Leaves wilting and curling

[BustedNinja]

My plants were coming along nicely, now the have started to wilt especially at the tips, and the new growth on one plant especially is curling like a taco. Growth has pretty much come to a halt also. They are in happy frog soil, under a Philzon 900 watt led light that draws about 113 actual watts. Watered with well water. They are in 7 gallon fabric smart pots, started in solo cups. My dogs got ahold of my ph meter the day it showed up, new one shows up monday. I have not added any nutrients, they are about 4.5 weeks from seed. So far my suspicions are ph issues, possible overwatering although I have been pretty careful to not overwater. I let the soil not completely dry out, but get close between watering. I stick my finger into the soil a few inches deep, when it doesnt feel real moist I water again. They didn't perk up at all after the last time I watered. This is my first grow, I'm trying to narrow down where I'm going wrong. They are from unknown bag seed, I have alien orange Congolese seeds, but wanted to try my first grow before using them. I will attach pictures. If anyone has any suggestions I am eager and happy to hear them!

 

[az2000]

How do you water/feed? In the first photo, the top of the soil looks like you watered around the stalk. You should drench the entire soil; then let it dry substantially. The roots can travel much further than the above-ground plant would suggest. It looks like you're watering around the size of the plant, and maybe having dry areas of soil that the roots could grow into. Salts could build up there, not being washed further into the soil, and out.

 

[BustedNinja]

You're exactly right about how I water az2000. I will be watering now the way you suggested. Thank you for the input!!

 

[BustedNinja]

With all the research I've done, I keep getting surprised by the simple things that I've overlooked lol.

 

[BustedNinja]

Also az2000, In regards to feeding, I haven't yet. I have the fox farm trio, but have not used any of them yet. I've read alot about people waiting until flower to start adding any nutrients to the fox farm soil, as the soil has alot of nutrients already. I'm a little worried about nute burn if I start adding nutes. Do you have an opinion on that? TIA.

 

[az2000]

You're exactly right about how I water az2000. I will be watering now the way you suggested. Thank you for the input!!

I've never used Fox Farms. Most of what I've read says Happy Frog isn't as strong, and you'd start feeding a couple weeks earlier than Ocean Forest. (But, I've read the opposite too.). HF is supposedly dense, slow-drying and can cause root rot. I've read people mix it with more perlite or coco to help that. So, you might have some problems that way.

If the core of the soil is fairly wet now, you might pour some around the edges (not enough for runoff, just get some moisture down the sides, to work inward a little). Then wait for it to dry substantially. Then do the full drench. Pour around the outer part and let the water work inward. You can pour in two stages. Let it soak in a little, then pour more for a little runoff. Since you're not feeding, you might not need much runoff to wash away salts. When you start feeding, you might.

When you start feeding, you probably want to start weak and work your way up. I grow in a light soil and start feeding after 1 week. I've never had to choose when to start feeding, and scale into it as it needs more. That seems like it could be challenging. I think 4 weeks is when you'd start feeding HF. But, that's just from what I've read. I don't know.

 

[BustedNinja]

Thank you for taking the time to type up a very thorough answer man! It does seem like it gets pretty dense and dries slow like you said, that concerned me a bit. But as I said this is my first attempt at this and have no gardening experience otherwise. I have a ton of perlite on hand for other things, I will mix some in to this soil next grow. I think I will be switching soil, but still have 3 cu ft left of hf so I'll keep trying with it until I'm out. I recognize your screen name from research I've done on here, I'm pretty happy to be getting advice from you right off the bat so soon after I posted my first question on here!