Hi there and thanks for reading. I've got several different auto strains going on, FFOF soil, approximately 6.2 pH. Grown outdoors. I'm noticing that my leaves on all the plants are becoming somewhat bubbly, wrinkly, and slightly droopy. Everything I've read online indicates that it could be a slight overwatering. But I wanted you guys's opinions. Photos attached
Help, bubbly wrinkled leaves
- Thread starter sf415guy
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Yep, overwatering.. Here’s a link to @Emilya Green tutorial on how to properly water a potted plant:
This will save you tons of headaches. Make sure to read through as much as you can, there’s a lot of information throughout the post.
The Proper Way To Water A Potted Plant
The Proper Way to Water a Potted Plant Also covered: the importance of pH and why we successively up-pot How to Water Over the last several years I have put a lot of study into this, and I feel that I can now define the proper way to water a potted plant. Keep in mind that this discussion...
www.420magazine.com
This will save you tons of headaches. Make sure to read through as much as you can, there’s a lot of information throughout the post.
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Emilya Green
Well-Known Member
No, its not that simple. Then you will be an underwaterer. The trick is to learn to see how fast the plant is actually using the water. The lift method and the wet/dry system that I will teach you, is the key. There is no set time in-between waterings... because the plant will use more water per day as the roots get stronger. Please read the links. I am here to help if you have any more questions.
zigzagman1960
Well-Known Member
It’s just not that difficult. When you water—water till you get plenty of run off—now wait till you stick your finger down to the first knuckle and it’s dry then —water till you get ‘plenty of run off’—repeat— thats it—absolutely no tutorial or heavy reading necessary. Don’t overthink it.
Emilya Green
Well-Known Member
Hi @zigzagman1960 ! You made me chuckle. I address "knuckle waterers" in my watering thread.
My tutorial has helped many people who didn't even think they needed help and of course, many who did. It's not that heavy of a read and I try to make it fun. You should read it too.
Lol they’re already overthinking it, that’s why they’re here.
To be honest it may be a little more of an issue than shoving a knuckle in. Looking back at OPs containers it looks like they’re hard sided with no sort of holes for drainage. OP do your containers have holes on the bottom or somewhere in the container for water to runoff?
The knuckle method never worked for me.. when your hands are as burnt up, calloused and paralyzed as mine, your fingertips don’t have much feeling for “dryness”
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So just to give you a little bit of an update. I haven't looked at the links yet. However an idea across my mind that seems to be working absolutely awesome. I thought to myself, if there was a way I could airate the soil it would help dry off / evaporate some excess water. I thought that there was no way I could safely do this without destroying the plant, until I came up with my awesome idea. I took a knitting needle and poked a bunch of holes in the soil. Yes the point of the knitting needle is sharp, but it's also kind of rounded at the point as well, plus covered in a type of coating that allows it to just slip by anything. Meaning if it were to come in direct contact with a root, As long as it's not the ball root, it'll just touch it, slightly push it aside and slide right past it. My autos are in 3 gallon pots. I poked about 15 holes in multiple locations at various different angles all around the soil going all the way to the bottom of the pot. It's only been about 10 hours and my plants while in semi-foggy light already look way more perky than they did the previous day. I think I'm onto something here. I will definitely check out those links though
Yep, they’re responding because they’re most likely water logged. Do your containers have any drains or outlets for water to runoff/drain out? If not that’s making it harder for your soil to drain and breathe properly and will leave your soil damp for exceedingly long periods of time. The root area needs oxygen as well. You poking holes in the medium is giving them the oxygen they’re not receiving because they’re too wet. Normally they get this oxygen when you allow the medium to dry out. Once you water it when it’s fully dry it will pull oxygen down into the root area. You can also use fabric pots to increase oxygen around the root system.
If you’re not growing LOS where your pot needs to stay moist all the time and you’ve added multiple gallons of aeration amendments to the soil, the wet/dry cycle is absolutely critical. You will drown the plants, making them lazy, sickly, and oxygen deprived. Nutrients won’t be available correctly and your plant won’t be able to control its rhizosphere. You’ll see what looks like all kinds of deficiencies and problems and they’ll give you all kinds of headaches.
When you’re in Veg it’s okay to underwater a little bit. Don’t be habitual with it as it can cause it’s own issues, but it’s a bit easier to come back from underwatering than overwatering. I’ve watched my plants go more than 30 days without water and still bounce back within hours of watering
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- #10
Yeah there's plenty of holes in the bottom of the pot for excellent drainage. I simply just over watered them. I'm glad my solution is working great for now. I figured I'll give it about 7 to 10 days before the next watering, and when I do it'll be on the mild side. Just enough to for it to slowly drizzle through from top to bottom.
Check out Emilyas post about watering when you get a chance. The plant will give you signals when it’s time to water and you can feel it by the weight of the container. Watering is by far and away the number one issue most growers have. I’ve watched tons of people be absolutely sure they had a nutrient/light/environment issue when in reality it was just poor watering.
Poking holes was a good thought.. you’re in Veg so any damage can be fixed.. You can even do it a couple weeks into flower. Once it’s done building roots though you should be done poking holes.
If watering continues to be an issue for you, next time just increase your perlite by about 15% and it should help avoid overwatering.
If watering continues to be an issue for you, next time just increase your perlite by about 15% and it should help avoid overwatering.
zigzagman1960
Well-Known Member
wrong—no set time —water when the media is dry—and never on the mild side ALWAYS water till you get plenty’s of run off. When you give your plants a ton of water—drown them so to speak— they naturally go into hyper mode to get O2 to the roots by up taking the water from the media and evaporating off of the leaves —now as the media drys out —when you feed, the plant is already in the mode of voracious uptake so growth is expedited.
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- #14
I agree with you, but what you're talking about works when you're doing everything right from beginning to end. I'm talking about what I'm doing to correct the problem I created. I overwatered, then I poked holes in the soil to allow for airation which is completely correcting the droopy leaves and the bubbly wrinkles. Once everything gets back into place, then I'll do what you're recommending. I actually normally do it. My mind just sort of lost track of my watering
Right and what Zig is saying is, don’t water based on a calendar or you feeling like it’s been enough days. Especially in this specific situation. Already deciding it will be 7-10 days isn’t listening to the plant, it’s you thinking for the plant.
The plant will be okay if it doesn’t have water for a very long time, especially in anything larger than a solo cup. You want the entire medium to completely dry out. This will take longer to do right now because you are overwatered. Those holes you poked won’t be enough by themselves to reset your situation. You also need all of the medium to completely dry out or your problem will get worse and worse. The top 2 inches will dry quickly but the rest will take time.
You water when the plant is ready not when you think it’s ready. There’s been instances where people go 20-30 days in between waterings. When I overwatered I had to go 16 days.
Now, you thinking 7 days until watering might be correct might not, but if 7 days come and she’s still got any weight to her at all she isn’t ready and you can’t force her. If I think a plant needs to be watered I usually wait a day or two after that just to make sure. Wilting is very obvious compared to normal plant resting
Fenderbender
Well-Known Member
These are still small pots you're still going to up pot right?
Maybe try Bill284's system by layering perlite and soil for a pot that dries out quickly, that saved my ass in pots avoiding a wet clump in the middle or is that only for smart pots?
And make a trench around the plant near the edge of the pot, in which you slowly water letting it absorb in stages until the pot is soaked and the next round starts running out of the bottom... but you need to do it slowly in small amounts as if you pour it fast in dry soil it will run out the bottom real quick but that's just running through. You need to give a little and then you need to let it absorb and listen to the rice krispies.. and then give it some more times x until it's full and runs out.
Maybe try Bill284's system by layering perlite and soil for a pot that dries out quickly, that saved my ass in pots avoiding a wet clump in the middle or is that only for smart pots?
And make a trench around the plant near the edge of the pot, in which you slowly water letting it absorb in stages until the pot is soaked and the next round starts running out of the bottom... but you need to do it slowly in small amounts as if you pour it fast in dry soil it will run out the bottom real quick but that's just running through. You need to give a little and then you need to let it absorb and listen to the rice krispies.. and then give it some more times x until it's full and runs out.
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- #18
Thanks for the advice. You're definitely correct, I was thinking for the plant rather than waiting for the plant to talk to me. When I had last water the plant it had not been watered in 7 days. I just figured it needed water because it had been 7 days. Truth is, I normally wait until the pot feels pretty light, but in this case it didn't feel too light due to the fact that not much evaporation had occurred in the soil or leaves due to partially cold and foggy weather. I simply just felt like 7 days was a long stretch. However in this case when it comes to watering in the future I'm waiting about 7 to 10 days not based on the fact that a lot of time has gone by, but based on the fact that with the holes punched in the soil 7 to 10 days should be enough to moderately dry it out. However, at the end of 7 to 10 days if the plant looks perfectly fine I'll probably wait another 7 days. It was overwatered but thankfully not by too much, it wasn't super droopy or anything. The holes I punched in the soil dramatically helped within a span of just 10 hours. Here are my girls in the picture attached. Looking completely healthy. 10 hours earlier they were about 50% drooped. My next watering will definitely be based on listening to the plants rather then thinking enough time has gone by
Fenderbender
Well-Known Member
Oh okay, that last picture is very different perspective than the first pics.
lol. this the second time today i responded to the wrong thread in the wrong forum. i'm thinking the gorilla glue i'm smoking is better than anticipated ....
