need basic diagnosis help

[azorahai]

That's too bad. Hope you can get at least some of them back to life. If not, at least you already have backups. You could always try to clone them, if you have the space for more plants. I'm rooting way more cuttings than I can handle, so I'll probably end up experimenting with some of them, and perhaps even growing a couple of bonsai cannabis plants.
Good luck!

[dustydundee]

nah, not really. I just could not get them to start growing again no matter how long I waited to let them dry. They'd perk back up and go back down in a few days. I have 7 plants that got sick and I just couldn't get the time to replant all of them at once. I just replanted the last 3 after letting them dry out for like 5 or 6 days and they looked bad bad bad! The soil was really compacted hard. What I think it was doing was not letting the water get to the leaves, leaving them looking dry, and at the same time, letting the water sit in the pots, effectively drowning the plants. So they looked dry, I watered, and well, I got what I got... I'm giving them one last shot to come back, if not, I got sprouts behind them ready to take their spots...

[azorahai]

Did everything work out with the fabric pots and the new watering regimen?

[dustydundee]

i would have already had them in flower by now, but I didn't want to take them into flower while sick. now, not sure. a day later, they're starting to get less perky again so I just dont know. All I had available was my existing pots. I have fabric pots coming today, so I may try the rest in fabric pots, and that I'm guessing will be my last attempt before I set these little witches on fire and start over.

[azorahai]

Looks good. The roots seem to have expanded to every part of the pot, which is usually when people repot their plants if they want them to keep growing before flowering. As is, they should still grow but the roots could become bound, which might result in a few different problems down the line. Are you still waiting for them to grow a little more? Remember that they can double in size during the flowering stage.

[dustydundee]

so from left to right.

the plant on the far left in the black pot, I just replanted her just now. prior to replanting, she had gone 3 days without watering. the soil came out in one big lump. it was light, but solid. imagine a porous brick. thats how she felt. i did my best to aerate her, added some new soil with extra perlite, and added a hell of a lot more holes to her pot.

the plant 2nd from the left in the brown pot, i replanted her 24 hours ago. she perked up immediately. prior to replanting, she went 6 days without watering. same situation on the soil. one big brick I tried to aerate. she seems to have taken to it based on her perky look from what I can tell.

the other 2 plants on the right, I have not replanted yet. i watered them 24 hours ago. prior to that, they went 4 days without watering. they perked up after watering yesterday, seem ok, but just dont have teh same vigor to them. i'm afraid they'll droop back down in a day or two. I've got some fabric pots on the way I want to try with those two tomorrow....

not sure I noticed anything out of the ordinary with the soil, other than it came out as one big piece. i assume that is not desirable.... i detected some moisture in the middle, tried to break them up best I could without beating them up too bad. if this don't work, I got no other ideas. if anything else jumps out at anyone, let me have it!

[azorahai]

It doesn't have to be a problem with the roots necessarily, it could be something else that we're ignoring, but it's likely that it has something to do with the roots. It wouldn't hurt to repot one of them and see if that helps. You'll also have a feel for how compacted the soil is, which should help with further narrowing down the cause of your problems. Good luck!

[dustydundee]

i guess my question is, is it fair for me to assume that once I let a plant dry out for a week to the point of it shriveling up, it coming back for for a day, only to look like what I show above a day later is not typical overwatering, right? it has to point to compact soil in the roots thats just not draining? right?

[dustydundee]

i'm kind of thinking the same. I mean this plant looked dead. it sat dry for 7 days. when I watered it, it came back anew for 24 hours before starting this crap again. the other ones I have are doing the same thing. they dry out, then come right back, then go back down. only thing I can think of is to do what you are saying. so bummed!

[azorahai]

If it's not a nutrient issue, nor a pH issue, nor an overwatering issue, then perhaps it's a root issue. Seeing as you were willing to toss them and begin anew, try to repot one of them. Remove the plant from the pot, work the roots to loosen them up, perhaps even trim them a little if they are bound, and repot it with more perlite in the mix. I usually also put some expanded clay at the bottom so the roots aren't sitting in water and they airprune as they grow down.
This might stress them for a few days, but you should notice any differences in about a week, I'd say.

[dustydundee]

so i've been letting them dry out. This plant here, it had no water for 7 days. 2 days ago, it was very shriveled up, looked totally dried out, almost dead. pot felt light to me. I gave it water within 12 hours, she perked right up and looked beautiful! then the last day, as quickly as she perked up, she has started to go down again. this is about 48 hours since her first watering a week. can anyone say what I'm doing wrong? I'm having the same results with the other plants that were overwatered. I let them dry out all the way, they come back strong, but go back down in a few days.....

it doesn't make sense for the plant to look like this 2 days after being watered, after being dry and shriveled for about a week, does it? I'm guessing the soil is really compacted in there and is just not draining? would just ripping them out, trying to clear out the roots and replanting in fabric pots alleviate this issue? I'm looking for ideas to resolve the problem so I can learn from it, even if the plants don't come out great, I want to figure it out and fix it....

[azorahai]

Your pots look fine, but just to be safe I drilled a lot more [smaller] holes in my plastic pots. In the near future I'm switching to fabric pots, as they help aerate the substrate as well as "air prune" the roots, which helps them develop faster. The humidity is fine, and it's good that they are being ventilated, but don't overdo it (they shouldn't be wildly swinging with the air).
How tall can they get in your setup? Take into account that the lights shouldn't be too close to the canopy. I'm trying to limit my growth to around 1-1.2m (~3-4ft), and the volume of my final pots is around 10L (~2.6 gal). Yours looks like around the same volume, so it's probably fine as long as you aren't planning on growing them to be a lot taller.
Let them dry thoroughly and water them less frequently. If all else fails, you could try to change pots, working the roots with your hands a little to loosen them before repotting. Next time, try to add more perlite, as it helps to prevent soggy or compacted soil.

[JeffInCanada]

Good but put a few holes in the very bottom side of the pot as well.

[dustydundee]

my humidity is around 40%. I'm growing in a garage and in a shed, and while I'm using a ton of fans where I can get the temp where I want it, I don't really have good humidty control in my grow setup.

so, I poked holes in my pots. does this look like enough to everybody or should I go more? question, so these plants are still in veg. ok so if I let them dry out for another week or whatever it takes, is it possible for these to fully recover, or since they already got stunted, they are just not going to recover fully? I want to learn from it and I'm still drying them out, but I have seedlings raring to go and only so much space available, so maybe I'm just best to start over...

[Wolfe0420]

Let it dry out and check your humidity levels if you have wet soil all the time chances are your humidity is high too. One issue always leads to another.