Plants keep seeming underwatered, but pots keep getting heavier

So I've heard the 2 different methods of checking to see if the plants need water.
1) stick your finger in the soil. If its dry an inch deep, water. This no longer works for me. The plants drain the water from the bottom faster than the top dries out.
2) checking to see how heavy or light the pot is

The 2nd method was working great for me. I was able to tell when they were light and get them watered. However, now my plants are hitting the point of drooping at a heavier and heavier pot level. There seems to be a very small difference in weight between freshly watered and drooping.

Could this actually be overwatering? Everytime they start to droop and I give them water they immediately perk up. Am I maybe just at the point where I should stop checking and water them every day on a schedule? (they end up drooping about once a day now). All 3 plants do it.

Info-
3x Foot cheese - northern cheese haze (cheese pheno) x tyrone stomper
5g fabric pots - FF happy frog mixed with 30% perilite and amended with wormcastings, kelp and rock.
Feeding 1/2 tsp/gal of each FF trio about once a week right now. They don't seem to need a lot of nutes.

You could feel around bottom of fabric pot. See how easy medium/pot crumples (or not.)

OkSureWhyNot said:

You could feel around bottom of fabric pot. See how easy medium/pot crumples (or not.)

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Oh like check to see if the bottom is dry (aka crumbly)?

That's smart. I gave them some water from the bottom yesterday to see if that would help with the bottom drying out so fast while the top of the medium has plenty of water.

Turns out my plants are just double dipped b*tches and like to droop in the evening. I'm back to lifting pots as well as feeling the bottom of the pot. I'm so confused now becuase I also had a day they drooped in the middle of the day, and they were definitely still wet/heavy. I gave them water and they perked up.

I can't figure out this whole watering thing. I think on the next grow I'm going to use blumats and an auto-drip system. On the brightside, I'm not noticing any signs of overwatering or root rot.

Pic tax:

Every time lapse I see, the leaves are always up and down. Good be some sort of internal rhythm or response to environment, idk.
those spots are crystals, right? Looks healthy.

OkSureWhyNot said:

Every time lapse I see, the leaves are always up and down. Good be some sort of internal rhythm or response to environment, idk.
those spots are crystals, right? Looks healthy.

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Yep, she's frosting up fast.

They will take more and more water as they bulk too. In the end I go through 15ga every other day. If I was in a smaller pot I’m certain it would be everyday with my ladies.

Switch away from Fox Farms their soil is inconsistent at best.

I see some minor leaf issues but overall the plants look ok. Maybe your PH is off and the plants are not up taking as they should.

calvin.m16 said:

Switch away from Fox Farms their soil is inconsistent at best.

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Next grow I'll be making my own and going organic.

Capn-Crunch said:

I see some minor leaf issues but overall the plants look ok. Maybe your PH is off and the plants are not up taking as they should.

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I always ph my water to 6.5. However with peat and dolomite lime in happy frog soil who knows what its getting buffered to in the soil.

What leaf issues are you seeing? I've noticed my leaves turning purple and blue which i believe is a phosphorus deficiency? I've been really light on nutes so far.