my plants are looking good except for the top of one plant. the leaves have started to droop down a little, especially at the very top of the plant.the soild is still moist so i do not think it is a watering issue unless its over watered. im not sure if u can see it in the picture or not, but any help would be greatly appreciated. they have been outside for their whole lives except during germination and the first few weeks they were in a green house. i only water them when the soil gets dry and i just added nutrients for the first time yesterday. it is the orchid miracle grow food.
it doesn't look like too much of a problem! i would just watch it and not stress much about it! HAPPY GROWING!
I added some orchid food Miracle grow with my water and watered the plants. It made them perk right up
Watch your root zone temperatures. If it's been a hot day, or if the water you added had been sitting around for a while and was quite warm, then your roots in those above ground buckets have very little access to cool air. Think about how stuffy it would be inside of a plastic bucket covered in wet dirt that contained no aeration material like perlite. The issue is definitely root zone related and I think it will continue to worsen if your do not transplant soon. I suggest a potting soil that includes at least a little perlite for the extra air. Many outdoor growers that are growing those big trees are using fabric planters rather than buckets for the increase in porosity and air flow. A few holes in the buckets might help but I'd really suggest cutting your soil soon.
Ty man. Yea it probably does get too hot. I'm out here in va. Is there a certain way to that ur supposed to transplant? Or do u just dig up all the roots and put the new soil around them?
You if you could step up to a larger container then that'd be ideal (or just plant them) but if they have to stay in those buckets then I'd suggest something like this: Lean the plant over sideways and carefully remove it from the bucket. Gently remove excess dirt away from the existing healthy root mass. If this dirt "stinks" then you had root rot. Use a quality potting soil, like Black Gold, with perlite at a 3 parts soil to 1 part perlite ratio. Fill the container with some of this mixture before placing the rootball back inside. Fill in around the root ball and water it in to ensure it is evenly packed.
Plants don't turn male from stress. This is going to be stressful but it's not like you have many other options, IMO. If your plants were genetically unstable enough to hermaphrodite on you simply because you transplanted them then I'd say you're better off. Transplanting now, before they transition to flowering, is the right choice to make as the longer you put this off the greater the likelyhood the stress will impact the generation of reproductive parts.