She seems to be recovering. What more can I do?

[alaw989]

So I have a plant that is about a month old now and nowhere near the size it should be. I suspect severe heat damage (95+ degrees) and poor soil (Miracle Grow Organic Potting Mix) to be the culprits.

This is a pc case grow with 3x 27w 6500k CFL. I have since moved it to a cooler location (75-80 degrees) and I must say she is a resilient plant. She is still in the Miracle Grow soil, but I do have some Fox Farm Ocean Forest now that I could transplant her to if that would be a good idea. checked the pH of the runoff from the soil using drops and surprisingly it appeared to be fine.

I originally was going to just pull the plug on her so I took her out of the box and just put her in the window. I've also flushed the soil a couple times. After doing this she got a little taller and greener.

What is she going to do? Doesn't she need those bottom leaves? What about the cotyledons?

Pics
Before:

After:

 

[desert fox]

damn dude that one pathetic looking plant. Not knockin ya, shit we have all been there...mgopsoil isn't really that bad, its just is very weak fertz as opposed to ff lineup. just leave the leaves so it has something to take nutrients from during the transition. go light on the watering, as you flushed a few times, let it establish roots, and go from there. hit it some liquid veg fertz and hopefully be on your way.

 

[IslandGrown]

Aww man she's a survivor! Make a cheap humidity dome out of the top of a water bottle and keep it moist with cool water. Then just let it reestablish itself.

 

[im me]

giver her time and love she'll bounce back hell she's made it through the danger zone.

 

[alaw989]

Aww man she's a survivor! Make a cheap humidity dome out of the top of a water bottle and keep it moist with cool water. Then just let it reestablish itself.

I like your idea. I put her back in my pc box with a 18/6 light schedule. Is this okay with the humidity dome? Also should I poke some holes in the dome?

 

[alaw989]

giver her time and love she'll bounce back hell she's made it through the danger zone.

Yes she has literally been to hell and back lol

 

[IslandGrown]

Yeah thats fine with the dome! just poke some holes in the side and one or two on the top to let stagnate air out...she'll make it!!

 

[alaw989]

I put a dome on her this morning. Came back to check on her 4 hours later and she is already looking even better! The leaves have perked up nicely and she is even giving off this stanky smell if you put your nose up to it. The shade of green is so vibrant and healthy looking.

So two questions.

When should I take off the dome?

I think I'm going to pick up some veg nutes today. Is it ok to start feeding her?

 

[alaw989]

Cuz I mean she is about a month old and has 3 fingered leaves. Both indicators to start feeding right?

 

[IslandGrown]

start feeding her 1/4 the recommended dose for now you don't want to over feed her.
i use progrow by botanicare. http://www.amazon.com/Pure-Blend-Pro-Grow-Botanicare/dp/B000BSFEF2

But what ever you got, as long as its veg nutes should be fine!
You can keep the dome on for as long as you want.
Small young plants want a high humidity environment that's why it works. But you can give it a little fresh air every so often (like 2 or 3 times a day just leave it off for 45 mins to an hour)
Also the purpling of the leaves usually means the environment is too cold so try keeping your room in the 70-80F range.
If you got any other questions feel free to ask!

 

[alaw989]

I was at the hydro store yesterday about to buy some fox farm big bloom when the guy gave me a sample of some earth juice sugar peak. Guess I'll give this a try and see how it goes. The soil is still kind of moist at the top so I may wait a day or two and then hit her with the EJ.

 

[alaw989]

UPDATE

Just to show you how much healthier the plant is looking, here is a pic:

So I decide to start feeding her some nutes today, a 1/2 tsp of Earth Juice Sugar Peak per gallon of distilled water when I take a look under the cup and see roots sticking out of the drainage holes. I immediately transplant her to a larger pot. Here is a picture of how the roots look.

I was in shock. How could such a small plant have such a huge root system and be root bound? It's like the plant was stunted but not the roots. This is a mystery to me until someone can be so kind to explain.

So here is a pic of her in her new home.

 

[Hash Man]

Are you planning on filling in the space around the original root mass with soil? I certainly hope so. Looks to me like you are keeping your soil too moist. Sometimes the best thing to do is not over think it or try to do too much too soon. That plant has been through a bad few weeks and you don't want to to stress it further. Fill in the soils make sure you are watering lightly, just around the base if the seedling. You want your soil moist, not saturated. Did you put a layer if just perlite at the bottom of the cup?

Also, that plant was not anywhere near root bound.

 

[Hash Man]

start feeding her 1/4 the recommended dose for now you don't want to over feed her.
i use progrow by botanicare. http://www.amazon.com/Pure-Blend-Pro-Grow-Botanicare/dp/B000BSFEF2

But what ever you got, as long as its veg nutes should be fine!
You can keep the dome on for as long as you want.
Small young plants want a high humidity environment that's why it works. But you can give it a little fresh air every so often (like 2 or 3 times a day just leave it off for 45 mins to an hour)
Also the purpling of the leaves usually means the environment is too cold so try keeping your room in the 70-80F range.
If you got any other questions feel free to ask!

How long do you leave your domes on? I don't even use them anymore with my seedlings because I get better results domeless. Looks like his plants need to dry out to me. At 3 weeks old, if still using a done, its time to gently coax them out of it and into the real atmosphere. I like what you say about letting the plants breath; I feel the need to add that the domeless time needs to be increased daily until the dome is no longer needed.

 

[alaw989]

Are you planning on filling in the space around the original root mass with soil? I certainly hope so. Looks to me like you are keeping your soil too moist. Sometimes the best thing to do is not over think it or try to do too much too soon. That plant has been through a bad few weeks and you don't want to to stress it further. Fill in the soils make sure you are watering lightly, just around the base if the seedling. You want your soil moist, not saturated. Did you put a layer if just perlite at the bottom of the cup?

Also, that plant was not anywhere near root bound.

Lol ofcourse I filled the the extra space with soil.
Those pics were after a watering in which the last watering was maybe 3-4 days ago. Yep I put a layer of perlite at the bottom.

I read that roots coming out of the drainage holes was an indication of being root bound. No? They were also swirling around the bottom of the cup if you couldn't tell because of the color of the roots blending in with the color of the perlite. Oh well, that pot will be their final home anyways.

 

[Hash Man]

I wish I had some pictures of the year I went in outdoors with fully root bound plants. There was so much root, I couldn't see much soil at all. Yours was rooting up nicely, and it should be ok in that new pot. Lol, sorry I had to ask if u out soil around the root mass. I have seen some pretty confused people attempt to grow, so I have learned to double check when I see a pic like that.

The layer of perlite has never done as well as a nice mix of soil and perlite. For some reason, others may disagree, but IME, the thick layer of perlite creates a soggy mess and changes the structure of your medium. Try it sometime with no layer perlite and see how you like it. I never use a layer of perlite anymore, and i used to. Problems like you are having right are normal for new growers.

 

[alaw989]

I wish I had some pictures of the year I went in outdoors with fully root bound plants. There was so much root, I couldn't see much soil at all. Yours was rooting up nicely, and it should be ok in that new pot. Lol, sorry I had to ask if u out soil around the root mass. I have seen some pretty confused people attempt to grow, so I have learned to double check when I see a pic like that.

The layer of perlite has never done as well as a nice mix of soil and perlite. For some reason, others may disagree, but IME, the thick layer of perlite creates a soggy mess and changes the structure of your medium. Try it sometime with no layer perlite and see how you like it. I never use a layer of perlite anymore, and i used to. Problems like you are having right are normal for new growers.

Are you saying it's better to put a layer of perlite mixed with soil at the bottom? Yea what I did was put a layer of straight perlite at the bottom and then I mixed my soil with roughly 30% perlite. Is this bad?

 

[RetroGrow]

UPDATE

Just to show you how much healthier the plant is looking, here is a pic:
View Image

So I decide to start feeding her some nutes today, a 1/2 tsp of Earth Juice Sugar Peak per gallon of distilled water when I take a look under the cup and see roots sticking out of the drainage holes. I immediately transplant her to a larger pot. Here is a picture of how the roots look.

View Image

I was in shock. How could such a small plant have such a huge root system and be root bound? It's like the plant was stunted but not the roots. This is a mystery to me until someone can be so kind to explain.

So here is a pic of her in her new home.
View Image

Plant was over watered. That's what caused the problem, IMO.

 

[alaw989]

Plant was over watered. That's what caused the problem, IMO.

You're probably right. I swear I'm not going to water for a month lol jk.

 

[siftedunity]

its starting to recover and nice healthy roots are a good sign. id really just say try to let her dry out a little between waterings, that will keep the roots growing and searching for water and consequently the plant will benefit from the extra root mass.

good luck man I hope she takes off now you have repotted