Big veg slow drinking

[Ambyr]

Hi I am in the big veg stage..15 gallon pots. I transplanted them last Saturday and watered them.. it’s been 7 days and they are still slightly heavy but they are drying on top slowly..the top nodes are taco ing a bit.. what should I do?

[MeEasy]

Looks like your lights might be to strong for them. As long as you are not feeding salts you don't need to water to runoff and you can just pour a quart of water on top of course ph the water (unless you don't ph normally)

[Ambyr]

Why would they be drinking so slow though? My lights are veg lights dimmed all the way down

[MeEasy]

15 gallon pots and you just repotted there's no roots in half the pots

Edit = how big was the last pot? Were they root bound at all?

[DeadlyFruit]

I suspect it is just the re-potting as MeEasy said. They are probably a touch stressed and temporarily drinking less, while you may be watering more because of the larger pot. Reduce water for a while and keep an eye on them.

i also noticed you have a humidifier tucked in amongst the plants. If the air is really humid it might also be reducing the amount of water that used to evaporate from the pots so they are staying wet. In any case I would suggest moving it away from the pots so the leaves are not too getting too wet from the humidifier, to avoid mold problems.

good luck!

[Ambyr]

I went from 3 gallons to 15 gallon pots.. the roots looked fine when I transplanted although I may have transplanted a bit to early the pots were slightly still wet, but not enough were they were crumbling. So there is nothing I can do but just wait it out? Should I let them dry all the way to the point were they are drooping just a touch?

[SoOrbudgal]

I think all went well with how you transplanted i like damp soil in the potted plant makes it less stressful. Yes just watch them, how much power are those lights and how close?

[Ambyr]

Also the humidifier is in there because my basement is sitting at like 30 percent humidity without it, but you suggest I move it so that it’s not in the middle?

[SoOrbudgal]

Only if it's hitting plants

[YYCannabis]

Ya. Don’t let it mist directly on the plant ask it can encourage mildew (WPM). Humidity in a small space doesn’t need to be centralized as the moisture will get moved around by the fans.

[MeEasy]

It's like when you first plant them they don't grow for the first week or so, it's because the roots are getting established. I'm sure that is what is happening now plus a little bit of shock from moving them. I'll bet this time next week they'll be going again. What kind of light are you using? Plants are gonna get big in those pots if you're not careful and if you don't have enough light you're going to run into a problem or not a problem but some larfy stuff

[Rwise]

I like to use a bit of Voodoo Juice when transplanting, it helps root growth.

[BaccaRacca]

Transplant shock. You may have waited too long to transplant, and therefore the plant may have become root bound. The roots start chocking themselves and the root ball, relative to the surrounding material in the new pot, is hard for water to penetrate. General gardening and nursery care: transplant once the above-soil vegetation grows to the size of the container. At that point the root ball should also be approximately the size of the container and transplant easily with minimal shock. If the plant grows any larger then the root ball will start girdling itself (go around in circles inside the pot) and you will need to cut the girdling roots and free up the root ball. You can use scissors or a box cutter. On the other hand, if you transplant too early the root ball may not firm up and therefore it will fall apart during transplant and roots will get damaged as the root ball falls apart. If you have damaged roots, a root stimulator may help.

[Ambyr]

Hm yeah can’t seem to pin point it exactly, but they are on their 8th day and the pots still feel slightly heavy, should I wait till thEy give me signs of drooping to feed them again? I am using a loriflux 6 blade light.

[DeadlyFruit]

Hm yeah can’t seem to pin point it exactly, but they are on their 8th day and the pots still feel slightly heavy, should I wait till thEy give me signs of drooping to feed them again? I am using a loriflux 6 blade light.

If the top of your medium is starting to look dry I would water again, although less and closer in to the stalk for now. If it isn't even starting to look dry after 8 days from last watering I might still give them a small amount of water to get some oxygen into it but I can’t say with scientific certainty that is the right thing to do. I would also make sure there is air flow around the pots to help with the evaporation.

You mentioned your basement is 30%RH but is that what it is around the plants? Are they in a closed room? Just curious if the room humidity or close to the plants is way higher slowing down the pot evaporation. If that is the case shut off the humidifier for a bit which will give you a better sense of how the coco looks - perhaps it is sucking up the vapour from the humidifier before it has a chance to diffuse in the air. I have noticed even in my 6x7 grow room that the oscillating fan (think I saw a fan in your pics which is good for evening out the humidity and heat) can make a massive difference to the localized readings around my heat and humidity sensors - when it blows in that direction it can pop it up temporarily. Is your humidity sensor near the plants? If it is among the plants it will be way higher than if it is across a large room.

That’s all I can think of now, except don’t panic. If the plants all still look relatively healthy you might just need to wait a couple more days for them to shake the transplant shock. I have definitely noticed differences in drying based on plant size, pot location, transplant and other shocks, etc. Pretty soon they will be glugging it down like champs.

BTW, is that a drain system on your plant trays (I really like the design with the wheels) ? Are they draining properly? I am sure they are but just making sure the pots are not sucking up water from the tray that isn’t draining quickly enough. Long shot but possible.