Over watered?

[jalapeno]

3 10 gal Root Trapper II pots with vigorously growing 'Ringo's Gift' plants (AC/DC x Harle Tsu). Soil is bottom 1/3 Ocean Forest enriched with Natures Living Soil Concentrate (Super Soil). Middle third is Ocean Forest, top third is Happy Frog (b/c both the local GrowBiz store and I ran out of Ocean Forest).

Watering with pH adjusted 6.5 - 6.9, (tap water is 8+. ~1/4 tsp of citric acid crystals per ~4.5 gal water fixes that) using Blumats. Garden on my roof, because it's the only place sunny enough to grow anything.

Leaves on the highest Colas droop. Lower leaves look OK to me. No obvious pests or disease. My guess is that they are over watered, which is really easy to do with the Blumats. I turned off the watering system Yesterday, Jully 1, and today, poked a lot of holes in the soil about 10" deep (pots are 14" deep) to hopefully get more air to the roots. Using a hand held analog moisture probe the top 1 -2" are borderline 'dry' (about 4/10). Bottom 2" are wet (9-10/10), and the middle 6 - 8/10. I'm pretty sure that the drooping is not caused by lack of moisture.

So, I'll see if there's any improvement by tomorrow. Any other suggestions for cause or cure will be appreciated. Here are photos...

[crucialbunny]

How is your runoff when you water? When I read your description of layering your mediums my first thought went to a damming problem. Creating strata within your bags could possibly lead to water filtration issues. Just throwing the idea out there.

[jalapeno]

When using 'super soil', instead of adding nutrients ongoing, they don't recommend watering until run-off, as it leaches out to much nutrients. I've grown in the same pots before with similar soil before. Had other problems, but not the droopy leaves, and gotten good yields.

[Toker1]

The watering seems to be the problem. When you turned off the watering system, did the drooping of the leaves get worse or remain the same?
I saw the layered soil, but I did not see any perlite added. You want to add extra pearlite to prevent the soil from clumping and creating poor drainage. I mix mine 40% perlite and 60% soil minimum.
Yeah, the soil needs to go through a wet/dry cycle. Try lifting the containers before watering, they should feel light. Or stick your finger in the soil, it should feel dry up to the first knuckle. Do not water wet soil.

[Toker1]

Right on. Usually with under watering a good soak will get those leaves perking up again with in a few hours. I have not had much experience with those types of drippers, but I use a standard drip that connects to my regular sprinkler piping. Ph is only an issue when I don’t feed. I find that the low ph of the feed and the high ph of the water makes for a great root zone ph for my plants. I’m lucky In that sense I guess.

[jalapeno]

The drippers are just ordinary 4gph 'flag' drippers (ring of 6 in each 10g pot). Since I'm using Super Soil, I don't add any nutes, and I've gotten good crops that way, as long as I water with pH ≤ 7.0. With the 'Blumats' opened all the way as they are now, it's just like not having them. I've had some success with them in the past, but getting them 'dialed in' so that they don't either over or under water can be a headache. After 2+ years of indoor tent growing, the roof grow has been a revelation of ease, yield, and economy. The tradeoff, is it's somewhat inconvenient to visit the girls often. The plants on the roof are visible from the street, but I assume no one notices them, unless there's some dude walking around up there.... Not that I think any of my neighbors really care., but still....

[Toker1]

That’s about how many I use in my 10 gal. Only mine are on the ground. So sun exposure and wind climate might be different. Also, some strains drink and react to the elements more than others.