First timer - Constant issues

First time grower her running into constant issues with my plants. I've come to the conclusion it has to do with the water. Temps are good, air circulation good, nute levels are just from the soil, so not too high (EC 0,5). Light has been between 300 and 500 PPFD. Humidity kept at 60-65%.

Using mostly organic soil (package says the mix is 70% organic). Water from the tap. The EC is 0,1 and the PH 7,5 to 8. It seems every time I transplant to a new pot things are doing great, then after a few weeks the same problems arrive. Drooping, yellowing, wilting of leaves.

First I watered them by weight. Measured the pot right after transplant, drenched it with water until a little runoff, then wait until the weight went back to the original number. Could go 5-6 days between waterings, but usually around 2 or 3. When I transplanted into 15L pots and a scrog net, that method was no longer practical, so I bought some good blumat tensiometers so I could see when the soil was getting dry. This made me water less but more often. Usually I try to dial it in with daily waterings. Wait till it says dryish, then water until moist, but not too moist. Still I get issues. Now I've begun bottom feeding since I figured the bottom layer may not be getting enough moisture since I am giving them less water but more frequent (the sensor doesn't go all the way to the bottom).

Day 14 in cubes



Day 25 in plastic (1l)



Day 27 fabric (3l)



Day 36 fabric (3l)



Day 48 fabric (3l)

First major problem:



Day 50 fabric (15l)



Day 59 fabric (15l)



Day 64 fabric (15l)



Day 66 fabric (15l)

Drooping leaves, stunted growth happening again. Plant has barely grown for a couple of days:



That particular plant did not get major leaf issues, but the others which were transplanted a few days later into the 15l pot did:



Obviously I'm doing something wrong and it becomes more apparent the longer I get away from a fresh transplant.

Hello there, This is just my Opinion. They ladies look over watered and also I am not seeing and perlite or vermiculite the first is better but you need something to help drainage. (and buffer) not sure if your in flower yet either but they also look nitrogen def. I find when I tried different soils I always go back to Pro MIx HP or Sunshine MIx #4 or better, Just by the light green I fear a the deficiency and maybe to much water.

Good luck I certainly hope you get them straightened out before too long. Keep up the good work and asking questions it always helps.

Thanks for replying. Still keeping them in veg. Overwatering might be the case, but I don't really think so. As I said I watered by weight, and not by hand but using a scale. Never put more water than a third of the pot size in liters. About a week ago I started using the tensiometer, and I have 5 of them, so I doubt all of them are not correct. No waterings until the meter showed dry conditions. I might have overwatered that last week because of an increased intensity, but this drooping problem is exactly the same as previous when I watered by scale and had 2-3 days between waterings. On top of that fabric pots are supposed to be hard to overwater. The soil is store bought but has good enough drainage. Water does not run out the sides and if I fill it to max I get runoff very quickly. Might not be perfect soil, but I doubt that is the real issue here. When transplanting into fresh soil they all started to recover. I'm thinking it is something I'm doing to the soil after that that is causing it. And since I'm not putting anything in there except water, that is probably it.

If it was a mere nute deficiency in the soil the bigger plant should get the symptoms first, no? But that is not the case. They all get them at more or less the exact same time (within a day or two).

The leaves on another plant have started cupping upwards. In fact that's a tendency on all of them except the one in the picture. I think that's to protect moisture evaporation, and if it's not the light or the heat it has to be something in the soil no? I have a PAR meter and the light is okay. Temperature in tent is never above 28 celsius, and never lower than 22-23 when lights are off. Temperature on the leaf surface is around 24 degrees checking just now. So it can't be the outside conditions causing those leaves to cup.

Could mention I have one plant not really suffering from any of this. It was an Indica that got stunted early as a seedling, so it stayed in that 1L plastic pot for 4-5 weeks. Recovered slowly, transplanted into a 3L pot, it exploded in growth, then in a little less than a week it went into the 15L pot because I was transplanting all the others because of the droop. But that too is showing signs of droop now, just not as severe as the others. It has however remained more steadily healthy than the others before that. That strengthens my belief it is something to do with the pot and the water routine. Could it be underwatering? With the tensiometer I have probably not soaked the pot enough, so the bottom dries out fast, while the top remains moist. Underwater for the bottom roots and overwater for the top roots? Is that possible?

Regarding the light green color, this is what happened after every transplant:

Pre transplant



Day after transplant



3 days after



7 days



9 days



Transplant



3 days after



7 days

Post the label of the bag. It might be that the soil just isn't that great. Im guessing its too hot for your plants? They dont seem to be burned but there is definitely something off about it.

Also, I tried fabric pots and hated them. Besides being messier it was really easy to get dry spots and I never got any better yields using them. Just had to water more often.

It's local from Europe so doubt you know it. But I can post the numbers it says:

Organic content: 68%
Density: 300kg/m3
PH: 6,2
EC: 0,48
Total nitrogen: 125mg/l
Particle size: 0-20mm

Additives per m3

Lime: 2-4kg
NPK 8-2-7: 1,5kg
NPK 6-3-2: 4,5kg

Neutrients CAT mg/l

Nitrogen: 130
Phosporus: 40
Potassium: 460
Calcium: 90
Magnesium: 140
Sulfur: 80
Boron: 0,5
Copper: 0,7
Iron: 29
Manganese: 14
Molybdenum: 0,05
Zink: 4

Can add that since bottom feeding them they take much longer to dry out. At least twice the time. But maybe that is just because they are in stunted mode now and drink less. I only started that yesterday. With the big plant it sucked up 2 liters in a few minutes. More slowly by the third litre, which is what I ended up giving it. Tensiometer said 200 pressure, so just entering dry. Normally those 3 liters would make the meter say 200 again today when pouring from the top, but it is only at around 70 with the bottom feed.

The plant with the most cupping looks like this. It's the smallest plant and the farthest away from the light.