How to take care of my baby seedlings?

[FreezerBoy]

Dude, I gave you a chart on the first page. We'll try it again....

 

[RobMarley420]

Ah, I browsed right past that without even looking at it the first time.... Sorry.

Right now I've got the light about 20 inches away from the plants and themp is around 80F.

Thanks for the information!

 

[RobMarley420]

Drooping Leaves on My Biggest Plant

Drooping Leaves on My Biggest Plant

The leaves on my biggest plant are starting to droop down but all of my other plants are looking fine. The one that had fallen over before has made a full recovery and is now standing on its own power without the paper clip.

The biggest leaves on the drooping plant are drooping down and almost touching the side of the cup. What could this be from? Overwatering??? Damaged roots? Not enough soil/nutes? Too much light?

The plants are growing in straight FFOF soil under a 600watt HPS. They are about 20 inches away from the light.

For watering I wait till the top of the soil is dry before I re-water. The second cup that the plant sits in is dry, there is no extra water dripping out. The roots of the plant are growing out of the cracks in the bottom of the first cup and getting smooshed inbetween the other cup.

I started out using tap-water but just switched to distilled water a couple days ago. (no added nutes) The plant started drooping around the time I switched to distilled. (all the other plants are fine tho)

The conditions in the tent stay between 75-85F with 50% humidity. 6" exhaust fan, 4" intake fan. There is a slight breeze blowing on the plants from the intake fan.

And by the way, I really apreciate all the help. I will definitly buy a supporter account once I'm done with my first successful harvest!

 

[elgwedoloco]

I could be wroong about this seeing as how I am a noob to this growing thing. But, I heard that distilled water is not good for hydro because it lacks certain minerals that the plants use. I understand you are not using a hydro set-up but at least its something to think about.

How old are your seedlings?

Hope I helped out. But again don't trust my statement because I am still a noob.

 

[pinecone]

I could be wroong about this seeing as how I am a noob to this growing thing. But, I heard that distilled water is not good for hydro because it lacks certain minerals that the plants use. I understand you are not using a hydro set-up but at least its something to think about.

With this type of grow (semi-organic soil) you are better off having the minerals in the water, but you are better off not having the chlorine or chloramine. If you have to make a choice between the two the chlorine is a bigger problem that the lack of minerals IMO.

Pine

 

[Don Dump]

I'd say overwatering, but what do I know. water by how heavy the cups are. wait until they are nice and dry/light before watering again. you could top up those cups with more dirt if you wanted. most do look ready for a transplant. you haven't fed them anything yet? maybe give them a little juice. check your ph

 

[elgwedoloco]

With this type of grow (semi-organic soil) you are better off having the minerals in the water, but you are better off not having the chlorine or chloramine. If you have to make a choice between the two the chlorine is a bigger problem that the lack of minerals IMO.

Pine

Good info Pinecone

 

[RobMarley420]

Another one is starting to droop....

Another one is starting to droop....

I just checked on my plants and another one is starting to droop.

I watered one of the drooping plants with some nutrients. (Fox Farm Big Bloom, 1 Tablespoon per gallon) If that doesn't seem to help I'm going to try and transplant them into some 3 gallon pots.

Still looking for advice on what to do and what might be causing the problem.

Thanks.

 

[mad librettist]

listen to don dump, he gave you important advice because he noticed you water "when the surface is dry".

 

[pinecone]

I just checked on my plants and another one is starting to droop.

If you can take a picture in regular light. It is really hard to gauge the color of plants under HPS. Some look a bit lush to me (the two on the left and the one back right).

I watered one of the drooping plants with some nutrients. (Fox Farm Big Bloom, 1 Tablespoon per gallon) If that doesn't seem to help I'm going to try and transplant them into some 3 gallon pots.

You are more likely to have a problem with the soil being to hot (slowing down growth a bit and making the leafs look sort of lush, thin, and fragile) than you are running out of nutrients this quick. Personally I think feeding them anything let alone Big Bloom is a mistake - and if watering is indeed part of your issue putting them in 3-gallon containers is going to make it worse.

If you want to try something, pull the plants out of the cups and put some more soil in the bottom and fill in around the edges - or top dress with some earth worm castings. It might also be a good idea to take the cups out of the cups to allow the soil and the roots to breath a bit.

Pine

 

[RobMarley420]

So the plant that started drooping yesterday is looking a lot worse this morning. Its bottom leaves are drooping really bad and are yellowing, they look like they're dieing. I don't have time to take a pic now but I will after work.

I'm wondering if maybe this could be a problem with my humidifiers or too much humidity??? I was running 2 Vick Cool-Mist humidifiers in the room keeping the humidity inside the tent around 50-60%. But those humidifiers running on tap water were leaving hard water deposits all over the room. I just checked my intake fan and the blades were COVERED in water deposits. I stopped both humidifiers and put a filter on my intake fan.... Hopefully that helps some.

So right now I've got 2 drooping/sick looking plants. Yeserday I watered one of them with nutes and did nothing to the other one. The one that I watered with nutrients is looking the same, the one that I did nothing with is looking a lot worse.

So if this is a problem with overwatering, how long till they start to recover? And how long should I wait to re-water them? Should I not give them any more water until they start to look better? Wait to the soil is bone-dry to re-water???

I'll update with pics once I'm done with work.

 

[RobMarley420]

This is plant #1. This one has been drooping for a couple days now. I watered it yesterday with some nutrients and its looking about the same today as it was yesterday.

This is plant #2. This one started drooping yesterday. I didn't water it yesterday and its looking a lot worse today. The bottom leaves are all dry and crispy. I thought they might have been drooping from overwatering, but then why are the leaves all dry and crispy? Did they get burnt by the light?

I had the 600wattHPS about 20 inches away from them and the temp was 86F when I got home. Now the light is over 2 feet away from them, temp is 79F.

And this is the whole garden is looking right now.

 

[pinecone]

Looks like hot FFOF to me. They aren't burning, but they do look over-ferted (lush green, crinkle, thin leafs, purple stems). They will grow out of it. I would suggest not giving them any more fertilizers.

Pine

 

[RobMarley420]

I figured that they couldn't have been getting burned by the light because it was the bottom leaves that were dry and crispy, not the top leaves.

So you think the plants are being overfertilized then? Why would this start to happen 2 weeks into their growth?

 

[pinecone]

So you think the plants are being overfertilized then? Why would this start to happen 2 weeks into their growth?

I've had it happen. I grew in FFOF straight from the time I started growing in the Spring of 2004 until a few months ago.

Pine

Seedling in FFOF before it started to fry

Seedlings from the same strain in something less hot


See the difference?

 

[stoney917]

do nuthin water when cups get light transplant when ready

 

[Scrogerman]

Im not surprised at this, a 600w @ 20", on little things like that.? 24" isnt much better, although your temps aint far out & you may get away with it. for your humidfier, get down to a hardwear store & get yaself some de-ionised water bro. that'll fix that up, untill you can get yaself an RO unit!

They will grow out of it im sure, but id be repotting now if i was you bro! personally id never hammer seedlings/starts with close proximity HID, esp 600w. Id start at 4-5ft at least & move the lamp down as they grow to distance there happy with, wean them in, this will encourage better rooting as far as i know!

G'Luck!

 

[RobMarley420]

Pinecone, I do see the difference. The seedlings in the second pic look much more healthy.

And scrogerman, thanks for the advice! I was worried that 600watt would be too intense, but acording to the advice FreezerBoy gave me, a 600watt ain't shit compared to the sun. And that graph he showed me said the light should be with 9-29 inches of the plant. Kinda confused about this whole lighting situation.... Right now the light is hanging about 2&1/2 feet above the plants.

So does anyone else agree that this looks like too much fertilizer from the hot FFOF???

And can I get some more opinions on when to transplant? Now or wait a bit longer??? I'm 100% sure this is not an overwatering problem at this point.

When I do re-pot these plants I plan on mixing about 20% perlite with the Ocean Forest soil.

Thanks for all the help and advice!

 

[Scrogerman]

You'll find out for yaself bro, i was just saying for young plantlets, you really wanna start high & work down to optimal distance. in my book its detrimental blasting seedlings & starts with HID at close proximity. I dont think FB's chart is aimed at seedlings/starts? idk. But go with it bro! at least start at the bottom & work your way up the chart. Its definately a chart ive used for reference myself.

I'd want to encourage rooting first, which less intense light does!

happy growing!

 

[pinecone]

I figured that they couldn't have been getting burned by the light because it was the bottom leaves that were dry and crispy, not the top leaves.

I have to say that I've never really thought it an issue (other than a waste of electricity) to have plants the size of yours under 400w HID @ 1'-1.5'.

So you think the plants are being overfertilized then? Why would this start to happen 2 weeks into their growth?

I didn't answer this question.

There is something in FFOF that releases 2 weeks or so after sprout. I don't know what it is, but I've had some issues with some plants being stunted, and in some cases burned, in hot FFOF. There seems to be a bit of variation within and between bags because this has been a sporadic problem for me; more often than not it FFOF has been fine for my seedlings. Also - I've never had a seedling die do to this problem. In the worst cases I've just gotten leaf burn and stunted growth.

FFOF is as close as you can buy to a just add water soil medium for growing MJ. This makes it too hot for some young plants, but just about perfect (un-cut) for vegging larger plants (thus my hunch that you don't need a veg fertilizer). For flowering you will need to add some stuff, top dress, or use bottled fertilizers.

IWhen I do re-pot these plants I plan on mixing about 20% perlite with the Ocean Forest soil.

Lots of people do this, but it doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me as FFOF already contains 25-30 percent perlite by volume which according to conventional wisdom is about what you want for soil. When I started growing I would cut FFOF per the recommendations of growers on the internet, but after a while I figured out that works better without the extra perlite.

There have been some interesting discussions in the Organic Soil Forum on the benefits (or lack there of) of perlite. You should check them out. The next time I mix soil up (which hopefully will be never with recycling) I'm likely not to use any perlite.

LESS PERLITE = BETTER? - https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=210958

Perlite and beyond: the pros and cons of various drainage and aeration amendments - https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=202305

Pine