Grrrr! Under/overwatering!

Never had this issue until the past few years. These are my three clones, and the single pic looks to either be under or overwatered, the other two just kind of hanging in there, maybe one starting to droop.

Haven't watered in a week, mostly outdoors in Ocean Forest. Top half of soil bone dry, but the pots are heavy , bottom seems where all the moisture is. Aside from the drainage along the bottom/sides of the pots, I've punched a few quarter inch holes in the bottom. and along the sides near the bottom. as well as used one of those thin shishkebob metal rods from the top of the soil to bottom just to make the soil loose so it doesn't compact.

Will I kill at least one of these by watering to try and remedy the droop, or is the droop because the bottom is damp? The droop you see just started past day or so, and as I said haven't watered in 5 or so days. Should I just wait it out and see what happens? Past few years my plants stayed stunted and didn't develop a good root system. Temps here (northern Ca) in the 80's/90's.

Top picture is definitely underwatered. What size container is that?

2 gallon pots, 9 inches high. What I am puzzled about is the bottom is heavy and damp - I can stick my finger or a stick in the bottom/side drainage holes and the soil is plenty moist. I did lose several last year, and when I emptied the pot the root system was not very well developed. When I got these I popped the cube into a relatively small container for 3 or so weeks, when I transplanted into these the roots had pretty much filled the smaller pots.

I just tried a very light watering to see how they respond, but the water just runs thru the soil on top and goes to the bottom, top half is still dry if I stick my finger in it

obijohn said:

I just tried a very light watering to see how they respond, but the water just runs thru the soil on top and goes to the bottom, top half is still dry if I stick my finger in it

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get the top lightly wet then come back and water a little, take a smoke break water more, then keep watering very slowly to mimic a nice rainy day .

alphapinene said:

get the top lightly wet then come back and water a little, take a smoke break water more, then keep watering very slowly to mimic a nice rainy day .

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Exactly what I'm doing! Little water on top, after a bit it dampens the soil underneath, rinse and repeat. Seems to work well

obijohn said:

Exactly what I'm doing! Little water on top, after a bit it dampens the soil underneath, rinse and repeat. Seems to work well

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hell yeah

I just started using hay as cover in my outdoor pots. I was having the same problem.

3 hours later, no change in the one plant pictured above, everything is evenly wet

blueberrymilkshake said:

I just started using hay as cover in my outdoor pots. I was having the same problem.

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This,cover or shade your dirt.Hot sun gets the temp too high.

obijohn said:

Exactly what I'm doing! Little water on top, after a bit it dampens the soil underneath, rinse and repeat. Seems to work well

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Soak the pot throughout and water again when it’s light and dry. It’s not hard. If you haven’t watered those in a week and they look like that then they are beyond thirsty, feed them.

I feed my outdoors FFOF plants with a garden hose, soak until the water reaches the rim and then wait and repeat multiple times.

Had the same problem. Usually under but I had problems with over watering too. I sloved it by switching to coco, fabric pots, and a water content meter. Its like $40 on Amazon. But these combined has been keeping me golden.

Doesn't Coco dry up real fast outside?

Plant from my OP still looks sad. Weird, I couldn't upload the photo unless I resized to thumbnail

If the pot is still heavy, dont water. Its that simple.

The whole "water when the top soil is dry" can easily lead to over watering. Even more so if you're not mulching.

Those plants are developed enough to easily pull water from the bottom of the pot.

Try a city picker sip. Or any brand.

I would drill more air holes in that pot and water the snot out of it with a drop of Dawn dishwashing detergent
The plant will thank you in a week or so

Well, they are all damp now. I had heard about using dishwater soap to help moisten dry soil, but I heard it has to be biodegradable. I transplanted into these 2 gallon pots a little over 2 weeks ago, they had a growth spurt, then nothing much since. I did feed them 1/2 or less the normal dose of Grow Big

obijohn said:

Well, they are all damp now. I had heard about using dishwater soap to help moisten dry soil, but I heard it has to be biodegradable. I transplanted into these 2 gallon pots a little over 2 weeks ago, they had a growth spurt, then nothing much since. I did feed them 1/2 or less the normal dose of Grow Big

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people use Dawn with no issues. A wetting agent can help a lot with this kind of thing-I buy powdered yucca extract for a wetting agent, and because it's a great foliar antifungal treatment, but dish soap is fine too, I used it for years.

This is so frustrating, I've grown for years without having this issue, then past few years nothing but problems