Look, heres what id do in your shoes and im sure some will disagree with me and what im gonna say is risky, but if youre confident in your abilities like im confident in you, then i think you can do what im about to say. Take your fox farm soil and prepare some cups with drainage holes. Now take your seedlings and turn the tray on its side so that the plants just fall out. Carefully grab the stem and remove it from the medium. This will cause sever shock but it wont kill it. Now the cup you filled will be full to the top with fox farm soil. Take another cup and hold your plant in place elevated above where the soil will be. Without moving the plant, pour the other soil around it. This will allow the dirt to build up around the roots without compressing the roots. Heres a transplant video i made to show the process. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4AhowO0F6rM&feature=youtube_gdata_player The plants will stunt for a few days, then bounce back with vigorous growth if you do exactly what i said and if theyre not too far gone, which i seriously doubt.
I am terrified about this, but I'm going to try it. I have clay pebbles (the hydro medium), should I mix a few into the soil or nah, don't worry about it since there's perlite? And since my tiny fem White Rhino is still dark green with a single set of leaves, I should wait before I try to transplant her, right? Again, thank you so much for your continuing advice. My plants would be far gone without you dude Edit: Just checked em today, they're looking pitiful and my white rhino is starting to yellow as well. She DOES however have her second set of true leaves coming in. Transplant her?
I look at it like this. If theyre gettin better every day, no worries. If theyre gettin worse, youre running outta time. Each day they get worse you lessen your chances of survival with a transplant and believe you me, Ive lost enough from not transplanting that i risk it. There is no reward without risk. And you muss 100% of the shots you dont take. That said, i have transplants plants there were cotyledons ONLY and out of 10, 2 never recovered. They stayed green tiny and stunted for 8 weeks then damped off. Plants are funny, but theyre amazing at surviving. Understand this plant is a weed, it will try to overcome its environment until it succumbs. As long as you dont break your tap root, follow my video and my advice, im confident you will have success. But at the end of the day, you need to be as confident as i am, believe in yourself and just close your eyes and step off that cliff. I will be here to catch you if you fall.... ~ poke
Okay, I've transplanted 2/3 and so far so good. I have faith this will make them happier! When I pulled them from their containers, the root systems had reached the bottom of the container. The White Rhino baby has her roots starting to poke out the drainage hole, so I think she's ready too. Last question: Do I water them after transplant or wait?
If the soil is damp, wait a day. If not, add about a thimble full of water just around the base of the stem. Good job, i knew you could it
Hey Clarebearr, your run off is 6.7.... that is way too high and being you put 5.7 h2o in there tells me your coco needs rinsed thoroughly. (Not just soaking in water to expand) coconut grow in salty air and fall on the salty beach then hit with sal water then burpee runs some water through it and adds mag and lime. Maybe you received a poor batch that wasn't buffered well. Regardless if you stay in coco you need figure out a way to give it a good scriubbin and then we need to stay around 5.8 no more than 6 pH. Make sure were following the hydro pH chart. Roots should be getting plenty of air! You don't need perlite unless you want to. The pic I posted of my seedling was when my reservoir pH rose to 6.4 6.5 and has same issues as yours! Here's a few good links iv found on the subject. THESE GUYS EXPLAIN COCO PERFECT! http://www.rollitup.org/t/idiots-guide-to-coco-coir.48979/ This guy below looks to have same problem as you b/c he didnt rinse is coco http://forum.grasscity.com/index.php?/topic/1005879-Seedling-HELP!
Oh wow how late was that post....lol. Anyhow I was going to suggest doing exactly what you guys did as well
Thank you so much! If my runoff is 6.4, and I reduce the pH of the water by .4, would it be balanced? Or is it more complicated? Thanks again dude
Soil is barely moist, I'll give em a little spot of water and then try a plastic cup dome to promote some root growth to anchor them down. Thanks again!
Update: Here's the kids now! Biggest seedling: Didn't really pull through, I don't think. Stem is shriveled up and leaves are too. Second largest (started together with largest): It started to look better in the next couple of days after transplant but the stem was shriveled beforehand and I don't think it pulled through/will pull through. Lastly, my white rhino girl: Looking great Thank you for all your help! She was my main concern and it looks like we caught her just in time.
I am reading about damping off because that seems to be what happened, is it because there was no airflow in the coco fiber stuff? I'm throwing that shit out and getting jiffy pellets, haha.
Its usually from the seedling staying too wet and systemic fungus setting in. Causes the plant to bottleneck, which leads to cell necrosis and then death.
Right, I think the coco fiber stayed really damp because there was no airflow through it to actually dry it completely allowing mold and fungus to develop around the roots. Unfortunate, since it's taken a few seedlings already, but that's why I'm switching to jiffy pellets. Lesson learned.
Hey guys! Not sure what's up with my leaf tips, is this something to be concerned about? Also, LOOK HOW BIG SHE IS!! My girl is growing up :") Thanks guys!
I've been watering with water from my fishtank and no I haven't tested runoff pH. I still don't really understand pH but for the size of my plant should my pH be around 6.5?
Ph is critical. Too high or too low you experience lockout. Get it and keep it in the natural zone, and your plants with thrive wonderfully. For around $20 you can purchase an N-P-K-PH test kit. The PH test can do either soil, or runoff. My method is once a week flush with 1 gallon of distilled water. I let it set for approximately 10 minutes and then add 1 gallon of my feed solution. Once it quits dripping I place it back under the lights. It works great! And the PH is always spot on. Figure out what works for you and stick with it. Don't sweat the little shit! You're going to do more damage by hovering over it trying to solve little quirks...