my week and a half old plant has a few yellow leaves. they have two sets of leaves right now.. the first set of fan leaves and the rounder leaves that first appear. the yellow is contained to the round leaves (sorry not sure of name of these leaves). can anyone tell me what might be causing this? i am pretty sure it is not over or underwatering (although i could be wrong), are there other things i should check? ph is 6.8, they are on a 24 hour light cycle. the only thing that i could think of may be the temp. it is around 75 daytime to 60 night. thanks in advance.
I had the same problem my first cople of attempts. I have found so far, that ph is generally unimportant, and I know that that is an innacurate statement, but if you buy a balanced ph soil, and use dehumidifier water as i do, you maintain a neautral ph. The important information, is.... what are you using for lighting (bulbs and schedules), feeding (schedules...ferts), How did you germinate the seeds? These are some important factors.
Ok, upon further inspection, i find you've answered one of my questions already. I don't reccomend 24 hrs of light. This allows for little root development (which happens at night, and last years indoor pumpkins under 24 hrs of light will agree) You need at least 6 hrs of night to develop healthy roots. Still... answer my previous questions for further speculation.
If your plants are only a week and a half old from seed and they are already starting to turn yellow, then my guess is your soil has nutes in it which are starting to burn the plants. Your night time temp of 60 is also a little cold but probably unrelated.
VTEC, I started my plants out in peat pellets. I think they last like two weeks. Then I transplanted into a 2/3 soil mix with trace slow release nutes, and 1/3 soilless seed starting mix. I expereienced no burning, and even to date, my plants are healthy. Do you think maybe once plants are established they can handle a low nute soil? Maybe fluke? I've only heard hate for slow release, but I've used another slow release fertilizer aside from the soil with good results. I think that the key is to use like 1/6 strenght slow release, with 1/4 strength all purpose, and side dress organically. For vegetative growth anyway. What do you think?
Yes if they are established i.e. sexually mature, they could probably handle slow release ferts. However, what if you are done flowering and the slow release ferts are not done releasing? Your buds will taste home grown with that nutrient taste. I would just stay away from slow release ferts in all cases when growing weed. Use that stuff for your vegatables.
That's the only piece of convincing evidence against slow release ferts that ive ever heard. It's logical. What about regular flushing and a deep deep flush 3 weeks prior to harvest and stopping fertilization, wouldn't that eliminate excess ferts?
Thanks for the help so far. I haven't used any nutes yet and the soil i got doesn't have any slow release in it either (my friend works at the garden shop and we checked and rechecked all the available soils. so i think i could eliminate that. (yes?) the germmination proposition got my attention. these were just bag seeds that i threw in a pot that i had a spider plant in. I noticed that i had two plants growing within a week so i transplanted them to their own little pots. they both had a bit of stretch because they were getting only sunlight from a window. one of them i planted the roots only about 1/2 onch into the ground and it is doing well. the second i tried planting maybe 1 1/2 inches into the soil to compensate for the stretch. this is the one that is yellow. maybe this could be the prob? thanks again. I tried posting a pic but can't quite figure it out. maybe later.
Uploading Pictures: Before you upload pictures you need to make sure they are the correct size. To resize pictures go to Paint (loaded on with Windows) and select the picture you wish to resize. Then click "image" then "stretch Skew" and resize at 10% increments. Don't forget to hit "save". Then click the reply button at the bottom of the thread you want to load the pictures on to and go to the bottom where it says "manage attachments". You can then upload the pictures you want. If your soil is free of nutes I don't know why the leaves would be yellow so soon. Check the soil pH. It should be between 6.2-6.8.
Yeah, I would reccomend putting the seedlings in a south facing window for the strongest 12 hrs of daylight. Then I'd stick em under a 26 watt cfl for 4-6 hours. Then I'd let em sleep for 6-8 hrs. Repeat following a 24 hr cycle. For a faster grow, skip the windowsill and just use a cfl. For healthier slower growing plants use the above reccomendations I would also reccommend washing pots out with a 5% bleach solution before begginning. I don't think that the depth you planted at is a factor.\ You can transplant right up to just below the first set of leaves. In fact it's beneficial. Any live growth submersed in soil will sprout more roots, leading to a healthier plant. Don't let the leaves touch the soil however. You may contract a soil borne disease. What are you watering with? try not to use tapwater. Use dehumidifier water, or collect rainwater. At last resort, let tapwater sit out overnight to allow harmful additives to evaporate. I think that the lack of proper germination is what screwed you over here. Here's how to do it properly: Seeds from a seed bank are generally good. Try to get feminized seeds. Although costly, they will save you money in the end. If you use random bagseed, which is fine, remember, generally speaking, the better the weed you find the seed in, the better the seed. Try not to use tiny seeds, generally the bigger, the better For the first phase You'll need: some seeds, a plastic baggie, Toilet paper, purified water. (collect dehumidifier water, rain water, or allow a cup of tap water to sit overnight) (Tap water contains harmful additives which will evaporate upon sitting) Steps (respective to pictures) 1. Wash your hands. Lay your seeds out on a table. Press down on each seed with your thumb, just to the point where your thumb hurts. If it cracks, it was no good to start. Smoke the bad ones,(it's a strange sensation) and continue with the good. 2.a)Take some toilet paper and tear out four connected sheets. b)Rip them in half so that you have a set of 2 connected sheets. c)Fold each set in half so that you have 2 pieces, the size of 1 3. Wash your hands. a)Dip your hand into the water and sprinkle water onto one of the pieces of TP. Get it kinda moist. b) spread the seeds out on the sheet, sprinkle a little, and cover with the other piece of TP, and repeat the sprinkling. Sprinkle until it's pretty moist. now press the two moist sheets together lightly, sandwhiching the seeds. 4. Put the Sheet ina plastic bag, seal, and put in a dark warm location. Check the moisture every 12 hrs. Keep em moist. 5. Look for cracking of seeds and the protusion of taproots. This could take from 24 hrs to 2 weeks. Check often, along with your moisture patrol. Sorry there's no pics, I'm just starting to write up a seed guide. This was the first part, And u're all the first to get a preview. Your Welcome. lol
And next Phase Two - Seedlings You'll need expanding Peat pellets (widely available Home hardware, walmart etc) Your germinated seeds purified water (see phase one) tweezers Steps (Respective to pictures) 1. Heat your water, stovetop works Just get it warm, not too hot. Pour it slowly over the peat pellets until they finish expanding. 2. forge a small hole in the center of each pellet, set aside some of the soil to cover the seed with. 3. Using the tweezers, never fingers, put seeds, white-root-down one per hole, and cover with 1/4-1/2 inch of the peat. 4. Water them a little. 5. Place them in a dark warm location and keep them moist. Look for small white plants emerging with two small round leaves. This should take 1-6 days. After each plant emerges, and you can see the false round leaves, put em under light.
dude u still havent answered the question up top... Is it the cotyledons?? Ie the little round leaves that are the first to appear. You could be worrying for nothing.
thanks smknvtech for the info on the attachments. and to you too thecloset on the germination. i knew that i didn't do it correctly but i had some plants i figured i might as well grow them. the first pic is of the problem plant, the second is of my 2 plants (the one on the right is doing well) and the third is my thrown together vegging room. I have 4 26w cfls and a fan going 24/7. i think i will change to a 18/6 cycle tomorrow.
grateful33, as I suspected earlier your baby's are in time release fertilized soil. See the blue ball in the soil of your troubled plant? Your plants are starting to get over fertilized. Flushing is futile because there are some balls that are deep down that have not blown yet. Transplant to some different soil, free of nutes, ASAP.
i never noticed them. there is nothing on the bag about it and that pisses me off. what a waste. can you recommend any soils free of nutes so that i don't do this by accident again. like i said before my buddy and i checked to make sure of this problem (which i was aware of) yet it still happened. the bag said "organic" so i figured that it didnt deal with any type of nutes.
get an organic seeding mix. My bag is made by home gardener. I got it at home depot. Better yet. Use peat pellets. Once the roots poke out the sides, you plant the whole thing. You can get 20 for two bucks at home hardware or walmart. Then when the roots do pop out put them in an organic, soilless, soil in a plantable peat pot. When the roots poke out the bottom you plant the whole thing. You can get 6 peat pots at home hardware for two bucks. After that you should be using a large, permanent plastic pot.