Leaves drooping, no idea

[Northern Light]

Hello everyone!

I'm not a new grower, in fact I normally diagnose all problems I encounter while growing, but I'm no pro at all and this one left me clueless.
So it's a Northern Light Auto, 9 weeks old. Preflowering started about 5 weeks ago, and the stretch stopped about a week ago. Its leaves started to droop heavily about 30-35 hours ago and the situation is pretty much stagnant since then. What I'm seeing is that most of the top leaves are very droopy, the middle growth is kind of ok, and then the very bottom fan leaves are also droopier than they should be.
Now if I look at the possible reasons behind it, that's where I have no idea. The plant was never really overwatered, I watered it 3 days ago, so I don't think it's because of overwatering. It could have been thirsty, so I just gave her some water with low amount of nutes two hours ago, but it didn't help at all, everything is the same. The pf of my water was always in the "ok" range, somewhere between 6.4-7.0 (I know, it's not perfect, but should be fine, I guess). Temperatures are between 70-77 all day with the expection of 3 hours dark time when it drops to about 63-65. Rh is constant 40-45%, this should also be fine.
Now what else? These were the most common reasons that could possibly cause this. I don't think the plant could be rootbound, since the stretch already stopped, and I'm guessing it should have happened earlier. I'm growing in peat moss in a fabric pot, and though I added quite a lot of perlite (and it's not my first time grow in peat), the medium did in fact shrunk (I'm not sure if that's the right word) visibly throghout the grow. Did it possibly squeezed the roots? Seems a bit unlikely, and I'm not sure what would that actually result in. I don't really have any other idea.

Could somebody please help me with this issue? Here are some photos I've just taken. Well, the first 6 pics are before the recent watering, the rest was taken minutes ago, looks like the situation got worse.

 

[BeanTownFan420]

Could be a reaction from being to close to the light being it seems to be right under the lamp were it is happening and i'm seeing burnt tips and bleaching.

 

[Green thumb lou]

What noots are you using? Are you using soil or coco?

 

[Scottylikesbud]

It may be just over watered in my opinion, but I’d get some more opinions

 

[BeanTownFan420]

More opinions please its a rot issue maybe ph related ever flush her?

 

[Scottylikesbud]

I also agree with bean town on the light maybe being a little close.

Could be a reaction from being to close to the light being it seems to be right under the lamp were it is happening and i'm seeing burnt tips and bleaching.

 

[Northern Light]

Thanks for the replies, guys.
The light is a bit too close that's for sure, but could it cause this much drooping? It's a 190w blurple.

I'm using the biobizz line (as I'm from the EU) and I have just introduced Plagron Green Sensation which is a quite pricey additive/booster/enhancer, but I've added 1ml/l, so I don't think I went over the line with that.
I'm also using Plagron lightmix with a bit of bat guano mixed in, it's a soilless medium, it is made of different kinds of peat moss.

Well, now I also lean towards the possibility that I may have overwatered it, but then that should have started some time ago. I don't let them dr out completely in during flowering, but the pot was pretty light 3 days ago when I watered it. But since it really looks like the ~1litre of water that I just gave her made things worse, I'm not sure now.

 

[Northern Light]

More opinions please its a rot issue maybe ph related ever flush her?

No, I didn't flush her, but about 2 weeks ago I checked the runoff, you know, just in case. 6.7 went in and about the same came out at the bottom, so again I'm guessing it's not a ph issue.

 

[BeanTownFan420]

Salts from not flushing are causing you lock out.If you flush it might very well get you back on track.

 

[Northern Light]

Salts from not flushing are causing you lock out.If you flush it might very well get you back on track.

Ok, this is very critical, because if it's overwatered I will make things much more worse with a good flushing. Should I wait 1-2 days if the leaves pop back up?

 

[AdaminCO]

What size pot are you in? Those are some good sized plants.

 

[BeanTownFan420]

Well if you have watered a lot then wait but if you have not been watering till it comes out the bottom as you should then flush.

 

[Northern Light]

What size pot are you in? Those are some good sized plants.

It's a 15l (4 gallon)fabric pot, but since the peat moss shrunk a lot, now the actual volume is more like 10l.

 

[Northern Light]

Well if you have watered a lot then wait but if you have not been watering till it comes out the bottom as you should then flush.

Well, I now have to go to sleep, I'm getting up in 5 hours, but I'll see what happens until tomorrow and act accordingly.
Thank you everyone for your kind help, I will keep you updated.

 

[AdaminCO]

Hate to say this, but you might be root bound or.... it’s thirsty.
Im in five gallon and usually have to water every other day at that point in flower.
You’re watering method needs to change a bit in flower. Read through @Emilya watering in flower article on my signature.

Maybe she can give her advice too.
@InTheShed ... I know you’re on. Advice?
Numbers look good.

 

[Virgin Ground]

You said the soil mix shrunk???

You may have hydrophobic spagnum. If it dries out too much it will shed fluids coming in, instead of absorbing them.
Is this a possibility??
How long do you take to water your plants??
Do you just dump and go or do you spend a longer period of time on them, giving a nice, slow watering??

 

[InTheShed]

Thanks for the shout Adam!

I echo much of what was mentioned above. My first thought when looking at them was light stress as BeanTown suggested. Also the fact that the peat mass has shrunk that much could mean that it's rootbound as Adam mentioned. The roots grow to the point where they are pulling the peat together. Can you poke your finger in more than an inch? Is there any give on the bottom when you squeeze it [yeah yeah, I know]?

And as VG mentioned, watering more slowly might help.

I'm curious if this is just plain peat moss that you add perlite to or some store-bought growing mix? Straight peat has nothing to buffer the pH of the water going in, so that can give you pH issues down the line as well.

 

[AdaminCO]

Thanks for the shout Adam!

I echo much of what was mentioned above. My first thought when looking at them was light stress as BeanTown suggested. Also the fact that the peat mass has shrunk that much could mean that it's rootbound as Adam mentioned. The roots grow to the point where they are pulling the peat together. Can you poke your finger in more than an inch? Is there any give on the bottom when you squeeze it [yeah yeah, I know]?

And as VG mentioned, watering more slowly might help.

I'm curious if this is just plain peat moss that you add perlite to or some store-bought growing mix? Straight peat has nothing to buffer the pH of the water going in, so that can give you pH issues down the line as well.

I just realized his water is at 6.4-7.
I’d get a Ph pen and start getting a precise measurement after mixing your nutes.
I believe you should be going in at bit lower with peat. 5.8 or so. I assume they treat it like coco. (Left side)

2750D268-452B-48D2-8E3D-EB9DDC2E3ED0.png

• AdaminCO
• Jan 22, 2020
• ph adjust

 

[InTheShed]

Peat potting mix is usually stabilized around 5.7 with the addition of lime. Peat moss alone is well under 5.0 I believe which is why it's buffered!

 

[Northern Light]

First, the good news. Before I went to sleep, I have pumped up the temperature in the room and pointed a small fan towards the surface of the soil, since I had the feeling it was somehow showing the signs of overwatering. It helped tremendously , she was up and smiling when I checked on her in the morning. Either way, I don't really understand how she could show these signs, I did not water that much at all.

Hate to say this, but you might be root bound or.... it’s thirsty.
Im in five gallon and usually have to water every other day at that point in flower.
You’re watering method needs to change a bit in flower. Read through @Emilya watering in flower article on my signature.

Maybe she can give her advice too.
@InTheShed ... I know you’re on. Advice?
Numbers look good.

I believe you grow in soil or even coco. Peat moss has expectionally high water retention, I think it can hold something like 20× its own weight, so not watering every other day is ok, I guess.

You said the soil mix shrunk???

You may have hydrophobic spagnum. If it dries out too much it will shed fluids coming in, instead of absorbing them.
Is this a possibility??
How long do you take to water your plants??
Do you just dump and go or do you spend a longer period of time on them, giving a nice, slow watering??

Yes, peat moss shrinks a lot. I didn't know the word sphagnum, but the dictionary says it actually means peat moss, so yes. Plagron's website says the following:

Plagron Lightmix is a mix of the very best, carefully selected types of peat. The addition of various types of fibre and perlite results in a lightness and oxygen level found only in Plagron quality substrates.
Characteristics
Peat moss, perlite.
pH (H2O) 6 - 7
EC (mS/cm) 0,7 - 1,1
NPK fertiliser (12-14-24)

Watering takes some time, because it absorbs water very slowly, but after some time runoff is appearing, I didn't have any problems with it so far.

Thanks for the shout Adam!

I echo much of what was mentioned above. My first thought when looking at them was light stress as BeanTown suggested. Also the fact that the peat mass has shrunk that much could mean that it's rootbound as Adam mentioned. The roots grow to the point where they are pulling the peat together. Can you poke your finger in more than an inch? Is there any give on the bottom when you squeeze it [yeah yeah, I know]?

And as VG mentioned, watering more slowly might help.

I'm curious if this is just plain peat moss that you add perlite to or some store-bought growing mix? Straight peat has nothing to buffer the pH of the water going in, so that can give you pH issues down the line as well.

The plant is definitely light stressed a bit, but unfortunately I have finite resources. There is not much way to increase the height any more, and I have two younger plants there, that have already been put on boxes to get them closer to the light.
At this point, I cannot poke my finger into the medium not even a half inch. I can scratch the surface with my nails, but I would have to try hard to get my finger into it. Does that mean it's rootbound?

I just realized his water is at 6.4-7.
I’d get a Ph pen and start getting a precise measurement after mixing your nutes.
I believe you should be going in at bit lower with peat. 5.8 or so. I assume they treat it like coco. (Left side)

2750D268-452B-48D2-8E3D-EB9DDC2E3ED0.png

• AdaminCO
• Jan 22, 2020
• ph adjust

Peat potting mix is usually stabilized around 5.7 with the addition of lime. Peat moss alone is well under 5.0 I believe which is why it's buffered!

This substrate is buffered for sure, though I'm not sure about the correct ph range. Since I use 100% organical nutes, I didn't bother much with it. My tapwater comes out somewhat above 7.0, so I normally lower it, but not to a precise value, just to be somewhere between 6.4 and 7.0.