Seedlings look droopy + inconsistent

[justichestguard]

- 7 seedlings planted ~96 hours ago
- 600W HPS lamp, 24/0
- Growing in soil

First timer here, and no matter how much time I spend reading the fantastic resources on this site, every tiny thing my seedlings do different gets me worried. Any words of widsom that could be shared with me would be appreciated.

My seedlings are all growing at different rates which I think is ok however some of the leaves do have a harsh droop/curl. My temp is a little hotter than I'd like (84F/29C) but we are having very hot days. Humidity in the tent was under 40 so I've thrown a humidifier in there to try and rapidly pick that up. I'm using RO water and trying to not give much water at this stage but the soil does dry fast so I've watered once a day so far to keep the first half inch moist. Started with my light quite close which I decided against and i moved it to about 20 inches almost 24 hours ago.

Few pictures here, first time taking them with this light so sorry for quality

https://imgur.com/4xUIbQ - tallest seedling by far but no leaves yet
https://imgur.com/5uPBj0M - has first leaves, looks healthier than the rest
https://imgur.com/BW62EvV - one leaf very drooped over
https://imgur.com/KnmO30T - again one leaf very curled over. but, has the largest leaves
https://imgur.com/jWrISBb - little bit droopy but also the smallest

Ok thanks all!

 

[TOKABIGONE]

Welcome to the start of your mystical journey and to GWE grower. I'm not even going to attempt your avatar name, lol. Don't worry, everything will be all right I promise. Do you have children? Do you remember when they were first born and you nervously counted fingers and toes? It's kinda like that.

OK so firstly what you call droopy leaves are not at all. Those are called cotyledon and are the muscle that cracked the shell and push the soil away so the sprout can grow up out of the hole. They have now served their purpose and will eventually fall off so no biggie. Those tiny serrated first true leaves you see are right behind and bigger overnight. It's an amazing thing to watch closely and it happens almost minute by minute if conditions are optimal. This is your first node.
A word of caution about RO water. It has absolutely no minerals in it which is what they need from the water. Get a pH meter or test strips and learn how to use them to adjust your pH with your tap water. You can remove chlorine and chloromine by heating to a boil and then cooling to ambient temp. Find your starting water pH and then adjust up or down to about 6.5 for soil. No nutes for the first few weeks. Watch for heat and light burn from that HPS. Reread your tutorials and do a search through postings for small problems and ask anytime on big ones. Do your homework please.

 

[justichestguard]

Welcome to the start of your mystical journey and to GWE grower. I'm not even going to attempt your avatar name, lol. Don't worry, everything will be all right I promise. Do you have children? Do you remember when they were first born and you nervously counted fingers and toes? It's kinda like that.

Thank you for taking the time to respond to me. I don't have children but I do have cats and just how I freaked out when my first kitten started losing teeth because I didn't know cats had milk teeth, so too did I not know that cotyledons (as I now Know them) fall off. So consider my mind at ease.:funny: As for the real leaves, they look great so far.

I'm using RO water because my tap water is generally 450 PPM. I did consider boiling but I'm a stealth grower and boiling the amounts I need seemed impracticle compared to an RO system that can run to a tank. I also had concerns about using such hard water in a humidifer and damaging my reflectors.

My pH sits at 5.89, would you consider this close enough or should I use pH up?

 

[Catfish22]

I use Walmart spring water. 60 cents per gallon and it has the minerals that RO does not. pH is at 6.0. I don't use ppm so I don't know what that would measure.

 

[TOKABIGONE]

Hi just a note about humidifiers...I use only distilled water for them to avoid mineral build up which kills them quickly.