Drooping leaves?

I have been moving these plants outdoors during the day for sun and in at night. Just recently I had to go out of town for 4 days so they sat inside under some cheap Lowes LED grow lights. When I got back I moved them outside and they started drooping real bad and the top 1/3 of them bent all the way over. When I move them in after a couple hours they start springing back up to life. Any ideas? I am on a watering schedule of every other day but am holding off currently because I thought they may have too much water. Ideas?

This is what they looked like prior to leaving for the trip, even when outside.

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What medium are they in. What kind of light. Might just be that they were used to a certain amt of light them going outside got blasted hard and stressed them from a blast of light

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They are in fox farms ocean forest but I topped them all with a harvest farms chicken manure mix because they were sitting low in the bags. The topper is only maybe 1" thick. Under that is ocean forest. That is what I was thinking, so should I leave them out to “get used” to it or keep bringing them in once they start looking real sad?

It looks like a needs water droop. Pick up the pot is it super light. Even with a schedule you’ll have to adjust depending on how muxh they are using. If its really light then they need water

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Welcome to the community, agreed. :point_up_2:
Pick up the pots that look like they need some water.

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Appreciate the help guys, I will try some water. They must have just started sucking it up if my usual watering schedule hasn’t been cutting it.

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Definitely looks like a water issue. Feeling the leaves tells a lot too. You can also swing your plants, you’ll feel the water doing this. The main sight recommends making a dummy pot with medium only. Never water the dummy ofc, use it as comparison for the others. If they get close to as light as it’s, better water. Swinging was easier for me, even works on solo cups.

They are probably under alot of stress. I went through this on my first grow with the change of environment from indoor to outdoor. If you were gone for a number of days and they didnt see the sun, the heat and light is hard on them if they are not used to it. You might try leaving them out for a short period of time and increasing it some each day to harden them off. Others mentioned watering issues, which could also be part of it. But if they come back to life after being back inside, I would think it’s environmental stress. That’s just from my own experience. I ended up just growing indoors because of it.

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They will drink increasingly more water as they grow. Peaking in early flower. Then they will consume less towards the end near harvest. Be prepared to adjust that watering schedule as you go here. I’d take the above advice and get used to pot weight as your guide.

Ok update. I watered and they sprang back to life indoors and looked great. I moved them out to soak up some sun this morning and after about an hour and a few are starting to droop. Maybe it is just climate shock? Or intensity of the light?

They are experiencing shock from the difference in intensity between cheap lights,

and the sun. If you intend to have them outdoors you need to give them some shade at first and let them acclimatize gradually.

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Seems excessive, plants that size in big containers shouldn’t need water every other day.

Looks like you answered your own question. You could try bringing them out when the sun is not at peak intensity, later in the evening or morning, gradually increasing to full intensity.

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Yeah the sun is pretty weak today and it is way cooler than it has been. I think I will leave thwm out and move them to the shade to acclimate. I’m afraid if I keep bringing them in to get them looking fresh again they are never going to acclimate to outdoor. Thoughts?

Also should I stop bringing them in at night? My only reasoning behind bringing them in was to try and get them more light as seedlings. It gets dark after about 12 hours currently.

Personally, I dont find the inside and outside combo to work very well. Are these autos or photos?

I’m not sure where you are located, but you need to be cognizant of how many hours of light as well as temps. Honestly, if your lights are cheap, they probably aren’t doing much to help you after the sun goes down. If your days are getting longer outdoors and you intend to grow outdoors, I would get them acclimated and leave them out, provided your temps are high enough to do so. But If they are photos and you will only have 12 hours of light, you are going to have issues. You need longer light hours for photos during veg. Indoors I run my lights 18/6, and flip to 12/12 when I decided to flower them out.

I live in the north eastern US, and I gave up fighting the climate for the same issues you are having and decided to grow indoors.

Also, if the sun and heat are intense where you are, I’d wrap those black pots in something. The sun will heat them(and your roots). If you are having a watering issue, it wont help. And you were smart not to set them on the concrete.

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Hmm good point with the bag heat, I will definately look for something to wrap the bags before it really heats up here.

They are photos so I was trying to get them as much light as possible. I am in central California so heat/light can get pretty intense and be mid 80s to the mid 90s pretty much all summer. I built small trellis to support them in the meantime as I get small gusts that are blowing them around. 1 of the plants seems to have adjusted well and the other 2 are still droopy. I think I will leave them in place to try and garden them off and no longer bring them at night.

If you are in Cali, then the days are only getting longer, so you will be set. Try to get them acclimated to the outdoors, and leave them out. I’m not an outdoor grower so I cant give good advice on how. We had 4 inches of snow last night, and it’s almost 60 degrees here now. I dont care to deal with that. Other than the current issue, your plants look nice. Just try not to over care for them. I would trim those lower yellowing leaves, anything really close to the dirt. Try to maintain airflow as it grows. You will get all the light you need outdoor in California. I’m not a wealth of knowledge on outdoor, but there are many here who are. @repins12 , and @Cannabian grows in greenhouses I believe (so natural light), just to name a few.

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Just keep doing what you’re doing… I think the only thing I would change might be the containers. I would dig a big hole or make big mounds for each plant… mix up some well rotted compost with the native soil to create air spaces/ incraase drainage… plant directly into that. Make a rim around the plant a couple feet around to contain water so as not to waste any. Dechlorinate your water and water deeply when needed. Really chase that water deep.

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