Help Diagnosing problems

Hi all, first grow here and I have a couple sick plants. They are all Amnesia Haze Autoflowers. They are 35 days from seed and were doing really well. They are growing in FFHF soil. Im guessing this is an overwatering issue but not sure. They are in 3 gallon smart fabric pots and I was watering till runoff about every 4 days and was checking the top 1inch and it felt mostly dry. The pots also felt a lot lighter so I would water. Well the last week the two plants have looked droopy and terrible.

This morning the plants were dry again so I fed nutes with 1Gal/ pot and checked on them later in the day. The plants are NOT getting better. The first picture in the album is a small plant that was in the tent with the others and was in similar shape. After a day or two outside it perked right up. So now I’m thinking could it be something with my tent setup??? I have two 300w LED lights 20in away from the plants. I noticed there is some browning on the tips of the new growth and one leaf is burned (possibly from being outside in the heat). But they have not recovered and are really worrying me. Still very droopy and sad looking and to me it looks like some of the leaves are starting to yellow. I feel like I am doing everything I can for them and am so confused. The humidity has been ~50% all day and the temps between 66-76F.

Any thoughts would be very helpful!

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They do all look overwatered. But 1 gallon of water every 4 days in 3gal pot sound about right. Feeling 1” down in the soil doesn’t tell you much, though. The first inch or 2 could be dry but the root zone is still wet the next 8” down. When they are truly dry, the pot will weigh next to nothing.

Thanks! Yea I have felt the weight saturated and when I am watering its wayyyy less than that. Maybe I should poke a couple holes in the bottom? They are smart pots so I thought I should be fine with drainage. When I water them I get a good amount of runoff. Just really confused by all this. I have them on a 20/4 light cycle. They just started flowering when all this happened so maybe the stress of pre-flower triggered this? Just not sure what to do with them…

You don’t need to put any holes in smart pots. What is your ph going in and runoff ph?

pH going in was 6.5 and runoff was 6.0

Ph looks good. Still coming back to overwatering. You should pick up one of those three way soil meters (ph, moisture and light). The ph probe and light sensor are worthless but the moisture meter works. It will tell you if you still have moisture at the bottom of your pots. I used to use one to train myself how heavy the pots should feel when they’re dry. I just ripped off the ph probe so I wasn’t making two holes every time I stuck it in the soil. It could be root issues but I think we should eliminate “wet feet“ as the cause first.

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Awesome! I just ordered one. Yea everything that I have researched points to overwatering but I’m just having such a hard time accepting that. But who knows. This will at least take some of the guess work out. I will see how the girls do overnight and update tomorrow when I get home after work. Thank you for the help.

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They are much happier today! After coming home today they look quite a bit better. Hopefully they are returning back to normal. As far as thing things I did…
2. Fed with nutes and watered slowly and let sit in runoff water for ~5min.
3. Raised the lights ~3in
4. The temperature went from being in the 60-70s to staying in the 70s

So it had to be one of these things or a combination. Maybe they were a little hungry as this was the 1st time I fed them.

I wouldn’t let my plants sit in runoff water. I use pot elevators . Runoff from watering especially with nutrients contains salts and what not. You dont want those being sucked or wicked back into the plants.

Also on the over watering. Those fabric pots when dry you can pick them up by the handles with just a finger. when they are heavy with water you can feel it. A gallon of water weighs 8.3lbs If you swing it a little you can feel it in there. I had one plant that always had a little more water in one side of the pot but bone dry on the other. I could feel it being lopsided.

This is my first grow so I am just passing on a few things I was taught here.

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hmm ok I will look into it. For now when I water I take all the plants out and let them sit in runoff for a couple mins then empty the trays it when I put them back in. Maybe I will get some elevators. They seem nice for air flow as well.

Thats good to know about the watering. I got a soil meter today that I will try out. I always want to do so much when sometimes the best thing to do is leave them alone.

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Yes they are great for air flow. the water runs out of them nice into the trays and they air gets in there and prevents mildew and mold from taking hold.DO NOT buy them from amazon for $20 a piece. they should only cost you $3-$4 from a grow shop or online retailer.

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One of the things I was told here was the plants can feel you stressing out over them. lol If you look at my journal It’s me stressing out over something every 30 minutes. :rofl:

But it is good to be on top of them.

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:smile: Yea I definitely feel that. I’m always checking my bluetooth thermometer/hygrometer. Especially with Auto’s I feel the pressure of being on a clock. Not a lot of time to recover from mistakes.

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these plants will recover from a lot of things. trust me. I tried to kill them 20 different ways before they even sprouted(not on purpose). I would for sure get the pots elevated. You really dont want that water wicking back into the pots. Think of it as waste water. It’s not a hydro setup where the water floods in and the plants suck it up and it flows out.

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@Trogedor Like @Jackie_Daytona said. get some pot risers.

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Yea I will look into getting some now. That will help a lot. Circulation and drainage is so important.

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It is. I bought some crappy little plastic ones waiting on an order to come in from they hydro shop and they really sucked. Luckily my plants were really small at the time. I just flushed my plants for the first time yesterday and today and it was gallons and gallons of water I ran through them. Without stout trays/plant saucers and those risers it would have been a nightmare.

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Just wanted to give an update and thank everyone for their help! The plants are looing great. Just finishing week 6 today. These pics were yesterday just before feeding and perked right up. I have a couple questions.

  1. Do they look like they are growing a a good rate for 41D in? The middle large plant is behind the others and just starting to flower.
  2. How does my feeding schedule look? I’m just about to start the week 7-8 and am watering between feedings. I have been watering/feeding every other day as this is when the pots are light. I am using 1Gal/pot to feed or water.

I also did not start feeding till beginning of week 6. so disregard the first part of the feed schedule.