Ok so this is my first grow and its been about 13 days since ive planted the seeds. they sprouted and were doing great until about yesterday when i noticed they were starting to yellow. i assumed this was due to overwatering and did not water yesterday. I noticed also that on one of the plants the second set of leaves is drying up and browning a little from the tip and its moving down the leaf. I plan on posting some pictures later but any help would be greatly appreciated. I am using a florescent light with 2 40 watt bulbs (6500K spectrum) and was also using 2 cfls (23W) in the 2700K spectrum. I havent tested my soils pH yet but will get a pH kit today to test that. The temperature in my room is about 80 degrees and remains pretty constant.
some pics would be helpful...you have only been watering correct? and that set of leaves dying? by chance would they be your cotyledon leaves?
yes only watering, no nutes. I started by just spraying the soil with a spray bottle then read that its not good to spray the leaves with water when theyre under light so i stopped that. other than that i have just been watering when the soil is crusty and dry at the top, and only a little water at a time. the leaves that are dying are not the cotyledon leaves but the first set that has toothed edges that comes out right after the cotyledon. i will post pics in a couple hours when i get home
So I took out one of my fluorescent bulbs and am not using the lights that are pictured on the sides of my plants now either. I have one 40W 6500K bulb going on a 18/6 cycle. Does anyone else have any input as to what may be leading to the miscoloration of my leaves?
There's your first mistake, water your plants thoroughly and not more than once a day, from your pics it looks like your plants are being underwatered The yellowing is most likely caused by improper PH in your soil/water, so get it checked out
ok, so i am going to start watering the plants at 1/2 cup of water a day. the soil is moist though and i thought you werent supposed to water them if the soil was moist. I do have experience in growing things, just not this so im not a complete noobie. i am going to do a pH test asap as well. any other input or advice will be greatly appreciated!
thanks very much for the input i will be sure to do this. any other tips? I was told by another grower that i should start putting some nutes in at a very low concentration. do you think this will help?
i actually would avoid that for the time being...13 days in and i am sorry to say the lil ones are suffering from something...if you dont mind me asking...what is your soil make up? saw what appeared to be a piece of bark so is this soil peat based? i am guessing this mix you have may be a "lil too hot for the young un's"...flushing that soil is like pressing the re-start button...gl bro
thanks again, i really appreciate the reply. my soil makeup is 54-55% forest compost, sphagnum peat, and perlite. It has some nutes in it already NPK is .07-.01-.03 the nitrogen is .04% ammonia which i know is fast releasing and .03% nitrate (.07 total) maybe this could be what is making my plant burn? I feel like a complete noobie asking this but how should I go about flushing the soil? I dont want to accidentally overwater the plants in the process. Would i be better off just transplanting them into a different soil? Im gonna start researching the flush process now but a reply would be great too! there are so many different methods of things on here that people go by it would be nice for someone to just tell me one that will work for my soil. Thanks!
no prob dude...you normally want to flush 3x the volume of the pot...1 gallon pot...run 3 gallons through....3 gallon pot....9 gallons....and so fourth...wouldnt worry about the overwatering because you are actually flushing everything out and will not water for several days after...some people like to treat with a light nute feed after the flush...i say avoid it until you notice a reversal of growth and then maybe 1.5-2wks down the road think about a light feeding
alright so I just flushed all 3 plants with 3x the volume of the pot. The soil is very moist still and is still draining a little out the bottom but hopefully this will work. Thanks again for the advice and ill post soon with the results. how long should it take before i see the plants start turning around?
so i went to a store today and talked to some people about my plants and they think its because its too cold in my room. bought a heater today and transplanted my seedlings into different soil with more perlite in it because my other soil did not drain well at all. hoping all the little guys survive the transplant. more updates to come