Are my plants slowly dying?

[Builder0101]

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[Stilg7]

If the plants are waking back up, then they are fine.. This is normal for tent grows. These plants are much smarter than we give them credit for. They know that the lights are going off soon and they kinda just shut down or "sleep" a little early. This happens with a few plants every time I grow.

Now, if they stay droopping like this all day while the lights are on, then you've got a problem.. But based on what you've described, and if they "wake up" this is normal "sleep" mode that many plants go into prior to lights going on/off. It's called circadian rhythm.. And it happens regularly and naturally in plants as well as humans.. It the same as your body getting tired close to your normal bed time.

Is it normal for them to "sleep" that early though? 4-5 hours early seems like a lot. So would I be better off going with a 18/6 light schedule? If they aren't using all the light I'm giving them, then I guess I could save a little money and run them 2 hours less a day.

 

[Stilg7]

Are you watering every day? Or when they need water?

I water everyday. Usually right when the lights come on. I pick the pots up to check their weight first. If they seem light I then feel the bottoms to make sure they aren't soaking wet. If they are on the light side and the bottoms are damp but not soaked, I'll water.

 

[Stilg7]

Did you water them before you took the pictures?

TBH I'm not sure. I don't think so because the pics were taken later in the day.

 

[Stilg7]

I'm thinking about switching them to a 18/6 light schedule. I'm hoping that will help a bit and also save me some money lol. I also did a little pruning to the dead leaves and leaves that were covering up too much of the plant. I'll take some more pictures and you guys can lmk what you think.

 

[Proph]

Is it normal for them to "sleep" that early though? 4-5 hours early seems like a lot. So would I be better off going with a 18/6 light schedule? If they aren't using all the light I'm giving them, then I guess I could save a little money and run them 2 hours less a day.

A plant can only process/photosynthesize so much light. Changing the light schedule to 18-6 will only give them less light hours and cause them to sleep before/after the 18-6 cycle. I have plants right now doing The same thing under 18/6. Your plants look healthy (although I'd like to see pics of them perked up) so I don't think this is something that you need to find a solution for. But if you want to play around with the light settings just for your own experience and peace of mind, I'd start by dimming down the QB 96's.. If you are running both at max wattage, you could have too much light for your space (I don't think you mentioned the size of the grow space/tent). I would focus on adjusting wattage/light intensity, rather than the amount of hours on/off... But if you can't dim the 96's.. Maybe run just one at max wattage.. (I think that one 96 can push about 125w on the basic driver). Unfortunately we don't know enough about your set up to make a solid recommendation.. There are sooo many variables! But it doesn't sound like over/under watering.. If that was the issue, the plants wouldn't perk back up..

 

[Boognelson87]

If the plants are waking back up, then they are fine.. This is normal for tent grows. These plants are much smarter than we give them credit for. They know that the lights are going off soon and they kinda just shut down or "sleep" a little early. This happens with a few plants every time I grow.

Now, if they stay droopping like this all day while the lights are on, then you've got a problem.. But based on what you've described, and if they "wake up" this is normal "sleep" mode that many plants go into prior to lights going on/off. It's called circadian rhythm.. And it happens regularly and naturally in plants as well as humans.. It the same as your body getting tired close to your normal bed time.

before I go making a possible other suggestion I'll run it by you first after reading your comment and you saying each one of those are about 125 watts. he said he runs 2 and the lights are 16 to 20 inches away. Do you think light distance could play a factor here?

 

[Stilg7]

A plant can only process/photosynthesize so much light. Changing the light schedule to 18-6 will only give them less light hours and cause them to sleep before/after the 18-6 cycle. I have plants right now doing The same thing under 18/6. Your plants look healthy (although I'd like to see pics of them perked up) so I don't think this is something that you need to find a solution for. But if you want to play around with the light settings just for your own experience and peace of mind, I'd start by dimming down the QB 96's.. If you are running both at max wattage, you could have too much light for your space (I don't think you mentioned the size of the grow space/tent). I would focus on adjusting wattage/light intensity, rather than the amount of hours on/off... But if you can't dim the 96's.. Maybe run just one at max wattage.. (I think that one 96 can push about 125w on the basic driver). Unfortunately we don't know enough about your set up to make a solid recommendation.. There are sooo many variables! But it doesn't sound like over/under watering.. If that was the issue, the plants wouldn't perk back up..

I'll be honest I don't know much about light. My tent is 2x4. Here is a picture of my driver. I know it dims and I know how to do it but I don't know the difference between the two locations that I can put a screwdriver in to dim them. Thanks for all the help. I hope I can get this dialed in a little bit more!

 

[Proph]

before I go making a possible other suggestion I'll run it by you first after reading your comment and you saying each one of those are about 125 watts. he said he runs 2 and the lights are 16 to 20 inches away. Do you think light distance could play a factor here?

Definitely bro! A few things are still in play here. It all depends on which driver he is using, how many watts each light is pushing and in what size space. 16 in above canopy at 200w is a lot different than 16-20 inches at 300w. So yup, distance could definitely be a factor!

 

[Proph]

I'll be honest I don't know much about light. My tent is 2x4. Here is a picture of my driver. I know it dims and I know how to do it but I don't know the difference between the two locations that I can put a screwdriver in to dim them. Thanks for all the help. I hope I can get this dialed in a little bit more!
View attachment 1162332

Im guessing that's 2x4x5 or something similar.. I have a 2x4x5 with a 125w qb that does well on its own.. The average high end watts per sq with qb's is about 25w per sq. That driver tells me that your lights are wired in parallel, and are probably pushing about 150w a piece. To dim the light, use the "IO" knob. Remove the plastic cover and use a screwdriver/knife to slowly dim it. And important tool to have when using qb's and drivers, is a wattage meter. Most drivers only dim to 50% so keep that in mind. Turning the dimmer as low as possible will only be 50% of the total wattage.. So if one light is running at 150w right now, turning the dimmer all the way down will get you 75w, if that makes since. If you haven't made any adjustments to the driver, im pretty sure it came out of the box set to more power than you actually need. But the only way to know how many watts your pushing is with a watt meter.. 10-25 bucks on Amazon.