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You are growing some beautiful and stinky weed plants, and everything is going fine and dandy, until all of a sudden, you realize that the leaves of your weed plants are drooping.
Oh no, you have a problem, and it might be a pretty severe problem. What’s the problem? Why are my weed leaves drooping?
Well, drooping weed leaves can be caused by a number of issues, most notably overwatering your cannabis plants, a humidity level that is way too low, or it could have something to do with the nutrients you are feeding your plants.
Contents
3 Reasons Why Your Cannabis Leaves Are Drooping
Let’s go over each of the causes which can lead to weed leaves drooping, and what the best solutions are too.
1. Over Watering
Alright, so one of the main reasons why your weed plant’s leaves are drooping is because you are overwatering your plant. Now, a lot of people might think that pot leaves are drooping due to underwatering, but this is generally not the case.
In fact underwatering marijuana plants usually always results in wilted leaves, not drooping leaves. We will discuss the difference between wilting and drooping leaves later on below.
The point here is that overwatering your pot plant can cause the roots to take in too much water, therefore causing your plants to suck up too much water.
The result here is that your pot plants will have leaves that are way too heavy with water weight, and essentially, your pot plants are drowning in water.
It might all start at the roots, but the problem quickly works its way up to the leaves.
How To Figure Out if You Are Overwatering Your Pot Plants
There are a few different ways in which you can tell if you are overwatering your pot plants.
All of these methods work just fine, but best is if you use a combination of the following methods to tell if your pot plant is too wet, or on the other hand, if it is too dry.
Use Your Fingers
One of the easiest ways to figure out if you are overwatering your pot plants is by simply sticking your fingers into the soil or growing medium.
Ideally, the top inch of soil should be relatively dry before you water your plants again.
If the soil is soaking wet, even at the very top, you know that you are overwatering your plants.
The soil at the top, or about an inch down, should never be bone dry, but if its wet enough to stick to your fingers, especially in muddy clumps, you are overwatering your plants.
A Soil Sensor
Another good and very reliable way to tell if you are overwatering your cannabis plants is to get a soil sensor.
A soil sensor will tell you how much moisture content is in the soil and this will let you know whether the soil is extra dry, wet, or in between.
It’s one of the most accurate ways to tell how much water is in the soil, but of course, these devices do cost a bit money.
Pick Up The Pot
Yet another way to tell if you are overwatering your plants, or underwatering them, is to pick up the pot and feel how heavy it is.
Now, for a point of comparison, you can always get another pot of the same size, fill it with soil, dry soil, and see how much it weighs in comparison to the pot with your marijuana plant in it.
If the pot with your plant feels like it is a heck of a lot heavier than the pot with dry soil, it’s a pretty safe bet that your weed plant’s pot has too much water in it.
If your marijuana plant container is only slightly heavier than the pot with just soil in it, accounting for the minimal weight of the plant, it’s probably time for a watering.
How To Fix Overwatering Issues
Alright, so there are a couple of things that you can do in order to fix this issue of overwatering your pot plants, in which case it should also fix the issue of your droopy leaves.
1. Watering Less Often
The easiest way to fix this issue is simply by watering your plant less often, or when you water it, give it less water.
Use the above methods to figure out if you are overwatering your pot plants, and if this is the case, simply give them less water.
Wait an extra day or two longer between watering your plants than you usually would, and reduce the amount of water you give them too.
If your weed plant’s leaves are extra droopy, and the soil is super wet, you want to start off by not giving the marijuana plants any water whatsoever for at least a few days.
2. Better Drainage
Another thing that you can do in order to avoid overwatering your weed plants is to get soil or planting medium with better drainage.
For one, you can use a bucket with holes in the bottom, which is then placed in the actual container, this way, any excess water that you give your plants, which they don’t need, can simply drain out the bottom.
On that same note, you should be using a mixture of perlite, coco coir, and soil in for potting medium.
Coco coir an perlite both have excellent drainage, so any excess water can easily drain to the bottom, and then out of the holes in the bucket.
3. Aeration Holes
Another little trick you can use here is to use a stick to poke some aeration holes in the planting medium.
Use a thin stick to poke holes around the outside edge of the potting soil, or whatever you are using.
These holes will create some good aeration which will help dry the soil out.
On that same note, slightly increasing the temperature, as well as the airflow in the grow room, can also help to speed up water evaporation, which is quite important if your soil is soaking wet, because you need it to dry out to a certain level as fast as possible.
4. Choose Your Strain Wisely
The other trick here you can follow is to get a strain of weed which does relatively well in dry conditions.
If you have a type of marijuana strain that is known for doing fine with minimal amounts of water, then you won’t be tempted to give your plants too much water, thus getting around the problem of overwatering and droopy weed leaves.
More on the different strains here.
2. Humidity Is Too Low
Another reason why the leaves of your marijuana plants are drooping may be because the humidity level in the grow room is too low.
You see, when the humidity in the grow room is too low, it will cause the water in the leaves to evaporate at an increased rate, thus the water in the leaves exits through the fibers, and into the air.
This is indeed a problem, but it’s not the same thing as underwatering your plants.
You could be giving your pot plants the right amount of water, but if the humidity level in the grow room is too low, that water won’t stay in the plants, but rather evaporate out of the leaves.
Now, what you do need to know of course is what the proper humidity level for pot plants is.
This really depends on the stage of life which the pot plant is in, but for the vegetative and flowering stages, you usually want a humidity level between 40% and 60%.
Anything below that, and the leaves will probably start to droop. So, the easy solution for this problem is to increase the humidity level in the grow room.
Raising Humidity In The Grow Room
We do already have a number of articles concerning marijuana grow room humidity and how to raise or lower humidity in a grow room, so we would recommend that you take a look at those.
However, just for quick reference, let’s go over some easy ways to measure the humidity in your grow room, and how to raise that humidity level too.
- First of all, you do want to get yourself a hygrometer, which is a fancy word for a tool that measures the humidity in the air. To measure humidity in the grow room, you want to measure at the base of the plants, as well as the top of the plants, then take the average. This will give you a good idea of where you stand.
- If and when you find that the humidity level in the grow room is too low, there are a few steps you can take to correct this issue, to raise the humidity level.
- Spray your pot plants with some water several times per day. Albeit, this is a temporary solution.
- You can try putting some containers full of water in the grow room, especially around the outside edges. The water will evaporate and increase the humidity level in the grow room.
- Perhaps the easiest way to raise the temperature in the grow room is to get yourself a good old humidifier that spits moisture out into the air.
3. A Nutrient Deficiency OR Too Many Nutrients
The other cause of drooping leaves on your cannabis plants may have to do with nutrient deficiencies or if you have been giving your plants far too many nutrients.
Both can result in drooping leaves, but the other symptoms you will see may differ.
Signs Of A Nutrient Deficiency
- A nitrogen deficiency may result in yellowing leaves, starting at the bottom of the plant and then working its way up, until most of the leaves have yellowed, drooped or curled, and fallen off the plant.
- Signs of a phosphorus deficiency include wilting leaves, the purpling of leaf stems and older leaves, severe slowed growth, and dark or copper colored spots on the leaves.
- Signs of a potassium deficiency include some wilting leaves, rusty brown leaf tips, the yellowing of older leaves, and other similar symptoms.
pH Level Is Important..
Something to keep in mind here is that many nutrient deficiencies can be caused by an improper soil pH level.
The pH level of the soil needs to be at the ideal level, usually between 6 and 6.5, in order for weed plants to suck up nutrients.
If the pH level is not at the proper level, cannabis plants cannot take in nutrients, not nearly as well as they should.
Therefore, you will want to measure your soil’s pH level, and if it is off, you will need to take corrective steps (we have covered some good pH meters here).
In general, if you are providing your plants with enough nutrients, but they still show signs of nutrient deficiencies, it’s usually always the pH that is the issue.
Signs Of Too Many Nutrients
Now, if you are giving your weed plants way too many nutrients, it may also result in drooping leaves, although this is rarely the case.
If you plants are suffering from nutrient burn, they will probably curl, turn yellow or brown, and look like they have been burnt, although sometimes this may also result in drooping leaves.
Providing The Proper Nutrients – Fixing The Issue
- Simply put, you want to ensure that the soil you have used for your weed plants has the right amount of nutrients in it, especially concerning the 3 most important ones, nitrogen, potassium, and phosphorus.
- If you have been using the same soil for months, chances are you might have a nutrient deficiency issue, in which case you will want to substitute with some outside nutrients.
- If nutrient burn is the issue, you will want to flush the plants with pure water for a while, until the problem visibly corrects itself.
**Wilting vs Drooping**
On a side note, something that you do need to know the difference between is wilting leaves and drooping leaves.
Drooping leaves look really heavy, like they cannot maintain their own weight.
On the other hand, wilting leaves do also droop, but they usually start to shrivel up, and that’s a sign of a whole different set of possible problems.
FAQ
Why Do Weed Plants Droop At Night?
Cannabis leaves drooping during the night is a common occurrence, and it’s really nothing to worry about. When it is night time, there is no light. Of course, plants need light to live, particularly to perform photosynthesis, which is how they turn food into energy.
Sunlight is required for this. You could say that when it is sunny, plants like marijuana are awake and performing photosynthesis. However, during the night, when there is not light, your plants don’t perform photosynthesis.
Instead, you could say that they go to sleep to preserve their energy for the next day. Simply put, drooping cannabis leaves at night are simply caused by a lack of light.
Will My Droopy Cannabis Leaves Recover?
Whether or not drooping cannabis leaves will recover depends on the cause. For instance, if the leaves are just super big and heavy, such as the fan leaves shortly before harvest, they might just be too heavy for the stems to support. If this is the case, there is no real problem.
If your weed plant drooping is due to a lack of light, particularly at night, then the issue is easy enough to solve, just give the plant light. Now, if the drooping is caused by something else, such as overwatering, then you have a more serious issue on your hands.
Drooping due to overwatering is often a sign of root rot, where the roots of the plant quite literally rot. This is solved by stopping giving your plants water until things dry out.
If the issue is caused by too few or too many nutrients, it can also be hard to figure out what the exact cause is.
Can Too Much Light Make Cannabis Plants Droop?
Yes, too much light can cause the leaves on your cannabis plants to droop. Yes, all plants need light, but there is only so much that they can take.
Too much light may cause light damage to your weed plants, and one clear sign of this is drooping leaves.
If you have lights that are too strong, too many lights, or the lights are too close to your plants, these issues can all cause drooping leaves to occur.
Why Are My Fan Leaves Drooping During Flowering?
Although drooping leaves are generally a sign that a plant is being overwatered, this is not always the case, particularly during the flowering phase.
If your fan leaves on your weed plant droop during the flowering phase, the reason is that your weed plant is putting most of its energy into growing those taste buds.
Seeing as most of the energy is being used to grow the flowers, the fan leaves start to get fewer nutrients and water, as those vital components are being redirected to the flowers.
It may also be the case that the lower fan leaves droop because they are blocked by leaves further up, and therefore not getting enough light.
Conclusion
There you have it folks, everything you need to know about your cannabis plant and drooping leaves.
We have discussed the main causes of this issue, as well as the solutions you need to know about.
If none of these issues are the problem, and none of the discussed fixes work, take a closer look at your weed plant, because it might not be drooping, but in fact wilting or curling, both of which are symptoms of other issues.
