Bad Soil Stunted Growth

[emmy75]

This is the situation

i purchased some Super Soil because its steralized and pest free. This is its makeup:

forest products, including fir bark and rewood, canadian sphagnum peat moss and clean sand.

Guaranteed analysis
Total Nitrogen= .14%
Available Phosphate= .09%
Soluble Potash= .02%
Iron= .25%

Derived from potasium nitrate, triple superphosphate, calcium nitrate, ureaform ferrous sulfate, dried poultry waste, feathermeal, alfalfa meal, kelp meal

Unfortuantely my plants after 4 weeks are only 3 inches tall. SAD.
so i went out and purchased my bag of organic soil called Whitney Farms Life Link.

Aged and processed softwood bark and sawdust, sphagnum peat moss, perlite, pumice, composted animal manuers, bat guano, worm castings, dried poultry waste, blood meal, feather meal, bone meal, sulfate of potash, kelp meal, dolmite lime may be added as a ph adjuster.

I have two plants, one already transplanted in the organic soil. I kept the roots in tact by keeping the old soil around the roots. its been 4 days since i transplanted and there is no change. i have the patience but i wondering what to expect and how long before i see a pick me up in the transplanted sapling.

so im going to transplant the second tonight. should i remove as much of the old soil as possible and if so how to do this without killing the plant? also what, if anything, can i add that will perk up these plants and expedite the growing process? all organic from now so all help and advice will be appreciated.

 

[Dignan]

Sorry for your trouble. Is there a reason you've decided the stunted growth is due to the soil and not some other factor?

peace-

Dig

 

[emmy75]

i think the stunted growth is due to the soil because ive seen plants from NL after 28 days and that plant is big and beautiful. also even plants that are not of the same strain have grown bigger than mine. my saplings are literally 3 inches tall and have produced two leaves maybe 1.5 inches in diamater across the two leaves. i have one 400w mh lamp hanging 24 inches above. there is no new growth 4 weeks after sprouting. i have one fan on 24/7 oscillating and i leave my windows open every nite for about 2 hours to ventilate properly. my growing room is 12x12

 

[sproutco]

The super soil had soluble ferts in it. So after just a few waterings, they are leached/removed from the soil. They are in there to give transplants a little boost not to depend on for a month. They also lacked magnesium so a little epsom salts at planting might have been good.

 

[NOKUY]

Unfortuantely my plants after 4 weeks are only 3 inches tall.

I have two plants, one already transplanted in the organic soil.

I kept the roots in tact by keeping the old soil around the roots. its been 4 days since i transplanted and there is no change.

where did your seeds come from? (not that it matters that much)

My opinion is that you have (2) runts.

most peeps on here will probably agree...you have only 2 plants so you def. have a chance to have both be runts...plus you say they have enough of a root structure to hold onto the dirt (so they ARE maturing).....just not goin anywhere.....thats a runt.

w/ 400 watts MH you could "generally" grow bigger plants in a month in anything....so I doubt its the soil....but that may be a small part of the issue.

Runts arent always bad....my best plant ever was a runt...it didnt do shit until I flowered everything, and i hung onto it out of pitty...it showed up everything else in the garden....then I re-vegged...made it a mom... and cloned it for a cpl years.

heres a pic of what was once a runt:





good luck bro
-yukon

 

[NOKUY]

BTW...why only 2 plants in such a large space w/ 400 watts?

just seems like such a waste of watts and space.... I'd either cram way more plants in there, or cut my grow down about by about 75%

 

[emmy75]

well i bought my seeds from kind seed co in vancouver, bc. i transplanted both into organic medium. both have very good root structure. im just going to leave them alone and see what happens. why am i growing only 2 plants? cause its my first grow and its only for my own needs. maybe a waste of space but my cat is the only one who hates it cause he cant go into my extra room anymore.

 

[JackTheGrower]

They could die nonetheless.

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If a young plant has some problems from an initial soil; transplanting a "stunted" plant into a different soil environment may not help IMO.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

[minds_I]

Hello all,

It is my experience that breaking up the rootball slightly is a benificial thing. You must be gentle. I use a plastic tub that I remove the plant into from the pot. While the plant and rootball/soilball are laying on its side in the tub, I gently tap and massage until the old soil starts to fall away. Taking great care to not break any roots. I like to wait till they almost need water before I start to transplant.

Anyway, if roots are growing and the top of the plant is not its just preparing for a growth spurt. Give the first one a day or two longer. On the next transplant, I suggest gently breaking up the rootball.

Also, I have noticed tremendous root/foliag growth since I started using mycorrhizae(sp) in my organic soil.

Good luck and great grows to you,

minds_I

 

[Dan42nepa]

why dont you start a few more seeds in the new soil? if you only have two plants they could both end up males anyway. maybe sprout them in very small containers.. mix the supersoil with your new soil and perlite if you are concerned about the nutes. Because of the size.. either way they could maybe catch up anyway. I know my NL plants need a lite soil.. that was a tip from the breeder.

 

[Suby]

Both those soil mixes sound too heavy in ferts and such for seedlings if they are used pure.
I start seedlings in a mix of perlite and vermiculite with a handfull of soil or EWC sometimes and put them in a plastic cup, that gets them to about 4"-6" and this is done under fluros.
I think you are also using too much light try fluros until you see new growth, too much is often just like not enough in this case.

S

Follow MI's tecnique for transplanting, he knows his shit.

 

[Smurf]

Maybe a good idea would be to check your pH run-off, assuming that it's good to start off with....... what about your fresh air flow (C02), have you got plenty of that circulating past your plants, are they inside? Just trying to be systematic about the problem. Gee I hate 'one hit wonder soils'.

 

[emmy75]

smurf, yea ventilation is good. i have an oscillating fan on 24/7 and at night i leave my windows open for a couple of hours. i transplanted one plant into whitney farms organic soil and after one week there is finally some new growth.

interestingly enough a post at another forum site thinks that these little guys have nute burn. is that a possibility? that supersoil has too much nute in it for seedlings to grow properly in. i dunno

 

[emmy75]

opps sorry suby u suggested nute burn also. i didnt read carefully.

 

[Suby]

np

i'm married i'm used to being ignored lol.

EDIT I've grown seedlings in practically only 10-20% soil with the rest being perlite and vermiculite and not had a mag def or any other def at the stage your at.

 

[sproutco]

I think the little seedlings sat and starved for a month including lack of magnesium cause there's no dolomite lime listed in the ingredients or other mag source. All those ferts in the old soil were water soluble. This means that after just a few waterings, they are mostly gone. After a month, well, the seedlings were living on water.

 

[Smurf]

LOL - That's a good one Suby....... "i'm married i'm used to being ignored" .........the other defining point of marriage is the fact that paralysis sets in from the waist down! lol

I think it's too soon for mg deficiencies, but more like nute lock out due to pH levels or C02 levels being depleted.......... is there anything else growing in the room? Could the air be tainted? Maybe your cat peed on them emmy. lol

 

[Dignan]

It doesn't sound like this is the problem in your case, but I see it each year when winter rolls around..... if your soil/root mass is too cold, seedlings will stunt and turn lime green color. Too cold for the soil temps, IMO, is anything under 70 F (at the seedling stage).

 

[Dan42nepa]

got to watch those cats.. I have a kitten who is dying to get in my closet.. think its the mylar.. I actually had to put chicken wire half way up the doorway to keep him out.. He already ruined a few pots of soil by thinking they were his litter box. Even screened out i shut the door because he can be ingenious.

 

[emmy75]

thanks to everybody for their input. it seems it was the soil because a week after transplanting into whitney farms the plant has finally taken on some new and significant growth. the other plant was transplanted two days ago, it should be another 4 days or so for that one to catch up. both are now in very good, organic potting soil. to boot all other growing conditions are at normal levels. in fact the last month ive had to turn on my a/c to cool down my growing room. its been in the low 80's in LA so with the heat of the lamp my growing room was getting up to the high 80's low 90's without the a/c. humidity is around 40.

bwt Dan those cats can be pesky. my cat cant stand the fact that he cant go in my growing room. it drives him crazy and hes so curious to see what im hiding in there.
but i just shut the door and lock it and he stays out.