Have about 12 seedlings going right now, half started at one point and the other half a week later. The fist 6 seedlings are all on the verge of death - the coetyldeons (or however it's spelled) turned yellow and the a rust color before shriveling up before the first set of 5-bladed leaves start growing, and then the lower leaves began to do the same until, at week two, my plants have been so stunted that they've stopped growing and are just getting worse. Now, the next batch is beginning to show signs of yellowing on the coetyldeons, and I don't need this shit to happen again. The soil I use is Miracle Grow Organic Choice, perlite and vermiculite, with a bit of dolomitic lime, at 5:2:2:.015 or so, and maintains a PH of about 6.8. Have the plants in red beer cups, and water them when they are feather dry with water PHed at ~6.75, purified out the faucet. The chamber is about 1.5' in diameter, circular, and about as high, with a 105w CFL based in the middle of the chamber and an air-hockey table fan directly above it, and passive intakes all around the bottom. I pulled one of the plants out earlier, and the roots looked great; good, solid development, very white and healthy; nothing really wrong on the underside, which threw me since in the past when I've had similar problems it's been due to root-bounding. I dunno if it's 'cuz of the lime in the soil. or the draft, or the ballast from the 105w being too hot on the seedlings or if it's just bad genetics or something, but if anyone has any suggestions I'd be glad to hear them. Thanks you all for your time.
could be genetics...this past summer i couldnt keep one alive?!?! are they bagseed?? your soil might be too HOT,but i'v never used miracle grow also what the temp in your box
Yeah, it's bagseed, and the temps hover around 80-85 always. Didn't realize that the temps I'm dealing with could make the soil too hot, but given the explosive root growth and limited topside growth, that could very well be the issue. So maybe I'll try a lower wattage bulb with a cooler ballast, and see if that helps matters. Regardless, thanks for the response. +rep.
I believe that you are frying them accidentally with that particular soil, which is more designed for a plant (although MG soil is not good for MJ anyway), and you have seedlings. Seeds have enough nutrients stored in them for a set of leaves, and do better in a mix of spag moss, perlite, washed sand, and some earthworm compost. Either buy or mix some seedling starter. Then when it's time you can transplant into something more substantial, and hopefully by then you have read more about soil choices in the stickies and the posts. Maybe you can still transplant what you have now, they might make it. Go out and find seedling starter asap. Good luck.
I thought it may have been burn, too, the way it looked, but I didn't see how that was possible - the NPK of Miracle Grow Organic Choice is .10 - .05 - .05. That's even less than they have in the seed starting mix, and I've never had problems with the seed starting mix before (except when I thought I could grow a plant to maturity in it... ugh...). You suggested sphagnum moss; did u mean sphagnum peat moss, or just the sphagnum? 'Cuz I'm not a big fan of the ridiculous moisture-retensive properties of peat moss, as it tends to keep my waterings up to or even more than 5 days apart from one another, and I prefer to water every 3 days. Honestly, only reason I'm using this soil is because a close friend of mine used it for his and had much better results than I did. Interestingly enough, I took on of the dying seedlings and stuck it in my flowering room under the HPS and it's rate of decay slowed down drastically, so I'm suspecting the culprit to be environmental. Still, I don't feel like a single 105w bulb should be able to do that sort of damage to them... Any other thoughts? And thanks for the response, +rep.
Native soil... is this a brand? Haven't noticed it at Lowe's or the local department stores, and I'm too far from a shop to make the trip or I'd grab some Fox Farms or some such. Still, if they've got that brand at the stores then I'll go check it out. Good shit?
Yeah, peat moss, the canadian kind is best. The waterings are supposed to be 5 days apart, the wet to dry cycle that you use with MJ plants is the best way for the ph to travel down and then back up with the surplus of water at first, for nutrient use... making a low ph with soaking, and then as it is absorbed or evaporates the ph increases... with the uptake of the hydrogen ions, in a cycle. I like peat moss, yes it holds lots of water, but roots love it, seedlings do well in it. I think that the problem with the miracle grow isn't that it has nutrient content, it's more how it's distributed. While high grade soil often has bone meal, alfalfa, fish emulsion and kelp meal and such in it, and it is dispersed thru the matrix, and is absorbed slowly and doesn't nuke the plants; MG soil has these little coloured peices of gel caps with nutes in them, and they break down with water additions and release the ionic salt nutrient into that immediate area, and if you have a root running thru that area, it picks up a gut load of the poor-quality-ion-salt-nute and it's kills the roots and the seedling. MG is not a good seedling starter, no matter how you look at the numbers on the bag. Either bulb should work on a tiny plant??? Think it's the medium, not the light. my 2 cents. Post a pic?