Do my plants look healthy or are they drooping a little?

[Pinkremote21]

Hello!
Here is my set up so far before I get to my questions
Strain: Unknown hybrid
# of plants: 7
Grow type: Soil
Grow stage: I'm assuming seedling? I think they might be behind so I'm not certain
Bucket size: I went straight from paper towel germination to 3 gallon fabric pots
Lights: I have 2 300 watt LED full spectrum lights
Nutrients: I have not used any so far but I do have the fox farm trio. Grow Big, Big Bloom and Tigers Bloom
Medium: I have 5 in Fox Farms Happy Frog Soil then 2 in Miracle Grow Organic
PPM: Not sure what this means yet
PH: I have an actual water distiller because I have so many humidifiers in my house and the use that water for my plants and it tests at 6.4
RH: I have the humidity at between 50-60%
Room Temp: Always between 73-80 degrees
Solution temp: Not sure what this means but if it's to the water I leave it in my grow room so it stays at room temp
Room SF: I am growing in a 3x3 grow tent inside of a walk in closet so I leave the door open when the lights are on close it when it's dark time
Pests: None used diomothucus clay in the room before even starting grow room so haven't seen anything.

I know my plants are behind because I planted them directly into 3 gallon smart pots, however to me it looks like a couple of my plants are drooping a little bot. Especially the biggest one on the middle.
I dont THINK it's over watering I usually water them every other day and maybe a half a cup of water to each plant.
I have felt the leaves they arent hot my lights arent too close, the humidity and temp are right although it did get down to 68 in there yesterday. They are roughly a month old.
My very very first grow attempt, knowing very little so I might just be over reacting. I haven't started any nutrients yet because I have gotten so many conflicting comments about it.

 

[Pinkremote21]

Sorry I meant to type I water them every 2 days to every other day depending on how dry they feel, i usually stick my entire finger in them. I haven't gotten the lift method down yet

 

[BigD13]

If you post pics with natural light, you'll probably get a better response, since it's hard to tell with blurple lighting.

 

[Pinkremote21]

Is this better? Sorry it's not the best even with the closet light on its right about the grow room so it doesnt shine on it very bright

 

[Chris Scorpio]

How old are they?

They look hungry to me.... Start feeding them, like 1/2 strength, and see how they do

And search for Emily watering thread, then u know yer watering correctly

 

[Pinkremote21]

How old are they?

They look hungry to me.... Start feeding them, like 1/2 strength, and see how they do

And search for Emily watering thread, then u know yer watering correctly

Thank you! I actually already did read her thread when I first joined and it was incredibly helpful! Also out of the 3 fox farms would you suggest which one I should use first? I'm not sure which one to start or if I use more than one?

 

[Pinkremote21]

Oh also they are roughly a month old from seeds to now

 

[Jdeck]

I use the trio plus cha ching during mid to late flower( highly recommend cha ching,it’s made a huge difference).You want to start with grow big and big bloom during veg period. I follow the FF feeding chart, once the colydens are yellowing. As recommended above, start 1/4 to half strength to start. Keep ph after nutes at 6.3, and watch them grow like weeds. Cheers!!’

 

[Chris Scorpio]

Use this schedule

Start at half strength, and slowly work yer way up, but watch for nute burn on the tips

 

[Pinkremote21]

Thank you guys so much! I really appreciate how quickly you all responded and how helpful everyone is.

 

[Emilya Green]

Thank you! I actually already did read her thread when I first joined and it was incredibly helpful! Also out of the 3 fox farms would you suggest which one I should use first? I'm not sure which one to start or if I use more than one?

So...
After reading my work on how to properly water I have to ask then, why are you still sticking your finger in the top to determine when to water and why are you still giving a humanly determined amount of water in a humanly derived pattern of watering every so often?
You are overwatering.... by watering too often.
If you are not using the lift method or some other means to make sure that your plants have used all of the water in those containers before watering again, you are doing it all wrong. This is the cause of your constant droop... your lower roots have been underwater since you started this, and in order to protect themselves they have mostly shut down until the flood waters go away. Without their powerful suction, you will never be able to get the proper lift to your leaves... your transpiration cycle is only operating at partial efficiency.
Develop a strong wet/dry cycle and track it to know how much water the plants are actually using. You might want to re-read my watering thread to pick up these points.

Regarding FF nutrients... Follow the directions in the feeding charts published all over the internet. Don't take anyone's advice on this other than the experts themselves at Fox Farm.

 

[Pinkremote21]

So...
After reading my work on how to properly water I have to ask then, why are you still sticking your finger in the top to determine when to water and why are you still giving a humanly determined amount of water in a humanly derived pattern of watering every so often?
You are overwatering.... by watering too often.
If you are not using the lift method or some other means to make sure that your plants have used all of the water in those containers before watering again, you are doing it all wrong. This is the cause of your constant droop... your lower roots have been underwater since you started this, and in order to protect themselves they have mostly shut down until the flood waters go away. Without their powerful suction, you will never be able to get the proper lift to your leaves... your transpiration cycle is only operating at partial efficiency.
Develop a strong wet/dry cycle and track it to know how much water the plants are actually using. You might want to re-read my watering thread to pick up these points.

Regarding FF nutrients... Follow the directions in the feeding charts published all over the internet. Don't take anyone's advice on this other than the experts themselves at Fox Farm.

Ok so I did read it and did read a bunch of comments and in your thing you state that so many people screw up by planting them in too big of pots which is what I did. And short of putting them in smaller container I didnt see where you explained how to water smaller plants in too big of pots. So I wasnt sure how to properly water them because they were so small and when I would water them they would shift severely because they were so small, so the way I have been watering them was from another thread. Because I cant see the root system and I dont water them enough to be able to tell a difference by the weight method.
I didnt ignore what you wrote I just didnt know how to apply it to my fuck up bt planting them in too big of containers.

 

[Pinkremote21]

Also I dont know how to not water in pre determined amounts, because try as I might watching videos or reading forums or blogs I have no idea how to give just enough. I dont know the signs of needing to be watered because everyone says it's this or that or it's different per strain and I just know it's a hybrid from bag seeds. I'm not sure how to develope a wet/dry cycle because I dont know what to look for. When I have asked in other groups it's always varied advice which I get I've just never had any plants but like an easy house plant so I'm completely new to gardening something that can be messed up so easily. I will re read your post and see if I can get a better understanding of it.

 

[BigD13]

I don't think your pots are too big. Lots of people grow outside, in the ground. Plants your size, in the ground, are basically in an unlimited size pot.

Here's what I would do. Take an extra pot, if you have one, and fill it with potting soil. It doesn't have to be expensive soil, you're just trying to simulate a dry pot. Water your plants to run off, but do not water the pot with just soil. As the days go by, lift the pot with no plant and then one with a plant in it. When the two pots feel about the same, then you know it's time to water. Does that make sense?

 

[Pinkremote21]

I don't think your pots are too big. Lots of people grow outside, in the ground. Plants your size, in the ground, are basically in an unlimited size pot.

Here's what I would do. Take an extra pot, if you have one, and fill it with potting soil. It doesn't have to be expensive soil, you're just trying to simulate a dry pot. Water your plants to run off, but do not water the pot with just soil. As the days go by, lift the pot with no plant and then one with a plant in it. When the two pots feel about the same, then you know it's time to water. Does that make sense?

That does make sense I also wonder if I could actually like weigh them? If I buy like a scale to weigh them? That should work right? If I dont water them for a couple days or longer to ensure they are dry dry then weigh them, then water and weigh again?

 

[Emilya Green]

Since the original posting I have written several amendments to the article to include smart pots and also how to deal with the too large of container issue. I really should rewrite that entire article to include all of the non standard things that people can do in their gardens. Here is a cut and paste and a modern update of an answer I gave in one of the threads that I responded to regarding Auto plants and how to specially water them in large containers while still following my watering methods:

While the plant is small, I will carefully water out to a circumference of about 3x the plant size, trying to tease out the roots to grow laterally, and I do not try to saturate the container at first. I want a little water to go down the middle so the big tap/feeder roots follow it to the bottom, but I also want to entice the roots to grow out toward the edges of the container. This is true whether I am in a solo cup or in a sea of soil in a large container. Once the plant is established in the container (no longer floats around when you water) and has a couple of sets of leaves, you can be sure that there are now roots all the way to the bottom of that large container. At that point it is time to properly water the entire container of soil but it still remains very important to let the container dry all the way to the bottom between these complete waterings.
The little plant just can't do this quickly, so while you wait for the bottom to dry out, water the top every 2 or 3 days with about 1/3 the amount of water it took to saturate the container. This will keep the top spreader roots active, while a little bit will go down the middle and add to the water table, but you want to be careful that you don't water with enough that it falls to the bottom and adds to the problem down below. After 2 or 3 times of partial watering, the bottom will catch up and the lift method will tell you that it is time, and then and only then, water then entire container to saturation again. As the roots get stronger, the time difference in water usage top and bottom will start to sync up and eventually you will find that the entire container is drying out in 3-4 days, and you can start watering properly from that time forward.

To figure out the wet dry cycle you have to figure out when the plant has drained all of the water, and the best way to do this is the lift the pot method. Fill a similarly sized container with dry soil just like what you are using. Lift it up or weigh it to see what dry soil feels like. Now lift your plant. If you can feel any extra weight in comparison, the water weight, then it still is not time to water. Wait until your human senses can not feel ANY water weight before you water. The finger in the top method can not ever determine this for you.

Then, when you water the entire container, determining how much water to use is easy. You water slowly, as if your soil was a sponge that you were trying to fill up to hold the very most water it could possibly hold. You can NOT overwater by giving too much water in one session like this... the soil will only hold so much. Overwatering is always due to watering too often... not too much at one time. When you are trying to fill up your soil, water with small amounts until finally adding even one more drop simply makes some flow out of the bottom as runoff. This is when you stop... when the soil has been completely saturated. Master gardeners come back an hour later to try once again to add just a little bit more water, knowing that some has been absorbed by the plant as well as the organics in the soil, and these good gardeners saturate that entire column of soil again, right to the point of runoff.

As the roots develop you will find that your container is able to take even more water each time you do one of these sessions... that amount of water is not set in stone. If you had been determining the amount of water to give based on your human presumptions, you never would have seen that. Let the plants and that container of soil determine how much water they want to take. You will also note as the roots get stronger that when you first start doing this it may take 5 or 6 days to drain that container, but that time will steadily decrease with each wet/dry cycle you force the plants through. When the plant is finally able to drain all of the water in 24-36 hours, it is time to uppot, and start this process all over again.

I hope this helps, and when my book finally comes out, you will see some form of this special watering note in the pages.

 

[BigD13]

That does make sense I also wonder if I could actually like weigh them? If I buy like a scale to weigh them? That should work right? If I dont water them for a couple days or longer to ensure they are dry dry then weigh them, then water and weigh again?

If you have a bathroom scale, that might work.

 

[Pinkremote21]

Since the original posting I have written several amendments to the article to include smart pots and also how to deal with the too large of container issue. I really should rewrite that entire article to include all of the non standard things that people can do in their gardens. Here is a cut and paste and a modern update of an answer I gave in one of the threads that I responded to regarding Auto plants and how to specially water them in large containers while still following my watering methods:



To figure out the wet dry cycle you have to figure out when the plant has drained all of the water, and the best way to do this is the lift the pot method. Fill a similarly sized container with dry soil just like what you are using. Lift it up or weigh it to see what dry soil feels like. Now lift your plant. If you can feel any extra weight in comparison, the water weight, then it still is not time to water. Wait until your human senses can not feel ANY water weight before you water. The finger in the top method can not ever determine this for you.

Then, when you water the entire container, determining how much water to use is easy. You water slowly, as if your soil was a sponge that you were trying to fill up to hold the very most water it could possibly hold. You can NOT overwater by giving too much water in one session like this... the soil will only hold so much. Overwatering is always due to watering too often... not too much at one time. When you are trying to fill up your soil, water with small amounts until finally adding even one more drop simply makes some flow out of the bottom as runoff. This is when you stop... when the soil has been completely saturated. Master gardeners come back an hour later to try once again to add just a little bit more water, knowing that some has been absorbed by the plant as well as the organics in the soil, and these good gardeners saturate that entire column of soil again, right to the point of runoff.

As the roots develop you will find that your container is able to take even more water each time you do one of these sessions... that amount of water is not set in stone. If you had been determining the amount of water to give based on your human presumptions, you never would have seen that. Let the plants and that container of soil determine how much water they want to take. You will also note as the roots get stronger that when you first start doing this it may take 5 or 6 days to drain that container, but that time will steadily decrease with each wet/dry cycle you force the plants through. When the plant is finally able to drain all of the water in 24-36 hours, it is time to uppot, and start this process all over again.

I hope this helps, and when my book finally comes out, you will see some form of this special watering note in the pages.

This all made PERFECT sense! Thank you so so much! I apologize for not looking for more threads about it that you had written but this has been super eye opening and I understood this perfectly.

 

[Pinkremote21]

This is my plants after the 6 hours dark period, to make up for over watering would I just not water them and then water them in a week? I want to make sure I do the correct thing before it gets super bad

 

[Emilya Green]

don't let them go more than 4 days without a partial watering at the top, even if it does end up taking them a week to use up all of the water stored in the bottom of that container.