If you have any kind of gardening experience, you will know exactly how difficult it can be to know what your plants need. Whether you have grown weed before or not, there are some problems that you will experience across the board.
One of these issues is wilting. It’s so easy for cannabis plants to start wilting, and it might make you panic. While wilting isn’t anything to be too worried about at first, it can become worse without proper plant care.
If this is something that you have been dealing with, and you aren’t sure where you’re going wrong, you’re in the right place. Here, we will go through what could be causing your weed leaves to wilt, whether they can recover or not, and some useful solutions.
What Causes Droopy Weed Leaves?
Drooping weed leaves might be caused by a handful of things. Some are easy to deal with, and others are not. More often than not, all you need to do is give your plant some extra water!
Underwatering is the most common cause of drooping leaves, but overwatering can cause it, too. However, overwatering your plant is likely to result in the leaves that are curling down and turning yellow. The plant will also start dropping (or get worse) after it has been watered.
Can Droopy Weed Plants Recover?
In most cases, yes! As long as too much damage hasn’t been done, there is a very good chance that your cannabis plant will recover with the right care. This care is usually more straightforward than you may initially think, so don’t worry too much. We will go through everything you need to know.
You can rest easy knowing that you can get your plants back in great shape in no time.
So, What Do You Do?
Now that we know that underwatering is the most common reason for wilting in weed plants, you might be wondering… how do we remedy that?
The obvious answer would simply be to water your plants more, right? While that is, at its most basic, correct, you need to be very careful of how you do this.
Dumping lots of unnecessary water onto your cannabis plants (and any other plant) will always do more harm than good. Overwatering comes with its own set of issues, and it can be a lot more difficult to deal with than underwatering.
Overwatering can cause root rot when the potting medium is too wet for too long. When this happens, the roots of the plant will, as the name suggests, rot away. This can easily kill the cannabis, since roots are a crucial part of survival. The symptoms of this might appear to be similar to some other conditions your plant may experience, such as disease from pests.
We will go through what you can do if you are worried that you have been overwatering your plant after the common solutions for wilting weed plants. So, stick around to learn much more than you bargained for!
Common Solutions For Wilting Weed Plant Leaves
As we said underwatering is probably the culprit for your sad-looking weed plants. Now that you know that, what exactly can you do about this issue?
Truth is, there are five fantastic steps you can take to stop this from being an issue in the future. This includes having overall mindfulness of your watering habits, using the correct potting mix, using the finger method, and even supporting your weed’s stem or trying a different strain altogether.
Let’s take a closer look at what we mean by each of these points in the sections below.
Be Mindful Of Watering
When you are watering your plant(s), you need to be mindful of what you are doing. Add water to the plant until you see around 20% extra runoff water coming out of the bottom. If you follow this rule and find that the top few inches of the growing medium stay wet for too long, it is an indication that you have either overwatered or need to change up the potting mix.
Cannabis needs a lot of water since they are naturally thirty plants. However, you should be aiming to water them every 2–3 days on a normal schedule. This might change depending on where exactly you are and the environment, though.
Hotter and drier climates could mean that your plant requires some extra care and attention.
Try Lifting The Pot
If you are noticing wilting leaves and aren’t sure what the issue is, try simply lifting the pot! Since cannabis usually uses all the water in their pots, they will gradually get lighter as they run out. If it gets dry enough, you can literally pull the plant and the growing mix straight out of the pot with little to no resistance (be careful, obviously).
However, if the pot is still heavy and wet after four or more days since watering, you need to take action. We will discuss what you can do about overwatering in the final section of this article.
Make Sure They Have The Correct Potting Mix And Containers
Assuming you are growing your cannabis in a pot, or some other controller area, you need to ensure that you have all the right materials. It is crucial to have a well-draining potting mix so that water can work its way through rather than getting stuck for weeks.
Not only that, but you also need to use a pot that has drainage holes, or else the water will simply stagnate at the bottom.
Avoid using any kind of clay-based soil. Use potting soil with perlite to help with drainage, too. This adds oxygen to the mixture and helps the water pass through.
TIP: If you are growing cannabis from seedlings, make sure they are kept in smaller containers to start with. Keeping them in large containers will increase the chances of them being overwatered and experiencing root rot.
Use The Finger Method, Or Something Similar
This simply refers to using your finger to check if the top few inches of the potting mix is dry or not. There are other things you can use to determine this, but your finger is already there and ready to be used!
This is so important to determine because it can be easy to overwater the plant if you are not manually checking the state of the growing medium. All you need to do is stick your finger into the soil and see how damp it is. If it is completely dry, then it’s time for a good watering!
However, if the soil is still damp, you can skip watering. Soggy soil indicates that the plant has already been overwatered, and you definitely need to give it some time before watering it again.
. You can use a stick and carefully tie your plant to it so that the stem is supported while it is weak.
If the wilting is bad, the plant could bend or break too badly to be salvaged. So, help the little guy out, and make sure it has the support it needs to remain in one piece.
Opt For A “Dry” Strain If All Else Fails
Sometimes, things just aren’t meant to be. This might come down to the strain of cannabis you are trying to grow, so… change the strain! Opting for a ‘dry’ strain could be the best move you can make, as these will be better equipped to deal with warmer climates.
Do some research to find out which one will suit you best, and switch things up! Blue Dream and Green Crack are good options, and pretty easy to grow, and neither of them needs as much water as most other strains.
Dealing With Overwatering
Before we finish up, it’s worth quickly running over a few things here. If you are worried that you have been overwatering your cannabis plants, and things aren’t looking too good, there are solutions! Of course, this depends on how long the overwatering has been happening, and the state that your plant is in.
In most cases, overwatering can be improved by doing the following things:
Skip watering for a few days – the first option is to simply skip watering for a couple of days to see if the issue improves. If the soil is still moist after four or more days, you will need to do the below.
Repot the plant – repot your plant with the correct (well-draining) potting mix, and make sure that the pot you are using is well-draining. This could save your plant’s life!
Final Thoughts
Underwatering is the most common cause of wilting, but there are things that you can do. Hopefully, this article has been helpful, and you can now get out there and make any changes you need to.
Remember, if your plants start dropping, or the drooping gets worse after you have watered them, overwatering is likely your problem. You will need to skip watering for a few days or repot the plant with the correct potting mix.
Hi, I’m Zack Finch and I work as a Budtender for a Health & Wellness center here, in sunny California. I have been using marijuana recreationally for around 6 years now, and have many a time enjoyed the benefit that weed has to offer.
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