Plant Moisture Stress - Symptoms and Solutions

DocBud has it covered. I use commericial non-ionic surfactants. You can use Ivory dish soap or Hi-Yield Spreader-Sticker.

Mites and other critters can easily be carried in on your clothes.

ALL pesticides and chemicals are tested on animals and labeled according to use and LD-50 toxicity. It's a big game with the EPA, Greenies, etc. too. One labeled product can be the same as the other, the only difference is price and application.

Hey guys, there's a great trove of info in these pages, and I thank you all for that.

I do have a few questions that I didn't see answered--possibly I even over looked them--but perhaps you can help me.

My plants are generally in good health. However, I do occasionally have some lower leaves turning necrotic black on the tips. My plants are in foxfarm ocean forest soil with perlite. They're all between 20-30 inches tall, and under cfl (veg.) I feed them every other watering, and water every other day, unless they look dry then I water that day. My typical feeding is 550ppm of foxfarm growbig @ 6.2ph, about 1900ml for 7 plants. My water definitely does not saturate the entire pot, I focus on the root ball area. I sometimes I will have some drip out the bottom into the trays, but I often worry that I'm not giving them enough water, or maybe too much. How can I know what is the right amount of water for my plants? What is your best guess at the cause of my lower blackened leaves?

Thanks in advance!

I have never seen blackened tips before, so Im at a loss for that. Do you have any pics? If the tips were turning brown and scorched, then you've likely over-fed them. Could you tell me how many ml of FF Growbig/gallon of nutrient solution you use? Im not good with ppm. Also, are you growing Sativas, or Indicas? My sativas I grow generally require less nutrients, and leaf scorching aka nutrient burn happens more easily with them.

To help you with your watering concerns. I have found the best way to tell if I gave them the right amount of water is to observe the lowest leaves on the plants. If they are healthy, green, and rigid, then they are getting enough water. If they go limp, and become yellow, or scorched, you are under-watering.

I'm having a hard time finding information on under watering through all the topics and pages. Can you give me some advise on what signs are you looking for to tell if you under or over watering. My leaves towards the bottom are slightly yellow and the new growth seems a little more yellow than it should. i dont think the leaves are too droopy. oh jeez I just need to take a picture than try to explain this hahaha. I'm using 5 gallon pots, coco, and my maters are about 15", good root ball, and im feeding about 16oz or 1 pint a day, i dont see any water flowing out bottom of pots. I have a moister meter but I'm not sure if its giving me accurate readings. could you give me some advice?

Thanks
Fooshizzle my nizzle

DaveCoulier said:

I have never seen blackened tips before, so Im at a loss for that. Do you have any pics? If the tips were turning brown and scorched, then you've likely over-fed them. Could you tell me how many ml of FF Growbig/gallon of nutrient solution you use? Im not good with ppm. Also, are you growing Sativas, or Indicas? My sativas I grow generally require less nutrients, and leaf scorching aka nutrient burn happens more easily with them.

To help you with your watering concerns. I have found the best way to tell if I gave them the right amount of water is to observe the lowest leaves on the plants. If they are healthy, green, and rigid, then they are getting enough water. If they go limp, and become yellow, or scorched, you are under-watering.

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Good thoughts. Thank you!

Good info to know... I've treated plants for mites before, but it was my dahlias... I did get a hot shot pest strip. Yeah I agree it's all or nothing....those lil bitches are persistant, so you must be as well. I used safer soap at first too and all's it did was make my room smell like donuts! Next time around if I get mites I won't freak out and I'll use the malathion... thanks for the advice.

fooshizzle said:

I'm having a hard time finding information on under watering through all the topics and pages. Can you give me some advise on what signs are you looking for to tell if you under or over watering. My leaves towards the bottom are slightly yellow and the new growth seems a little more yellow than it should. i dont think the leaves are too droopy. oh jeez I just need to take a picture than try to explain this hahaha. I'm using 5 gallon pots, coco, and my maters are about 15", good root ball, and im feeding about 16oz or 1 pint a day, i dont see any water flowing out bottom of pots. I have a moister meter but I'm not sure if its giving me accurate readings. could you give me some advice?

Thanks
Fooshizzle my nizzle

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If you over water the leaves droop if you are under watering the stems & leaves droop. The way your watering is very wrong, you need to water till you have "plenty" of run off and then wait till the pot is almost dry to water again. and moisture meters will lead you astray everytime, you really need to learn to read the plant

fooshizzle said:

I'm having a hard time finding information on under watering through all the topics and pages. Can you give me some advise on what signs are you looking for to tell if you under or over watering. My leaves towards the bottom are slightly yellow and the new growth seems a little more yellow than it should. i dont think the leaves are too droopy. oh jeez I just need to take a picture than try to explain this hahaha. I'm using 5 gallon pots, coco, and my maters are about 15", good root ball, and im feeding about 16oz or 1 pint a day, i dont see any water flowing out bottom of pots. I have a moister meter but I'm not sure if its giving me accurate readings. could you give me some advice?

Thanks
Fooshizzle my nizzle

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Dave is correct.

Recommend you get a book on Indoor gardening (no, not cannabis) and learn the basics.

Good luck,
UB

Thank you for the help

riddleme said:

If you over water the leaves droop if you are under watering the stems & leaves droop. The way your watering is very wrong, you need to water till you have "plenty" of run off and then wait till the pot is almost dry to water again. and moisture meters will lead you astray everytime, you really need to learn to read the plant

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Ive often times read the 'differences' between over-watering and under-watering, but they are actually the same regardless of how the plant is placed under water stress. If the plant can't uptake water for whatever reason we experiences a loss of turgidity in the plants tissues because the plant continues to lose water through respiration, but can't uptake any. It starts with limp leaves, followed by limp stems, and ultimately complete leaf scorching of affected leaves. The leaves will sometimes fall off as well before reaching the scorched stage though.

The 'differences' imo, just serves to confuse people regarding watering. If we see symptoms of water stress, we've either over-watered, under-watered, or perhaps badly damaged the root system through an over application of nutrients. It is then up to the grower to discern which of these caused the water stress. Examine the soil. Is it wet, or is it dry? Have I been giving my plants too much nutrients either in a single recent dose, or have I been continually doing this?

I have to take point at you blindly saying he is watering very wrongly. A person doesn't always need to maintain run-off to grow healthy plants. Water quality, and fertilizer applications play a key role in whether he needs run-off or not. If he's fertilizing with heavy doses every other watering, then yes watering to the point of a healthy run-off would be required, but even better would be to reduce his dosages so that he doesn't need to flush out excess nutrients with each watering. Give the plant what it needs to maintain vigorous growth and no more, but this requires more frequent fertilization's.

When you say almost dry? How dry are we talking here? What are the benefits that you see in waiting till the pot is almost dry before watering again?

Not gonna get into a debate about this, I'll just quit posting in this thread, I merely echoed UB's advice on watering

waiting till pot is almost dry aids in a healthier root system 75 to 80% is good

riddleme said:

Not gonna get into a debate about this, I'll just quit posting in this thread, I merely echoed UB's advice on watering

waiting till pot is almost dry aids in a healthier root system 75 to 80% is good

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I dont want you to quit posting in this thread. I like having you around. You've helped turned this forum into a community. Not many people are able to do that.

I just dont think anyone should make blanket statements about someones garden without knowing all the variables that are involved.

I learn more and more each day, and I also learn things I thought were true, or 'ok' for my garden, turned out to be wrong.

Along the way, Ive focused much of my learning on soil, as that is the base of our plants. If there is something wrong in the soil, then our plant will be greatly affected, so Im trying to achieve perfection when it comes to soil. I haven't reached that level yet, but I have learned things that can benefit others.

I wont go into any reasons why I think letting soil dry out to 75-80% is bad, but I will give you a link that I know you'll like reading, and it may change your watering habits. Its a great thread by my buddy, whom I mention every now and then.

https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=158911

Ok, so I soaked the pots two days ago until I had a little overflow and have not watered since, the top of the soil is still slightly wet. When I watered I used a mild 800ppm solution and the plants averaged 15". I just checked tonight and my tallest plan is 19.5 inches! In two days they grew about 2.5 inches on average and the leaves look darker. I know my nutes were to high but I also think I wasn't watering enough. wow.

fooshizzle said:

Ok, so I soaked the pots two days ago until I had a little overflow and have not watered since, the top of the soil is still slightly wet. When I watered I used a mild 800ppm solution and the plants averaged 15". I just checked tonight and my tallest plan is 19.5 inches! In two days they grew about 2.5 inches on average and the leaves look darker. I know my nutes were to high but I also think I wasn't watering enough. wow.

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Now your seeing what I was talking about, good for you
if you want more info read the links in my sig

DaveCoulier said:

I dont want you to quit posting in this thread. I like having you around. You've helped turned this forum into a community. Not many people are able to do that.

I just dont think anyone should make blanket statements about someones garden without knowing all the variables that are involved.

I learn more and more each day, and I also learn things I thought were true, or 'ok' for my garden, turned out to be wrong.

Along the way, Ive focused much of my learning on soil, as that is the base of our plants. If there is something wrong in the soil, then our plant will be greatly affected, so Im trying to achieve perfection when it comes to soil. I haven't reached that level yet, but I have learned things that can benefit others.

I wont go into any reasons why I think letting soil dry out to 75-80% is bad, but I will give you a link that I know you'll like reading, and it may change your watering habits. Its a great thread by my buddy, whom I mention every now and then.

https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=158911

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I agree and I was a bit short, but was at work with limited time, so I apologize. I will read that thread when I get a chance, thanks for the link. It's been a hell of a day

Dont sweat it. I fully understand.

Enjoy the thread. I know you'll really appreciate it. I need to re-read it as well myself. Tons of great info to digest from Secondtry/Gojo.

Holy crap. I just finished reading a bunch of your make it rain posts and I think I accidentally "made it rain" on my plants. Now my plants are at 21.5" and I need to feed. So if I'm thinking about this correctly, I will feed tonight enough to fill my whole 5 gallon pot with a mild maybe 800ppm solution, then when do I "Make It Rain" again? I hope I'm understanding this right and I'm afraid I still have a lot of reading to do. First grow excitement woohoo!

Well I didn't get the Spider Mites. I'm 2 to 3 weeks from harvest. I used the Doktor Doom Knock Out. Seemed to get them, but they came back. I should have just used the Malathion then, but live and learn.
I have a DR. Doom Fogger I could use tonight at dark, or I have Malathion. Can you water it in, or does it have to be sprayed? What do you think, cause I have watered it in on houseplants many times? If I spray it on is a drop or two of Joy in the water enough? I'm not afraid of bringing out the Big Guns to kill these fuckers but inside the two week window makes me ask you Guru's? So do you guys think I should Go Dr. Fogger, spray Mal, or water it in to kill eggs too? Or a combo? I have Neem Oil, but I don't see it helping. Thanks in advance.
Daniels

fooshizzle said:

Can you take a look at my maters? Give me a analysis of whats going on. I didn't have a time to feed last night so I'm going to feed tonight before the pots dry out to much. If I'm trying the make it rain technique, how much water should I use and nutes?

After I feed tonight when should I make it rain again?

On a side note: I can't believe my mites are gone, I check leaves everyday for new signs. All I used was Azatrol as under leaf foiler and as feed, then that Zero Tolerance stuff, both about 5 days ago (I also did a tepid water foiler rinse of the bottom of all infected leaves 2 days after I sprayed Azatrol and Z.T.). I think I'm going to spray malathion over the tops tonight just in case.

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You should discuss making it rain in any of my threads to get your questions answered

ok, im on my first grow and just double potted. When the soils compressed together, water came out of the bottom of the pot its in. She's been thriving, but when I double potted we watered the hell outta it and now 2 days later one of her original leaves turned light brown in the middle and one of the new ones has curled slightly and tanned at the end. However, the other original leaf is like a green percky tit, and all other are also well. Think it may just be double potting shock? Please lemme know this is the 1st grow to make it this far and thrive this much. Its high grade reg, REALLY HIGH GRADE lol. plant is about 6 inches tall. Thanks!