First bag bean grow...Help needed, please!

Hey pete.
There could be other things going on, but a quick glance tells me that #s 1,2, and 3 are overwatering, overwatering, and overwatering. I'm not familiar with the starter mix you're using, would you mind posting it or linking to it? We'll get you straightened out!

edit: do you have blood meal or anything like that in your mix? I ask because it looks like some of those tips have nutrient burn. Did you allow the soil to sit for a couple weeks before planting in it?

 

They look like clones that havent really "taken" yet?

 

you're just dribbling water in there to dampen them. soak those suckers down and let them dry out a week or so then do it again. Once the new growth starts pumping they will use the water faster.

Also Sean is right, I often have clones look like that when they first go in. Wet them down get the light close but not hot. Blow a good fan on them without them flapping in the wind. In one week or 10 days you will never know they looked like that.

also that soil needs aeration/perlite badly. The plant isn't getting what it needs from measured application of water and poor drainage or aeration. Wet them well before correcting your soil issue.

 

^yep, there's something that's not right with your watering/drainage. Something's off with the soil and its ability to drain. I agree that it needs aeration badly. 1 month old seedlings should look much healthier and hardier than those (but you know this and that's why you've posted here ). Tell us what you've got in your soil mix and about how often/how much you are watering.

 

Hey pete. Your soil mix sounds decent but I think there are some issues. Why are you using such a small amount of amendments? One month old plants need more nutrition than that. For comparison, I recently started a seed for a new mother plant. After 2.5 weeks in a starter mix I transplanted into my soil mix (1/3 peat, 1/3 compost/ewc, 1/3 perlite + about 2.5 cups of total amendments (alfalfa meal, kelp meal, crab meal, some tomato tone), glacial rock dust, and 1 cup lime) (per cubic foot). This soil mix has "cooked" for at least a month. My seedling is happy and healthy in this soil like all my others, it's not too "hot" for them.

I use perlite as my aeration amendment because it's the cheapest thing I can get locally, so I'm not familiar with using all the different mineral rocks as aeration amendments. Something I'm noticing though is the aragonite plus 2 cups of dolomite lime per cubic foot (that's a lot of lime btw, next time keep it to about 1 cup per cubic foot). Aragonite is calcium carbonate (like limestone, which is actually largely comprised of calcite and aragonite) and is used as a pH stabilizer like lime. You could potentially have some issues going on because you have inadvertently added an excessive amount of liming agent. I think watering is a problem, but I've also got a feeling that something is off in your soil, be it pH or excessive calcium locking out other elements. Like fay said, I'd get some perlite in that mix.

I really think that you should take the mix you have, cut it with extra peat, compost/ewc, and perlite, add extra nutritional amendments (to about 2 cups total per cubic foot), and let it cook for a couple weeks. Cut it 1:1, so take 1 cubic foot of your mix and add another cubic foot of a peat/compost or ewc/perlite mix. Don't add more liming agents, you've got more than enough already. Set aside some of this "diluted" soil and transplant your girls into it immediately. Top dress them with some kelp meal and ewc. (this way you get the girls into a better soil asap).

Now take the rest of the "diluted" soil and add nutritional amendments so that you have about 2-3 cups of total amendments per cubic foot of soil. Add glacial rock dust or granite dust to the tune of 4 cups per cubic foot. Let this mix sit for 3-4 weeks and then transplant the girls into it (if you don't add any alfalfa meal (other than the alfalfa meal in the plant tone) and hit it with an ACT to get the nutrient cycling started, you can probably transplant them into this soil in 2 weeks).

There's nothing wrong with the additives you're using in your water, what I'm concerned with is how often you're watering. How frequently do you water? Every day, every other day, etc?

 

Take your ugliest one and pop her out of the pot and gently pull the dirt back and tell us what you got. Take photos of the dirt the roots and stem and the whole pile. Let's have a look see an examination of what's going on. I know though absolutely that dirt needs perlite for that young of a plant, in fact they need to be in solo cups getting root bound and getting used to being fed little by little til they are ready for the full dosage.

Pop one and show us what's underneath and spread the dirt a bit so we can see the make up. I am also betting you are going to find dry patches in the pot of dirt if not I want to see how wet it is underneath and have a good look at the way the roots are traveling through the dirt, if you can catch a shot of it. If dirt is clinging to the roots I want to see that too. I often get young plants like that cause I have so much going on a lot of times they are on their own, grow or not I don't care. It's not hard to straighten out.

 

I hear ya, that's a very good mindset to have! They aren't old enough to be suffering badly from a lack of nutrition, your compost/ewc is still taking care of them, so that's not really the problem. Have you already added dolomite lime to the base mix? Is there aragonite in the base mix? Because I think the excess of liming agents is causing a big issue in the soil (other then the lack of aeration and watering issues). It's good that you're going to have some new soil cooking. Go ahead and transplant them into the base soil once you add the perlite but before you add the amendments. Your watering is off, but there's also something funky happening in that soil they're in, and I bet you it's due to the soil having about 3x the amount of liming agent you need.

Take a pic of the roots, soil, etc. like fay said and let us check it out. Also, you still haven't told me how often you're watering?

 

That's okay. Just keep in mind that your aragonite acts as a liming agent as well. Go ahead and get them into soil with some more perlite. Top dress it with kelp meal and ewc and they should turn around. One more time, how often are you watering? On average, are you watering every day, every other day, what?

 

Hey pistolpete, those seedlings are in a mix that they can't handle right now. Like Fayn2 said, plants that size should be in starter cups at this point. That is classic nute burn/root suffocation. Also, if you use mushroom compost in a container mix, make sure it's no more than 2 to 4% of the total volume. HTH. p.s., if you want to save them, you can transplant them into 1 gallon containers with a basic soilless mix and no nutes. Once they are re-established then topdress a little.