I think they dieing from root bound!

mudballs

Well-Known Member
There are 2 arrows on the stick, one near the bottom pointing upwards and one near the top, below the indicator window pointing down.
Mine is buried in the soil with the top arrow showing above the soil by about 1 inch or 25mm in new money lol.
My pots are around 12 inches - 300mm deep.
Alright cool thnx, i bet that housing can withstand a temporary plunge in the dirt and put that space between those arrows where i want to read.thnx MoFlow
 

Grow Monster

Well-Known Member
If you think you are overwatering the plants try these.
Sus•tee aquameters. Cheap and real easy to use, just insert in the soil, water plant, sustee turns from white to blue in the indicator window. Plant needs water when the indicator window turns back to white.
They come in small, medium and large size.


Thanks for advice. I didn't get sustee but I just ordered a couple cheaper moisture/ph meters with gd ratings from Amazon. I should've already had one.
 

oill

Well-Known Member
Hey guys this is my 3rd grow. 2 bad runs do to bugs and heating issues. All was going gd til 3 weeks in bloom. I grow in ffof mixed with worm casting and perlite in 3lb fabric pots. 6 autos and 2 photos in a 27"x27"x60" tent. Running one oscillating 6" fan. 6" exhaust fan. Temp sits at 82-86f, 50ish rh under 250watt led. After doing a flush to get rid of ffof super hot soil nutes. The plants started holding water longer at the bottom tho top soil seemed dry down pass an inch or your knuckle. Was trying to figure if watering more but less frequent or less but more frequent was better. Plants just started getn worse daily. Lost about a week of growth and these 3 I'm referring to are autos. Its getn bad n I don't want them to die on me. Any help would be appreciated. I keep my ph 6.2-6.8 and they were flushed to 200 ppm which I think is gd cus I got 175 out the tap and the casting. Can I still get root bound in the fabric pots? What should I do? I use fox farm trio nutes. Only feed them twice since I had nutes already in soil and they did get light nute burn before the flush. Thanks in advance guys for any help!View attachment 5026150View attachment 5026151View attachment 5026152
I see ph issues
 

OneMoreRip

Well-Known Member
Looks messed , check runoff ph and ec/ppm if its still alive and when needs water

it doesn’t matter what you are watering, it matters what is actually in the medium (which is influenced by what you water), checking runoff gives you an idea of what is in your medium
 

Grow Monster

Well-Known Member
When ph and ec (of the medium), are good, your plant should be good, as far as root zone goes.
I will post pics tomorrow. Runoff ph was gd when flushed to 200 ppm last week. Haven't tested runoff since. I don't think they like being watered to runoff. I did it earlier today (should've tested it then) and they looked gd for hours then back droopy. Im going to try watering less but more often. My medium dries out daily. I got yellowing leaves and spots on some bottom leaves now. I think when they was drowning (overwatered) it wasn't able to intake nutes. Thats my guess. It might be the nutes I give it as to why it looks that way also. I know my formula is probably off.
 

Grow Monster

Well-Known Member
I really thought it was a root problem cus I can see them on the soil surface like they ran out of room. I added some more topsoil since then. Im still adjusting the overwatering issue. I think I'm close to finding there happy spot.
 

OneMoreRip

Well-Known Member
I will post pics tomorrow. Runoff ph was gd when flushed to 200 ppm last week. Haven't tested runoff since. I don't think they like being watered to runoff. I did it earlier today (should've tested it then) and they looked gd for hours then back droopy. Im going to try watering less but more often. My medium dries out daily. I got yellowing leaves and spots on some bottom leaves now. I think when they was drowning (overwatered) it wasn't able to intake nutes. Thats my guess. It might be the nutes I give it as to why it looks that way also. I know my formula is probably off.
If they dont like being watered to run off you are watering to soon i would have to guess.
 

m4s73r

Well-Known Member
Instantly bought one, didnt know they made one of these meters. Hope it's as fly as it might be
Wonder if these would work in a 18 inch bed...
I really thought it was a root problem cus I can see them on the soil surface like they ran out of room. I added some more topsoil since then. Im still adjusting the overwatering issue. I think I'm close to finding there happy spot.
Those are feeder roots. That meter you got will work fine. Do one thing first. Get a pot of soil and get it just right in moisture. Put that in and let it set for 30 min. then note what the reading is. Strive to keep your soil at that moisture reading always. Follow the 5% rule. 5% water to soil per watering.

Couple of things for your next round. Part of whats going on is your in small fabric pots. They suck for peat moss based soils. You see, Peat Moss becomes hydrophobic when its dry. The shit literally repels water. And roots wont grow in dry soil. So if you have a 7 gallon pot and it develops a "crust" zone all around the pot, then your only growing in 4 to 5 gallons of soil and the rest is dry. If you got big plants, that crust may never get fully re-hydrated. Now you got dry spots that will never see water. Then the plant is really confused as it started out in 7 gallons and that's shrunk to 4-5 gallons usable and 2 gallons it wants nothing to do with. Then your chasing your tail with all kinds of issues.
Also cover the top of your pot with a piece of plastic or mulch so the top wont dry out. If your soil is dry now you need to be watering with a whetting agent.
Check out Grass roots living soil pots. They're lined to prevent this.
 

mudballs

Well-Known Member
Wonder if these would work in a 18 inch bed...

Those are feeder roots. That meter you got will work fine. Do one thing first. Get a pot of soil and get it just right in moisture. Put that in and let it set for 30 min. then note what the reading is. Strive to keep your soil at that moisture reading always. Follow the 5% rule. 5% water to soil per watering.

Couple of things for your next round. Part of whats going on is your in small fabric pots. They suck for peat moss based soils. You see, Peat Moss becomes hydrophobic when its dry. The shit literally repels water. And roots wont grow in dry soil. So if you have a 7 gallon pot and it develops a "crust" zone all around the pot, then your only growing in 4 to 5 gallons of soil and the rest is dry. If you got big plants, that crust may never get fully re-hydrated. Now you got dry spots that will never see water. Then the plant is really confused as it started out in 7 gallons and that's shrunk to 4-5 gallons usable and 2 gallons it wants nothing to do with. Then your chasing your tail with all kinds of issues.
Also cover the top of your pot with a piece of plastic or mulch so the top wont dry out. If your soil is dry now you need to be watering with a whetting agent.
Check out Grass roots living soil pots. They're lined to prevent this.
Thats what im gonna test, jam that sucker in there deep and get my reading. Idk anything about these yet but they look more useful than any other gimmicky item ive seen for gardeners to buy
 

m4s73r

Well-Known Member
Thats what im gonna test, jam that sucker in there deep and get my reading. Idk anything about these yet but they look more useful than any other gimmicky item ive seen for gardeners to buy
Shit let me know. I love the idea of a meter i can stick in my 4x4 bed and just look at it and know if I need water or not. I love my reotemp soil moisture meter, but im about saving time. I followed your DIY soil post. Hope to see them there.
 

Jules1976

Well-Known Member
I was not letn it dry completely. Watered it daily. It was fine until the flush. After that it dried alot slower. Maybe there's clumps of soil that retained the water.
Watering everyday unless in coco is a big no no your roots I usually water every 3 days but I never water until dry I prefer to wait for a little leaf drooping then I know she's thirsty
 

speedwell68

Well-Known Member
I will post pics tomorrow. Runoff ph was gd when flushed to 200 ppm last week. Haven't tested runoff since. I don't think they like being watered to runoff. I did it earlier today (should've tested it then) and they looked gd for hours then back droopy. Im going to try watering less but more often. My medium dries out daily. I got yellowing leaves and spots on some bottom leaves now. I think when they was drowning (overwatered) it wasn't able to intake nutes. Thats my guess. It might be the nutes I give it as to why it looks that way also. I know my formula is probably off.
Stop watering them. Water by the weight of the pot. By the sound of it you have drenched them again, so feel the weight of the pot. Use some scales if you want. When they are really light water them a little and feel the weight again. For reference 1L of water weighs 1KG. I have some plants in veg that haven't been watered in 2 weeks. They were potted up in already moist compost and given a little on top of that and then left, I check the weight daily, when they start feeling light they will get a little drop. IMHO overwatering is worse than underwatering, because it is harder to fix.
 
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Grow Monster

Well-Known Member
You’ve been told it’s over watered. And you watered again to flush ppm to 200?
No I was speaking of my original flush. Since the flushed ive watered twice with run off. They dry out when watered every other day. They don't look like they like going from soaking wet to bone dry. Today I gave it just a portion of what I was giving it to see if they do better. I got a water meter checking moisture now. It was mention my ph looked off so I was just sayin I have checked runoff.
 

Grow Monster

Well-Known Member
When ph and ec (of the medium), are good, your plant should be good, as far as root zone goes.
I think u are correct about ph issues. Just realized I hadn't calibrated my meter in almost 2months since I bought it. Just ordered some solution. Big clue was that I tested my tap water and it read 6.5 which it has never been perfect. It was always mid 7's. My guess soil is high alkaline now. That might explain the coloring issues on the leaves.They say vinegar can get it back down to the rt level ph if that is the case. Would u say thats about rt?
 
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