Couple pics, how do they look, seems off to me.

[chickenhead420]

Firs plant. Looks good but bottom leaves are yellowing. I did tuck them out of the way so they haven't gotten much light, so are they yellow from no light and being tucked or nutrient issue?



Second plant, starting to bud, looks mostly good but the leaves around the buds look droopy to me. This is my first grow, so I don't know what to expect. lol.





2000w HPS lights, in a 7' tent, at the top of the tent so shouldn't be too much light. Temps are 75ish, 78 at the the very of the bud sites according to my IR thermo. RH 45%. Grown in soil and perlite mixed. Biggest issue is what to do for nutes and pH, etc.

https://www.autoflower.org/threads/tips-curling-and-how-long-till-flower.49191/

My other thread. I was adjusting pH in my water, had those problems. Tested my runoff, was around 5, so figured stop messing with my water and use my tap water as my soil seemed acidic enough. Now here I am with these pics, so should I go back to messing with pH, ride it out since they went through some stress. Also the 2nd one looks good for bud nutes now? It's last watering was grow nutes, so flush and bud nutes? It still is growing taller though, they all are. My tallest (not pictured is 34", up from 32" last night) so they keep growing and starting to bud.

 

[Renaissance Redneck]

I took a look at your thread, Chickenhead, and your gals are looking better but still have some issues.
A couple of questions:
What rates are you feeding at, and how often?
How much drainage do you have in those buckets, and do you let your soil get damp/dry between feedings?
As for switching to flower nutes, you're getting close but I'd wait until your upward growth almost stops. That first plant looks hungry to me, but maybe with some issues going on with a few tips? A close up would help tremendously.

 

[chickenhead420]

The drainage seems ok, like I water and get water coming out fairly soon. The top layer of the bucket seems dense and mostly roots though, so maybe I'm root bound, whatever that is, just seen it mentioned. lol. I don't know how far they go down and won't until I dig them up, but the top certainly is a lot of roots running all over. MAybe that's part of it. I only used hardware store soil with perlite in it, but didn't add any extra, which I know now, should have. The buckets get fairly dry before I water. Maybe I should water smaller, more frequent doses though. If they are root bound, or the root didn't make it deep into the buckets and are mostly near the top, then smaller waterings would keep more water at the top maybe and into the roots than running down 2/3 of a bucket where they may be no roots at all.

I don't know, just throwing ideas out there. Would filling up the couple inches of space with dirt on top of the buckets help a bit too, giving more root and water retention area? Seems to have sunk a bit since I first filled them. The last 4 buckets I just planted, I did add a bag of perlite to the soil, so they should hopefully be a bit better, but I do have some soil/perlite mixture left, so maybe topping off the buckets and smaller watering might help?

Just think if the majority of roots are near the top, they are drying out fast and even though the bucket feels heavy, the waters not where it should be.

They're still growing and getting taller, but with some obvious effects.

 

[chickenhead420]

Well, I topped off the planters with mostly perlite and some soil so there was a nice few inches of new material to hold water, fed good, and everyone perked up today and grew another couple inches. I think that's probably it. Either over watering, or too compact of a soil led to the roots being bound more to the top of the buckets, I water and wait till the bucket is light in weight to water again, thinking there is still water when it feels heavy, but really it's water the plant probably isn't accessing. I'll just keep up with smaller waterings to keep lots of water near the top and my giant root mess and go from there. lol. Live, learn, but they're still alive and my tallest is almost 37" so still doing something right. lol.

 

[Waira]

Hey bud!-- top pics look like some early N defc. happening Pale lower leaves), and maybe some P defc. (dead patches above),.... both look a bit overall pale, more so at the tops, which hints at S defc.,... having read what you mentioned here, I think your soil is too acidic; soil should be mid-low 6's... run-off at 5 is bit alarming! this could be caused by the soil brand used, and/or the nute's, which are acidic by nature as well,...I don't think root bound is the issue here, but if you've let them dry out to the point of wilting, rehydrating evenly can be tricky,... that wilting in the second pic-- was the pot dry, or really wet? ironically, too dry and too wet both can cause the same wilting, but for different reasons,... one thing that's great to have for several uses is an wetting agent/water spreader... for soil that's dry in patches, moist in others, this stuff allows the water to penetrate the resistant soil patches,... these products take the surface tension out of the water/solution your watering with, or spraying, so it cut's through the dry stuff more readily,...and in spraying foliars, it coats and covers more evenly, for better absorption,... If you don't have an in-soil pH probe, you need to do the run-off methos test, which I dislike because it's prone to measurement errors,... here's a link to an improved method-> https://www.autoflower.org/threads/...-for-run-off-testing-and-ph-estimation.41733/
... follow direction carefully, do the calculation, and let us know what you get,... (run-off pH alone is not accurate at all!)....from there, we'll fuigure out a fix, and get your feeds dialed is as well,.. too acidic soil locks out certain nute's, like P,...

 

[chickenhead420]

It may have been underwater, I don't know. I do know that after filling up the top couple inches with perlite and watering, they are 100x better looking. The 2nd one that looked all droopy, every leaf is straight out soaking up the rays right now and they all put on 1-2.5" inches last night. I didn't do a big watering either, just enough to keep the top couple inches moist.

Was it underwatered, is it too root bound, I don't know. I know that trying to do the "knuckle test" to see how moist my soil is results in not being able to push my finger very far in because it's all roots. How far do they go down, I don 't know and won't until I harvest. I do know they are all over the surface and under it though.

I'll test the pH next time I water, but since the tallest is 36", the shortest 28", just over 5 weeks in, and starting to flower nicely, I'm hesitant to keep messing with it. I'm going to try smaller waters everyday rather than let it get dry or the bucket "feel light". It is a peat-based soil, so it could be rather acidic. I remember messing with peat and aquariums and I could get water down to 4pH. It also could be very root heavy at the top of the bucket. Either way, we'll see how tomorrows growth goes and how they look. I gave them a small water tonight. Not enough to even drain out, just keep the top root mess wet. lol.


Well I did a quick soil test to get an idea of how acidic. I took 3 tbsp's of soil in a coffee filter and put them over 3 glasses. In the first, I dripped distilled water. The 2nd, was just dechlorinated tap water. The 3rd, was dechlorinated tap water with my nutrients added.

pH of Distilled water run through the soil: 5.6
pH of tap water: 6.2
pH of tap water with nutrients: 6.6

 

[Ripped In Oregon]

It may have been underwater, I don't know. I do know that after filling up the top couple inches with perlite and watering, they are 100x better looking. The 2nd one that looked all droopy, every leaf is straight out soaking up the rays right now and they all put on 1-2.5" inches last night. I didn't do a big watering either, just enough to keep the top couple inches moist.

Was it underwatered, is it too root bound, I don't know. I know that trying to do the "knuckle test" to see how moist my soil is results in not being able to push my finger very far in because it's all roots. How far do they go down, I don 't know and won't until I harvest. I do know they are all over the surface and under it though.

I'll test the pH next time I water, but since the tallest is 36", the shortest 28", just over 5 weeks in, and starting to flower nicely, I'm hesitant to keep messing with it. I'm going to try smaller waters everyday rather than let it get dry or the bucket "feel light". It is a peat-based soil, so it could be rather acidic. I remember messing with peat and aquariums and I could get water down to 4pH. It also could be very root heavy at the top of the bucket. Either way, we'll see how tomorrows growth goes and how they look. I gave them a small water tonight. Not enough to even drain out, just keep the top root mess wet. lol.


Well I did a quick soil test to get an idea of how acidic. I took 3 tbsp's of soil in a coffee filter and put them over 3 glasses. In the first, I dripped distilled water. The 2nd, was just dechlorinated tap water. The 3rd, was dechlorinated tap water with my nutrients added.

pH of Distilled water run through the soil: 5.6
pH of tap water: 6.2
pH of tap water with nutrients: 6.6

As Waira had stated about the over or under watering issue the drooping can be caused by over or under watering,they both show the same signs. I went through this with my plants. Mine would perk up at lights on (at 6 pm and off and 12pm) and by 9am the next morning they looked like yours.
My problem was over watering,I thought at first they were under because the pots seemed lighter and that was my inexperience showing through, So due to that I developed a cal mag issue and in the process of healing it. I was off on my feeding schedule now I have it on 1.5 liters a day and now it knows when it is getting it's food and it's always the same amount and same time. Once you dial that in and the plants like the amount and are healthy you are on your way. Those are some big buckets,I am also on my first grow and I would guess that those would be easy to over or underwater that's just a guess on my part. Plants grow roots over the surface like anchors it keeps the plant stable an example is when you move you plants they sway side to side, those roots anchor that plant so it can handle it and not fall over. I hope you figure it out and I am sure someone who has more knowledge will hop in like Waira to help. Take it all in and keep a daily journal so you can look back and see what you did good and not so good.
Keep it and refer back to it because there is a lot of info as a new grower we have to process and that would be you personal notes to look back on. I got a 7 dollar moister meter and that makes it so much easier and then you can dial in a feeding schedule or at least that was what I did and it worked for me.

 

[chickenhead420]

Thanks. Very well could be watering. Think, like you, I'm going to stick more to a small amount every day type of thing so they always have some and learn and go from there. Didn't know about the roots, first plants so hard to tell. lol. They are 5 gallon buckets. My biggest one just put on another 2" over night, so they are liking the bucket size and still haven't killed them. I have been keeping small notes in a spreadsheet and weekly photos for height, etc.

 

[chickenhead420]

Well they bounced back pretty good. 42" inches tall and starting to bud nicely.

And a family shot.

Left side of the tent.

right side

Budding girls