33 day old Autoflower problem

Hey all, first grow here so any help is appreciated. I've got 6 autoflowers going right now, all different strains. Out of the 6, two look like they're having the same issues. Droopy leaves curling downward. The other 4 look pretty perky and healthy from what I can tell. They've all been on the same watering schedule thus far, only watering when the pots feel dry by weight. I'm at day 33, so far I've watered 8 times within those 33 days. The first 3 or so weeks was just phd water with no nutes. On the 6th watering I gave them their first nutes, Cal mag and GH flora 3 part series. 1ml cal mag, micro, grow, and 0.5ml bloom per gallon of water. About two days after this nute watering I started to tell two were drooping, while the other 4 looked perky. Two waterings later of just plain ph'd tap water with really no noticeable improvement.

My setup is a 4x4 tent with 3 LED lights, two are HLG 100's and the other is a vivosun blurple 600W (230W actual) all at 20ish inches from the plants. My temps are on the lower side I believe at 69-70F when lights are OFF and 74F when the lights are ON. 20/4 is the light cycle. MyRH stays between 50-60%

These pictures are all of the same plant. but the 2nd one looks pretty much identical to this one so I didn't bother getting close ups of that one. Note that all are pulled down due to LST and the first picture of the whole tent was taken a few minutes after the lights came back on so the four healthy ones may seem a tad droopy too but they perked back up fine like normal.

adding that Im in 3 gallon fabric pots in espoma organic potting soil with added perlite. I vary my ph every watering between 6.2 and 6.8

So this isn’t talked about much anywhere that I’ve seen. Its tough to go from organic soil to using chemicals. I’ve noticed my plants didn’t like it at first either. After a few days it went away and they looked fine.

I switched to organic all the way through this time. Most research I saw said the chemicals kill the microorganisms etc.

All 6 look a bit droopy to me.

Well they looked hungry and looks like you fed them. So you should see how they respond in a few days and adjust accordingly. I make sure I don’t leave runoff when I water with the GH line. Just a heads up

So does it look as if they dont have enough added nutrients to you guys or just need more waterings in general? I've only watered with them once and figure thats what caused the issue so I cut the nutes out the past two waterings.

sarahJane211 said:

All 6 look a bit droopy to me.

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In the pic they do, especially the back 3, two of those back 3 are the ones I've had the issues with. The pic was taken right after the lights came back on, a few hours later the front three perked back up. Maybe that back 3rd one is starting to have the same problem the other two are having I guess.

I struggle with this as well. Hopefully someone way more experienced can offer some insight. I’m waiting to hear myself.

Does anybody know how much temperature affects droopiness? I feel like my temps being low might be part of the issue. The soil at times feels pretty cold to the touch. Since this is my first grow I cant tell if the size of these autos are on the smaller side or normal size for day 33 after planting. Anybody have an opinion on that?

EDIT: the front middle is 12 days younger than the other 5 so thats why its smaller

I think they look fine for day 33 and I’m growing in my basement so I don’t think 69 is to cool for lights out temps. All looks good to me. Wait for others check back in the morning when some of the pros have a chance to look and help you.

More pictures of the same plant this afternoon. Any seasoned growers have any idea what my problem is? All 6 are starting to look like this now.

You want temps around ( 75-85° ) to keep them happy . Cold temps / soil slows growth and uptake. Plants droop as roots / medium are cold. It can also bring on deficiencies ( purpling ) , etc.

Increase ambient temps , raise pots off of cold floors ( increases oxygen exchange / drainage ) , add calmag to keep uptake , control watering to keep from overwatering . Autos hate ANY STRESS whether from environment, feed or unnecessary ammendments.

Autos thrive with minimal effort .... all you have to do is provide a simple bagged mix to sustain the damn thing for 90 days ( + or - ).
No complicated feeds , No heavy handed training .

Believe it or not that Espoma soil alone could carry that auto by itself with occasional top dressing of “ same “ soil to keep charged thru grow . Only ph 6.5 water.

Budzbuddha said:

You want temps around ( 75-85° ) to keep them happy . Cold temps / soil slows growth and uptake. Plants droop as roots / medium are cold. It can also bring on deficiencies ( purpling ) , etc.

Increase ambient temps , raise pots off of cold floors ( increases oxygen exchange / drainage ) , add calmag to keep uptake , control watering to keep from overwatering . Autos hate ANY STRESS whether from environment, feed or unnecessary ammendments.

Autos thrive with minimal effort .... all you have to do is provide a simple bagged mix to sustain the damn thing for 90 days ( + or - ).
No complicated feeds , No heavy handed training .

Believe it or not that Espoma soil alone could carry that auto by itself with occasional top dressing of “ same “ soil to keep charged thru grow . Only ph 6.5 water.

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Thanks for your response. Ill do the top dressing with the same soil I have on hand like you suggest and ph the water to 6.5. How much cal mag do you think i need to add for my next watering?

I would start at 1 tsp per gallon to start .... but wait an appropriate time when plants are getting “ dry “. Then you can gauge how quickly they drink between watering instead of a schedule. Example : water plants .... 3 days go by ( let’s say ) , you lift them and they feel lighter. Then you water again . Each plant will dictate how your watering goes.

After you note how they drink , you can easily find issues if they are not drinking as much and so on. You can ALSO Foliar spray veg plants at lights off with a mix of 2-3 ml of calmag solution in a sprayer with a drop of dish soap ( wetting agent ) over and under leaf.

GL

Since the pots were on the ground the bottoms were still wet and cold to the touch compared to the middle and top portion of the soil. I had them in saucers sitting on the basement floor and when I would water I would water until runoff and then empty the saucers the best I could but there would still always be a bit of water left in them which would explain why the bottoms stay saturated. I Just now got them about 6 inches off the ground sitting on some wire drawer things so hopefully now theyll have better air circulation for the bottoms to dry out. I water with a PH between 6.2 and 6.8 and the only time I tested the runoff ph it was at 6.9. I do not know what the ppm of the water is as I dont have anything to measure that but its tap water and I water right after filling the bucket so it has not sat for 24 hours.

Sometimes the simple things throw shit off.

Nice clean setup BTW.

Budzbuddha said:

Sometimes the simple things throw shit off.

Nice clean setup BTW.

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Thank you, ill check back in after a couple of days with some new pictures and hopefully be able to see some improvement by then. Appreciate the help thus far.

I received my ppm meter today and right out of the sink the ppm was 330. I added cal mag only with no other nutes to my watering bucket and the ppm now reads 725. Im holding off on watering until I get further advice. thanks

That’s a little high for tap water. Yours may be that high. Did u calibrate?

Wattzzup said:

That’s a little high for tap water. Yours may be that high. Did u calibrate?

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Im on well water and the meter said its calibrated from the factory so no calibration needed so no I did not calibrate.