I’d stop watering for a few weeks now, at least.
The covercrop will take care of the moisture.
May it all proceed in a most glorious manner!
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I’m doing my best to LITFA 
though it’s tempting to interfere and rationalize it somehow (“but the cover crop is just getting started!”, “but there can’t be much mycellium in the soil to speak of yet”, etc etc). Given the amount of soil and the air humidity (70-75%) I do agree that it’s going to be a while before it needs water.
Some progress photos:
The Purplematic’s first set of leaves had a wavy look to them. As it continues growing it almost looks like some parts of those leaves grew faster than the others. Either way, it seems happy.
After I moved the circulation fan to deal with the Stress Killer leaning to one side, it flopped to the other side. I supported it straight up with a wire tie, which I seems to no longer be needed now (removed it after taking this picture).
The companion plants are exploding up, each at their own speed. There’s going to be a forest here soon:
That circulation fan is too big to mount at the top without stressing the plants, and it shades too much at the bottom. I have a smaller one on order that should hopefully improve things.
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Forgot to note that I’ve been ramping up the light intensity. It’s at the max now.
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It’s only going to get better! 
Everything continues to grow. I’ve started pruning some of the more zealous companion plants (so far mostly the beans) to avoid anything being completely light starved.
The Purplematic is on the left, Stress Killer on the right. So far they’re very similar in growth speed and pattern.
There’s some little flies flying around the closet and sometimes hanging out on the plants. I’m not sure what they are but they don’t seem to be gnats (which, as I understand it, are smaller and mostly jump instead of flying?).
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Fungus gnats would be my guess. Those little fkers do fly for sure. I have clapped many out of the air 
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Gnats because you’re topwatering, they can’t survive in a dry top layer.
You can jam a piece of pipe in the middle of your soil and water in there, keeping it covered with a piece of cloth and a rubber band, or a lid, so they can’t enter.
It’s really no big deal, they won’t damage your plants, they’re only dangerous to sprouts and seedlings.
Their larvae, that is.
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Same, running around with the dust buster clapping like a maniac.
Bacillus Thuringiniensis granules, aka Mosquito Granules will kill them off, but like Rogue said, the main issue is the consistently moist top layer.
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Hang fly type it will catch quite a few of those little f’ers
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Lots of growth in the past week. Every day I’m mercilessly removing companion plant leaves and stems that are starting to shade or touch the cannabis. All trimmings are left on the soil. I’ve also added a handful of red wriggler worms and some bits of banana peel.
Purplematic:
Stress Killer, which started to smell a little:
Group shot:
It’s been challenging to keep VPD high over the past couple days. The humidity has been higher since the last watering (I’m guessing it’s either directly because of that, or from more leaves transpiring overall). The exhaust fan runs nonstop to try and keep humidity low, which also prevents temperature from rising much.
There’s no space to put a dehumidifier in the closet, but I’ve put one outside this morning. Its exhaust is pointed in the general direction of the closet intake, let’s see if it makes a difference.
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Cloth pots dry out quicker, so your humidity will be higher after watering. Its a constant battle keeping energy usage low when your trying to keep the humidity low and the heat at the right temp.
Weekly update:
The Purplematic is growing some fine white hairs, which I’m guessing is a sign that it’s starting to flower?
Its top leaves have a darker color around the edges, almost purple (the photo below doesn’t capture it very well). I assumed the strain makes purple buds but I’m surprised to see this in the leaves. Hopefully it’s not a sign of some issue – it seems to be doing well otherwise.
The Stress Killer also has some white hairs, although they’re more hidden. It’s also bushier overall.
All in one shot (Purplematic on the left, Stress Killer on the right, stinging nettle starting to flower too in the middle back):
The dehumidifier blowing into the intake worked. I managed to keep RH around 60% most of the week. I changed the setpoint to 55%, let’s see if it can go that low.
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There might be a problem developing 
What I thought was darker leaf edges progressed into what I’d describe as yellowing or discoloration inside the leaves. It’s visible on both plants but the Purplematic has it more. Note also the yellow top leaf tips and the spots on some of the lower leaves:
Closer shots of the leaves with spots:
When I first noticed the yellowing two days ago I figured it might be some nutrient problem so I topdressed with a couple handfuls of worm castings before watering. The castings had been in an open bag for quite a while and were very dry, so I don’t know to what extent they were still useful. Either way, it didn’t seem to help – the yellowing progressed and today I saw the spots for the first time.
Any thoughts of what it might be and suggestions for how to proceed?
Thanks!
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Hi! When these problems arise in my no till set up…
I top dress with ewc as you did, and I also foiler with coconut water one day, then the next day a foiler with Epsom salts.
Ewc for the microbial life, coconut water to boost immunity response and the Epsom helps re invigorate nutrient uptake.
I am no botanist, but through trial and error this method has a high success rate at getting plants back into full swing 
Coconut water foiler…, 1-2 Oz per 12 Oz of water
Epsom foiler…pinch of Epsom per 12 Oz of water
Edit: foiler ratios
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When the leaves yellow from the back of the leaf towards the tips it is usually a sulphur difficiency, you plants are showing it on the top leaves only as far as I can see, so I would also check the light is not to close as they have grown in height.
It could also be a pH problem and that’s what you should check first.
This site has a good diagnosis section with lots of pics to help out.
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You started from scratch, the soil needs some time to establish itself.
I see some tip burn as well, the soil life is overactive breaking down the really dense nutrients,
adding anything will only make it worse…
It’s getting hot because there is too much microbial activity from a certain group of species.
It will sort itself out once the amendments are broken down.
It’s always good to let your soil “cook” for a few weeks before sowing when you’re starting off with living soil.
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Agree with Rogue, I saw this play out in another thread somewhere almost exactly as it is here, and in two weeks of basically no input whatsoever the garden was right as rain. The beauty of a soil bed!
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Thank you all for the help and thoughts!
Overall status: the girls still don’t look particularly happy but they have stretched a lot so I’m guessing all is not lost quite yet. The marigold is flowering. A lot of the rest of the companion plants are growing again after getting a severe pruning early last week when I was panicking.
Purplematic top detail. Leaves are light green but more consistently so. The bottom leaves keep turning yellow/brown and feel papery dry. I’ve removed a set that was entirely brown already.
Stress Killer top detail. Leaves are a bit darker than the Purplematic. Same issue on the bottom leaves.
Interestingly, some of the companion plant leaves don’t seem entirely healthy either. I also noticed before the pruning last week that the companion plants on the left side (next to the Purplematic) were turning light green/yellow.
Regarding the advice received so far:
- Coco water & Epsom: don’t have either and figured I’d wait before rushing to buy/apply more stuff until there’s a clearer idea of what’s going on. It’s possible I made it worse already with the steps below
- Light distance: no way to put it further away. I could dim it, but it’s been like this for quite a while now and the height change had been minimal when the issues started. I did flip the circulation fan around so it doesn’t blow down on the plants anymore, though.
- pH: checked with inconclusive results. I only have some fairly crappy test strips. I checked the water I use first and it was somewhere between 6 and 7. I then mixed some soil into the same water (no distilled water handy) and tested that. It was a bit more acidic still, probably between 5 and 6. If accurate, that seems too low? I top dressed last Wednesday (6 days ago) with a few spoonfuls of garden lime (gypsum / calcium sulphate) to see if it helps. It doesn’t seem to have made the plants happier and I haven’t redone the pH test yet.
- Sulphur deficiency: if present, maybe the gypsum will help? Who knows…
- Overwatering (in @Rogue’s initial post): I could have sworn that it’s not that, I’d been careful. But, it makes sense and it could totally have been. The last couple waterings were with 5L, every week or a little less. It may very well be that the bottom of the pot was drenched and suffocating roots. Either way, I dialed it way down now: the last 5L was 10 days ago, then there was 0.6L 6 days ago (to water the gypsum in), then 0.6L today since the top soil was bone dry and one of the companion plants was starting to wilt.
- Hot soil: I don’t understand how – there wasn’t that much compost to start with, and there were no problems until recently. Thinking about it some more, it does seem possible: all the pruned companion plants added a bunch of organic matter. The resulting decaying roots of the nitrogen fixers would add extra fertilizer. There’s worms in there now too. Could be!
That’s it for now. I’m a little bummed since I realize that even if conditions get perfect again the leaves won’t recover and the harvest – if there is one at all – is likely to be quite impacted. Live and learn, I suppose 
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Time will tell!
Observing is how you learn the most.
Take your time to just sit and look very closely at what’s going on in the bed every day, rather than the numbers.
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The buds may be stunted but you will get something to smoke.
When the lower leaves are dying off, its usually the plant recycling the nutrients to the higher up leaves and buds where new growth is occurring. Your leaf tips and edges are curling down a little, as well which for my plants is a low humidity problem.
You have a cloth pot which should breath, does the outside of the pot feel sodden, does it leak a lot of water through the material after watering?
Gypsum will take a while to brake down but will give you sulphur, magnesium and calcium.
Your lack of a decent PH testing tool, to me says this is probably your problem, or a major part of it, as they look hungry. I think there are a few problems happening at the same time, which makes diagnosis difficult.
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