Brown spots on Sprout

[JimmyToke]

Hey guys, I've been having problems getting this thing growing, and now that it's finally moving along steadily it's getting brown spots on it's leaves. I'll be able to get a picture up whenever they process it through the photo gallery.

If you guys can see what's going on please help me out, this is the last little one to survive my clumsy ways, and I want to keep her alive.

[provin1327]

is it around the tips of the leaves or in the middle? If its on the tips it could be to close to the light.

[JimmyToke]

...it's taking forever to upload these photos. anywho, the brown is on the edges of the leaf and working towards the middle veins, but its not just on the tips.
actaully here's the photo on another site:

http://img177.imageshack.us/my.php?i...sc02417pu1.jpg

fyi, i've put a piece of paper underneath so you could see the discolouration, as my camera isn't top of the line, and apparently neither are my growing skills.

[SmknVTEC]

Probably fert burned. What type of soil and any nutes? What is the soil pH?

[JimmyToke]

The soil is scott's seed starter, I believe it has relatively low nute levels if any. jst your basic peat moss and vermiculite. I haven't added any nutes, but pH may be an issue due to the water i'm using....try not to laugh....well water.
I'll grab a pH tester from work (helps to work in a greenhouse) and post the results tonight.
If the soil needs correction should i be flushing it out with some bottled distilled water to correct?
I'd get another picture but I gotta get to work, but the spots don't look like they've spread, but they've kind of intensified if you can picture what i'm saying. I can see the second set of leavings popping out of the middle so I'ts still growing. Maybe I just touched the leaves with my hands and i had something on them, i'm not one to keep clean hands.

oh well we'll see when i get the pH back.

thanks again

[JimmyToke]

I just checked, and pH is at about 6.8-6.9, and the only fert that was in the soil was Phosphate, in very very small amounts.

I got home too see that the spots that had gone light brown are now more vivd and more yellowy brown. They seem to have only spread minimally, and the second set of leaves has started to come out even more, and the middle of the first set of leaves and second set is looking healthy still.
I've got it under two 35w CFL's about 3-4 inches away with a fan running about 8 hours a day, lights on 24/7.
Should i continue to run the lgihts on full bore and fan, or should i cut back to help him survive.

Damn I hope this guy survives.

[SmknVTEC]

Jimmy, I use well water too only mine is run through a softener. I find that in that ther pH is 7.13. Yours at about 6.8 is probably not the problem even if you are off on the estimation [I assume you are not using a digital pen to measure pH].

Whenever I see problems and they are just slight problems [right out of seed]it is most likely the soil. In your case the soil has slight amounts of nutes and your troubles are slight. You can live with the problem by flushing the soil [possibly dangerous for seedlings] or transplant to some better soil.

Since you call them seedlings they are no older than three weeks? So it is too early for them to be deficient in anything unless pH is off which you say it isnt.

Pictures always help but, again, to me this sounds like fert burn allbeit slight.

[JimmyToke]

Well, thanks VTEC and others for your help so far.

I tried a very light flush with some bottled water and that's all i'm going to do. I ran another ph test and same results, so the 6.8 readout should be accurate enough.
I was also thinking today, that I work with a lot of herbicidal chemicals where I work, without gloves, and when i get home the first thing i do is fondle my plant. So maybe I touched it with some chemicals on my hands and burned a few spots on the leaf.
But then again I imagine it wuld have obliterated the plant by now, because it's all concentrated stuff.

Oh well, just time to wait and see.

[Ganja Guerrilla]

Id say its your soil, we have seen consistently, since most retailers started to carry the pre-ferted soils , almost every seedling that was in trouble was attibuted to ferts added to soils , both chemical & organic..

do you have more than one seedling currently growing?

[JimmyToke]

no, unfortunately all my other seedlings were burned by my stupidity, and this is survivor, i think i've got two trheads going now by mistake.
but no, he's the last one...

I find it strange that customers havent complained about seedlings having troubles with nute burn in there pre-fert soil. maybe MJ isn't as tolerant to nutes as others in the seedling stage. oh well just strange to see so many people having issues with it.

I'm just going to leave him be, although he's still growing at snail speed, and the leaf damage has intensified, he's still alive nonetheless.

Thanks for all your help everyone, and who knows, maybe if i fuck off for a bit, he'll decide to come into his own.

Thanks again.