Hi, im recently new to growing. Ive read alot on this website, but im just having problems and not sure what to do. I start out all my seeds by placing them under wet paper towels for a couple days, then i start them out in a party cup with regular dirt. The first few days they seem like their doing great (nice green leaves, growing taller) and then suddenly about a week or 2 after planting them they stop growing and eventually turn yellow and die. I have tried miracle gro fertilizer, and now im trying this Fish fertilizer i bought the other day. All i have for lighting right now is a shoplight with 2 4' long grow lights that runs 24hrs a day. Fed regular tap water twice daily. Hopefully someone has seen a problem like this before and could help me out. Thanks!
Welcome to GC! You are not supposed to fertilize for the first 3-4 weeks at least. No nuted soil and regular water, less than twice a day. If you read the stickies, they will provide you with a lot of info just like this.
Depending on where you live and your public water supply, it could be the tap water. I could list about 20 or more things that can turn up in your tap water. I know some people don't have any problems with tap water but the water quality varies from place to place. I personally use RO water.
Sounds to me like you are overwatering your plants, causeing some pretty nasty things to grow on the roots of your plants since the water cant drain off fast enough, thus killing your plant. That with a combination of the water you could be useing. Many people here are over judgemental on tap water, its really not as bad as everyone is makeing it out to seem, around certain areas they are adding floride into the water and even that isnt havent to much of a negative effect on the plants, there are plenty of tests out there you can get to test your water and make sure its safe for growing purposes. My best suggestion to you would be to fill up a 5 gallon bucket with water and let it sit for 24 hours, doing this usualy gets rid of most of the floride and various other things added to the tap water to keep us americans nice and healthy (yes it was a joke)
There are plenty of holes in the bottom of the cup for drainage. I water my plants with a spray bottle that i leave set out so its out for well over 24 hours at times. However i will try a different source of water to see if this is the case. Is distilled water from the grocery store something i should use? Starting today i have also cut my watering back from twice to just once a day.
Distilled water is good stuff, good substitute if you want to eliminate your T/W from being the problem.
I have well water, I'll drink it...but I dont trust it for my plants lol, ph is off the scale. All I use for watering my plants is drinking water from the grocery store - Food Lion - & its ph right from the jug is 6.5. I only water when the plant needs it...if the soil is dry two inches down I water, if not wait another day. It seems to be more health when searching for water, rather than laying in it. I'll either aerate the water, or let is stay open for a day or two like satan suggested.
Good advice ffrom DJ It is a good idea to always maintain a certain amount of moisture in the roots. Growers that allow their medium to dry out to the point at which the leaves "droop" are reducing their final yields and compromising quality. Fertilizer salts concentrations can dramatically increase as the water dissipates which can cause the roots to become repeatedly stressed going through extreme "wet/dry cycle". The plant is being deprived of moisture that would be available to fuel additional growth and suffers. The pH range is the degree of acidity or alkalinity in your water. weed needs a slightly acidic environment to grow properly. The suggested pH range for watering weed in soil should be between 6.0 and 6.5. In hydro this range can drop to as low as 5.5. It is VERY important to ensure that the water you are feeding your plants with be in the correct pH range else the plants will not be able to properly utilize their nutrients. Severe pH problems will cause the plant to simply stop growing and can lead to its demise if not dealt with quickly. You can adjust the pH of your water both up or down with the addition of the right solutions which you can find at any aquarium store. Don't use the all natural derivatives, I have found once they have a chance to settle in the water they are more harm than good. I just recently went through this battle! The most common problems with using tap water for watering cannabis plants will be pH usually caused by lime or calcium in the groundwater supply. Elements dissolved in the tap water may cause lockups where the plant will not be able to absorb the nutrients it needs leading to deficiencies. Most growers will use a water filtration system for filtering their water. This can be as simple as running your tap water through a Brita water filter or the more elaborate reverse osmosis systems(RO). Under sink models can be purchased at any home improvement store for around US$100. They will require filter replacement about twice per year depending on usage. The typical model can clean 50 gallons of tap water down to 0 ppm and pH 6.0. Hope we help!
I bought 3 gallons of distilled water today so i should be good for a while. Thanks guys! Ill keep u posted and let you all know what happens.