Weak plant, growth stopped, leaves turning light green and dry

[roc5tp]

Good morning,

I would like to ask for help as I can't figure out what is happening to this plant. She's about 8-9 weeks old, and was doing well in the beginning. These days, not so much.
About 2 weeks ago I moved her into this larger pot, but can't tell the changes started happening straight after. Removed some larger fan leaves to allow more light into the middle.

- Location is southern Spain with temperatures of 25-35 Celsius (77-95 F) and around 75% humidity;
- the plant gets around 8 hours of direct sun every day (sun is very strong here);
- I water it when the top half of the pot becomes dry;
- medium is "normal potting soil" from a garden shop.

Any advice on how to save her would be much appreciated.

 

[Fenderbender]

Ouch.. she's not looking well.
It happened after the re-potting?
I see there are some holes in the pot are there some in the bottom as well? As otherwise they are too high for run off and water can pool up below them creating a very bad situation for the roots.
Do you feed nutrients?
Did you mix up perlite between that normal potting soil? as cutting 30-40% of perlite between any soil is really a life changer when it comes to drainage and soil structure otherwise you get a compressed soil with waterings that stays wet in the centre or at the bottom even if the top part seems dry.

The Spanish Sun can be brutal I'm mostly familiar with Portugal but some excursions into Extremadura & Seville, so yes it's hard on the plants, and it can be hard on the roots as well, I'd try to shade the pot in such conditions I can imagine it getting very hot as if that is wet and gets 8 hrs of that Sun it cooks the roots. Tape some cardboard around it so it doesn't get direct Sunlight.

That's a couple of things I think about seeing the situation.
Getting the pot setup correctly so you can apply proper water and feeding techniques is the key to succes.
Using a fabric pot is preferable for drainage and oxygen and root pruning & heat, although in that Sun I'd try to shield it as well

 

[roc5tp]

Ouch.. she's not looking well.
It happened after the re-potting?
I see there are some holes in the pot are there some in the bottom as well? As otherwise they are too high for run off and water can pool up below them creating a very bad situation for the roots.
Do you feed nutrients?
Did you mix up perlite between that normal potting soil? as cutting 30-40% of perlite between any soil is really a life changer when it comes to drainage and soil structure otherwise you get a compressed soil with waterings that stays wet in the centre or at the bottom even if the top part seems dry.

The Spanish Sun can be brutal I'm mostly familiar with Portugal but some excursions into Extremadura & Seville, so yes it's hard on the plants, and it can be hard on the roots as well, I'd try to shade the pot in such conditions I can imagine it getting very hot as if that is wet and gets 8 hrs of that Sun it cooks the roots. Tape some cardboard around it so it doesn't get direct Sunlight.

That's a couple of things I think about seeing the situation.
Getting the pot setup correctly so you can apply proper water and feeding techniques is the key to succes.
Using a fabric pot is preferable for drainage and oxygen and root pruning & heat, although in that Sun I'd try to shield it as well

Thank you for your answer. Before the re-potting she definitely looked better, so all I can think that something has gone wrong there. However it did keep growing after the repotting and only stopped to grow and started to weaken about 2 weeks afterwards.

About the holes on the pot: yes, I have holes on the bottom as well, the ones on the side I drilled recently to let in more air at the bottom. I use Bio Grow nutrient once a week.
I will follow your advice about the covering the pot hopefully it will help if the soil cools down a bit.

Just in case I will also keep her on the side of the terrace that has some shade after noon to not let the really strong afternoon sun burn the leaves... Hope she still can recover, let's hope for the best.

 

[Fenderbender]

I'm putting some screenshots for the people here cause I believe you have to log in on youtube which some people might not do.

I mean to me she looks a bit cooked.. a very big strong healthy plant can take some Sun but then we're talking a much wider diameter stem and a lot more foliage.
Heat also messes with nutrient uptake and ph levels so all kinda things can start to go wrong if the rootzone or leaves experience out of ideal range temps.
Then there's the potting soil which is probably pre-fertilised.. can also be tricky.
If drainage and aeration is not on point you can create problematic zones in the pot. I know I've got plenty of those on my grows.

 

[roc5tp]

That’s very kind of you, thank you for the screenshots
Do you think it would be a good idea to keep her in the shade in the afternoons (while still let her to get the mornimg sun) and water carefully every other day?

 

[BigBudsBunny]

To me it looks like a watering issue. If you water when the pot is half dry, the roots sucking water just sit in a continuous dark, little heated lack of oxygen environment which helps root rot and effects nutrient uptake. Wait until the pots are pretty dry before watering. Do you water to the point of discharge from the holes - kind of like flushing the old out? I'd look at the roots to determine their health. If brown and nasty - no good, If white and look healthy then its a nutrient uptake problem (which could be several things) At this point as sad as they look - if the roots are brown and nasty, I would chop the bottom of the roots off and repot (depending how far your into the growing season. If roots are white and healthy - I would increase nitrogen and probably some micro nutrients. I had similar problems with soil grows which is why I switched to Hempy pots. No more Issues - Can't over water! As long as you follow a regimented process involving feedings PPM's and PH and water when the pot is dry - good to go!

Good Luck....and remember I'm no expert.

 

[Sueet]

I'm not sure what the answer is for you, as I have no experience with your sun exposure, but every other day is almost certainly the reason your plant is suffering, overwatering - Even if the top of the soil is dry, the roots are having trouble getting oxygen because there is still plenty of water at the bottom when you pour more in.

I'd strongly recommend you read this article : Emilya Green's How to Water a Potted Plant

 

[roc5tp]

Thank you guys, you’re all very kind for taking the time to answer me.
I decided to re-pot the plant so this way I also could have a look at the roots, etc.

Good news is that I saw only white roots, and there was no bad smell either.
For some reason however, I thought the roots of a plant this size (approx 60cm/ 24in) supposed to be bigger, but at least it was easier to move her.

Not that good news that I only had a quite smaller clay pot to use, so basically she moved back to her previous one
I used new soil straight ot from its bag, it was a bit humid but not sticky. For this reason I have not yet watered the plant after repotting.

Hope I did the right thing, now I will keep here in the shade where she gets only some filtered morning sun, hoping for a fast recovery. Fingers crossed.
Please see the images and if you have time let me know what you think.

 

[BigBudsBunny]

Clay Pots will keep the roots cooler than plastic ones !

 

[Sueet]

Assuming the soil you planted into was dry, I would go ahead and put at least a little water around the edges, so the roots have something to look for/find. Keeping her sheltered is a good plan while she is recovering from her stress.

 

[roc5tp]

Assuming the soil you planted into was dry, I would go ahead and put at least a little water around the edges, so the roots have something to look for/find. Keeping her sheltered is a good plan while she is recovering from her stress.

Thanks. The soil was a bit humid, but not sticky. This is how it comes from the factory. Definitely not dry but not too wet either.

 

[BigBudsBunny]

give it a feeding maybe a 3-1-2 (NPK) ratio with micro nutrients. don't give full strength, and don't water again until the pot is light - see how she does.

good luck - my 2 cents and maybe not worth that much

 

[BigBudsBunny]

remember your yellow lives wont turn green again. look for new growthafter a few days. you will notice when/if it perks up

 

[Fenderbender]

Spending 15 euro on perlita and a maceta de tela will be your best bet in the future for success.
If you grow next year and you use a 19l or 28l fabric pot with loads of perlite either mixed in the soil or in alternating layers like a lasagna of soil & perlite and follow the watering guide Sueet posted you'll have a cannabis tree on the terras that will love the Spanish Sun.
If you treat a cannabis plant like other house plants when it comes to the soil, pots, watering & feed she will not thrive.

What's the Strain you're growing now? as that can also help picking a strain that plays well with your Southern Spain climate and light hours. Zamnesia recommends Super Silver Haze, Gelato or Kalashnikov for the region, plants with 9-10 weeks of flowering time & heat resistant.
I'm in Northern Europe and I have to pick cold resistant strains for outdoors and strains that will flower as quickly as possible.

 

[roc5tp]

Spending 15 euro on perlita and a maceta de tela will be your best bet in the future for success.
If you grow next year and you use a 19l or 28l fabric pot with loads of perlite either mixed in the soil or in alternating layers like a lasagna of soil & perlite and follow the watering guide Sueet posted you'll have a cannabis tree on the terras that will love the Spanish Sun.
If you treat a cannabis plant like other house plants when it comes to the soil, pots, watering & feed she will not thrive.

What's the Strain you're growing now? as that can also help picking a strain that plays well with your Southern Spain climate and light hours. Zamnesia recommends Super Silver Haze, Gelato or Kalashnikov for the region, plants with 9-10 weeks of flowering time & heat resistant.
I'm in Northern Europe and I have to pick cold resistant strains for outdoors and strains that will flower as quickly as possible.

Thank you, I will follow your advice regarding the soil, the pot and watering. To be honest this plant was given me when it was about 3-4 weeks old and I believe I was told it´s Jack Herer. This is also my first plant ever and I am just trying to learn these months by trial and error.
However, I also bought some autoflowering seeds in July (Auto Purple Sunset and White Runtz) and they are about 2 weeks old now in small pots. I undestand we´re already quite late into the growing season but around here there´s plenty of sun all year with average 20-25 Celsius (68-77 F) until November. So maybe even if I managed to f@k up a bit the first plant hope I can succeed with the others
The new seedlings are now in small plastic pots and I´m planning to move them into 12L (3.1gal) fabric pots when they get a bit bigger in size. Definitely will be more careful with the direct heat and the watering though.
The soil I use has some perlite (3gr/litre) but I reckon that´s alomost nothing? Packaging also says 6-7-7 organic fertilizer ratio, not sure if that´s good or not. I also have BioGrow liquid fertilizer (4-3-6) which I add very carefully 1ml / litre once a week.
I understand there´s a lot to learn and again, thank you for your advices, they help a lot.

 

[Fenderbender]

Aha, yes true you can have a long growing season over there and do two maybe three auto runs year, but those are finicky plants as well.
Yeah a couple of specks of perlite isn't going to cut it. You can mix through 30 to 45% of perlite for a way better structure. Or do like a couple of cm's of soil a cm of perlite in layers.. The pot & soil has to be airy and drain very well and perlite really helps, just soil will compact through watering and gravity over time suffocating roots and create spots that stay wet too long.
Autos definitely love very loose soil as their root structure is fast and more delicate.

The idea is that excess water can exit the pot as quickly as possible when you water to run off or like when it rains and that the water you give is either used by the roots or can evaporate out of the pot also as soon as possible instead of it being wet for a week.

Yeah using pre-fertilised soil can also be tricky in combo with nutes.. and if it's pre-fertilised you probably don't have to feed extra for a long time or until she's big enough that she can use it.

Also what water are you using? As city tap water is best to air out for 24hrs to remove chlorine before using, and there can be lots of other things in it depending on the region.
If I use my tap water I kill my plants, if I cut it half and half with distilled water it does work, but I just get spring water now and they are pretty happy with that.
Or you can collect rain water.

 

[roc5tp]

I will definitely keep that in mind and add perlite for the autos!
Regarding the water, I´ve been using tap water that I let to air out for a day or two. Rain water unfortunately is not an option as it simply doesn´t rain in July and August. Probably I will change to distilled water mix or use mineral water instead. The tap water around here is also treated with chlorine, and nitrate levels have been known to be high.
There´s also said to be problems with water supplies containing dissolved calcium: when you boil the water, you can easily see limescale and that unpleasant white, flaky residue after a few days...

 

[SmokingWings]

I'm putting some screenshots for the people here cause I believe you have to log in on youtube which some people might not do.

Thank you. Ya, I am one of those people who will not set up a youtube "age appropriate" account.

I was just wondering about the soil mix being used. It has that look like it is a large amount of coco coir or mostly a mix of coco and peat moss.

 

[roc5tp]

I might be over optimistic and imagine it but today the plant looks a tiny bit better, especially the top part.
However there are these dryish, probably dying leaves, which most likely won’t recover. You guys think it’s better if I remove them or just let the plant deal with it after the amount of stress she’s been through lately? Is it better just let her recover in the shade and not touch.

 

[roc5tp]

Thank you. Ya, I am one of those people who will not set up a youtube "age appropriate" account.

I was just wondering about the soil mix being used. It has that look like it is a large amount of coco coir or mostly a mix of coco and peat moss.

To be honest it’s just some average soil I bought in a garden shop, which probably was a mistake I should learn from.