So this is my second year attempting to start a few plants indoors and then finish them outdoors on my property (last year's attempt ended in the theft of my 6 plants). This year I planted 8 Gorilla Glue #4 seeds on February 26 and have kept them on a 18-6 cycle under 4 T12 shop lights for the last month. I figured the T12s would be enough to start the seedlings off before I put them in my small greenhouse to harden off. Yesterday I potted up the the two biggest of the 8 and they were a little less than a foot tall, bushing out nicely, and they seemed a little wilted after I watered them in but I figured they'd perk back up. This morning I woke up and all 8 of them were entirely wilted and their stems were like mush. Just yesterday they were mostly fine, with only a couple looking slightly wilted. There was zero chance of them recovering so I just scrapped all of them and threw out the soil. Could it have been overwatering?? Has anyone ever seen something so sudden like that? My only other thought would be that my dad poisoned them or something in his passive-aggressive rage but its not likely. So now the question becomes one of whether or not I'll be able to grow another set this year. I just planted 24 more seeds just to see what happens and the last frost date in my area is May 15, which would be when I'd like to plant them outdoors by. But is it too late for me to have a harvest in, say, August or September?? I I've got the seeds under a dome and on a heating mat right now and will give them a feeding with a 5-5-5 when I pot them up so hopefully I can boost some of the early growth. My only concern is the plants not being ready to harvest until like November now, which in my region would be too cold to finish them. I always stress about timing here so any reassurance would be greatly appreciated. I'm pretty novice at this so absolutely any suggestions for this whole outdoor growing thing would be appreciated too. Thanks thanks
Usually that kind of sudden drastic wilt is the result of extreme root damage at transplant.. I start seeds in a half filled square 3x3x3 inch nursery cup.. After it sprouts and stretches I finish filling the cup to support that initial floppy inch of stem.. . I'll leave it in that 3x3x3 cup till it's about 12 inches tall at this point it'll be well packed in the root zone and it'll slide right out into my waiting hand when I invert the plant.. Not a lost grain of soil and not a root out of place.. Next stage is a 5x5x7 deep and I'll run that to about 24 inches tall.. By then it's ready to flower for most of the year here and out she goes.. . Keep starting seeds clear up till early May as you have all of June and July to veg.. Flower won't start till mid Aug no matter the strain.. . 16-8 or 17-7 is best for plants you plan to move outside.. It's a better match for most spring outside settings.. You want to start them as low in the veg cycle as you can.. 14.5 is the trigger for most strains so really anything 15-9 and over is good.. . There is another way to beat the early frost and that's to keep a plant under 24-0 in veg.. That way even in mid July when you put it out it'll flower and it'll be to late for it to reveg and it'll finish in Sept not Oct or later.. BNW Edit:: An extremely anaerobic or really far off PH soil might have fried the plants.. Smell the soil they came out of as a post mortem inspection.. Does it stink like sulfur ??
My bet is that you overwatered them, and when u transplanted and watered even more they died.... We're they droopy at all when u transplanted? Sent from my iPhone using Grasscity Forum mobile app
Thanks this helped quite a bit. I'll be sure to not change pots as often this time around. I just tested the soil and every pot had a pH of 4.5 or 4.6, even the plants that I hadn't fertilized in a week or so. Something was definitely done to them, whether it was my cat pissing in them or someone tampering with em.
The soil was pretty wet when I threw em out, so yeah that very well could be the case. But now I'm pretty sure something was done to them since the soil tested at pH 4.5. Gotta keep a more watchful eye on this next set.
Watch ph for sure, but that won't kill them overnight like you described. From your description it's a case of classic overwatering IMO. I'm on my 6th-7th grow and I'm still fuckin up the watering here and there, it's a bitch... You got to let their roots fill the pot the fuck up like brass was saying, if they don't have enough root mass to drink all the water in time then they'll drown Sent from my iPhone using Grasscity Forum mobile app
Hopefully someone didn't poison them, kinda read that wrong, lol some people are fuckers, there was another guy on here a while ago and he was trying to figure out who dumped ph down on all his plants and killed them... Poor fellow Sent from my iPhone using Grasscity Forum mobile app