Is my plant root bound?

Sick Plants & Problems
#1

High !

So a bit of information- grew for about 5 years before, just started back up again. Having some issues with one of my girls.

growing 2 plants total in a small cabinet. One green crack (bag seed) one blue god (bag seed). A month and 2 weeks old. HP Promix is the medium. Feeding with botanicare veg + botanicare bloom for flower. Plan to buy the cal-mag to add to them as well, but have not got that yet.

So my issue is: my blue God is looking quite sad and wilty morning. I recently transplanted it into a bigger container because I noticed it had started to droop a bit. Roots were down to the bottom of the old container but did not look too bad… but I transplanted anyways. Was super careful while transplanting and know I couldn’t of shocked her that bad. I transplanted both at the same time and my green crack seems to be loving it! But this blue god seems like quite the touchy plant… I was feeding these girls constantly and realized that was a bad move - so in fear of locking these girls nutes out I switched over to giving them ph tested water and have now switched to feed every second watering. PH of water was good - I checked it. I recently moved them into this new cabinet and transplanted. I KNOW she is not thirsty because two days ago is when I gave her a new home and watered all the new soil before transplanting. possibly too hot or is it some sort of root bound issue?? Any help is greatly appreciated!

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#2

Not likely root bound at this size.

How long have they been in these containers?

How long after lights on was the picture taken.

The plants should raise and lower their leaves in vegetative state.

They tend to lock in the upward position in flower.

Soil is retreating from the sides of the containers.

Be sure you drench and drain your soil completely when watering. Dry areas can form in containers.

99

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#3

The plant other than drooping looks healthy, probably is plant shock. It’s getting water so I would Give it a few days and I like to give it light that is not as bright as it usually receives until it picks back up.

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#4

2 days now in new containers.

Lights were just about to shut off - 15 and a half hours of light.

So maybe I am being a bit too concerned ? Just seems odd that my green crack is so happy looking compared to it.

Oh okay, I was worried of a potential nutrient lockout earlier so I did water with just distilled, kinda flushed it out a bit. The last two times for blue god just ph adjusted water.

Thanks for the help!

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#5

I might refrain from doing this in the future. pH corrected water should work fine in soil.

Stick to your feeding schedule. The plants look fine.

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#6

Oh okay, why would you refrain from the distilled?

The reason why I got distilled is I was super worried it was root bound lol and my tap water is a wicked 8.0 so I quickly ran to the store and got distilled to use for the transplanting only. I should probably just go buy some ph down. Lol thanks for all the help, little bit of LIFTA I guess hah, just got worried!

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#7

You can use white vinegar as a ph down. :+1:

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#8

Very well could be that the two different plants don’t like the same feed concentration is my guess try altering the feed a bit see how it fairs , this is exactly why I don’t feed from a bottle nutrient never have never will to many variables going on it gets complicated welcome to OG @Leaf good to have ya here! You should be able to get it dialed in pretty quickly.

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#9

Could be overwatering. If I were to transplant into a container that size I would soak it when transplanting and likely not give it another drop for a week or even longer.

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#10

Thanks Tinytuttle, that’s a very good point. My green crack seems to love getting fed but this blue god not so much. So I will be switching the blue god to 2/3 the amount and see if that helps. I’d love to get into organic but I have a lot of research to do before I start up. Tons of space and even a nice backyard with apple trees… hope that’s good for compost? lol

Hey @beacher soaked the containers first and put them in, haven’t watered yet… thinking I might be good for a couple weeks in these ones! Lol

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#11

Ah cool. In that case it might just be fussy, or spending all its energy on making PHAT new roots haha

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#12

Using distilled water should be done with a purpose.

https://www.hunker.com/12150299/what-effect-does-distilled-water-have-on-plants

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#13

That’s the first issue to deal with. Soil pulled back like that usually results in water running off the top of the root mass, down the sides and out the bottom.

Water always seeks it’s easiest path to a lower place. You may not be getting the deep watering you think you are.

Press the top of the soil down to pack it against the side of the pot and/or add some soil in there to fill that gap up.

Don’t be in a big rush to flush! Every time you flush your soil your are flushing out nutrients at the same time. Keep flushing to occasional to eliminate build up salts if you think you need to, or emergencies when you just dumped some nastiness in your pots and need to get it out of there ASAP.

Fix your pot issue. Check the Ph of the run off. Adjust ph of water accordingly.

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#14

@Schmokey okay great, thank you for the advice. I will add some more soil and pack it around the sides to prevent this from happening. I found this happened a lot after a few days of no water in my smaller pots… learning lots. Thank you all so much, I will update once lights are on.

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#15

Props to @99PerCent for picking up on the soil being pulled away. I’m rarely that observant.

Get that fixed up and go from there.

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#16

Yes, thank you @99PerCent!

So I might be a bit rusty at growing, but before this I had these herbs in the red solo cups. I would typically water every 5 days… but every time this damn blue god would wilt as if it was being over watered… it’s odd. I know it was dry and needed water… even waited till the plant itself showed it needed water. But as I watered the blue god, it got worse and worse. When I water I allow about 10-15% run off… is this correct or am I giving it too much? Tried searching the FAQS but can’t find an exact post to how much to water :confused: sorry if this seems like such a dumb question or a waste of time lol. Thank you !

Overgrow the government :smile:

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#17

What are your humidity and room temps at?

I’ve had plenty of struggles during veg in adverse or swinging humidity conditions.

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#18

I’m confused. Soil pulled in like that if you just transplanted a couple days ago?

Forget about the watering schedule when they were in cups. Tiny plant in a large container can make life challenging for the best of us. General wisdom says to step up pot size as time goes on for just that reason.

Lift your pots. Water deeply (until you begin to see run-off is fine) when they begin to feel light and leave them be.

To check the Ph collect some of the run off and check that. Resist the urge to tinker and don’t over think things.

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#19

I haven’t bought a thermometer yet, I know. Stupid move but I can almost guarantee my humidity is fluctuating quite a bit. I’d say I’m lucky if I have 30-40% humidity. I’ll have to invest a little and get back to you on the temps.

@Schmokey yes I just moved them into these pots two days ago. Maybe I didn’t pack the soil tight enough? Heard that too much oxygen space is bad too… well, maybe I should have used smaller pots instead of jumping into the big ones right away. Hope they turn out! Btw I know I need more air circulation and an exhaust fan to draw some of the heat from this mh/hps light I use. Could be an issue…

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#20

Maybe? I was just curious why it would have pulled away from the pot so quick. It is what it is. If the soil has pulled away, fix that up before you water. Don’t go packing the soil too tight. Some pulling away is to be expected as the soil dries. You aren’t going to get your soil thoroughly watered if it’s running off the top and down the sides.

Get your watering up to snuff and go from there. Don’t complicate your life trying to deal with problems you don’t know exist.

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