Droopy plant not from over/underwatering

[A3535]

Hi,

I've been watering my plant every 2 days with about half a liter of water.
After watering she always got droopy but recovered after a day or so.
I've noticed that lately she takes longer to recover.
Right now I've watered 2 days ago and she's still very droopy while the top couple of inches of soil is dry.

I have an analog pH/moisture meter that indicates that the bottom part of the soil (I cut a hole in the fabric bag at the bottom and stuck the meter through there) is a little moist but not too much. pH is always reads at 7.0 (but not sure how accurate the analog meter is)

I fear that because I used a ready made universal soil mix without adding any perlite, the soil has gotten very dense and the roots have problems getting oxygen but could be sth else as well (I'm quite a noob as you can probably tell).

Also, even though the bag of the soil mix claimed to the soil mix to have nutrients for about 2 months I've been adding a universal compo liquid fertilizer (that claims to be organic) to the water every week (about 3ml). Maybe this has caused salt build up and I need to flush?

This is my first outdoor grow. I wasn't too concerned with high yields hence I chose universal soil mix and fertilizer and thought I'd see how far I would get.

Any help would be much appreciated

 

[Shugrows]

Might be under watered. If your leaves and stems droop it could be underwatering not saying it is. And if over watered the stems will be pointing up and leaves will only droop.

 

[A3535]

Might be under watered. If your leaves and stems droop it could be underwatering not saying it is. And if over watered the stems will be pointing up and leaves will only droop.

After some thinking I was convinced you are right. I actually stopped increasing the amount of water I give her a couple of weeks ago while in the last weeks she had grown a lot and weather is really dry (and indeed the stems are bent as well).
So this morning I watered her quite wel, with about 20% runoff (which wasn't the case before when I watered only 500 ml). 2 hours have passed but she doesn't look like going back up which should already be visible by now right?

If she's not showing any signs of improvement by this afternoon I'll transplant her in a bigger pot with soil mix & perlite.

I really hope I can save this one, she was doing so well just a week ago

 

[automan2]

Just a guess... if your medium has compacted, then drainage may be an issue. Plus, the top few of medium doesn't tell you what the root ball is doing...and it just isn't drying out which prevents the roots from seeking their food.....Make sure your medium has good drainage.....then a simple moisture meter may be beneficial...even though I've done the same thing for years, I still double check now and then....

 

[A3535]

Just a guess... if your medium has compacted, then drainage may be an issue. Plus, the top few of medium doesn't tell you what the root ball is doing...and it just isn't drying out which prevents the roots from seeking their food.....Make sure your medium has good drainage.....then a simple moisture meter may be beneficial...even though I've done the same thing for years, I still double check now and then....

The analog pH meter I have doubles as moisture meter. Since the watering this morning I notice that it probes very wet soil on the sides but not if I probe it a little more to the stem. So I fear indeed I'm having a drainage problem.. any advice on how to solve/salvage this plant?

 

[automan2]

The analog pH meter I have doubles as moisture meter. Since the watering this morning I notice that it probes very wet soil on the sides but not if I probe it a little more to the stem. So I fear indeed I'm having a drainage problem.. any advice on how to solve/salvage this plant?

IMO...Anything you do should include improving drainage and hope the root ball can dry out a little.

 

[A3535]

IMO...Anything you do should include improving drainage and hope the root ball can dry out a little.

Honestly I don't have a clue anymore on what to do. I guess I just won't do anything besides wait an hope she recovers.

 

[GreenBean]

Does it droop at a certain time of day? Or all day outdoors? Sorry if you already mentioned that, I may have missed it.

 

[A3535]

Does it droop at a certain time of day? Or all day outdoors? Sorry if you already mentioned that, I may have missed it.

She used to get droopy only in the evening but that's normal I guess.
A week or 2 ago she started to get droopy also every time I watered, but after a day or so she recovered. The time it took her to recover always increased with each watering. The last time I watered last week she immediately drooped so I assumed too much water and let her dry for 4 days, she doesn't recover anymore.
Today I gave a lot of water but she also doesn't recover.
She also looks even worse now than in the initial pics.

I'm desperate.

 

[GreenBean]

I would repot her. In a fabric pot it is pretty easy. You can cut the pot lengthwise from top to bottom, and peel it off without disturbing the roots too much. Put it in a bigger pot with soil that has good drainage and perlite. Also, cant' really tell by the photos, but make sure that she is not sitting directly on the ground and/or in water. A saucer and pot elevator is what I would use. If you don't have a pot elevator. Put a smaller saucer inside a larger saucer, with the smaller saucer upside down so it acts as an elevator. Make sure that you are only watering when the pot feels light vs heavy when you have just watered. Good luck.