3rd set of leafs and all TINY, EXPERT growers advice needed

[Aeronoob]

I have 3 plants, on their 3rd week. all are no longer than 2 inches tall, 2 of those are on their 3rd node of leafs and the width of the plant is not bigger than 2 inches on all of them. I do not mean their on 3 leafs, I mean their THIRD NODE going on 4. I would like to hear EXPERT growing advice from EXPERIENCED growers. If I start listing my set up every one and their grandma will chime in, so I jsut want to hear what kind of things could cause not just slow growth, but for a plant to be going on its normal ammount of nodes for 3 weeks but all be TINY TINY plants, thye look like their going to be some doll house version of a pot plant, I feel like Im going to set a world record for smallest plant when these are done. I belives their at their normal rate of growth as far as node to leaf development goes but their not getting any bigger, the leafs are not enlarging and growing. One thing I will tell you guys is that the 4rth plant that was exactly like this, which I killed out of pure frsutration lol, had liek NIM, almost nothing of a root development for a 3 week old plant. I dont mean I tore the roots out in the process and missed them, I mean I took the plant out of the very fluffy good seedling soil it was in and inspected what would be a 2 day old root development on a 3 week on plant. all 3 of the rest of the plants Im assuming have this problem also. so growers, whats going on here because I cannot find ANYTHING on the net that relates to my issue. onlything theve gotten is a light dose of super thrive and RO water and soil ahs light ammount of dolomie lime since ro water has no calcium or mag. one more thing is plants are not showing ANY signs of deficiency at all........even for strains that grow slow, these are just NOT GETTING ANY BIGGER, jsut going up in height, every set of leafs ends up being the same size which is no longer than a quarter of an inch

 

[Aeronoob]

shit, help me out guys.... I need some wisdom

 

[ibjamming]

Can't do a thing without pictures... Could be a LOT of things. Actually, you'll get more "guesses" without pictures than with. It could be not enough light, too much water/nutes, pH, anything...

 

[Aeronoob]

150 watts of CFL 6500k and 2700k, ph might be off a bit, as I stated, not too much water and ive only been giving them super thrive and ro water.

 

[Scrogerman]

You are not giving enough information at all buddy! & like IB said we need pics to really get an idea, it could be 100 different things man! Do you normally suffer similar problems? is this your first grow? etc etc>??

 

[Aeronoob]

https://www.icmag.com/ic/picture.php?albumid=24222&pictureid=528051
https://www.icmag.com/ic/picture.php?albumid=24222&pictureid=528050
https://www.icmag.com/ic/picture.php?albumid=24222&pictureid=528049

 

[Aeronoob]

not my first grow, I have pu one of the 3 in a different soil to see if it eventualy speeds things along with that one adn makes any difference. Their in all organic soil with 50% perlite mix. the other seedling in the soil is in coco and vermiculite with organic soil mixed in like 35%,35%,30% mix. they look healthy tho. ph level is like 6-7. all 3 soils have a little dolomite lime in them since ro water has no mag or cal. my ro water is stable 5.5ph. water runoff is 6-7 like I said. I want to say their root development is nim, hardley nothing. Im assuming thats why they look healthy as clams but not growing at all. a plant cant grow without rooting strong. I let the soil dry out between waterings. This is my first problem ever growing....

 

[joe fresh]

not my first grow, I have pu one of the 3 in a different soil to see if it eventualy speeds things along with that one adn makes any difference. Their in all organic soil with 50% perlite mix. the other seedling in the soil is in coco and vermiculite with organic soil mixed in like 35%,35%,30% mix. they look healthy tho. ph level is like 6-7. all 3 soils have a little dolomite lime in them since ro water has no mag or cal. my ro water is stable 5.5ph. water runoff is 6-7 like I said. I want to say their root development is nim, hardley nothing. Im assuming thats why they look healthy as clams but not growing at all. a plant cant grow without rooting strong. I let the soil dry out between waterings. This is my first problem ever growing....

the water runoff is fine at 6-7 ph, but ro water should always be around 7 give or take a point....but never as low as 5.5, def a problem with your ro water

since your plants are just seedlings i would suggest you are overwatering them

 

[Aeronoob]

ive waterd them 3 times in their life span, once every 7 days which is about when the cups will become perfectly dry, hence the 50 percent perlite mix. This gives my seedlings plenty of air and good evap on soil so it dosent stay moist forever. I can tell by weight also of teh same soil in another cup bone dry I also use as a reference for weight ratio. im not over watering them. ro water Is 6.0 I ment. not 5.5.

 

[joe fresh]

ro water should still be around 7....

i water my seedlings every 2 weeks about, with plain water, no superthrive or nothing untill the 4th set of leaves, i use a 400W so if mine are taking that long to dry out so if you are using a 150w i would still think you are watering too much, and for seedlings its also best to water from the bottom or you can over water them and "choke" the roots.

my money is on overwatering still


and btw your plants are just seedlings, how big do you expect thew leaves?

 

[el dub]

The plant on the left in the third pic sure looks like it might be over-watered to me.

The soil might be a little hot for the one in the center.

The one on the right looks OK.

lw

 

[Mr. Greengenes]

Soilmix looks too hot, all the plants look like they don't want to send roots down into it. They don't look 'heathy' to me, they look like (1) there's not enough light, (2) the soilmix is too hot, and (3) the cups are too big, encouraging both under and overwatering. This last point is most important. Air circulates so much better to the roots in small pots that they are almost impossible to overwater. 9oz solo cups, or preferably those little pony packs that six tomatoes come in. Seedlings in (proper sized) small containers should never be allowed to dry out between waterings, that's for established plants in big pots. If you pop those out of their pots, you'll see that they have very little root growth and can be easily transplanted into a smaller pot. They'll take off growing at normal speed even if you keep the (hot) mix they're in now. It will be tolerated OK as they get bigger.

 

[etinarcadiaego]

Totally agree with Greengenes, I started some Chem D beans in straight Ocean Forest a few months back and they looked just like yours, all shruken with some copper spotting on the leaf edges.

They turned out fine, but I added probably 10 days of stasis cause the mix was so hot.

Usually I use Happy Frog for beans, needless to say lesson learned.

Excellent post Greengenes . . . as always . . . .

 

[TGT]

I would (like stated above) repot into smaller pots and keep them moist until about three more weeks. Also, change that soil. What you are using is not working, so just get some seedling starter soil with no nutes and add a little perlite. If you do these things, they should start to catch up to normal growth. I think PH is okay, but I would just use ordinary tap water if it's not too hard and in the range of 6.5 to 7 or there abouts. Also,if needed use very diluted amounts of nutrients, and make sure it is self buffering nutes. I find these types the best, but any of the good brand names will work well. Screwing with PH usually causes more problems than its worth, at least this is what I noticed with the Hamilton tap water. I hope this helps and keep us udated. Good luck!

TGT

 

[Aeronoob]

Soilmix looks too hot, all the plants look like they don't want to send roots down into it. They don't look 'heathy' to me, they look like (1) there's not enough light, (2) the soilmix is too hot, and (3) the cups are too big, encouraging both under and overwatering. This last point is most important. Air circulates so much better to the roots in small pots that they are almost impossible to overwater. 9oz solo cups, or preferably those little pony packs that six tomatoes come in. Seedlings in (proper sized) small containers should never be allowed to dry out between waterings, that's for established plants in big pots. If you pop those out of their pots, you'll see that they have very little root growth and can be easily transplanted into a smaller pot. They'll take off growing at normal speed even if you keep the (hot) mix they're in now. It will be tolerated OK as they get bigger.

in that pic their out of the light, I don't think seedlings need more than 150 watts of light(6, 25 watt cfls) in a 1x2 foot area. Also their in small party cups with a mix thats cut 50% with perlite....how much smaller of a "pot" do I need. aslo you say they dont look healthy but, the cotyledons are still green, there is no yellowing or spotting or burn signs. What looks unhealthy about them besides there small? Thanks for the info guys, Im just confused a litte. Ive never used anything smaller than party cups for seedlings and never had problems before. one more thing, wouldent cuttign with perlite bring down the "hot" of this mix...organic soil also,

 

[el dub]

I start seeds in much smaller containers than what I see in the pic. There is soil specifically for seedlings on the market and diluted cloning solution works well for initial feedings, imo.

lw

 

[Aeronoob]

its a freaking party cup.....its maybe 5 inches tall with a 4 inch opening. You guys are telling me this is too big of a container for these plants? Im sure thousands of growers on here start seeds in party cups with no problems. I dont think its a container size problem, or over watering. Im not an expert grower but I mean, first time in 300 diffrent plants started in part cups, thereis issues all of a sudden. Ive got watering down. Ive started probably 300 plants in party cups before over the years with no problems. Maybe Ill just try seedling mix of soil like suggested by you guys.

 

[el dub]

I put mine in flats divided up 36 ways. The party cups are too tall, imo. And I don't like the distance from the top of the soil to the top of the cups, either.

lw

 

[staff11]

Well what have you done differently then the previous 300 plants?
Change the soil?

 

[staff11]

I put mine in flats divided up 36 ways. The party cups are too tall, imo. And I don't like the distance from the top of the soil to the top of the cups, either.

lw

Too tall????

If anything the tap root likes deeper containers.....

I don't think it's the party cup, it's to hot of soil.