What's wrong with this seedling?

[k3babalicious]

This seedling (Dutch Passion CBD Kush) is droopy and the leaves are stiff, rather than wilted. The seedling has been like this for about 3 days. The soil seems very dry and it has not been watered for about 48 hours. Previously the seedling was watered with about 20 mL per day, alternating top watering and sitting the pot in water. The seedling is in two peat (jiffy) pots because the main root grew straight out the hole in the bottom of the inner pot. The soil is a mix of canna terra ~50 to 60% and the rest is equal parts of perlite and coco coir. The seedling is about 180 mm (7'') away from 4 x 23 W CFL ~4500K. The temperature has been very low about 15 deg C (60 F), but has now improved to 21 deg C (70 F). The relative humidity has been ok between 40 to 60%, and the plant has a clear plastic bag over it. One suggestion I read was to aerate the soil with a tooth pick, which I did, I also poked some holes in the side of the pot.

If the seedling is overwatered, what can I do to help it?

Is there any alternative problem this could be?

[crucialbunny]

I'm not very adept at indoor grows but I've always found that watering my plants was beneficial. My guess is based on your peat cups not showing the slightest bit of dampness, which leads me to believe that it's thirsty.

[homegrown]

I agree,that thing is dying for a drink....

[Gingerbeard]

Hey k3babalicious . You need to water. Don't aerate your soil. Don't poke holes in the pots.

Get it something larger that you can just set in what you have. Transplant's the word! Give this one a soak and put it in, something like, a one gallon pot, and fill the sides in with soil. The soil you have looks pretty well aerated, naturally. Lot's of space between soil bits.

If your taproot grew out the bottom of the first pot, it will do it in the second. The pots you have evaporate in about three seconds (I'm estimating based on nothing) and will wick moisture from the soil. If they are designed so they are disintegrating enough for the taproot to break through, they should break up easy enough in transplant and when the feeder roots spread out.

[homegrown]

Yes to everything Gingerbeard suggested. I have tried those peat pots..very difficult to maintain dampness. They dry from the outside-in..AND they dont break down very well in indoor grows.(they were still very intact after harvest) They may break down better in outside living soil..cant say for sure. I would water it good,so peat pot is dark. prep a bigger pot with your grow mix, make a hole as big as your peat potted seedling. If you soaked it good, now you can carefully cut or tear that peat pot off. DONT tear off the roots. If it looks too sketchy, just leave the bottom on...im guessing the tap root came out the hole in the bottom?? Lightly water you newly dug hole, and place the seedling in. Carry on with normal seedling watering.

[k3babalicious]

Thank you everyone. The pot was watered (soaked) and then the peat pots carefully removed as much as possible (tore them away). There is still some bits of peat floating around because it was possible that further removal would damage the roots. The dirt fell away from the roots a little bit. Even though I soaked the pot, the soil down the bottom was a bit dry and flakey. From what I could see the roots were white and hairy. The seedling was placed in the same soil mixture which was watered until a little bit dribbled out. The seedling is now in a half-full five gal fabric pot with the same potting soil. The temperature has gone down a bit (17 C 62 F) unfortunately, but the RH is high 70%. See how it goes I guess. I can now do the well documented finger test to decide when I next water the plant.

How long before an improvement could be expected?

ED: Plant looks happier this morning. Not super happy, but not dejected and slumped like yesterday.

[kingfish]

These are three weeks from seed and still in their Peat pots.

[CaptainWiese91]

Are those really 3 weeks old ? They seem pretty small too me for 3 weeks life. Maybe it’s just me....

[kingfish]

yea CaptainWiese91, they are 3 weeks old. That includes the germination time.

[CaptainWiese91]

That’s why ! 😁👍🏻
It makes sense now 😎