Advice needed: soil not drying

I transplanted from 1 to 3 gallon fabric pots. Currently using a super soil mix for bottom half (nature soil concentrate and bushdoctor Coco Loco) with Coco Loco on top half. The soil was pretty moist at the time of transplant. I watered each plant approx. 1 1/2 cup when transplanted and also topped the girls .Daytime temps around 75-77 with humidity around 30%. This took place about 1 1/2 weeks ago. I have not watered since

Leaves look healthy and all top leaves look normal .They are not limp. Shoots have been growing but the plants seem to be growing at a snail's pace .

I'm concerned because it's been over a week since I've watered and my meter is still showing some mosture all around the pot. I'm guessing the roots have not sucked it up. I placed additional fans in the tent .Should I be concerned about not watering for a week and half? Should I be doing anything in the meantime? It seems the middle of the pot has the most moisture. Is it ok that some of the medium is dried out but not other parts? Should I water some of the pot or wait until the whole thing is almost all dry?

When you took off the 1gal pot, were the roots visible on the sides and or bottom of the soil mass?
How many nodes tall are the plants?
It can take awhile for a good solid root mass to develop. This has to happen before a plant will really jump out of the pot... During this irritating time period, the visible plant appears to not be "growing." Sorta because its not( well not as quickly as we want), but the ROOTS are....That's the key mindset. Growing ROOTS. Healthy, white, fuzzy, ROOTS.... Healthy roots, produce fat stems, with big green leaves, capable of producing dense, fat, frosty colas.
If the plants aren't wilted, they are not suffering. New plants (especially seedlings) require shockingly little water to survive.
For every 1 plant that dies from dehydration, thousands are tortured, or even murdered via drowning....
Give yourself a pat on the back for not succumbing to the temptation of soaking your media too frequently.
Topping will also inhibit visible growth, albeit temporary.
Stay the course.

Thanks! I should have waited a week to transplant from 1 to 3 gallon. I only had them in 1 gallon for 2 weeks or so. Roots did not extend the full length or width of the pot. I had 5 nodes on the plants and topped to the 4th node.

Some of the bottom leaves are drooping a bit today but the top leaves are looking good. I did add soil to all the pots today and watered one that was light and metered showed dry on all 4 spots I measured .

It's strange because it's really the root ball that is moist to wet. Most other spots are pretty dry.

77f with 30%rh sounds like you have the meters under the light?

Possibly your not running warm enough

Yes, 77 at canopy. 70-72 on floor lights on and 68 during lights off. If I have fans on floor to go under floor it drops daytime to 66-68.

How much perlite do you have in your mix? Either the plants don't have roots to consume the water your giving them, or you need more perlite in the mix. I'm thinking you need to build the roots more, from the sounds of it. And your roots will grow quicker with more aerated soil.

Kingrow1 said:

77f with 30%rh sounds like you have the meters under the light?

Possibly your not running warm enough

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cold soil slow growth

Drbud78 said:

Yes, 77 at canopy. 70-72 on floor lights on and 68 during lights off. If I have fans on floor to go under floor it drops daytime to 66-68.

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too cold bro

If

Pa-Nature said:

cold soil slow growth

too cold bro

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it's too cold, the leaves will droop big time. Takes a few days to recover.
There isn't enough roots to use the water. I feed from the bottom after transplanting. I want the roots to search for water from the bottom.

A fan blowing across the top of the pots will help to dry them.
I use one of those box style fans .

Drbud78 said:

Yes, 77 at canopy. 70-72 on floor lights on and 68 during lights off. If I have fans on floor to go under floor it drops daytime to 66-68.

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Your setup seems wrong, thermometer and humidity meter need shading from all light indirect and direct. fans make wind which in most cases can be bad, un-needed with extraction or better suited pointing well away from the plants, were not trying to create windy tents just extract that small amount of heat.

Soil should feel slightly warm not cold, pot size can help tremendously, well rooted before repotting a good sign. Mine go close to a week after transplant but by then the soil is desperate for water. Well rooted plants need watering every two days in my tents.

Thats all i can offer, rome not built in a day so keep at it, work the conditions and make some adjustments to repotting next grow, id assume before repotting the plants really were well rooted too

you've put a layer of coco on top of a layer of soil, and none of you know why it's staying wet? because you put a layer of coco on top of a layer of soil.......coco needs a lot more water than soil....if you water the coco the way it needs to be watered, the soil underneath it will NEVER dry out, and your roots will wither and drown......if you don't water the coco the way it needs to be watered, its useless, and roots won't grow in it worth a shit.

Roger A. Shrubber said:

you've put a layer of coco on top of a layer of soil, and none of you know why it's staying wet? because you put a layer of coco on top of a layer of soil.......coco needs a lot more water than soil....if you water the coco the way it needs to be watered, the soil underneath it will NEVER dry out, and your roots will wither and drown......if you don't water the coco the way it needs to be watered, its useless, and roots won't grow in it worth a shit.

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Theres a lot wrong but where to start.....

Manily i just make sure they have some basics and some KISS

Roger A. Shrubber said:

you've put a layer of coco on top of a layer of soil, and none of you know why it's staying wet? because you put a layer of coco on top of a layer of soil.......coco needs a lot more water than soil....if you water the coco the way it needs to be watered, the soil underneath it will NEVER dry out, and your roots will wither and drown......if you don't water the coco the way it needs to be watered, its useless, and roots won't grow in it worth a shit.

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That's a really good point.

Here is what they look like. Cocoloco throughout, but I used "nature's living soil" mixed with the cocoloco in the bottom third. Just switched to 12/12 last night .Still a little moisture around root ball but dry most other places. Do these look like they need watering? I've had better luck when using nutes than I have with kind soil or this other stuff.

Drbud78 said:

View attachment 4237544

Here is what they look like. Cocoloco throughout, but I used "nature's living soil" mixed with the cocoloco in the bottom third. Just switched to 12/12 last night .Still a little moisture around root ball but dry most other places. Do these look like they need watering? I've had better luck when using nutes than I have with kind soil or this other stuff.

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i like to feel the bottom of the pot when using cloth pots. i've found that if you let the sides get dry, but the bottom is still damp, thats the time to water. not wet, but still a little damp.

Those look bone dry to me..... I stick my finger in soil 2 inches if it don't feel wet It needs water .

Pa-Nature said:

Those look bone dry to me..... I stick my finger in soil 2 inches if it don't feel wet It needs water .

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that works, but it does disturbs some of the roots. not like it's going to make the plant keel over and drop dead, but learn to tell by weight, instead of poking the roots around
you ought to have that down by now, with the grow room you run

Let the roots search a few days so the root system spreads.
If you give them water, they don't need to expand the system. Right? Don't let your plants be a "couch potato" lol

NoWaistedSpace said:

Let the roots search a few days so the root system spreads.
If you give them water, they don't need to expand the system. Right? Don't let your plants be a "couch potato" lol

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NO
root need to be fed to feed the plant more roots more feeding ....more growth ....
roots at 12 days from feed

Drbud78 said:

View attachment 4237544

Here is what they look like. Cocoloco throughout, but I used "nature's living soil" mixed with the cocoloco in the bottom third. Just switched to 12/12 last night .Still a little moisture around root ball but dry most other places. Do these look like they need watering? I've had better luck when using nutes than I have with kind soil or this other stuff.

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All in all not bad looking