Soil not drying out properly..

[bluedabadee]

Hello growers,

I have a bushy plant that takes forever to dry out. It's been 12 days since last watering (only 500ml) and leaves just started to droop and ll water tonight. It's growing so slowly that I had to extend veg time to 60 days. Temps are high and humidity around 60. Fan 24h working on the soil.

Day 35 today, 4 gal pots, under 240watt qb, I fed 4-5 times at 400-600ppm between day 14-23. Growing in a light mix soil. My pot choice was wrong in the beginning and root structure wasn't so good as I observed during transplant on day 22, topped on day 25. I also gave a little too much cal-mag that caused in nitrogen excess (claw and dark leaves) but they still don't look so bad.

I have a couple weeks left in veg and I'm really worried. I want it to get somewhere before I flip so I need your help please. How much water do you think I should use this time? I'd like to water to runoff but it's not drying properly. Is it OK to use some vitamin B and alg-a-mic this watering at 300 ppm? (no grow nutes or cal-mag obviously) Also, I only fed 4-5 times totally, do you think there would be a salt build up? If that's the case, should I flush it? Or maybe repot it to a smaller one?

Roots probably haven't reached to bottom yet but I'll poke some holes around the outside of pots toward the bottom and see if this helps.

 

[elduderito]

over fed and over watered ... 4-5 feedings, let alone waterings, for such a small plant over the span of 9 days is too much...

I think you should be watering less often but with more water... about 3 litres at a time for now seems about right.. but you really have to let that pot dry out before watering more ... In veg after transplanting into the plants final container it often will take a full week for the pot to get light and need it's 2nd watering in my experience....

what soil is she in? and what nutes are you feeding with? It's likely she didn't need feeding for the first 3-4 weeks

 

[bluedabadee]

Thank you @elduderito . It's been 12 days since transplanting and she just needs some water today. She's in a light mix soil, only fed advanced nutes grow nutes and cal-mag couple times in low amounts at 400-600ppm.

So my concern is I gave 500ml and they dried in 12 days. If I give them 3L, wouldn't that take forever?

 

[Beazy]

Looks like possible bugs maybe !?!? That one leaf on the left has some white spots ! That is exactly what got me looking closer at my plants and sure enough there were spider mites creepin !! I hope that’s not the case for you but take a CLOSE look to be sure

 

[lvstealth]

over fed and over watered looks like to me.

i dont think i understand... you watered one time in 10 days but fed 4 or 5 times in 10 days? how do you feed with no water?

what are you growing in? soil?

 

[bluedabadee]

@lvstealth i gave half a liter of water while transplanting and it hasn't dried since. Feeding 4 times was before transplanting, when I was watering every couple days in a smaller pot.

 

[bluedabadee]

@Beazy no bugs detected but thanks for your input!

 

[RealizedReal000]

Did you use a scope with 60x? Cause it looks like you may have some type of mite. Usually when you start getting holes in your leaves and twisted growth it’s one of the first signs.

 

[Aaflexy]

It could be early signs of powdery mildew (the white spots)

 

[bluedabadee]

I will get a scope tomorrow and check the plant carefully

 

[GNick55]

the plant has been pretty much stunted from your watering/feeding practices not much you can do as she won’t really bounce out of it..
i don’t see signs of pests..
stunted or not if it takes 10 days or so to dry out than somethings wrong with your environment, shouldn’t take that long regardless..
air holes in the pots?

 

[lvstealth]

ohhh... that makes much more since! lol.

so this is just since transplanting? was it this dark, and the leaves this thick and big before you transplanted?

if it is just the transplanting, it might have shock and often takes about a week to even start growing again, so if that is it, just wait it out.

but...

the leaves are very dark and they look thick, and large... those things just make me lean towards the over water/feed. any one of those things and i wouldnt say that, but all three...

 

[SecretGardener]

root structure wasn't so good as I observed during transplant

I think you were over watering before transplanting. Then going to 4 gal pots with a good saturation at transplanting.. This likely made the roots even sicker. This is why your pots are not drying out - unhealthy roots. I have been in this exact predicament. With very light watering it will take weeks to get them back to health. I have transplanted to fresh media in smaller pots to try and speed the recovery. In the long run the ones I did not transplant recovered about as fast.

To avoid this issue I now always transplant 4 times - seedling cups to quart square to 1 gal to final 2 gal fabric pots. And I wait till they are drying out completely with daily watering. If a good saturation once a day is not enough, time to transplant to a bigger pot.

good luck.

 

[Scar818]

Hmmm this is quite odd im thinking it either needs to be flushed with clean water and maybe some nutriboost( helps stressed plants) when ur soil dries or is it possible its not getting enough light?

 

[bluedabadee]

the plant has been pretty much stunted from your watering/feeding practices not much you can do as she won’t really bounce out of it..
i don’t see signs of pests..
stunted or not if it takes 10 days or so to dry out than somethings wrong with your environment, shouldn’t take that long regardless..
air holes in the pots?

Yes, I drilled some holes around the middle and bottom of pot. Leaves were droopy and soil felt like completely dry so I gave her a little water (150-200ml) with vitamin b and algamic and now she looks worse. @Scar818 they're getting enough light but just like @lvstealth suggested I may have overwatered and overfed before transplanting. Probably poor watering techniques and using too much cal-mag ruined this one for me. So I'll take @SecretGardener 's advice and not repot her and just learn from my mistakes. I planted a couple seeds to be safe. I'll go ahead with those and hopefully not make the same mistakes, thank you!

Just one question, so I transplanted my 2 weeks old girls the night before, started off in solo cups. Roots were all over the cup and all looked white, I guess meaning healthy roots. They were a little dry as I was transplanting, I poured some mychorezza and watered the new pot lightly (125 ml of water at 100ppm just some algamic). It's been 2 nights and pot still feels heavy, and the soil moist. I know I shouldn't water at this point - and leaves looking real good, also nice growth- but is there something wrong with my light mix soil or environment as even 125ml of water but still not dried. So the light mix soil feels moist in the bag, would that contain too much moist that it takes too long to dry after transplant? I'm keeping humidity at around 60, 85-90F temps. I've never given her nutes just some algamic. 24h fans working on the soil too.

 

[GNick55]

Yes, I drilled some holes around the middle and bottom of pot. Leaves were droopy and soil felt like completely dry so I gave her a little water (150-200ml) with vitamin b and algamic and now she looks worse. @Scar818 they're getting enough light but just like @lvstealth suggested I may have overwatered and overfed before transplanting. Probably poor watering techniques and using too much cal-mag ruined this one for me. So I'll take @SecretGardener 's advice and not repot her and just learn from my mistakes. I planted a couple seeds to be safe. I'll go ahead with those and hopefully not make the same mistakes, thank you!

Just one question, so I transplanted my 2 weeks old girls the night before, started off in solo cups. Roots were all over the cup and all looked white, I guess meaning healthy roots. They were a little dry as I was transplanting, I poured some mychorezza and watered the new pot lightly (125 ml of water at 100ppm just some algamic). It's been 2 nights and pot still feels heavy, and the soil moist. I know I shouldn't water at this point - and leaves looking real good, also nice growth- but is there something wrong with my light mix soil or environment as even 125ml of water but still not dried. So the light mix soil feels moist in the bag, would that contain too much moist that it takes too long to dry after transplant? I'm keeping humidity at around 60, 85-90F temps. I've never given her nutes just some algamic. 24h fans working on the soil too.

transplanting can cause a little shock which basically means the plant slows down until it’s ready to start growing.. watering after a transplant is good.
your growing in bio bizz light mix? than it’s organic and you don’t need to ph/ppm/ec your water/nutrients..
nor do you want run off.
a seedling needs only water until the two small round cotyledon leaves start to yellow naturally, generally 2 weeks from sprouting, than you add tiny tiny doses of nutrients.
here’s my seedlings a week and half old growing in promix hp (soilless contains no nutrients) and no nutrients, nothing just water when needed, these were last watered on sunday, that day i transplanted them from tiny shot glass size cups to these their next watering and first feeding will be tomorrow.

 

[bluedabadee]

They look beautiful @GNick55 . What's your light distance to seedlings if I may ask? Mine never stretch out that much.

So tomorrow you'll have finished one week without watering. Ok, now it makes sense. I got cotyledons yellowing already so I hope soil dries out at some point and I get to feed them as well, of course in small amounts. Also, I didn't know and always checked PH in Biobizz Light Mix. Even their nutrient schedule says 6.5 - 6.2 ph is ideal for this substrate but good to hear this from you.

 

[lvstealth]

it buffers to between 6.2 - 6.5, not that you need to make it that.

if it is not drinking you cant make it drink. you wait it out. most things you do will only piss her off and like most of us women, that will just make us go slower!

this is just something i learned in transplanting autos, if you take your new pot put some soil in the bottom, just enough to make the solo cup at the right height. take a solo cup, sit it in the center and fill the whole thing up, lightly tap down everything. then pull the cup out, up-end your girl and slide her out and right in the hole left by the cup you just took out. then sort of tap the pot on the floor to settle it - just a bit. then water her in.

that might help you not have so much shock and she will just keep on growing roots.

the only other thing i could suggest, dont wait that long to transplant, just a tad less time and those roots will be perfect for non interrupted growing!

 

[GNick55]

They look beautiful @GNick55 . What's your light distance to seedlings if I may ask? Mine never stretch out that much.

So tomorrow you'll have finished one week without watering. Ok, now it makes sense. I got cotyledons yellowing already so I hope soil dries out at some point and I get to feed them as well, of course in small amounts. Also, I didn't know and always checked PH in Biobizz Light Mix. Even their nutrient schedule says 6.5 - 6.2 ph is ideal for this substrate but good to hear this from you.

well you won’t have to ph if anything for a while as that is a tight range for ph buffering where as promix hp is some thing like 5.5-7.0.. and will last the entire grow.. your growing organically that’s a little different and i’ve never grown that way indoors.
but most rules apply between the two are similar.
using ph is absolutely good to learn, though say if your using something like ph up/down well that’s a chemical and shouldn’t be used with organic grows, use a natural ingredient to raise your lower ph..
i think @lvstealth is correct in saying you waited too long to transplant on top of the other issues..
just never give up and lots of us here to help out when we can..
also i think my seedlings are 2 1/2 weeks old? geezus can’t remember but i do keep notes haha..

 

[GNick55]

well you won’t have to ph if anything for a while as that is a tight range for ph buffering where as promix hp is some thing like 5.5-7.0.. and will last the entire grow.. your growing organically that’s a little different and i’ve never grown that way indoors.
but most rules apply between the two are similar.
using ph is absolutely good to learn, though say if your using something like ph up/down well that’s a chemical and shouldn’t be used with organic grows, use a natural ingredient to raise your lower ph..
i think @lvstealth is correct in saying you waited too long to transplant on top of the other issues..
just never give up and lots of us here to help out when we can..
also i think my seedlings are 2 1/2 weeks old? geezus can’t remember but i do keep notes haha..