I received some free seeds with a recent order so I figured they would be best to do my first grow with. I sprouted all 4 free Seedsman Afghani #1 then placed them in a 3" jiffy pots with jiffy starting mix. I did the same with a CH9 Fem Afghani Milk. One of the Afghanis died because of seed casing issues and the rest seem to be doing well except for one little plant. In any case, they all broke soil some time during the day 8 days ago, and all but one is doing fine (I guess). It is the first two pics below, the rest are siblings and the milk. They all started out under some 23W 6500k cfls until I got my veg box mostly finished. They are now all under some 55W 6500k PL-L tubes, about 2" away. I did go ahead and transplant the seedlings in 6" pots with a small portion of Moo-Nure thrown in for a wee bit of natural nutes. I felt I needed to transplant them because there all had taproots growing through the bottom of the jiffy pots (I already hate those things!). I basically made sure the pots were damp and literally tore them apart with the exception of the bottoms (did not want to tear tap root). Anyway, the one that is not doing well has a really thin stem and small dark green leaves. Again, it is the first two pics below. Any idea what could be wrong? Thanks for any feedback!
Little sad seedling is looking worse, stem was fatter under the leaves, now is thin like the rest of it. Odd that leaves are not showing anything odd (in my very limited experience) beyond being small and much darker green than the two siblings. Anyway, I added more soil and buried the seedling so only the leaves were showing. If it dies, at least I tried something ;P.
Im no expert but they look fine to me. Do you have a fan blowing on them? If not, that could be why the stems look off. The wind forces them to man up and get thicker.
No fan yet, hard to find in February around these parts! But the rest of my seedlings have thicker stems in the same environment, so it is likely something else. It was the one plant that had a taproot growing through the bottom of the jiffy pot, the others were growing out of the drainage hole. I think this might be what is hindering it, but that is just a wild guess based on research.
it looks ok just give it some time my plant that i got goin now started out like that now its bout 1m tall n looking good
Here is my sickly runt with dirt all around the stem up to the leaves. Either it is happy or I forced the leaves with the soil. With all of this TLC, you better be a female!
Ok I see. Its prolly shocked from the move. You should have left it in the jiffy pot. They disintegrate over time and the roots will push right thru them. When it's time to repot you put the whole shebang in a bigger pot and throw some dirt saves time and hassle and not to mention stress on the plant. Like someone else said, give it some time and she'll come around.
To be honest, this seedling was the only reason I decided to transplant in the first place. It has been stunted the whole time. I turned the jiffy pot over and saw the root growing through the bottom. It was becoming flattened and dry. Other than the thinning stem, it has pretty much looked the same the whole time of its short existence. The rest of the plants were coming out of the bottom too, just through the drainage hole instead of through the compressed peat. I read on several other sites where compressed peat pots stunted growth. While it may not be true, too many people saying as much led me to believe that it was time to move on to better things.
Raising the soil to just under the leaves seems to have made the plant happier. The leaves are still the same size and dark green (did not think that would change much this fast!) but what little I could see of the stem was now almost as thick as the siblings. I also give it a very quick spritz (one shot) with water on its leaves. I really think the taproot was damaged when it grew through the jiffy cup bottom and didn't have water.
Seedling did not make it. Oh well. It was a freebie, but that makes 2/4 freebies that did not survive (other did not remove the seed casing). So I am left with 2 regular Afghani #1, 1 fem Afghani Milk and now...a Female Neville's Haze that broke soil 6 days ago and is already taller than the other 3! What's up with that? I realize it is sativa dominant, but whoah. No jiffy pot for this one either, party cup. Stem is quite elongated and it is 2-2.5" inches from 55W PLL, so I'm having a hard time thinking that it is stretching. I put some more dirt around the stem however.