compostmike said:

That looks more like a root zone/oxygen issue than true underwatering to me. When they get worse after a drink, the plant is usually saying the roots are already sitting in a zone that’s staying too wet or too dense, not that it needed more.

Solo cups can fool you because the top dries while the bottom is still wet. Same with moving a little root ball into a big 10 gal of active soil, the plant doesn’t have enough root mass yet to work that whole volume, so the wet zone can just sit there. Roots need air just as much as water, and in living/super soil the biology also slows down when the pore space stays saturated.

I’d quit trying to “fix” it for a bit and just observe weight and recovery. Don’t judge the top half inch only. Lift the cup/pot, feel how heavy it is, and let the plant tell you when the root zone is breathing again. The transplant one may sulk anyway, but the fact she looked similar before transplant makes me think watering rhythm/medium structure started it before the move.

Does that solo cup have plenty of drainage holes, including low on the sides/bottom? And is that basic potting soil one of the moisture-control types? Those can stay wetter than they look.

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