Heres the deal. I have a grow box with 8 cfls 6500k well ventilated, temps around 73F to 76F. Seedling are curling under and twisting. turning yellowish and just looking rough. At first i though okay maybe they are too close to the light at such a small stage that so i lowered them down a foot or so. No change. I though maybe i was over watering. so i let them dry out. No change. soil is moist for 2 days. no change. Ph is 6. soil is organic potting soil. shold be ok. not adding any nutes. just water. But here's the kicker. A neighbor is also growing at the same time and same seeds. His are bigger by a little bit. and too me they just look healthier to me. He brings them over for me to watch for the weekend. cause he's going away. I put them in my box and already in just 24 hours they look like they are getting worse. I havent watered his or done anything. just put them in the box. Whats happening? The growbox is in the basement crawlspace. Is it possible the air down there is bad? or it's too cold at 72F? would the furnace down there give off some sort of fume that is killing them? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Greeting! nah its not the air, Greentree its one if the condition's the plant is in, to wet soil to dry, poor quality lights that are emitting spectrum that hurts plants, ph problem, the list is endless and i'm not even gonna start guessing with out some pictures to help. Ok maybe i will.. 1. what type of light, what brand 2. you say your soil has a ph of 6? well that's your problem right there or part of it, it needs to stay in the 6.5-7 range. Hydro sits in the 5.5-6 range. 2. Potting soil isn't that best or even that great for growing in, most potting soil has nutes added, they have a system to release nutes slowly over time as you water and if you water a lot a huge amount of that nutes are released into that water and can fry your plants. also it tends to get over saturated or the roots get choked. not the furnace not the air... get some pics up.. and research hydro, that'll show your buddy who grows better pot ;P -peace my current grow, updated daily
He said he was just feeding water not sure if he is adjusting pH or not which made his soil more acidic when it needs to be more alkaline 6.5-6.8 in soil. He said they were seedlings but didn't really mention how old. If anything they are pH locked. He needs to re-adjust the pH. Possibly a light foliar feed of N until the pH is fixed. Which is what I mean, FOLIAR FEEDING, not watering. atleast until the pH is adjusted.
nice graph but these are seedling and you shouldn't be feeding seedling. Tap water has on avg 250 ppm in it which i have witnessed grow incredibly big plants. Not to mention that the soil has lots of nutes in it already and when you continue to water that can cause extremely high soil ppm in small reliantly undrained containers, which does match the description of twisting curling wilting leaves. I don't know if this is what is causing the withering but you do need to get that ph from 6 to almost 7 and a bunch of nitrogen might just kill your plant faster, there is no reason a seedling can't live in soil with water. In hydro you remove that soil and all the nutes in the soil and add just 100% tap water and the pants eat and eat and grow big and green, 15 or more days on pure water, so i just don't but that it needs more N. Feeding isn't the solution. having balanced your ph before planting might be, but it could be a compilation of that and many other things, i still don't have answers to the questions i asked or pics yet peace
Hello guys. thanks for the questions and info. I guess i should be more clear about whats happening. My soil PH is unknown. the water PH is 6. The temps are 72F at the top of the box and sometimes in the 67F range by the root. As for the lights they are 26w cfl's. i have8 going right now. The soil is a organic one. peat moss, sphagnum per-lite and sedge, vermiculite. these seedlings are a week old and not very big. the light cycle is 24hours is this an issue. should i be 18/6 to give them a rest? So i rearranged a few things last night and the root area is around 77f now and probably too early to tell if its helping. at the top of the box its in the low 80's now. I'll post pics in a while.
those arent my plants. thats the guywriting in this post. these are mine. http://forum.grasscity.com/photopost/data/3423/medium/resized_0261.JPGhttp: // I know they look bad...Help!!!!
Lol NJsteez I think you saw the pics in the one guys signature and not growbox69. Growbox69 just posted his which are soil grown not hydro.
I didn't see who mentioned it, but your soil pH should be around 6.5-6.8 ideally. Does your soil have time released nutes? I don't know how big of an issue this would be, but you have sprouts started in pots... You should have started them put in something smaller like party cups so that they can have stronger root development.
i did have them in peat cups, which suck. so i just put them in pots as an attempt to save them. im new at this and the peat cups dont hold moisture. if i do this again id use solo cups i think. but a pot isnt much different then planting in soil outside??
In my hydro set up I am having the same problem with a few of the girls. I think it may be the system their in, one side of the op looks better than the other. But I'm waiting it out for a week or so. The tips are curled under on a few and some are a turning a little yellow. but the rest look great.. not sure what's going on. When you figure it out post some pics
i'll try. for now im not gonna touch them just let them do what they have to do. not sure what else to do.
Hmm.. One problem you are facing is with those big pots it is hard to tell when to water.. The drooping tells me that more than likely you are overwatering, but to determine that what is your watering schedule? How do you determine when to water as opposed to not water? If you were growing in a solo to know when to water you would water until the cup felt heavy and then not again until the cup feels light.. For your situation I'd recommend watering around your girl and using that pencil to judge the wetness.. Sharpen it and gently poke in the area you watered and don't water again until the point comes out dry.. I wouldn't suggest babysitting too often since your setup can't handle that many girls.. Currently having 12 seedlings under roughly 216 watts of cfl (if 27 watt bulbs) is not enough light and will only cause all the girls to start stretching.. The organic soil isn't bad, but sometimes it needs amending.. Lime, mg, earthworm castings, etc. The yellowing may indicate that the nitrogen level is low, but can't really fix that yet because it is too early to give them nutes.. Personally I wouldn't have told my friend about having a grow.. Even if they are growing as well, but since it is already done I would ask them what type of setup they have to get a few ideas as to why his are bigger or if you've seen his setup what is he working with? Also how old are the girls from pop? That can tell a lot about how far behind a girl really is.. I have a cfl vegg room so I have pics from just about anytime from pop to harvest.. If you could give me a time estimate I can tell a little bit better about what may be causing problems.. I would also go with solos over the peat cups.. For me the peat just doesn't break down fast enough inside as compared to outside.. Not really sure why.. Maybe it is because the outside girls require more water.. To prepare for stretch only fill the cup with 3/4 of your soil mix and then once the girl finishes her initial stretch fill the rest of the cup in and your girl will be sitting right on top of the soil.. Keeping her shorter and giving you more room to work.. I'd say a pot inside is a lot different than just planting a girl outside because you have to worry about rootbound and a different watering schedule.. You also have to have your conditions perfect indoors as compared to out.. Hope I helped a bit.. I've been studying for 7 tests to end the semester so if I don't make it back here feel free to post any other questions at any of the threads in my sig below..
ok the plants are about 14 days old. and not very big. i put them in big pots 2 days ago because the peat cups were so crappy. it was all i had. as for the friend he gave me the seeds and he got me into this. as for his setup i think its just a closet with a tube cfl. his seedlings will be out of my setup in 3 days when he returns. i have organic nutes. botanicare original formula but its for when i flower if i make it to that.
If you transplanted two days ago then you should be seeing some growth in the next few days.. They need a small period of readjustment from being transplanted so early.. Once you get those other girls outta there you'll have enough light, but since cfls don't penetrate far I'd move them closer to the light.. To make sure it isn't too hot for your babies put your hand palm down at the same level as the girl and see if it gets hot.. If it does move the plants down just a little bit more.. They definitely are behind a bit, but no worries this is what a first grow is all about.. Don't stress.. Just learn from the mistakes and move on.. The newbie stage is not the time to worry about perfection.. There will be plenty of time for that when you graduate as a Grower so to speak and have a few harvests under your belt.. If you want to see a pic of two of my girls at 10 days after pop let me know and I'll post them up.. To get rid of stretch just add more soil to all the pots.. Any of the stem below the soil line will turn into roots getting you a better root system faster.. For a first grow you are not doing bad.. You have a good setup, but it'll take this first one to get the basics down.. Once you do you will be pulling dank in no time..