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My first attempt at growing is going rough……slow and sickly looking plants……..

R

Randallroni

New member
My first attempt at growing is going rough……slow and sickly looking plants……..

I have bought some soil that is supposed to be primo for growing. Thats what all 3 are in now. I am using Advanced Nutrients in pretty small amounts as per their instructions. None of these seem to be taking off. I am using some led grow lights that are on for about 16 or so hours a day. The soil seems to be holding a lot of water, as I have barely watered them since re- planting. They just seem so sad considering I have tried to do everything right from the start. The single pictured one is quite a few weeks old and is not getting better. It was from a seed from some stuff I had( white widow) The other 2 started at the same time with seeds I bought on line. ( Girl scout cookies). Any ideas?.. thanks for any help!
 

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Firstly what is your PH level ? And I'm guessing here they are just a few weeks right ? If so don't feed them yet with nutrients.
 
They appear to be drowning. They're not showing any growth because the roots have plenty of water, the roots don't need to grow out.

Also, like Farmbuck writes, what's the pH?

When I've flooded a seedling, when it sits in a pot and looks like your's look - I put that grow bag on a heated mat, on a seedling mat. That heats up the soil and stimulates the roots. Plants do often recover, not always, but often.
 
I really let my plants dry out before I water them. Seedlings are little bit of challenge because it is so easy to give them too much water. EDIT: in the comment above, I'm talking about those heat matts sold for seedlings. MATT not MAT like I wrote above.

EDIT: well dammit I looked that up and MAT *is* the correct spelling
 
Good advice above - don't fertilize, if the pH is off the nutrients are probably in the soil but the plant can't use them
 
Do the plant pots have a number of holes in the bottom? If not then that is likely why they seem overwatered. I think you will eventually need larger pots so when you transplant you might consider a fabric pot. It is almost impossible to overwater when you are in one. You want to water enough that 10 or 20% comes out of the bottom and is disposed of (don’t let the pot sit in the runoff water). The plant will also have water evaporate from the sides (along with the air pruning benefit). Water it and then don’t water again until the top feels a bit dry and the pot is noticeably lighter.
 
I'd say poor drainage and lights are too far away. What is your primo soil? Does it have nutes already added? Plants are stretching way too much, move your lights closer.
 
Yeah, just a few weeks. I thinked I halved the amount of nutrients because they were just getting started. It just seems like they are growing soooo slow. PH Is normal, I bought a meter because I thought that might be the cause. Thanks for the help!
 
I will them to a warmer place and see if that helps. And stop with the nutrients until they perk up. Thanks for the help!
 
I did buy a large fabric that I was going to move them to when they were a bit bigger. What size of fabric do you think is best, and do you start seedlings directly in them? The pots have holes. It just seems like the soil is holding the water, and I did not give them a lot…thank for the help!
 
I will move the lights closer, I was worrird they might be too close. The soil is called Gold Label, and it has perlite in it….
 
just checked Gold Label..if your using their special mix, its loaded with nutes. NPK=12/14/24. Thats really hot for seedlings. You havent mentioned what lights you are using. Dont get too close if their powerful lights. Do you have LOTS of drain holes in those pots? if the roots are soaking in water your problems are gonna get worse.
 
What soil do you recommend for starting seedings? The pots are your standard plastic ones with 3 holes in the bottom. I had planned on moving them to 11 ltr cloth pots when they seemed well on their way. The lamp is a led plant lamp with 4 movable arms. I thought I would try and get them going with that and eventually move them into a tent set up with Spectromaster CFL 125W - 5U - 2100°K BLOOM light. I think the led one I am starting them is fairly generic…..I don’t know how to get the picture in this post, but if you google cocoila plant lamp it should come up.
 
Some people are particular about transplanting a few times into successively larger pots but I personally feel any benefit of this is outweighed by the potential for stunting each time a transplant happens. I go straight from my solo cup to the full size pot although I manage the watering according to plant size.

As for pot size, with an inside grow I use 8 gallon fabric pots. Some people use smaller depending on their grow style (eg SoG, ScroG etc) but not many use bigger when indoors.

Also, I am not a soil grower with indoor grows. I use coco or peat mixed with a good portion of perlite. If your intent is to grow in live soil that is completely fine but if you don’t care one way or the other and you are having problems with too much water retention you might consider transplanting into coco. Don’t worry about removing the soil from your current pot, you can just drop root ball, soil and all, into a hole in the middle of the coco for a mixed medium grow. I don’t say this because I am against soil, just that coco in a fabric pot is almost impossible to overwater (unless you leave the pot in the runoff water).
 
I always use coco coir for seedlings, doesn't matter whether the transplant pot is soil or coco, the seedlings are started in coco coir. Not saying this is the best, this is what I do and it works for me. Maybe it's me but I found that Blueberry strains are particularly sensitive to hot soil and that's my goto grow. When I've started Blueberry strains in Fox Farm soils they don't like it, they show unusual, twisted leaves in early growth.
 
I’m also a coco user, they start in coco and stay in coco. I just find it easier to manage watering and nutes. For the first week my seedlings get nothing but ph’d water and not very much. Solo cup to start and once their stable enough, straight to 5-10 gal fibre pots.
 
Cool, I will try the coco, and plan on moving them just one time…..how big would you say is a good estimate before you move them? Again, I super appriciate the help!
 
From a solo cup they say when the leaves meet the edge of the cup is the right time to transplant. For pots the size of yours I would say go ahead any time, but make sure to water for the size of the plant rather than soaking the medium each time. This is not because of overwatering so much because a fabric pot with coco really sheds water quickly and overwatering is less a concern, it is because it will reduce the frequency of watering while you wait for the water to be shed and the plants do best with fresh water on a regular basis as that is how they breath. In addition if the nute water keeps going in at volumes where it is evaporating more than being taken up by the plant your soil/coco can become hot with too many nutes and the pH can get harder to control in the soil (one of the reasons why we intersperse plain waterings with nute waterings is to flush out mineral buildup).
 
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