Hey everyone, these girls are around 11 days old, under 4 26w CFLs (5 seedlings in total), with day temps of around 82-84 degrees and night temps of around 79-80 (I will be fixing this situation very soon), in pure Sunshine #5 with no nutes yet added. Not sure if this might explain it, but I had to leave for a few days and my friend who watered them did so rather lightly rather than waiting for run-off. When I arrived today the soil was quite dry and I proceeded to water thoroughly. That was about ten hours before these pics were taken. I also noticed that the bottom leaves were ever so slightly more yellow. Should I be concerned? To be honest, the first set of true leaves have always drooped a noticeable bit on 4 out of the 5 seedlings, but it was just worse today. Hopefully they recover tonight (lights will be turned off shortly). Is drooping common at this stage in their life? Thanks. Oh, and light are about 1-1.5 inches above the plants. And I have an oscillating fan on all the time. Thanks! This is the 1/5 that has always drooped the least.
over watered your plants. yellow hmm... give it a couple days i dont think its yellow just a light green it shouldnt turn yellow as a seedling..
Over watering, yellowing is a symptom of over watering, let the soil dry out water in 4 to 5 days, also only water when the top 2 inches is dry.
But they were bone dry when I watered. And it wasn't just the top two inches that were this dry either. Hadn't been watered in like 4 days. They were droopy like this before I watered. I watered until there was run off. I really don't think overwatering is it.
Here are some more pics from this morning. I've now noticed some definite discolouration that wasn't apparent yesterday. This is only the case with 2/5 seedlings. They are all still pretty droopy. How should the leaves feel to the touch? They definitely feel somewhat crispy when I touch them. Is that normal? I will have a pH meter soon in case its something with the soil.
Nobody knows what's up? Sorry to be a pest, but I'm especially worried since noticing this browning. This is my first grow. I haven't added any nutes. All 5 seedlings have been in pure sunshine #4.
Spider mites. Classic sign (brown blotches and short internode spacing with short petioles gives it away).
Just want to make sure people are in general agreement that spider mites are what's affecting my plants. Here's a 1080p vid I shot on YouTube to give you all a good view. [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OS6RUdnuz8A[/ame]
They look over watered man. I would leave them alone for two or three days and watch them closely. The spots to me look more like places where the leaves just haven't yellowed yet. Even if it is spider mites, they wouldn't cause all the leaves on all the plants to droop like that in the same rate of time. How often are you watering them to run off? Seedlings don't need much water at all. Unless your soil is very rapid draining, they shouldn't need but a small watering every 2-3 days for the first week or two.
I've been watering every 3-4 days, waiting until the soil is completely dry, which is why I'm having a hard time believing I've overwatered, but I will defer to the judgement of people much more experienced than me. The soilless medium I'm using is also supposed to be very good at rectifying overwatering. I will try and be more vigilant though and make sure I do not water until the soil is thoroughly dry. Are there spider mites? I've looked at other photos of plants with spider mites and they look different than this. I don't have any white specks or webs nor could I see little tiny things crawling around. But maybe its too early in the infestation?
I keep replying and the site fucks up. ??????. Spider mites cant be seen with the naked eye and its nothing do do with your watering.
What makes you think its spider mites? where does that come from? just wondering what gave you the indication that this is caused by spider mites. op, i dont have an accurate answer for you, but i am in here to see what the result is and if it is mites how you could have got them so soon. keep in mind seedlings don't require a lot of water, let them be for a few days and see what comes of it.
Spider mites will causes small yellow or white specs on the plants where they bite them. You wont see the mites without magnification, but you will see the described damage. The webs wont appear until you have a major infestation. I still don't think that is the case, as in my opinion what you have looks like an overall discoloration rather than specs or spotting. Ive had mites on my outdoor veggies, and it just looks different to me. I would water less for the next couple of waterings, not until I had run alot of run off, but that is just me. I'm by no means an expert. Things like this are why I started with bag seed, no big loss if they bite the dust. edit: sorry I missed where you said they were already drooping.
The plants, with the exception of one, have always drooped a little despite receiving essentially the same treatment. I have always watered until about 10% run-off (every 3-4 days), but I will cut that out for a bit and see if the situation improves. As for the mite possibility, I will pick up a magnifying glass and stay extremely vigilant over the next 24-48 hours. I just want to be pretty confident they are what I have before I start spraying stuff all over the plants and potentially making a bad situation worse. As for how the plants might have been exposed to mites (if they are indeed present) I am not sure how it happened. They have never been outside, I don't have any other plants, and this is my first time growing anything in this house. The plants have also been under my kitchen sink the entire time, with an oscillating fan, and I have generally washed my hands before dealing with them, though not 100% of the time.
Definitely let us know how it comes out, as we can all learn a lot more a lot quicker by learning together. Some people seem to already know everything, but for the rest of us sharing helps tremendously. Spider mites can come in on your clothes, skin, anything man. So it is always possible. Also, post and ask the same question over in the pest / problem section. You may get more responses over there.