Auto strains drooping , help appreciated

Hi, 1st time grower here. My plants have been drooping for 2 days straight since last watering (2 days ago in the morning after lights are on). I make sure to let the first inch of the soil dry out to water again but they don't spring back up after the soil are dry. This morning I gave them water (a bit less) results are the same. These are some pics of them.
>Auto Blue Dream (3 plant)

> Auto OG Kush (3 plant)

one of them has yellowing on the tip of the bottom leaf (last pic).

Grow in Tent
Medium : Soil (No nutes yet)
Ph : 6.5-6.7
Strains : Auto Blue dream , Auto OG Kush
Around 12 days old since sprouting.
Temps : 25-27C - Lights on
Temps : 22-24C - Lights off
Humidity : 35-45% Day
Humidity : 55-60% night (controlled by dehumidifier)

Lights : (2 of these for 6 plants) Hipargero 800W LED Grow Light Full Spectrum Including UV IR 3000K COBs 3W Osram Chips

https://www.amazon.com/LED-Grow-Light-Spectrum-Lighting/dp/B07HH2FNW9

Lights are around 20 inch from top of plant with both VEG and BLOOM switch on.

All 5 Gal Pot
1 CO2 bag around light height (20 inch)
Using 6 inch Vtronic Inline Duct fan with ducting, 1 each for exhaust and intake
(I just installed the intake fan around the time plants started drooping and ducting comes straight from the front of AC to the tent. Maybe this was the case?)

And Lastly 1 14'inch oscillating fan on the tent floor.

What can I do to help them?

They are being over watered.
Let the soil dry so the roots can breathe, don't water again for roughly 4-5 days. My 3 week old autos have been watered 3 times and are flourishing. Seedlings don't require much water, allow dry periods and make the roots search for water so they can establish themselves.

Yeah nick is right - over watering. Huuge pots for tiny plants are a recipe for disaster.

Leave it be. Life the bag now and feel the weight. It’ll be a lot lighter once it’s dry

To fix this in the future, you want at least 30% (pearlite) aeration in your medium. This way, you can water literally as much as you want without worry of over doing it. To help this situation along, you should elevate the fabric pot about 1 inch off the ground as to let gravity pull some of that excess out. If you're confident, you could even try replanting.

To do this without damaging her too much, i reccomend using your hands. You dont need to get all the dirt off or anything just enough that it leaves a nice root ball. The roots shouldn't be that well developed yet anyways. Afterwords, amend the soil with perlite and simply replant and water.

seems like a daunting task, I know. It's definitely worth it though to give your grow the best possible environment while you still can.

Wizard of Nozs said:

To fix this in the future, you want at least 30% (pearlite) aeration in your medium. This way, you can water literally as much as you want without worry of over doing it. To help this situation along, you should elevate the fabric pot about 1 inch off the ground as to let gravity pull some of that excess out. If you're confident, you could even try replanting.

To do this without damaging her too much, use a hard plastic 1 gallon pot and cut the bottom out then push it all the way down around the plant until its fully submerged. Then just pull up and the whole thing should come out with the dirt intact. Afterwords, you can put it on a surface and cut the plastic pot on the side to get it out of the way and use your hands to gently pull some of the dirt away. You dont need to get all the dirt off or anything just enough that it leaves a nice root ball. The roots shouldn't be that well developed yet anyways. Afterwords, amend the soil with perlite and simply replant and water.

seems like a daunting task, I know. It's definitely worth it though to give your grow the best possible environment while you still can.

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I agree with everything you mentioned except for transplanting. His autoflowers are going through enough stress as it is and will not be able to handle getting transplanted. His best option is to let the soil dry and leave them be for a few days.

Ahhh my bad I did not see that they were autoflowers. In that case, dont transplant. Good lookin out. I know I looked at the strain name at least 10 times. Selective viewing i guess.

I personally see faster growth repotting autos just the once at the 10-14 day mark than starting in its final pot.

You must know what you’re doing to transplant without stressing them.

Obviously no need to re pot your current plants.

go from a 1/2gl to a 5gl or 1/4gl to a 3gl etc...

I personally never transplant autos. I grow them from seed straight into the pot they'll be living. The reason for this is that due to the finite living arrangement, I want absolutely no burps in its growing process. Slowing growth even by 3 days has a direct result on yield. That's why I developed my extreme LST methods in the first place. To max out the benefits afforded to the auto as quickly as possible in order to establish strong growth. Everything gets tied down so light hits all nodes.

That being said, if you're going to transplant an auto then I would start it in a 1 gallon fabric pot and transplant from that since in theory the air pruning effect should keep any down trend in growth from happening.

Thanks for the advice guys. Cheers.

Wizard of Nozs said:

I personally never transplant autos. I grow them from seed straight into the pot they'll be living. The reason for this is that due to the finite living arrangement, I want absolutely no burps in its growing process. Slowing growth even by 3 days has a direct result on yield. That's why I developed my extreme LST methods in the first place. To max out the benefits afforded to the auto as quickly as possible in order to establish strong growth. Everything gets tied down so light hits all nodes.

That being said, if you're going to transplant an auto then I would start it in a 1 gallon fabric pot and transplant from that since in theory the air pruning effect should keep any down trend in growth from happening.

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Sorry I forgot to mention I use air pots to start as they do as you say, air prune the roots then I transplant. Either to a final large airpot/fabric or solid plastic.

Don’t transplant if you’re starting in a solid plastic pot.

here is an auto 4 days after transplanting then 2 weeks (one at the back) Growth did not slow at all.

Nicely done. It's can always be a shit show when transplanting auto's. It depends on the skill level so I always advise against it without knowing a persons level. I figured if OP is still trying to dial in his medium, he probably doesn't have a ton of experience transplanting.

Wizard of Nozs said:

Nicely done. It's can always be a shit show when transplanting auto's. It depends on the skill level so I always advise against it without knowing a persons level. I figured if OP is still trying to dial in his medium, he probably doesn't have a ton of experience transplanting.

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Thanks man. Yeah definitely - still gives him an idea it can be done if u know what to do.