Extremely bushy girl with crooked leaves

[Klaser]

Hi guys,

My 25 days old Easy Ryder is extremely bushy with crooked and curly leaves.
The bush began to form after I tied the main stem down at day 16. Now its just one big mess, with big leaves all over - not much growth in height. Even the new buds are struggling to get through.

Also the leaves are deformed/wicked - some got 9 fingers (which I read is a good thing) - and they are rough to the touch. Maybe the deformation is due to the struggle to get through the bush?

Anyways, should I be worried? I have thought of trimming some of the leaves to make more space for the new buds, but I'm not sure?

 

[MedGrower]

Did you support the main stem when you started bending her down? In some cases of LST, a shock can happen if the taproot ends up moving in the medium and it seriously stalls the growth and yeah, you don't want that. It is normal after tying a young, otherwise rapidly growing plant down to take some time before they are going to grow again. It basically works on redirecting the growth hormones to the side branches and what not after it perceives a change in it's posture.

Are the leaves seen here always this droopy or did you take the pic after watering or what? This kind of indicates some issues at the root level, shock to the taproot, too much watering, overfeeding etc.

I'd see if I can close out any possibilities of overfeeding, soil pH, overwatering from the equation, allow her some time to get more perky again with the leaves not indicating stress and then begin a careful defoliation. This plant how its forming will require a lot of defoliation once its healthy. This is because you don't want it to become some biological humidity dome. Start slow taking out the bigger leaves and then go from there. If you check out my grow you see a bit similar plant with a lot of defoliation done and I think you'd get the idea. I stress again that you should do that only to a healthy plant and not in this kind of situation where she is droopy and feeling sick.

 

[Klaser]

Hi MedGrower,

Thank you for you quick reply!
Yes - I had a counter tie in the bottom when I began LST - see the picture below. However, the root is currently lying very close to the ground horizontally, not in a 90 angle...so maybe it has shifted in the medium.

Regarding the droopy leaves. Its 2 days since water. I started feeding 1 week ago with 1/3 recommended dosis - Ph 6.5.
The leaves are hard and not droopy to the touch, even though it looks like they are sort of just hanging down on the sides on the picture.

Also I was out traveling for a few days a week ago and had to turn of the 20/4 schedule and place the plant in normal daylight (indoors) which probably has been 7/21 - maybe this has shocked the plant as well?

So I guess I should give her some time, stop feeding for a while. And then do som defoliation when she gets on top?

 

[MedGrower]

Hmm I can see a bit of cupping even in this earlier picture. I would bet you have your RH down and combined with her genetics this is why she does it so easy? Everything seems to be alright then, yeah I would think you give her couple days to get back on the track after the light cycle changes and then, provided she looks and feels perky, start defoliation a little at the time at first. It really looks like she is going to stay low so by doing that you'll get most out of her.

How close are the lights? If you wish to try to give her some height you might want to move them further away for a week to trick her to bend some. Doing this wisely might also make her less tight and reduce the need of defoliation.

All the best and hope this was helpful!

 

[Klaser]

Thank you very much Yes it was very helpful!

Is cupping referring to the leaves bending inwards and what does she do easy? Sorry total noob here.

The RH is 33% and the temperature is around 27 C (80.6F). The lights are 25 cm (8.9 inch) from the plant. Due to constraints in the grow area I cant increase that.

 

[MedGrower]

Thank you very much Yes it was very helpful!

Is cupping referring to the leaves bending inwards and what does she do easy? Sorry total noob here.

The RH is 33% and the temperature is around 27 C (80.6F). The lights are 25 cm (8.9 inch) from the plant. Due to constraints in the grow area I cant increase that.

Oh wow! That is super close. What kind of light do you have there? I think with that low RH and that close light you are getting cupping (leaves curling up from the sides).

Well if thats all the distance you can have I guess it is super important to keep her down and defoliate a lot to inhibit vertical growth as much as possible. Look up for @HolyTHC grows for inspiration. He is a true master of small spaces and I'm always blown away by his work. You can learn a lot from the guy.

 

[Klaser]

Great, thx I'll check him out!
I have 2 x 100W Lighthouse Blackstar (2W diodes) - the temperature is a stable 27 degrees at the height og the plant. You can check out my growspace in my signature if you want.
Thanks again for your help on this!

 

[Klaser]

Hi guys,

So I purchased a new PH measuring system which told me the PH from tap was way too high, around 8. The runoff was around 7.5. So I flushed with PH adjusted water and got runoff at 6.5.
The old PH system I had was for dirt and have givin me odd readings.

After that I waited a few days and fed with 1/3 PH adjusted nutes. I started to see some yellowing, so I decided to turn up feeding to full. However, its been another couple of days, a full week after flushing - and it still keeps getting more and more yellow with pale spots. I am thinking Nitrogren deficiency, but I dont know about the spots? Starting to get a bit worried...

The good thing is that the crooked leaves seems to have been resolved as the PH was corrected.

 

[Waira]

-- what medium are you in? and what nutrients?
... the close proximity of the lights might be why she's so compact, and maybe part of the leaf deformation as well,...
... how are you measuring pH? And what are the nutes and water adjusted to? ..nutes tend to be acidic,... tap water sounds pretty hard at 8.0,.. any idea about the ppm's/EC? Flushing isn't a godd go-to fix, only when it's really warranted-- badly off in-pot pH, severe nute burn, that sort of thing,.. otherwsie, it's a stress on the plant, strips everything from the medium, and in coco (if you are ?) doing it with just water will screw up the CEC balance in there (cation exchange capacity, coco has some odd properties regarding that),.... I'd say N defc, maybe P too,.. can't see spots well enough to make a call though,.... If you can, try to find an Accurate 8 soil pH probe (Control Wizard products), or equivalent overseas,.. different name brand, but same Chinese factory made-

.... nothing beats in-pot measurement, run-off is bollocks, crude accuracy, a pain to do properly,... And you pH meter, calibrated recently? Stored in proper solution? these are critical for keeping it in good working order,.. they're sensitive equipment, easily knock off accuracy,...

 

[thomas m]

waira is correct. i will say this though. i think it genetics. i have the exact meter waira posted. it has save many a plant. just recently i was completely locked out. know i build my own soil and always ph around 6.3-.5. so even i thought i was good. leaves started to turn and fall. checked the soil. way off somehow. added what was needed. in like 24 hours i was back to 7.0 soil ph. she turned around withing 48 hours.