Space Bucket Grow - Plant looks off and has slow growth

[dhoyt1234]

This is my first grow so I am stumbling through it. I have made a few mistakes already but have been able to bounce back from a couple. First mistake was using municipal water, second was high temps but now I'm not quite sure how she is doing. This girl is 27 days old from seed in Fox Farm Ocean Forest soil, temps are usually in the mid 80's and humidity in the mid 60's. I first realized there was a problem when the leaves started to go lime green and the leaves canoed and curled. I thought it was from high temps so I lowered my cooling set point from 85 to 80 but I'm in a tropical climate so I cant really control this to much. When that didn't work I said screw it and started her on nutrients (General Hydroponics Flora Series) per the suggested scheduled amounts. That was on the 27th it has been watered 5 times since then with one straight water rinse. She looks better, leaves have straightened out and got greener and growth picked up again but she still looks off. That's a guess since this is my first grow but this girl is almost a month old... oh also this is a Buddha haze strain which is like 90% sativa. Anyone have some thoughts?

 

[Chefbjy]

The clear cup is likely the reason. Roots will not grow in the light or where they are exposed to light. Cover the cup from light or transplant into a dark container.

 

[dhoyt1234]

Good tip thank you!

 

[Chefbjy]

You're soil temp concerns me a little with a likely tangled root ball too.

 

[dhoyt1234]

Yeah the soil temp sensor I removed because of the concerns of hurting the roots when I needed to remove it every watering. However from the trend data I have it shows like soil temp being pretty close to the ambient temp all the time so I assume that trend has continued. Since I live in a tropical place the ambient temp has been mid 80's, which from what I have read is not ideal soil temp. I don't know how I could control this though...

 

[dhoyt1234]

Would transplanting help if there was a tangled root ball?

 

[Chefbjy]

If it's maintaining ambient temp you would probably need to reduce that. Try using a tan or white fabric pot that will help with residual heat as well. But that cup will make it hot too with the light on for sure.

 

[dhoyt1234]

Ok yeah I will try that thanks.

 

[dhoyt1234]

So I transplanted to a larger pot and she is looking better but I definitely have a tangled root ball on my hands. I didn't mess with it when I took it out of the cup I just put in the the new pot with the new soil. I'm concerned though because I haven't watered since I transplanted it on Sunday (3 days ago) and the soil is still moist around the root ball. I'm worried I will start to get root rot. My first instinct is to take the plant back out and loosen up the root ball and the soil and put it back in but I'm afraid that might hurt it more. Not sure what to do here, any ideas?

 

[Canuck147]

NO! Leave it where it is. Trying to untangle - in my opinion - will kill it. Let it sort itself out - but you need to help it with a bit of spot-watering. Not to runoff - just enough to let her know she has a bigger home so she can spread her roots. Don't drown her cuz you will see improvement in her color and the w a y she looks - just not much vertical growth - but that will come.

 

[dhoyt1234]

Thanks for the advice! I'll lightly water for now and see how she goes

 

[Canuck147]

And once it looks like she has taken hold of her new home - then water her til you get a good runoff.

 

[dhoyt1234]

So she has definitely started growing quicker and has some inner node leaves that are looking OK but over all she still does not look good. The top leaves are bumpy and have discoloration and the points are curling. Some leaves are twisted and the inner node leaves, although look OK, are starting to curl like a taco. I transplanted 9 days ago, took about 5 days for the root ball to dry out. The first two watering were with week 1 level nutrients and the last two were straight distilled water with just a little mammoth P. My PH has dropped lower than I have seen it somewhere between 5 and 6. Up till now it has been @ 6 pretty consistently. I'm not sure if I should up the nutrients, I don't know what is causing the leaves to have this discoloration, be bumpy and curl. I'm guessing not enough nitrogen??

Also I am still kind of spot watering but I think the next one I will do a full run off.

Another note this bumpiness and discoloration has been going on for a long time but I figured it was because of my mistake with the clear cup. I'm not sure if that is something that will clear up or is permanent.

 

[Tdh101jr]

4-6 nodes at 1month from seed is average im usually topping it for the 1st time about now i have 3 plants not to far ahead of yours your on track it takes roughly 21days to get out the seedling stage then transplant her to bigger bucket and you shall what her blow ☝

 

[Tdh101jr]

I believe thats from the earlier heatstress you introduced or maybe ph or nuits i just think they got a little crispy just keep heat in check and lights not to close and it will recover the new growth theres nothing can do to the already damaged.

 

[dhoyt1234]

I do think my temps might be a little high but unfortunately I cant do anything about that. My temps average @ 82 deg F with the highs @ 88 and lows @ 77. Even if I switched to running the lights at night, during the day the ambient temp will still get to the mid 80's.

From doing a little more research it seems I'm still having root issues, which makes sense. I think I'm going to go heavy on the Hydroponics Rapid Start Root Enhancer I have and see if that helps? Also would it be advised to trim these damaged leaves to help the healthier parts of the plant? The lower growth looks decent but even the new growth from the top of the plant is growing in funny, maybe I should just top it??

 

[Chefbjy]

I wouldn't top it if it's having trouble you could stunt it even further. You should water to run off imo. It does seem to look heat stressed. Do you have a fan blowing directly on it? They don't like that a lot eithet. But think you might still be looking at root issues...soil might be too hot for them to adjust if it's fresh ffof. And if it is fresh I wouldn't feed it anything...might end up causing a lockout...if it's not already. Hopefully with a few waterings you will be looking at better growth.

 

[dhoyt1234]

Ill start watering as normal. That is fresh FFOF from the transplant, guess I should just stick with the straight distilled water for a few more waters, should I add some root enhancer or would that not jive with the FFOF? The air intake is basically lever with the plant now so yes. I can push the pot to the side of the bucket so it doesn't get hit as hard. I'm also going to try and moving my intake duct from the window, I think the room temp might be cooler than the outside air temp, I'll see what the trend data looks like after a couple days.

 

[dhoyt1234]

I appreciate all the help guys! Thanks for trying to help a new guy from killing his first!

 

[Chefbjy]

Rapid start probably won't hurt. Think it needs some more time to recover and get used to the soil. Might be in shock still. Maybe back the light off a bit if you can till it starts looking better. Hope you can get it cooled down a bit but they can still photosythesize at 86f.