Can someone please tell me where i went wrong? I'll start with my soil mix. It was a mixture of a bunch of things. 4 parts organic compost 1 part Mg organic bone meal 1 part mg organic blood meal 2 parts perlite 2 parts peat moss I watered them sunday. Then on wenesday i watered them a little bit, because the leaves were drooping and i thought they needed water. Then on friday i watered them and that completely killed them. I thought it was the overwatering that fucked them, but i have three more plants that i didn't water that are starting to droop over and shrivel up. I don't know what to do, all my plants are dying and i just can't find out what i did wrong. My lighting is 6 23w Cfls 6500k and they were a couple inches away from the lights and i even had a slight breeze from my fan running on them. My plants are only seedlings. About 2 weeks old. The problem i thought could have been anything, from soil, to stretching, to lighting, to overwatering. I'm still not sure. When i first started them i left them in the dark to sprout, and that stretched them. They seemed to be too top heavy because they would fall over easily. The worst part about this whole thing is, i hate losing plants that i have been working on so diligently (even thought it was only two weeks,) but i still don't know what i did wrong, and how i can prevent it next time. And it pisses me off so much. The only plants i have left now are the ones that were watered on thursday. They're still alive but they're looking worse everyday and i have no idea how to save them. This really sucks.
Hi. Seems that your soil is way too rich for the seedlings. Use a decent potting soil for the first three weeks of their life and then start feeding them nutes very gradually and work your way up from there. Its all good. A learning experience. Start over. You killed them with kindness.
I'm fairly sure i just tried too hard to grow a weed, thats what killed them. But what kind of potting soil? I know people that have used FFOF in the early stages of growing and i want to prevent plant shock by not having to transplant them a lot.
For seedlings I'd just go with a mix of vermiculite and perlite. They come born with all the nutes they need for the first week or two. Alternately you can use those peat moss seed starter things they sell, the little nuggest that fit into a planting tray. That's not a bad soil mix for 3-4 week+ old plants, once they start showing true leaves and all as well as a good strong root system.
Forget amended soils. Get a good line of nutrients (organics just cost more... the most deadly substances on earth are organic) and a non-fertilized soil. Then you water with a pHed nutrient solution that changes properly based on the stage of the plant. Since you're using CFLs, you're going to need a very light soil. You won't evap off any water from heat, and if you use normal potting soil, your roots wil rot. I was using FoxFarm light warrior, and have since switched to something called coco-not. I assume it has similar properties as coco since it's intended to replace it, but I've never used coco. The light warrior needs to be watered less, but I like how much better the plants in coco-not seemed to grow and they resisted a pH problem I had much better.
My most important question though, how much do you water? I know it depends on the soil but i'm refuring to when you water. Do you totally water until there is water comming through the bottom of the pot or only when you first see signs of water? Do you want water to totally drain through the whole pot? I heard that helps your roots system become strong, but i have also heard thats how you drown your roots.
It should be moist but not damp. Once they are in soil the first top half inch or so should feel fairly dry.
I water til it comes out the bottom and a little sits in the overfill. The water in the overfill tray disappears within 6 hours or so usually. From what I've heard, it doesn't matter if you water a ton at once, just don't water too frequently. The soil can only hold so much water and at some point you're just uselessly dumping it through.
When I do soil in containers, which is rare anymore, I water until it starts to trickle out the bottom. I don't water again until I can stick my finger deeper than about 1/2-3/4" before feeling moistness.
Hey, thanks for the help guys. I think i am going to try a bunch of different things though, and see what works for me. Some plants indoor, some plants outdoor, some with different soil mixes ect. I think thats best, cause after all its a learning experience.
I'm proud of you because that's the answer for the win. If you read 'A Grower's Tale' (link in sig) you'll know my first couple of harvests were hardly perfect. I wasn't born growing top shelf bud; I had to learn the hard way. Back then there was no Internet to go to either.
I did, i read the whole thing, i thought it was an amazing story. but i probably would have actually been better off if i never had internet, and stopped stressing about growing and just treated them like normal plants. Then they probably would have lived. Haha.
Yep. It's a hardy plant. Give it the basic tools for success and it will thrive more often than not. You WILL get there.
Rockwool cubes sitting in kitty litter trays. I hand mix nutes daily and water them by hand as needed. Nute levels vary by feel mostly. This week I was out of town so I premixed a few gallons for my wife and she watered them.
So you don't use fish pumps or water pumps to circulate the nutes? I've only ever seen it done that way, do you water it as much as soil? And.. what kind of nutes do you use?
I aerate by shaking the gallon jug, and sometimes with a little hydrogen peroxide. I water 1 or 2 times a day, so far more often than with soil. Hydroponic growing has existed for far longer than technology such as pumps, etc. All it means is growing in a water medium, with no soil. Rockwool is perfect for my way of doing it because it holds just about the right air/water ratio quite easily.