2 wk old White Widow yellow tips/droopy?

[zlock]

I'll let the following information and pictures do most of the explaining. When I left my house for work about 15 hrs ago it looked a little more droopy, so I gave it a bottle cap full of water. Seemed to perk up a tiny bit but still doesn't look happy, and the tips of the bottom leaves are turning yellow.

How long has this problem been going on? About 2 days
What STRAIN are you growing? Nirvana White Widow
What was the establishing technique? seed
What is the age of your plants? It popped up on 1/25, so 2 weeks 2 days
How long have they been in the soil mixture they are in now? Since a tail poked out of the seed
How Tall are the plants? About an inch
What PHASE (seedling, vegetative or flower) are the plants in? Seedling
What size pots are you using? Bottom of a 16oz water bottle about 2 inches deep
What substrate/medium are you using? What brand of soil mixture are you using? About a 50/50 mix of perlite and Schultz Seed Starter potting soil w/ orange time release fert balls removed (or at least all of them to my knowledge)
What Nutrient's are you using? Brita filtered tap water w/ 1 small drop of Superthrive, pH ~6.6
How much of each nutrient are you using with how much water? 1 drop of Superthrive in a 20oz bottle of water
What method of pH test was administered? Aquarium pH drop test
How often are you watering? 1 to 2 soda bottle cap's full every day roughly
What size bulb are you using? Directly under a 23w 6500k CFL
What is the distance to the canopy? ~1.5 inches
What is your RH Factor? 16%
What is the canopy temperature? ~80*f
What is the Day/Night Temp? 74*-84*
What is the current Air Flow? Two 27 cfm fans
Tell us about your ventilation, intake exhaust and when its running and not running ? two exhaust fans mentioned above, directly across from the CFL's (~1 inch away, on the side of the PC case), passave intake all along opposite side along the bottom, calculated to be just under 2x the area of the exhaust fan holes
Is the fan blowing directly at plants? No
Is the grow substrate constantly wet or moist? Top half inch or so is completely dry before I water, I can feel a little bit of moisture if I move some of the soil away and feel about half an inch down
Is your water HARD or SOFT? Not sure
What water are you using? Reverse Osmosis (RO)? Tap? Bottled? Well water? Distilled? Mineral Water? Tap water through a Brita water purifying filter
Are you using water from a water softener? Assuming thats what a Brita filter is, yes
Has plant been recently pruned, cloned or pinched? No
Have any pest chemicals been used? If so what and when? No
Are plant's infected with pest's? No

 

[10k]

A few points...zlock
your watering technique needs improvement, adding that tiny measured amount daily can cause the medium to develop 'dry pockets' in the soil, giving the root systems a stressful situation developing.

You should have drainage holes cut in the bottoms of those little bottle halfs, and water them so the soil is fully moistened. With that 50/50 perlite mix you have pleanty of drainage. I would water them until it pools slightly at the surface...wait a minute or two for it to soak down, then repeat another pour to get some nice runoff. Pick up the containers before and after you water and you'll see by weight when they're really ready for more watering.

Also, brita filters don't remove sodium from tap water, especially from water softener water, so if you have a softener...then your brita isnt doing anything helpful for your seedlings.

Your soil may also be somewhat hot for cannabis, but you said you tried to remove as much of the osmocoat fert pellets as possible, so maybe it'll be ok. But get the watering sorted...see my link in signature btw.

hth,
10k

 

[zlock]

thanks for the reply man! The reason I've been so cautious with the water is because the last few seedlings I had I somehow killed by overwatering, even though I thought I was giving them enough time to dry out, but you're probably right. This time around theres more perlite in the soil, and yes they've got drainage holes. I'll pick up some distilled water today and once the soil is completley dry again I'll give it a good soak.
Thanks again!

 

[Quiet_Riot]

You shouldn't wait for the soil to completely dry out, that will stress them even further. The top may be allowed to dry out somewhat, and maybe an ½-1 inch downwards.

Give a good watering, let 5-10% of total amount of water given pr. plant, drain off, and they should be good.

An if you don't mind, I'll ecko 10k, in saying the hot soil is something the sweet lil ones dislikes very much. A standard mj-plant can survive without really getting any extra nutes, the first couple of weeks, and sometimes nothing is needed at all for the whole period! Crazy, right? It's a plant and weed, bro Hope this helps you and your babies

 

[zlock]

Thanks man! I'm gonna give her (fingers crossed) a good drink tonight, hopefully she'll pick up the pace!
When a seedling sprouts, should I water like this from the get-go?

 

[Weedninja]

Pretty much. I like to keep seedlings a little on the the dry side to prevent fungal attacks.

 

[zlock]

ok cool. Well I gave the White Widow a good drink last night, as well as two seedlings that sprouted the other day ( Had been giving them the bottle cap treatment too... another White Widow and a Seedsman Purple Bud), they all appear to be happy!

As far as starting the seeds in this soil, would I be better off using peat pucks?

 

[Weedninja]

I like that mix as long as you're confident that you got the ferts out.