Advice please, sagging plants

Beginner Grow FAQs
#1

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So I went away for the weekend and I watered the plants pretty good prior to leaving on Friday. Came back Sunday afternoon and they were a little droopy, gave them some water and checked back on them a few hours later to see if they perked up and they did not. I gave them a little more water and they still have not perked up and seem to be getting worse.

 So What are your thoughts? I added some sand to the top of the soil last week to try and curb some gnat issues from getting worse, is it possible that the sand is causing this issue? The soil media for most of the plants is coco and ocean forest mix. A few have a small amount of another organic soil I can’t remember the brand of but it’s a 50/50 mix with the ocean forest.

The plants were doing great until I put the sand on them. Should I perhaps remove the sand and flush the soil as best I can? Or could it be I have to many plants and not enough light for all of them?? Any suggestions are greatly appreciated.

#2

What’s the temperature and RH in the tent? I’m guessing the humidity is high, and with the watering, you’ve stalled the circulation. Gotta have evaporation to keep things moving. Air em out with a good fan, and whatever it takes to get a bit drier air in there for a day or so. See if they don’t perk up.

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#3

Actually according to the 3 different temp and humidity readings I have in the tent I should add humidity. The temps are good I feel.

#4

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Top picture is from tent floor and the other is on top of the lights.

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#5

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#6

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This is the temp outside of the tent.

#7

@jjress bring your humidity up a little and start watering less. Sand works as a mulch and keeps your soil from drying out as fast. So if you watered every 3 days or so before adding the sand try watering once a week. Water with only 5-10% of the pot volume as well. For soil or living soil you don’t want to water to runoff if growing organic.

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#8

@jjress also, did you just get some cheap sand or did you get some nice ag sand made for cactus? Sometimes sand will have a lot of salts in it if it isn’t washed or cleaned (like beach sand) but if you bought sand designed for desert plants you should be alright there without having to wash your sand.

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#9

@MDBuds I was kinda wondering that. I didn’t get specific sand, just bought a bag of sand. I think I will take as much off as I can tomorrow, I checked the weight of a few of the pots and they are all different, some feel heavy some feel kinda light. But I am thinking that the sand is playing a big part in what is happening to the plants.

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#10

Also, the place you want a hygrometer is as close as possible to the soil level. What the air is doing up by the lights isn’t going to help or hurt the ability of your plant to circulate. They haven’t got a heart, so they depend on a vapor pressure gradient to suck water up. I’ve got my “good” thermometer/hygrometer in one of my pots, propped up directly on the soil. I also monitor inlet air and room air in general, but the critical one is at ground level.

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#11

@MDBuds I got out as much of the sand I could from all of the pots and top dressed them with some fresh soil and gave them some time in the sun which they seemed to enjoy. A few of them had started to perk up a bit prior to me removing the sand and putting them outside. I think some of the issue may have been temperature related as well, while I was gone this past weekend it did get pretty cold and I had removed the little heater I had in the tent as I didn’t think I would need it anymore. We will see how it goes from here.

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