued. the first thing the first root does is go down till it cant. so yeah, the roots are at the bottom. so now it has to dry. and it will take a long time. but the roots are down at the bottom and the water is down there,

there is a hole in the bottom you said, so if there were standing water it would flow out and it is not. so the soil has wicked it up and is holding it.

with some holes you will dry some of the outsides, like you dried the top, but you will still have a wet medium. you drilled the one hole so you know, you are not talking about a little tap and shes done, you are talking about jarring, vibrating and otherwise pissing her off for quite a lot of holes to make a difference. so you shock her she stops trying and then just time dries it. she is, at this point helping, she is trying to grow so she is using water.

that is my analysis. i know nothing, i do read a lot and i make spreadsheets. i like numbers. that is what i have come up with. i can be wrong, they can all be right. that is how it all works. i wont take it to heart. my only information is data. i collect a lot. i have never used anything but a bag pot for cannabis. my house plants are all in regular prettier containers and my garden in in the ground. so i am by no means an expert and they might well be.

Tomato Tomato you make some valid points however I don't agree 100% but thats OK we are allowed to sometimes have slightly differing opinions about the best course of action. Personally I would dry out that pot asap its an auto not a photo the clock is ticking. I have translated hundreds of autos and yes it is true that they can shock easy and its not recommended if you can avoid it however I learned how to do it. I use small fabric pots and if Im repotting the auto in the future I make sure to put it in a velcro fabric pot. If you try to transplant too soon the roots wont hold the dirt-ball together and it crumbles and shocks the plant. If you wait too long the roots get bound and it is also bad for the plant the roots start trying to push through the fabric they get stuck. When transplanting an auto there is a sweet spot a little window in the middle where its full enough with roots to hold the dirt ball in a clump but not too root bound for it to stick to the fabric and rip. You wait a few days on watering to let the roots dry up and then open the velcro and gently peel the fabric down like your peeling a super delicate banana. If the whole ball comes out without making too much of a "ripping" sound then your good.

The reason why I am bringing this up is because after transplanting many autos in different size pots what I have realized that there are a few different variables in play. The main thing to avoid is ripping the roots. That is the big no no. a little vibration wont hurt the plant so long long as the roots stay in tact and don't rip. At my old house on my outdoor patio I had so many autos running that I had to set some of them on top of my A/C unit for space. Full size central A/C unit for a home the ones with the big fan blade that spins right underneath the metal grid on top. That old clunky A/C rattled and buzzed and hummed all day long during the summer at first I was worried that it might effect my plants but they were totally fine. I think it was actually better for them the big fan would kick on and the leaves and branches would be dancing around from the wind of the turbine it was like everyday was a nice breezy day for them.

This all being said I don't think at this point there is too much to loose on that auto. In my opinion you might as well try to assist. Im also really handy with shit like this so this is just me talking if you don't have a drill or are NOT good with handyman shit then just pass on it. I would set that bucket on my work bench and bear hug it with my left arm. Hold that bitch tight so it doesn't vibrate and then use a sharp carbide bit to start punching holes. You can push your bit really deep into your drill so its only sticking out around 1/4 inch. This way once the bit punches through the plastic you don't have to worry about sending a red hot drill bit 6 inches into the soil. It all just depends on the roots. If the roots have already filled the bucket and are pressing against the sides than it is NOT worth it. However based upon how small the plant is and how big the bucket is Im willing to bet that the roots are still very minimal. I would say there is a good chance that you don't even see white roots at the bottom of that bucket when you look inside your drilled holes. Im willing to bet all your gonna see is wet dirt. If you see roots stop, if you don't see any roots then keep punching the holes higher and higher up from the bottom until you do. I bet all the roots are in the upper half of that bucket with only a few little stringers pushing down towards the bottom.

 

[MilkyTrichomes]

I have a king Tutankhamon currently veg into mid week 4, I planted into a 5 gallon homedepot bucket drilled out big drain holes at bottom and sides, it’s current in a mix of 40%cow manure and 40% vigoro 20% perlite i aswell amended the soil prior with all purpose fertilizer from dr.earth and some bone meal now I’m noticing the soil isn’t draining fast enough and worried about potential root rot the plant showed some signs of burn but not really sure on what my next steps should be… wether or not to transplant again into a different soil or continue growing in this one and feed accordingly. Its my second plant ever and I used whatever resources I had available at the time.

Less cow shit and more perlite