HELP! My leaves are turning yellow

[LIGrow]

Hi all, I am a new grower and will appreciate any advice on where I have gone wrong. I started these plants (3 Purple Kush, 5 White Widow) in 4" (12 oz) Solo cups using Black Gold Seed Starting Mix. I put five holes in the bottom of the cups for drainage. I have a 4x8 tent with an Electric Sky V3 at 70% power and an oscillating fan. I am using a 18/6 light schedule and my tent temperature stays about 80 degrees all the time. My seedlings were starting to droop, so thinking they were reaching for the sun I lowered the light from about 48" to about 40". At two weeks, I gave them their first feeding using Fox Farm Cultivation Nation Grow at 50% of the suggested dosage. The pic shows how torched my plants look now, tomorrow will be three weeks. I added five more holes in the Solo cups for more drainage. My inclination is my light was too low and to raise the light to 60" and see how they recover before transplanting them? I would also appreciate any advice on over and underwatering. Thanks everyone.

[Glenganja]

I’m no expert but...if it was light burn then it would be the top leaves affected. They look like my first grow which was over watered, that would be my guess. Have a look at the tutorials regarding watering - and everything else! And they certainly look like you should be transplanting to bigger pots.

It’s a learning curve and you’ll get there.

[LIGrow]

I love the dogs name, very cool.

When my seedlings started to droop, rather than reaching for the sun as I had thought, do you think this was a result of overwatering too? This is really a humbling experience.

[Glenganja]

I reckon the drooping is overwatering. You should only be watering every few days and at that age they don’t need a lot. If the pots are heavy they’re ok, if they’re light they need a drink. 8 is a lot of plants for a first time grow but I’d vary how I treated them and see which method works best. Keep a note of what you’re doing for nutrients, watering, lights and temps and humidity so that next time you have a reference for your setup. But get them in bigger pots soon as possible.
When you see other’s grows it can be disheartening compared to your own but this is your first grow so look at it as a learning experience- hopefully with a nice smoke at the end!

Caoimhe is Gaelic for gentle and she lives up to her name. I’ve always had Irish setters and always given them Irish names. You’ve a fine looking pup there yourself.

[LIGrow]

Thank you for the input and the words of encouragement, I will follow that advice. My first germination wasn't very successful so I probably started too many seeds thinking my not so green thumb would kill most of them.

Rocco is a rescue, half Pit Bull and half Cane Corso. He's had a tough life but he is living large now.

Have a great weekend, and thank you again.

[Spog]

I agree transplanting will help you get the roots healthy before they rot from over watering

[LIGrow]

Thank you very much.

[Balu]

https://www.growweedeasy.com/cannabis-plant-problems/overwatering

[LIGrow]

I actually read that but I guess I got confused. I had read somewhere else the symptoms of underwatering and over watering are similar. Thank you for pointing that out, I should have followed that guidance.

[Rwise]

They look root bound to me, in which a transplant is due.

[LIGrow]

Thank you,

Like a DA I watered these just before doing this post so as soon as they won't fall apart on me my new pots are ready.

[Kek]

They are showing signs of damping off. I wouldn't attempt a transplant at this time. I don't transplant out of solo cups untill the leaves are wider than the cup. A good root ball helps ensure a stessless transplant. Just let her dry out. When the cup feels empty when you pick it up water again. Damping off means the roots are quite weak. Good chance youd end up with a plant detached from roots at this time.

[LIGrow]

Thank you very much. Knowing when to water has probably been my biggest challenge.

[hairyman]

It's hard to see but I agree with Kek about damping off. wait a bit and then repot when dryer . Maybe more perlite in the soil too.

[LIGrow]

Thank you

[homegrown]

Looks like their drowning...need WAY more holes in those cups. I would be moving them to their forever pot real soon.

[LIGrow]

Thank you, humbling for sure.

[newbutoldgrower75]

Hey buddy..and welcome. Best people to get advice from are in this Forum.

I'm fairly new to growing indoors, on my third indoor grow since 15 years ago, but would like to offer my experience with the ES 300's(second grow with these lights). I don't think it has anything to do with the distance of the light from the plants, I start mine at 36" at 50% power for the first week. At that stage they are around two weeks old from popping through the ground, started under T5's. After around a week under the ES 300's I turn the lights up to 60% power, 6 on the dimmer. But a safe height to start them off and keep them at for most of veg is 36" at 50% power, especially if its your first grow. I have chatted to the boys from The GreenSunshine Co. through the phone and email a fair bit lol, you can always chat to them if you are concerned mate. But like I said earlier, doesn't look like light burn to me.

I use clear solo cups so I can keep an eye on the roots, some people disagree about using clear, never been a problem since I started using them. You do need to make sure you have sufficient drainage buddy, before the roots hit the bottom, otherwise you run a risk of damaging your roots while trying to make more holes. It looks more like a overwatering problem, or maybe pH/nutrient problem? You want your plants as healthy as possible before transplanting.

I'm wondering how you are getting fresh air etc into your tent? You only mentioned a oscillating fan, no mention of an exhaust or air intake. Are you going to be growing all the plants in the tent? Are adding more lights into that biggish tent? I'm only curious of what your plan is.. because I have a 6 x 6 tent with 4 plants in 37L pots under two ES 300's with a 200mm exhaust/passive intake and three oscillating fans. Will also be putting my third light in tomorrow, more for heat than light though, bloody cold winter here. Been struggling with low heat and humidity unfortunately, third light wasn't planned to go in until I flipped them to flowering. My plants are only a day or two older than yours I think.

[LIGrow]

Hi, and thanks so much for your response.

I reached out to our light company twice, they emailed back with a generic response that really didn't address my question. I was surprised, their customer service seemed really good. Based on the responses here, as you mention, it doesn't seem like a light issue but more a overwatering and insufficient drainage issue at this point.

The clear cups is a great idea for next time, thank you, and I will definitely wait for them to tighten up before transplanting, hopefully very soon.

The issue with my tent is a lack of power and ridiculously expensive electricity where I live. I have two ES 300's in the tent, an AC Infinity Fan and an Oscillating Fan. When I try and run more than one light, or a light and the AC Infinity Fan, I am tripping breakers. Until I can get an electrician in here, I am leaving one of my lower tent holes open to draw air in, and the having the Oscillating Fan push air around and out an open side of the tent. It's very hot here so my tent stays at about 80 degrees all the time. Its certainly not ideal but it's the best I can do with the power I have available now. Even with that setup the electric cost here has jumped significantly.

[newbutoldgrower75]

If you aren't getting the answer you want through email, give them a call buddy. I have called them a few times, even got to speak to Dan himself, but mostly have spoken to David. The GSC have had a lot going on with the live broadcasts, releasing the Horizon light, getting update kits ready for older versions of the ES180/300's etc. Pretty sure customer service will be back to 100% once everything settles down a bit.

The clear solo cups are the way to go. And if you are worried about your roots being exposed to light, just put the clear cup in a non clear one so you can check the roots whenever you like. How are the plants going the last couple of days?

I had a similar problem when I started growing indoors last year. I was running 3 x 600w HID lights in a homemade tent, and every time the ducted heating or cooling came on the breaker on that circuit would trip. So I was thinking that there must be an overload on that circuit or something. I went and unplugged all my appliances etc connected to that circuit and only left the ducted heating running and lights. Then one by one I plugged the appliances back in, ended up being a faulty appliance on that circuit causing it to overload when I turned the lights, not the power from the lights. Didn't have any problems at all after that, might be worth a try mate. I think the cost of electricity has gone up all over the world, my monthly bills are ridiculous, even natural gas that is mined here is expensive, more than electricity.

[LIGrow]

Thanks so much for the input. I checked my electric panel recently and unfortunately the entire kitchen is on the same circuit as my tent. The good news is I should be able to have someone rearrange these to have the tent by itself.

Here it's not really that the electricity cost has gone up, it has ALWAYS been ridiculously expensive.

Thanks again for reaching out.

[Catfish22]

How hot is that seed starter you used? You shouldn't need nutes for a couple weeks at least.

[LIGrow]

Thank you for checking these out for me. My apologies, I am not sure what hot means in this sense. I agree I should not have added nutrients, I looked at the bottle directions for seedlings instead of following the guidance here.

[Catfish22]

I apologize, when we refer to soil as"hot" we mean a high level of nutrients have been incorporated into the soil prior to planting.

I looked up your seed mix online and it has peat moss which can be acidic I believe I read 3.5-7.0 naturally. There doesn't appear to be any nutrients added to that particular mix but you never know, they call it a mix for some reason! 🙂

I use coco which is inert so I have to give nutrients from the start. Most people here who use soil make their own just so they know what is in it or use commercially produced soil mixed and tested for cannabis
by trusted manufacturers. Try this:

https://www.growweedeasy.com/whats-the-best-cannabis-growing-medium

[LIGrow]

Ah, got you, thank makes sense, thank you. I transplanted them on Monday into 5 gallon fabric pots using Sungro Black Gold Natural & Organic Potting Mix which I guess presents me with the same issue. I got both the seedling mix and potting mix suggestions in an article I read online. I wish I had found this site first.

After transplanting, concerned about overwatering, I gave each 8 ounces of water and don't plan to water again until day 3. The plants do look better this morning. Since the potting mix contains fertilizer already, I am going to hold off adding any nutrients at this time. Any suggestions on watering, when to consider adding nutrients are greatly appreciated. Thanks again.