I just switched to 12/12 11 days ago and a lot of my planst are showing signs of flowering and some are very noticeable and have them on several nodes. My question is why are some of my plants lower leaves starting to droop quite a bit? I have 12-13 plants in a 4ftx8x6.2 feet tall and they are pretty close together. Is it maybe from the lack of light to lower branches? All of them appear pertty healthy except 4-5 plants just on the lower branches. Any advice? I can get pics if needed. Thanks.
From what I've read it could be lack of light for sure but also the plant is allocating more energy towards flowering and not leaf development. If its just drooping a little I wouldn't worry about it. Sent from my iPhone using GC Forum
I have a similiar problem. It seems to only happen around the bottom part of the plant, but it happens to the plants that are further from the light. Side lighting would probably work, but how big are your girls? And what size light are you using and how far away?
1000w hps. Most of them are 18"-24" tall. I don't think its over-watering because they are all on the same schedule now.
The light might have trouble penetrating to the bottom half of the plant causing the leaves to droop. 13 plants in 5 gall buckets is going to take up a good amount of space, and you said the rest are in 3 gall.? How many is "the rest"? A 1,000W light can cover alot of plants but when you have 5 gall buckets spread out it will take up some space and I think this is your problem. I think you have too large of an area for your light. You can get some CFL's and spread them around the area, or just sticking a smaller light (250 or 400w) in the room will help.
Ive got 5 in the larger pots and the other 8 in the smaller ones. (im going to go home and count them tonight. I transplanted the 5 about 3 weeks ago because the containers they were in were too small. Ive already got one 125w cfl so im going to hang a few around the sides. Do I need to have reflectors on the CFL's or will it be enough just putting the lights close to the plants? I think im going to try lowering the light a bit also. Thanks again
Im just guessing but I would guess that your 13 plants in the containers take up about a 6x6 area? If your light is anything over 20in. away from the plants you can lower it but if you want to get the maximum coverage from your light it needs to be around 15-20in. If you stick your light too close it will cut down on the area it covers which it sounds like you can't afford to lose. Keep your light at 20in. from the tops of the plants, and measure the space your plants take up. If you are over a 5x5 area, with the size of your plants I think a little extra lighting will be needed.
I know for sure it 4ftx something because the tent is only 4 feet wide so ill go home and measure it tonight along with how high the the light is from my tallest plant. I have a few clones that are pretty tall and they might be closer than 20 inches. I appreciate the feedback.
No problem man. I would be suprised if you have 13 plants in containers that take up less than a 5x5 area of space, I think your problem with the leaves drooping is 80% lighting, and 20% because the plant is now in flowering and is spending more energy toward flowering than leaf growth, but even in that scenerio the leaves shoudn't be noticable when they droop, it should be a slight change if they look like they are drooping they usually have a problem
I thought it might just be the flowering at first but I noticed a few more plants were droopy (some of the droopy ones didn't have notcieable flowers yet like the others) and it is pretty crowded in the space I have them. Im going to try and spread them out a bit tonight and add a few side lights.
As long as the leaves aren't touching other plants or the plants are blocking light you should be fine, but defenitely try to keep a max of 8 plants in a 3x3 area.
I have my grow area split into 2 sections of 10 plants, both sections are a 4x4 area so that should give you a general idea. If you have 13 plants I would make the area about 6x6 just to be safe. The more the light the plants can get, the better!
They are touching. So im guessing there should be a little space in beteween each plant? Thanks again for answering all my newb questions. Im starting to worry I checked again on them today and more of my plants lower leaves are dying. Uppers still look great and flower is good
Update...... They are still drooping and I added 1 CFL and it seems to be helping a little. (I think) I wonder if the change in temperature around here is too much for them since its now fall? Im growing in my backyard in a tent. Temps drop to about 58 degrees at the coldest with the light off and about 75 with it on but from what I read it says 20 degree drop with lights off isn't bad. I haven't checked the ph in a few weeks but it was 6.5-7 last time I checked. Ive been using Fox Farm Tiger bloom and big bloom every other watering. I don't think im watering too much as I wait 2 days in beteween waterings. I felt my plants might be a bit too close so I spread them out a little but the are still touching a little. Also a few of those leaves seem to have been eaten but I don't see any pests. I have 12 plants in a 8x4x6.2 foot tent. Any suggestions please? Maybe I need to supply pics? Thanks