growerNshower
Well-Known Member
Introduction: The plant is a strawberry cough clone I obtained 4 weeks ago at ~10 in. in a rockwool cube. I’m growing indoors under a T5 lamp, room is 7.5’ x 11’ with 8’ ceiling. I am using Fox Farms Ocean Forest potting soil, which shows a pH of ~6.5 before use (mixed 1:5 with pH 7 RO water, GH pH test indicator ~5 drops, let the dirt settle before reading).
Transplant 1 (T1): into “1 gallon” (actual ~0.6) pot of FFOF and placed under a single bulb 2' T5 and periodic window sunlight.
d6 post-T1: Transferred to outdoor at the babysitters for 9 days (during my vacation to Maui). Out of 8 clones, she was the only one that drooped in the heavy morning sun, but recovered in the afternoon shade. On 3rd day outdoors, she stopped drooping in the mornings.
d10 post-T1: Watered with RO water, pH ~7. I understand that pH 6.3ish is ideal, but I was counting on the soil to buffer the water due to weak buffering capacity of pure water relative to organic soil.
*plant looks great
d21 post-T1: Fed with FloraNova Grow (7-4-10) in RO water, pH adjusted to ~6.3, 20% runoff.
*plant looks great
Transplant 2 (T2): At beginning of week 4, I transplanted into FFOF (mixed 3:1 with perlite to increase drainage) in a 7-gallon walmart bag. I gave it 1 tablespoon of Mikos granules sprinkled in transplant hole during transplant. The plant looked great going into and after transplant (pic 2), though it was clearly root bound before transplant (pic 1). I have been giving all my plants light for ~18 hours/day, manually switching, so give or take 1-2 hours.
*plant looks great
d1 post-T2: I installed a 4' 8-bulb T5 kept 3' above the plant-in-question (still waiting on my shipment for adjustable lamp hanger to lower it closer).
*plant looks great
d2 post-T2: Looked healthy, but due to a small infestation with some tiny (~0.5-1 mm) light green bugs (I picked off ~10 after inspecting all leaves carefully), I sprayed all my plants with low concentration neem oil/soap - 3 tablespoons triple action neem oil + 3/4 tablespoon Castile soap in 1 gallon RO water. They still looked great 1-2 days after spray.
*plant looks great
d2.5 post-T2: I switched to 24 hour light (since I was going to be out of town for a day and I haven't bought my timer yet...total noob I know). Plants looked mostly healthy at this point, but may have started to curl a bit (pic 3).
*plant looks great
*no dark period
d3 post-T2: Watered with pH 6.5 - 7 RO water, though I'm not sure I can accurately call the color from this kit (see later pics). I also cut 2 lower fan leaves off, since I saw small dark excrement spots and wanted to get rid of potential eggs left behind from aforementioned infestiation. I got ~20% runoff from the walmart bag (no holes), but plant/medium seemed to reabsorb after 2nd day.
*Note, there was some small amount of residual FloraNova gro nutes in the catch tray that had dried up from previous waterings, so it is possible that the plant had reabsorbed some extra nutes..although I hesitate to estimate the exact amount, I would say it was at most ~20% runoff from feeding ~1 gallon of FloraNova 7-4-10 at strength of 1 tsp/gallon, and perhaps some runoff from watering-only of another 2 1-gallon pots.
*plant looks great
*no dark period
d4 post-T2: In the PM, I noticed that the leaf tips (especially at top) starting to curl downward a bit. Some of the leafs at top were still cupped upward a little (pic 4).
Evening temperature in the grow room was around ~80 deg, with noticeable increase in humidity. I had a fan running, but no ventilation to/from room. I turned off 4/8 bulbs for the rest of evening and opened a window to ventilate/reduce temp (Working on getting an AC setup). Temps were down to 70ish by midnight.
**Leaf tips begin curling
*Note, all of my other plants in the grow room look good with little to no leaf curling.
*Re-introduced 6 hour dark period
*Tested the soil pH with a GH liquid kit by adding 1/5th soil in tube, then filled with RO water (pH 7), then adding 5 drops indicator. Again, I’m not sure I can accurately read these, so I attached pics of the read for the plant in question (pic 5), a control plant (birthday cake) not exhibiting tip curl (pic 6), and a pic of the water only (pic 7). Also, I attached a pic of the control plant, birthday cake (pic 8 ).
d5 post-T2: Morning temps cool ~65-70. Plant still displayed leaf curling at tips, especially at top, with a few blades still pointed upward.
d5.5 post-T2 (today): Afternoon sun on window raised temp in room to ~78. I turned on the fan again to air the plants and raised it up to hit the top of the plant. The last remaining leaf blades at top that were still turned upward begun to droop with the rest of them. (pic 9)
*Note, the walmart bag appeared wet toward the bottom, perhaps indicating poor drainage? I cut 6 x 1” holes in the bottom of sides of the bag to ensure not built up liquid, but no liquid came out.
From my research, possible causes are:
1) heat stress
-temps in room were ~80 and humidity seemed high to me
-other plants didn’t mind the heat, but this clone already showed heat sensitivity in past
2) Overwatering
-New to using walmart bags, and other healthy plants are still in black pots
-I usually let the top 1 inch of the soil dry up, but maybe the remainder of soil below was still very wet?
3) Underwatering
-Usually I am watering or feeding ~once per week, which seemed to work out well in terms of soil at top getting dry and plants looking healthy. Maybe this changed when I placed this plant in walmart bag with 30% added perlite, resulting in need to water more frequently? However, the plant did not perk up when I added water.
3) Nitrogen excess
-Walmart bag soaked up excess runoff that may have picked up nutes from previous runoff.
Other thoughts:
a) Perhaps a combination of the heat/humidity stress in combination with high soil moisture and clipping 2 fan leaves stressed the plant out?
b) Maybe some harmful chemicals are leaching out of the walmart bag?
Main Question: I would be grateful for any advice on how to proceed and what might have caused the leaf curling.
Thanks!
Transplant 1 (T1): into “1 gallon” (actual ~0.6) pot of FFOF and placed under a single bulb 2' T5 and periodic window sunlight.
d6 post-T1: Transferred to outdoor at the babysitters for 9 days (during my vacation to Maui). Out of 8 clones, she was the only one that drooped in the heavy morning sun, but recovered in the afternoon shade. On 3rd day outdoors, she stopped drooping in the mornings.
d10 post-T1: Watered with RO water, pH ~7. I understand that pH 6.3ish is ideal, but I was counting on the soil to buffer the water due to weak buffering capacity of pure water relative to organic soil.
*plant looks great
d21 post-T1: Fed with FloraNova Grow (7-4-10) in RO water, pH adjusted to ~6.3, 20% runoff.
*plant looks great
Transplant 2 (T2): At beginning of week 4, I transplanted into FFOF (mixed 3:1 with perlite to increase drainage) in a 7-gallon walmart bag. I gave it 1 tablespoon of Mikos granules sprinkled in transplant hole during transplant. The plant looked great going into and after transplant (pic 2), though it was clearly root bound before transplant (pic 1). I have been giving all my plants light for ~18 hours/day, manually switching, so give or take 1-2 hours.
*plant looks great
d1 post-T2: I installed a 4' 8-bulb T5 kept 3' above the plant-in-question (still waiting on my shipment for adjustable lamp hanger to lower it closer).
*plant looks great
d2 post-T2: Looked healthy, but due to a small infestation with some tiny (~0.5-1 mm) light green bugs (I picked off ~10 after inspecting all leaves carefully), I sprayed all my plants with low concentration neem oil/soap - 3 tablespoons triple action neem oil + 3/4 tablespoon Castile soap in 1 gallon RO water. They still looked great 1-2 days after spray.
*plant looks great
d2.5 post-T2: I switched to 24 hour light (since I was going to be out of town for a day and I haven't bought my timer yet...total noob I know). Plants looked mostly healthy at this point, but may have started to curl a bit (pic 3).
*plant looks great
*no dark period
d3 post-T2: Watered with pH 6.5 - 7 RO water, though I'm not sure I can accurately call the color from this kit (see later pics). I also cut 2 lower fan leaves off, since I saw small dark excrement spots and wanted to get rid of potential eggs left behind from aforementioned infestiation. I got ~20% runoff from the walmart bag (no holes), but plant/medium seemed to reabsorb after 2nd day.
*Note, there was some small amount of residual FloraNova gro nutes in the catch tray that had dried up from previous waterings, so it is possible that the plant had reabsorbed some extra nutes..although I hesitate to estimate the exact amount, I would say it was at most ~20% runoff from feeding ~1 gallon of FloraNova 7-4-10 at strength of 1 tsp/gallon, and perhaps some runoff from watering-only of another 2 1-gallon pots.
*plant looks great
*no dark period
d4 post-T2: In the PM, I noticed that the leaf tips (especially at top) starting to curl downward a bit. Some of the leafs at top were still cupped upward a little (pic 4).
Evening temperature in the grow room was around ~80 deg, with noticeable increase in humidity. I had a fan running, but no ventilation to/from room. I turned off 4/8 bulbs for the rest of evening and opened a window to ventilate/reduce temp (Working on getting an AC setup). Temps were down to 70ish by midnight.
**Leaf tips begin curling
*Note, all of my other plants in the grow room look good with little to no leaf curling.
*Re-introduced 6 hour dark period
*Tested the soil pH with a GH liquid kit by adding 1/5th soil in tube, then filled with RO water (pH 7), then adding 5 drops indicator. Again, I’m not sure I can accurately read these, so I attached pics of the read for the plant in question (pic 5), a control plant (birthday cake) not exhibiting tip curl (pic 6), and a pic of the water only (pic 7). Also, I attached a pic of the control plant, birthday cake (pic 8 ).
d5 post-T2: Morning temps cool ~65-70. Plant still displayed leaf curling at tips, especially at top, with a few blades still pointed upward.
d5.5 post-T2 (today): Afternoon sun on window raised temp in room to ~78. I turned on the fan again to air the plants and raised it up to hit the top of the plant. The last remaining leaf blades at top that were still turned upward begun to droop with the rest of them. (pic 9)
*Note, the walmart bag appeared wet toward the bottom, perhaps indicating poor drainage? I cut 6 x 1” holes in the bottom of sides of the bag to ensure not built up liquid, but no liquid came out.
From my research, possible causes are:
1) heat stress
-temps in room were ~80 and humidity seemed high to me
-other plants didn’t mind the heat, but this clone already showed heat sensitivity in past
2) Overwatering
-New to using walmart bags, and other healthy plants are still in black pots
-I usually let the top 1 inch of the soil dry up, but maybe the remainder of soil below was still very wet?
3) Underwatering
-Usually I am watering or feeding ~once per week, which seemed to work out well in terms of soil at top getting dry and plants looking healthy. Maybe this changed when I placed this plant in walmart bag with 30% added perlite, resulting in need to water more frequently? However, the plant did not perk up when I added water.
3) Nitrogen excess
-Walmart bag soaked up excess runoff that may have picked up nutes from previous runoff.
Other thoughts:
a) Perhaps a combination of the heat/humidity stress in combination with high soil moisture and clipping 2 fan leaves stressed the plant out?
b) Maybe some harmful chemicals are leaching out of the walmart bag?
Main Question: I would be grateful for any advice on how to proceed and what might have caused the leaf curling.
Thanks!
