Question About Leaf Twisting

DaHamentashkid · Feb 15, 2021

Hello Everyone

So, I've got this issue with the leaves on my seedlings beginning to twist in on themselves as opposed to canoeing or rolling. I did some research and it seems to be a pH issue. I've been lightly giving them distilled water with the pH adjusted to 5.5 since I'm growing in coco. If this isn't due to pH, what else could cause this issue? Any ideas or advice would be greatly appreciated.

carson · Feb 15, 2021

in my experience, they will grow out of this. It probably is something about the nutrition in the media you have. They may need a bit of food or it could be the PH, but I wouldn't worry too much at this point since they are just getting established. Better to not react too strongly. Sorry I can't give you an exact answer. Hopefully others will chime in.

DaHamentashkid · Feb 15, 2021

carson said:
in my experience, they will grow out of this. It probably is something about the nutrition in the media you have. They may need a bit of food or it could be the PH, but I wouldn't worry too much at this point since they are just getting established. Better to not react too strongly. Sorry I can't give you an exact answer. Hopefully others will chime in.

No that's completely fine. Thank you for the input. Other than the slight twisting they seem to be healthy and vigorous. They're getting ready to put out their third set of leaves over the next day or so and they all seem to be reacting well to the climate and the lighting. I'm going to watch them over the next couple of days.

Quick thought: Could the water I use in my humidifier, which I take directly from the tap and don't pH adjust, have an impact on this due to the plants taking moisture from the air?

Guest · Feb 15, 2021

Looks to me like they are fertilised to the max and watered too often. They are now big enuf to be transplanted into a larger pot.

flylowgethigh · Feb 15, 2021

Mine are doing the exact same thing.

I checked the soil moisture and it is not too wet, in fact I added some water. I also put a fan so there is some movement of the air between the leafs and the light. We are at the same stage.

And I am chomping at the bit to get into bigger soil. I have 5ea 7 gallon bags ready to drop the rootball into.

TexanTerps · Feb 15, 2021

ph of the humidifier water wont hurt anything, unless it causes mineral buildup, because the water is distilled off.
looked okay to me, overwatering is easy especially if humid.

TexanTerps · Feb 15, 2021

plants look great to me!

big315smooth · Feb 15, 2021

sometimes when my roots dig down into hot soil i get super leaf twist on certain strains

SamsonsRiddle · Feb 16, 2021

i wouldn't give coco plants plain water... are you up to twice a day waterings yet? plants look big enough for it.

DaHamentashkid · Feb 16, 2021

SamsonsRiddle said:
i wouldn't give coco plants plain water... are you up to twice a day waterings yet? plants look big enough for it.

I haven't needed to water them on any kind of consistent basis. I'll usually check the medium when I turn the light cycle off, when the light cycle starts, and during the middle of the cycle. I've been keeping the humidity as close to 70% as possible and it seems to be doing a good job keeping the medium moist. So, I've kind of been watering them once every 2 days or so and I only give them 3-4 Tbsps of water each time.

DaHamentashkid · Feb 16, 2021

TexanTerps said:
ph of the humidifier water wont hurt anything, unless it causes mineral buildup, because the water is distilled off.
looked okay to me, overwatering is easy especially if humid.

Thanks for the feedback. I live in a really arid climate so I have to keep the humidifier on 24/7 so I wasn't sure if that may have been a factor.

DaHamentashkid · Feb 16, 2021

Sat X RB said:
Looks to me like they are fertilised to the max and watered too often. They are now big enuf to be transplanted into a larger pot.

Thanks for the input. I've only fed them nutrients once, and that was only about 3 Tbsps in a 1/4 strength solution. Also, I'm only watering them about 2-3 times a week. I've honestly been amazed they haven't shown signs of underwatering.

MrMMJ · Feb 16, 2021

I don't know at what level, or for how long, but since most tap water contains chlorine, it's going to be misting out, along with other minerals and possible contaminates. I'm not equating it with your current leaf twist, just pointing out the risks of using tap in a humidifier. It will also leave deposits in the unit that reduce it's efficiency over time. Tap water quality varies greatly depending on the region, maybe yours isn't too bad, but I'd highly recommend getting an RO filter and using that water for both your plants and the humidifier.

Good luck !

CrustyCruz · Feb 27, 2021

Bet 1000 dogecoin it's something to do with calcium.

Side by side experiment:

12 plants in solo cups under the same LED light. 6 are in fully amended living soil, 6 are in a peat mix awaiting liquid nutes. The 6 in fertile soil get tap water, the 6 in peat are fed RO.

Both groups of plants are ran at an extremely high vpd to ensure maximum calcium uptake.

Guess which 6 have sharp crisp straight fox nose, healthy looking leaves? Guess which 6 had kinks and twists and blotches?

The 6 who took up too much calcium locked out phosphorous. Only the slowest of the 6 survived.

The 6 who had deficiency continued to twist curl kink bloat blotch. The slowest of the 6 is the only one to survive.

Conclusion: it's a deficiency that's very common on seedlings under LED.

Peacefrog · Feb 28, 2021

I've grown a lot of strains over the years and have seen this trait many times, usually just on the first one or two sets of leaves on a seed plant. I have come to associate this with plants that have NL5 (or maybe just NL5xHaze) somewhere in their lineage as it will only show up on certain plants in a grow using the same soil and light levels. The twisted leaf has never been an indicator of problems with the grow. I just make the observation and think yep, it's another NL5 descendant.

So I have to ask to back up my theory ... what strain(s) do you have going?

pumpkinpie eyes · Feb 28, 2021

what are they? bluez or an autoz can react like that. auto in too sm area. blue curly character.

wunderbra · Mar 6, 2021

This is a fertilizer imbalance. Probably too much Nitrogen. I had problems with this for years, until by chance, I started using liquid Seaweed-fertilizer (on peat substrate). I had bought some liquid Seaweed-fertilizer by mistake for something else, and decided to give it a try. It's not expensive, normally about £5 for a litre, and you will see almost immediate results, though this might depend on the new growth superceding the twisted leaves. https://www.diy.com/departments/verve-liquid-seaweed-plant-food-1l/943677_BQ.prd Don't use too much, about 1 cap per 10 litres. Manufacturers say it can be used on anything, indicating it's gentle. Very effective though, and a great insight into specialist fertilizers.

verve-liquid-seaweed-plant-food-1l~5397007192483_01c?$MOB_PREV$&$width=403&$height=403.jpg

wunderbra · Mar 6, 2021

Here are examples of specialist fertilizers:

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DaHamentashkid · Mar 12, 2021

Peacefrog said:
I've grown a lot of strains over the years and have seen this trait many times, usually just on the first one or two sets of leaves on a seed plant. I have come to associate this with plants that have NL5 (or maybe just NL5xHaze) somewhere in their lineage as it will only show up on certain plants in a grow using the same soil and light levels. The twisted leaf has never been an indicator of problems with the grow. I just make the observation and think yep, it's another NL5 descendant.

So I have to ask to back up my theory ... what strain(s) do you have going?

Hey, thanks for the feedback. These are a strain called mochisicle. It's a cross of mochi gelato and creamsicle #4. I've been waiting to post updates to my grow diary but after fixing some issues with the watering and upgrading my light they've really taken off. No more of the leaf twisting and they're really looking good. I'll update my grow diary in the next couple of days and put the link here in this thread

DaHamentashkid · Mar 12, 2021

pumpkinpie eyes said:
what are they? bluez or an autoz can react like that. auto in too sm area. blue curly character.

They are a photoperiod strain called mochisicle. I think the issue was wind burn. I had a fan blowing on them pretty steadily during their early weeks and I think it caused them to curl up to protect themselves. I reconfigured my grow tent and haven't had anymore issues. I'm going to update my grow diary in the next couple of days. I'll put the link here in this thread for anybody looking to check it out.

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