Help... Drooping/Curling leaves... ??? (w/ pics)

[Dirt King]

Alright, at first I thought I was under watering so I began to water a bit more, then I thought I was over watering, then I thought maybe the lighting was too close, now I'm thinking the water I am using is deficient. (microwaved/boil water I know, I only recently remembered not to do that!)

I'm waiting for my CFLs to arrive, so in the mean time, I have been making due with two 15w fluorescent tubes over this one plant, and an 8w over the rest of the little seedlings/sprouts.

This one plant is the only one that looks like this, the others are perky and appear to be doing good. This plant is in a large (2.5qt?) soda bottle with the top cut off, using Turf King soil. The moment I noticed this one was sick, I put a pc fan on it. With one fluoro about 1/4" away (adjusted daily), one more about 2" away, and just the pc fan on, the bulbs practically put out zero heat. I water in the morning and about mid-day, using a light mist bottle, so it's difficult to get the soil wet enough, but I occasionally remove the plunger and pour a little in off to the sides. Like I said, I didn't think I was over watering at first, but now... I don't know what to think.

I have moved the light up about 1 1/2" now, and have some open water sitting in the shade, which I will begin to use in 24hrs. I don't have any Ph tester or any testing gear for that matter.

Here are a few pics, and FYI, some were taken under the fluoro and some under the incandescent room light. The first couple are from either yesterday or this morning, and the rest are from only moments ago.





As you can see in the current pics below, that the curl has increased (as well as growth)...







Please advise me on what you think, they appear to be healthy, with the exception of the curl/droop. So this leaves me to believe I am either water too much/little, the light was too close/hot, or the water should definitely not be boiled... Or a combination of them all. Nothing has really changed the plants health, even though I altered a few things, with the exception of the boiled water. You think that's the cause? Boiled water removing the magnesium from the water??


Please help!

ETA: I forgot to add that the other morning when I opened my grow cab, this one and the near equally old/sized one were both 'weak stemmed' (?) and flopping over... The other one recovered fully for some reason while this one did not... This one is no longer weak stemmed either and is getting thicker with the fan on it, but it still has other problems, which the other plant didn't.

[Mork]

Yeah I'd use distilled/purified water from now on, just to be safe.

nanu nanu

[SmknVTEC]

Your soil is the problem. Turf King is for the wrong type of grass. What you have there is for lawns. It looks like it has nutrients in it which is bad to give them nutes before week three and, it looks like the droop is from too much N. Plus the soil looks very clay like and seems red with too much iron. Clumpy soil could cause over and under water issues. Personally, if those were my plants, I would get them into some professional potting soil, free of nutes but containing Perlite, vermiculite and sphagnum peat moss.

[DataBass]

I think mixing about 20% perilite in the soil will improve the situation. MJ likes loose crumbly soil. The roots can get oxygen to the roots in loose soil. But, frankly, the baby plant in your photos doesn't look bad. It's green all over and looks like it has thick skin. Sure it droops a little, but thats not a bad thing in itself. It's young and weak right now. In a couple weeks it'll get hardyer and you'll be able to tell if really has long term problems.

[Dirt King]

I got the soil from a relative and it was all I could get at the time.

I need to get some FFOF and other essential items but, it may be a week before then since it's winter and my car heater is shot now (waiting on heater motor) and it's 37mi to the store.

My 105w (6400) light arrived yesterday, but the mogul cord is in another shipment... The plants are growing fairly slowly with the current 45w tubes so they may be able to hold out until then.

I know that if I flushed the soil, the plant would be temp stunted, but is that a good idea with this type of soil? BTW, I have 1/2" cubes of styrofoam scattered throughout the soil, by recommendation.

[fatbob166]

V-Tec is right as usual....haha. Here's a quote off the turf king website, about that soil.

"......Composed of a variety of organic, natural and manmade products, our fertilizer is designed to release over sixteen (16) weeks, with some ingredients still releasing two years later...."

Pretty much like MG for lawns, though your plants look a lot better than they would if they were in MG soil. Flushing a soil with time release ferts will not help the problem. You're going to need to replant them soon, into something with no added nutes. You may be able to use that soil later in the plants life, but I'd still cut it 50/50 with some plain potting soil. Styrofoam cubes won't hurt your plants, but they aren't really necesarry. When you repot, mix some perlite in with the soil, and it will do a bit more good then the styro.......