Why does this keep happening?? HELP PLEASE

Discussion in 'Growing Marijuana Indoors' started by Julious, Jan 10, 2013.

  1. So my past two attempts at growing have failed due to what seems like the same reason; any and all help is appreciated.

    Here's the specs

    I have a cab made out of two rubbermaid containers. Lights are 23w 5000k CFLs with one being 6500k. The top of the container has a reflector. I have two passive intake holes on either side of the cab and a pc fan for exhaust.
    The temperature is maintained between 74-80F. The light schedule is 18/6.

    I started the seeds off in paper towels then transferred them to small containers filled with about 50/50 coir and perlite. Gave them water that's been pH'd to about 6.

    What has happened both time is that the plants grow great up until the first jagged leaves start growing. They seem to stop growing the. Slowly close up their leaves. I thought i had too many lights on them my first try but this time i only used 2 23w CFLs and the same thing is starting to happen.

    This most recent occasion the seedlings were doing fine but i noticed them stretching for the light so i turned on a third CFL so i had 2 5000k and 1 6500k. They kept stretching so i just brought them closer to the light. Today when i checked on them 2 had bent over. All of them are starting to show sign of closing their leaves back up.

    Sorry for the wordiness, but any ideas?

    This is the best they looked
    image-1875660.jpg
    image-2132286254.jpg

    This is present
    image-1766246382.jpg
    image-1815132876.jpg

    The best looking two
    image-3118918487.jpg

    They look light burnt but they're a good foot and a half away from the light and have been stretching. I read about people putting CFLs a few inches away from their plants and be fine.

    Any help is tremendously appreciated, this is so frustrating :mad:
     
  2. You can really see how much the leaves closed.
    image-2641808385.jpg

    The bottle cap was a crutch for the little guy but ending up being a bending point :/
     
  3. What are they growing in for a soil?

    J
     
  4. My immediate thoughts without further information is that the issue is one of two things -

    1. They are in a poor quality soil, such as Miracle Grow
    2. The soil they are in does not drain and they are drowning

    J
     
  5. They're just in coir and perlite
     
  6. Hmm interesting cor and perlite should be a fine medium thats what i use. Did you flush the coir and perilite real good atleast once? Could be a bad batch of stuff. Also hows the humidity in your space? I like to throw in a wet rag and mist seedlings once or twice, same may tell you not to but ive had really good results with this. Also are the seed casings coming off easily?

    Also edit your coir looks to be not great quality, i see no reason why you cant grow in it though. Is the coir draining okay?
     
  7. No i've never flushed it. Do you think that could be it? Should i flush it with tap water or pH'd water?

    The humidity is steady around 50-60%

    Yeah none of the casings stuck to the plant as it was sprouting.

    Yeah it seems to drain just fine, doesn't get soggy but stays moist.
     
  8. That soil looks a bit weird... How often are you watering them?
     
  9. probably overwatering, you should only be giving them water (and no nutrients) every 3-5 days. They're barely using anything right now and it takes a long time for a small cup to evaporate off, so watering too frequently will just drown them

    btw, the soil drainage is probably fine, but those cups sure aren't... no holes I can see??
     
  10. is that standing water in the tray too?
     
  11. I've only watered them twice since i've put the germinated seeds in the soil. There are drainage holes on the bottoms of the cups and are not sitting in water.
     
  12. You shouldn't need to water them twice at that stage - however if its only twice it shouldn't kill them.

    Light can get through those cups which will kill roots. Still not a cause though at that size I reckon... One for a guru to answer methinks, I'm stumped!
     
  13. I am wondering about your lights. Can you go into more detail about them?

    I would like to know how many CFLs you are using and how far above the plant they are.
     
  14. #14 moshi1ry, Jan 10, 2013
    Last edited by a moderator: Jan 10, 2013
    Yes please flush the coir thats always good practice even with high quality coco. What brand coir are you using?

    Edit also another piece of advice i see your coir is lower than your container. Its a good idea always to cover the stalk up if it starts stretching for any reason. Also helps to maintain good air flow so no nasty molds happen. Also flushing perilite is a good idea as well. If you can get your ph closer to 5.8 that would be a little more ideal for coco but 6 is fine.
     
  15. Right now i only have two 23w CFLs about a foot and a half away from the plants. They're both 5000k
     
  16. Should i use water that has a pH of 5.8 to flush it?
     
  17. Oh and the brand is cocotek
     
  18. Wow foot and a half away thats definitely a problem. Even when there small 1 cfls and keeping it 2-3 inches away is perfect.
     
  19. Yep flush your medium always a good precaution to take. Is the runoff nasty looking? cocotek should be a good brand.
     
  20. Yeah it's a little brown. Should i flush the plants now? Will they recover from all the water?
     

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