Droppy plants5/30/2023 ![]() It is also a good idea to let the medium become fairly dry-at least near the surface of the medium-before attempting to water the plant again. Saturate the medium well, until you see the first drops seep out of the bottom of the container. Generally, good watering practice dictates that you water each plant once, at the start of the day when the sun/ lights come up. An example of drooping plants, with heavy, wet sagging leaves. While watering plants twice a day sounds like plenty of water, if you are only pouring in a few drops, it might not be enough. You should feel some moisture and coolness. Test the soil for moisture content by pressing your index finger about an inch down into the medium. Now, if your plants are more wilting than drooping, meaning they are dry and crumbling, the issue is more likely to be under-watering. Both the loss of oxygen and the build up of abscisic acid will severely weaken steams and leaves of the plant above the surface. If the grow medium becomes too compacted, the breathable roots may lose their ability to respire and absorb oxygen, which they use to convert sugars to energy. The top third of the root structure contains air-specialized roots for this purpose (while the bottom third of the root structure is known as “water roots”). Over-watering can also cause the soil or grow medium to compress and suffocate the roots, which respire by breathing in oxygen (O2) during the dark or night cycle. Because you water twice daily and state the leaves are “heavy,” my guess here is the former-over-watering. Wilting leaves will be dry to the touch and even a bit crumbly. Wilting leaves, which is actually defined as having water loss or being dehydrated, is obviously associated with a lack of water. Sometimes water stress, such as “drowned roots,” can cause abscisic acid to build up, closing down the leaf stomata and creating problems in both respiration and photosynthesis. When it comes to drooping leaves, the issue is most often due to over-watering, believe it or not. But to start, we need to make a distinction between the terms wilting and drooping. You did not mention any discoloration of the leaves, which is good, leaving us to focus mostly on hydration and not mineral deficiencies. Wilting/ drooping leaves are most commonly a sign of problems with water and/or nutrients. An example of healthy plants, with leaves cupped upwards toward the light. The primary areas a plant receives nutrition from are: light (photon energy), atmosphere (CO2 and O2) and medium (H2O and mineral nutrients). A deficiency can come from one or multiple areas (let’s hope it is just one). ![]() It is important to understand that wilting/drooping leaves means that there is a deficiency somewhere within the plant. We actually get a ton of “leaf wilting” questions in the mailbag every month, so I am happy to finally answer this one! Thanks for writing us with a very good question. The color is good, but the leaves are heavy and sagging. Please help us! We have a few young seedlings, about four weeks old now, and they all have wilting or drooping leaves.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |