HELP! Seedlings dying over and over again.

[Gabi]

Hello.

So I grew a couple of plants back in October and sadly they fell victim to root rot. I couldn't save them so I decided to start all over again with some fresh seeds. Unfortunately, each time I planted new seeds the seedlings showed the same symptoms as my previous plants who died from root rot and they never made it past 2 weeks old.

So my question is, is there anything I can do? I've read pretty much all about root rot that I could find on the internet. My guess is that the pathogens are still lingering in my grow area, infecting new seedlings again and again.

I'm struggling for so many months now. I tried using beneficial microorganisms and it didn't make any difference at all. I tried killing everything by adding hydrogen peroxide to each watering, it didn't make any difference at all. I cleaned and disinfected my whole grow area, waited for two months, tried again and my seedlings aren't even 1 week old and already showing symptoms and beginning to die. I grow on coco so the pathogens can't be already present in the growing medium.

The plants always show the same symptoms.. first the new growth starts getting reddish/violet at the tips of the new leaves and a bright green at the bottom of the leaves. They look like they've been overwatered, leaves curling down and getting firm. Later on brown spots are starting to appear at the lower leaves first, then on the upper leaves as well.

I tried growing some of my seeds in Jiffy's, so I could clearly see the roots coming out of the Jiffy were a bright white, yet the plant already showed symptoms. I thought that it wasn't root rot, so I transplanted them, only for them to die shortly afterwards. When I dug them up, the roots were all brown..

I'm sure that I don't overwater. Ph is also correct. Temperature is perfect. I grow organically, so I suspected that the pathogens somehow colonized my fertilizer. I switched to synthetic nutes just to give it a try, but it didn't make any difference. As I've said, I grow in coco and I'm usually using solo cups, so the pathogens can't be already present in the growing medium or pot.

I'm trying for such a long time now.. I wasted so many seeds. It is getting ridiculous and I'm very frustrated at this point. 😔

Does anyone have an idea what I could try? Is there anything I can do besides cleaning everything and trying again?

Any input would be much appreciated. ❤️

[Gingerbeard]

Hey Gabi Welcome. Sorry about your seeds.

You are about to get many recipes for starting your seedlings. Take any of them. What you've been doing hasn't worked so give something else a try. I like sprouting in paper towels using a solution of H2O2 and H2O, and put them to soil when they get an inch-or-so long tap root. If you're worried there might be something in your grow space, try sprouting some other sort of seed the same way you were doing it. Then give one or two other methods a try. You'll be wasting seeds, but not weed seed. My only time having seedling tap root issues was when I used wet, too compact soil, with zero circulation.

Wait for it...

[homegrown]

I'm gonna say..over watering. Seedlings need very limited water. After a couple of weeks, they want lots, once they have a good size pot to grow in. If i soak a seed and get it to crack open, i can usually grow the plant. If you have root rot with a seedling its too wet. Start a new seed, let it sprout, and go dig up some dirt from the yard and put it in that?. change what your doing cause its not working. good luck

[CaptainWiese91]

Growing in coco? You need to add cal mag from the start in a coco setup.
I would also say over watering if you get root rot they early

[JDU]

I use cal mag in & PH every bit of water I use anymore.
You might wanna toss that dirt if you've killed it with peroxide. Start over with fresh & use a spray bottle to water- only a patch the same size as the leaves cover. Let it dry before you spray the dirt again.
& definitely read the main site- especially the before you start & the things I wish someone had told me.... articles.

[alltatup]

Have you read anything about how to grow cannabis? https://www.growweedeasy.com/cannabi...gency-handbook

https://www.growweedeasy.com/basics

[Gabi]

@Gingerbeard: thanks for your reply. The method you suggested with paper towels and h2o2 is actually one I've tried without success. I actually might consider growing some herbs, that's not a bad idea.
By now I've tried paper towels, sprouting in a glass of water, coco, soil and Jiffy's. None of them worked for me, although they all usually did. 😕

@homegrown: mmh, I actually made sure not to overwater since I'm aware that this would be the number one problem. I actually started measuring the amount of water I'm giving to my seedlings with a syringe. I only watered them when they really needed it and I made sure not to give them too much. 😕
Maybe I'll try even less? Like 5ml every other day?

@CaptainWiese91: yes, I added calmag to each watering when growing in coco.

@alltatup: not sure if you're trolling? This isn't my first grow, I'm growing for a few years now using different methods and never had any problems. I've read quite a lot about growing weed actually.



Thanks for your responses. I'll just try again I guess. Maybe this time I'll try using a shitload of microorganisms, combined with as little water as possible without killing the little seedlings. Wish me good luck. 😄

[alltatup]

Gabi Sorry if I gave that impression: No, not trolling at all. Maybe I answered too quick.

[Tersky]

sounds like you dont have good drainage or soil aeration. Do you add 30-40% perlite? thats the only thing i can think of as it sounds as if they are drowning.

EDIT: also just thought about this, has anything changed in your water?

[Gingerbeard]

How about your water? You said you pH your water but what is your source?

[Canuck147]

I would toss everything they were growing in and start anew.

[Gabi]

I'm using botteled water. When I grow in coco I usually don't add perlite, but I've also tried adding perlite two times and it didn't make a difference. 😕

This time I will add a lot of perlite just to make sure to get enough drainage.

At the moment I'm soaking two new seeds in water, I will soon put them in a paper towel with a little bit of h2o2. The germination process is usually unproblematic, the symptoms almost always start at the second set of true leaves. Sometimes the symptoms showed right away at the first set of true leaves, sometimes at the third.

[Tersky]

You really need perlite, just make sure it's not the miracle grow enriched kind. At least 30-40% but without it your plant cant breathe. coco has poor aeration and drainage. Also, are you washing and buffering your coco or is yours pre washed and buffered?

[SoOrbudgal]

Man kinda wonder if what Canuck147 recommended would less headaches. Sounds like a contamination of sorts with the current coco. I would wash that coco good but really i'd buy all new coco. Sounds like me last fall an winter hard time germinating seeds either rot or not crack I too ran out of patience took a step back slowed down.

[JohnDope]

photos might help

[Gingerbeard]

My last thought, because I'm high, is you might be damaging the roots. I'm thinking back to when it happened to me. The only things I could see that might have done it were soil, moisture, or damaging the young tap.
Any advise after this might get silly because I'm out of serious ones.

[Canuck147]

Gingerbeard is onto something - he mentions the different colors of the roots at different times so he must be pulling them up and looking at the roots.

[Korn]

If your plants are rotting at the stem right where they are emerging from the growing medium then it could be due to damping off disease, caused by fungi. You can treat your growing medium with a fungicide solution before introducing the seeds.

[homegrown]

When do you start feeding with nutes? It's odd that the plant gets thru the most delicate cycle(seedling) in the same soil only to start dying when it should really be growing fairly hard. Cups or pots aren't see thru? I would do what Canuck said. Scrap that grow medium and start fresh. And No nutes till you get past your normal kill zone(see if you can get past it). Keep it simple..i started 36 seeds this spring, 32 are growing well. 4 never cracked open from soaking. Im using last grows coco/perlite mix, solo cups with a shit ton of holes, and one syringe full of Rainwater per day indoors or two syringes if you putting them outside for the day. Thats It..i dont give any nutes till their in bigger pots.