Help! My ladies are dying!

[Simpletree]

Hello,

I’ve raised three little plants from seed. They were under full time CFLs for a the first few weeks of life, in small pots of general potting compost. So far so good.

I moved them outside a couple of weeks ago and they’re not doing well. I’ve been feeding them rain water with a splash of organic fish mix. They appear to be yellowing and dying from the bottom up. Can’t find these symptoms on the site - can anyone help?

I’m trying to grow simply and naturally, but making a mess of it.

thanks!

[SoOrbudgal]

They are fried from fish shit over done it were they free seeds?

[crucialbunny]

Gotta agree with SoOrbudgal here. Seedlings and baby clones need very little nutrients until they have filled their grow cups with roots. You're not making a mess of it. You're learning. I always start my plants in a very bland compost medium until the leaf canopy is full and healthy looking. When I transplant to a larger container I try to use the same medium but add a good deal of sand, peat, pearlite, worm castings, and sometimes as a bonus I will include a cut up sardine to the bottom third of the container. This allows the roots to choose whether or not they want that extra nitrogen instead of drenching them in it. This whole thing is a learning curve so don't be discouraged.

[Simpletree]

Thanks guys - sounds like ive cooked it.

They weren’t free seeds, I bought them online.

Anything I can do to save them? Switch to rainwater only? Or is it a lost cause.

Thank you very much for the help.

[homegrown]

Looks WAY too wet too me. Is there any drain holes in that pot? you could use about another 50 holes drilled in the sides.

[Rwise]

Your plants say you have root issues, soil looks to wet and the yellow says to hot(wet/dry). Water only, and as said more drain holes, and perlite (30-50%)!

[Simpletree]

Thanks for all your help guys.

Good news! I think!

ive switched to just water, covered them with an upturned clear box and they seem to be doing better. There are drain holes on the bottom of the pots, so this should be OK. Maybe I haven’t buggered it completely?! See pics!

any other tips?

current plan is to leave then until they’re root bound, then transfer to the bigger felt pots that let the roots breathe.

what about the curly one. She doesn’t look right?

[Simpletree]

Better quality photo!

[Simpletree]

Christ, after previously recovering we’re now having more problems with these girls, can anyone help?

As they were planted late and summer is waining, I’ve moved them inside under a light, and they don’t seem to doing so well.

Their tops are about 10” from the lamps, there isn’t much ventilation and the lamp is 160W, set to veg.

we’ve just replanted then in bigger pots with some general purpose compost. Help!

[CaptainWiese91]

Why is there no leca stones or perlite in the soil ??
The roots can’t breathe in that soil.

[CaptainWiese91]

Why is there no leca stones or perlite in the soil ??
The roots can’t breathe in that soil.

[SoOrbudgal]

Those are wacked and abused why even bother

[420chicano]

Lol 😆 Abused! 2 funny 😁

[Rwise]

Compost can be a good additive, but you need to work on the soil, also look for bugs with a 30x zoom lens.

[MeEasy]

Light is 10 inches away?? Should probably be at least 25-30 inches away... they look either way over watered or you tried to feed them and burned the hell out of them. If neither is the case then the light burn was enough to just about kill em.... not sure if they will recover from this at all but if you really want to try you should move your light up away from them don't water them until you can pinch the top of the soil and it's dry and crumbly... If they come back to life re-pot them into a better soil keep the light above 22inches until you switch to flower cycle you can probably lower them to 15-20 inches
hope this works out for you good luck

[OlderNOTwiser]

I don't login very often anymore but I do a thorough review of the forum every morning. I've watched this thread for a while now and I think I need to chime in as you've been clearly struggling with this for a long time. So...Let's start at the top, shall we?

Your use of a small starter pot and CFL lights was good. They grew and were looking good for a while.

The question remains though after this long...WHAT IS YOUR SETUP? sorry to yell but we cannot help if we don't know what we're trying to help with! What are strains? You mentioned they are purchased so you should have some info for us to work with. What is the "general potting compost" ? brand, the makeup of the compost (generally speaking). I see compost as decaying stuff like plant matter or cow poop. You may mean potting mix or potting soil to most of us so clarify please. What is the size of the pots you're using? What nutrients are you using or planning to use? What does the light manufacturer recommend for distances to the plant tops? (We can guess generically based on experience but nice to know what the mfg recommends) What is the pH of the rainwater? Keep in mind that rainwater is just plain water and only whatever dust and such it picks up. It doesn't have any calcium or magnesium or...whatever! Tap water should contain some trace minerals the plants need and of course if the water is hard it will have an abundance of calcium. If using nutes what is the pH of the solution before watering? In soil a range of 6.2 to 6.8 keeps you in the sweet spot for most minerals but an occasional small drift up or down is not something to obsess over. Different minerals need different pH for optimal uptake so a drift over the range is a good thing. What is your water and feed schedule? If you have a rigid schedule of a certain amount every certain number of days you need to let the plant tell you when it needs water or food. Lift the pot. Is it still heavy from watering two days ago? Let it go another day. Nearly fall backwards when you lifted because it was so dry? Get her some juice please.

To be clear here...it is of ABSOLUTE importance to monitor the pH. All mediums need to be monitored for pH whether it be soil, coco, any flavor of hydro or whatever you come up with. They all have different pH requirements. Mess that up and you start chasing your tail with other issues that don't (or didn't) actually exist.

Two very good growers replied that the plants look over watered and inquire of additional drainage in the pots. You dismissed them and moved on. The plastic pots for most other plants would be fine normally but these plants need a wet and dry cycle to be happy. If you drilled a bunch more holes (lower sides is fine...don't want to flip a pot and drill when it is full) the medium would drain better, leaving room for oxygen at the rootzone and allow for a dry period between watering/feeding. A bunch of perlite in the soil mix would help if you have another transplant coming. Did you look here for guidance: https://www.growweedeasy.com/cannabis-symptoms-pictures or specifically here: https://www.growweedeasy.com/cannabi...s/overwatering ? There's a lot more to gwe than the forum.

What should you do right now or in the next couple days? First, settle in and enjoy the ride. Then scratch up the surface of the pots to promote breathing and drying. Especially the one with the green growing across it. Let them dry out for a few days. Most important is to just relax. Changes made to the soil or water even the pH won't show real results for days. Are you keeping a journal? Even a very basic set of notes is helpful (especially since we all seem to get high). Basic info such as date/time of course but what was done each day or two...trimmed some leaves...watered to runoff or not...raised or lowered lights...I'm sure you get the drill here. Take a look at the signature lines of some of the members for an idea of what info we may need to know and didn't ask for or even inquire why or what for on some of the stuff being used.

Way more long winded than I intended but one more thing. Of course it is a pH thing. My current grow, in my tent, is in the 3rd week of flower and I've been battling spider mites. Or so I thought. I did actually have a small spot starting and I nailed it with alcohol/water spray. They're gone for now. But while doing battle with the Borg I saw more damage and recognized it as a calcium issue. (Sidenote: also battled calcium issue with my tomatoes this year...blossom end rot...a dearth of rain and lots of heat. That meant high pH tap water for weeks (7.8). Fixed my pH and problem is solved.) Anyway, I pH religiously so couldn't figure out why I got more damage and everything I did seemed to be right. I have a cheap pH pen and litmus strips to check myself occasionally. The pen was not in agreement with the paper. Turns out my calibration solution had drifted on me. New solution, calibrated, corrected water and feed pH and on my way to recovery. That pH foul up meant I was watering at 5.7 to 5.9pH when I thought I was watering/feeding at the right range in the 6's.

Well, took enough of everyone's time so I think it may be time to go check on a jar or two...

[SoOrbudgal]

Good write up OlderNOTwiser .