Leaves curl and droop immediately after watering

[PippinTook]

Hello good people,

I hope you are all doing well. I have what seems to be a very specific problem (I can't find anything on Google), which is my plants' leaves will significantly droop/curl downwards sometimes as much as 90 degrees immediately after watering. This is not the same curling caused by Nitrogen toxicity (I know this because my Critical Orange Punch is actually showing "the Claw". I've reduced the nutrients as of last feed) I'm talking 2 different symptoms here.
Odd thing is, a few hours later they're perked right back up into their "praying" position looking healthier than ever. 
Thankfully this isn't a catastrophic issue but I'm worried I'm holding my plants back and not enabling them to grow to their full potential I.e. this doesn't look like healthy stress.

My watering regime is as follows: I drench the soil with 3.5L of nutrient solution once every 3 days. They are in 22L fabric pots and there is maybe 1 or 2 cups worth of runoff if I had to guess.

My ideas so far: I may be watering too heavily, even if the frequency is fine. From my own research I know that oxygen is also super important for healthy root function. Maybe I'm basically waterboarding my plants, and only when the excess water has drained will the roots find their oxygen. Might explain why they seem to perk right back up a couple hours later.

Apologies for not providing pictures, I watered yesterday and didn't think to post here until today. But if anyone's ever done any heavy pruning/lollypopping then you'll know what symptoms I'm talking about regarding the leaf drooping/curling.

Thanks in advance for reading

Edited April 7, 2022 by PippinTook
afterthoughts

[Ill_Evan]

I would let the pots dry out properly over the course of maybe 4 days after your last watering, then check the weight of the pots and also prod your finger into the top soil and feel how wet the medium is. If the pots still feel heavy and wet, then you've definitely been over watering. If this is the case, let the pots continue to dry out until the weight of the pots feel significantly lighter, you'll definitely feel it. 

Otherwise if after 4 days you can feel it is lighter you can maybe just water a little less with each feed and avoid runoff altogether. I seldom feed until runoff. 

[PippinTook]

5 hours ago, Ill_Evan said:

I would let the pots dry out properly over the course of maybe 4 days after your last watering, then check the weight of the pots and also prod your finger into the top soil and feel how wet the medium is. If the pots still feel heavy and wet, then you've definitely been over watering. If this is the case, let the pots continue to dry out until the weight of the pots feel significantly lighter, you'll definitely feel it. 

Otherwise if after 4 days you can feel it is lighter you can maybe just water a little less with each feed and avoid runoff altogether. I seldom feed until runoff. 

Hey there, thanks for the input! Ill start with watering 2L (from original 3L) per plant and see how they react, if the same thing happens I'll begin watering every 4 days and take it from there.
I'll also see if i can get one of those handy probes that measure soil saturation. I cant lift the pots unfortunately as they are under a scrog at the moment

[Weskush]

Be the pot my friend. Feel the pot. Most accurate way to determine moisture content in container. You'll be surprised how much moisture the bottom 3rd of a container retains even when the topsoil is bone dry.

[Ill_Evan]

2 hours ago, PippinTook said:

I cant lift the pots unfortunately as they are under a scrog at the moment

Just talking like a weight check, you need not lift a meter high. You can get a good idea by just taking the edges of the fabric pot and giving a small tug upwards to just feel it, and if you can't reach every pot in the tent because of a scrog net, you can test just the ones you can reach and that will give you a general idea. 

Work smart, not hard. 

[Golden-Goose]

It's pretty normal in veg. It is caused by pressure around the root zone. Remember, plants feed and drink as a result of hydraulics. If your plants are healthy and "perky" a few hours later then all is good.