Can this plant be saved?

[jack.green]

Hello,
I live in Costa Rica, and am working with the soil and nutrients that are locally available, but I think the soil is quite porous and does not retain much water, anything over 250 ml just drains out of the 3 gallon pot.
This is a closet grow, the lights are a 100w full spectrum and I keep 20 hours of light and 4 hours of darkness to this Afghan Kush Autoflower. Bought seeds from a Spanish website called Ganesh Grow, they were just under $3 per seed.
Humidity in my area ranges between 60%-90% and temperature between 22-30 Celsius.
The following picture is a 35 day old plant, but as you can see it’s stunted. The leaves are curling up in a peculiar way, does anyone know what does this mean?
Thanks!

 

[Creeperpark]

Hello,
I live in Costa Rica, and am working with the soil and nutrients that are locally available, but I think the soil is quite porous and does not retain much water, anything over 250 ml just drains out of the 3 gallon pot.
This is a closet grow, the lights are a 100w full spectrum and I keep 20 hours of light and 4 hours of darkness to this Afghan Kush Autoflower. Bought seeds from a Spanish website called Ganesh Grow, they were just under $3 per seed.
Humidity in my area ranges between 60%-90% and temperature between 22-30 Celsius.
The following picture is a 35 day old plant, but as you can see it’s stunted. The leaves are curling up in a peculiar way, does anyone know what does this mean?
Thanks!

Try putting a drain tray on the bottom to help soak up more water from the bottom. Use the same 250 ml water but put it in the drain tray to be soaked up from the bottom. Be careful not to over-water and cut the oxygen off from the roots.

 

[jack.green]

Try putting a drain tray on the bottom to help soak up more water from the bottom. Use the same 250 ml water but put it in the drain tray to be soaked up from the bottom. Be careful not to over-water and cut the oxygen off from the roots.

Thanks for replying. So you think underwatering is the issue here?

 

[Creeperpark]

Thanks for replying. So you think underwatering is the issue here?

Only if the substrate is too dry after watering. If the soil is too dry it may have too much drainage because the water drains out before the soil can absorb it. Only you can know if it's too wet or too dry.

 

[jack.green]

Only if the substrate is too dry after watering. If the soil is too dry it may have too much drainage because the water drains out before the soil can absorb it. Only you can know if it's too wet or too dry.

Thanks buddy, I’m going to try that today

 

[chronosync]

A thorough soaking of the soil will help eliminate any possible dry pockets in the medium that might not be catching the water and like creeper said, letting some feed run through. Give a good soak until runoff and then bottom feed. Once you know its fully drenched then you can resume your normal drybacks. You will also know the how heavy the containers feel at max saturation. I usually give water when they are half way to dry, based on how heavy they feel.

 

[TanzanianMagic]

Hello,
I live in Costa Rica, and am working with the soil and nutrients that are locally available, but I think the soil is quite porous and does not retain much water, anything over 250 ml just drains out of the 3 gallon pot.
This is a closet grow, the lights are a 100w full spectrum and I keep 20 hours of light and 4 hours of darkness to this Afghan Kush Autoflower.

Humidity in my area ranges between 60%-90% and temperature between 22-30 Celsius.
The following picture is a 35 day old plant, but as you can see it’s stunted. The leaves are curling up in a peculiar way, does anyone know what does this mean?
Thanks!

The plant is getting too much light.

16/8 is all you need for veg, and that's already a lot. It isn't getting enough nutrients and water compared to the light it is exposed to.

Also, you might want to give the plant a light feeding. 500 PPM or 1.0 EC max until flowering.

Other than that, the plant doesn't look like it's dying at all. Just overstressed.

 

[jack.green]

The plant is getting too much light.

16/8 is all you need for veg, and that's already a lot. It isn't getting enough nutrients and water compared to the light it is exposed to.

Also, you might want to give the plant a light feeding. 500 PPM or 1.0 EC max until flowering.

Other than that, the plant doesn't look like it's dying at all. Just overstressed.

Hi, this is an autoflower, not a photoperiod

 

[jack.green]

Only if the substrate is too dry after watering. If the soil is too dry it may have too much drainage because the water drains out before the soil can absorb it. Only you can know if it's too wet or too dry.

Hi, after trying that style of watering, did not see much of a difference
Uprooted her today, and found she has such tiny root structure. At 42 days old, she looks very immature. I wish I could find the reason why.
I’ll just plant her outside and let her take her chances.

 

[Creeperpark]

Hi, after trying that style of watering, did not see much of a difference
Uprooted her today, and found she has such tiny root structure. At 42 days old, she looks very immature. I wish I could find the reason why.
I’ll just plant her outside and let her take her chances.

Friend, I'm sorry you had a setback in this garden. Now that you have told us a few more details it's easy to know your main problem. You need to start your seeds with a high-quality potting mix and never use a subpar or low-grade soil mix. I saw that your soil did not look very good but I didn't want to interfere with your effort. Don't give up friend, find or order some high quality potting soil and start over. We will help better on the next one.

 

[jack.green]

Friend, I'm sorry you had a setback in this garden. Now that you have told us a few more details it's easy to know your main problem. You need to start your seeds with a high-quality potting mix and never use a subpar or low-grade soil mix. I saw that your soil did not look very good but I didn't want to interfere with your effort. Don't give up friend, find or order some high quality potting soil and start over. We will help better on the next one.

Thanks bro, I’m open to learning, please don’t hesitate to comment.
The potting soil I’m using was supposedly a good one, that’s what I was told. Attaching a picture below with the composition of the soil. Also, this is what it’s description says :
“Coffee plantation topsoil mixed with hydroponic compost as well as horse manure and worm castings. Mixed at a neutral acidity with a pH high to a humidity level between 30 and 60.The product belongs to the agricultural sector."
Again re-iterating that I live in Costa Rica (Central America), and we don’t have the potting soil brands that are sold in the USA. I’ve germinated new seeds and will try a different brand of soil this time, cheers.

 

[Creeperpark]

Don't start your seeds or seedlings on a 20/4 photoperiod. Start with a 12/12 photoperiod then add more light as the plant grows. Start in small cups at first to best help manage the water intake. Don't start plants in large containers.

The potting mix above is an Orgainic mix and needs pure rainwater at first for the best results. Weigh the cups dry and write the water weight on top of the cups. When the water weight gets 20 grams to dry weight, it is time to water again. If you weigh your cups you will have 100% success.

When the plant fills the cup, it's time to up-pot into a 1-gallon pot and grow it for a few weeks or a month before going into the last flowering pots. Don't give up and keep us posted.

 

[TanzanianMagic]

Hi, this is an autoflower, not a photoperiod

So?

The physiology of the plant doesn't change just because it has a faulty PRR37 gene.

The plant needs to cool down as well as get light. Plants live because of the light, and do everything else in the dark.

You need to give the plant a nice feed of 500 PPM or 1.0 EC. A little extra phosphorus for root growth like rock phosphate or a relatively high P flowering nutrient.

 

[Phytoplankton]

Hello,
I live in Costa Rica, and am working with the soil and nutrients that are locally available, but I think the soil is quite porous and does not retain much water, anything over 250 ml just drains out of the 3 gallon pot.
This is a closet grow, the lights are a 100w full spectrum and I keep 20 hours of light and 4 hours of darkness to this Afghan Kush Autoflower. Bought seeds from a Spanish website called Ganesh Grow, they were just under $3 per seed.
Humidity in my area ranges between 60%-90% and temperature between 22-30 Celsius.
The following picture is a 35 day old plant, but as you can see it’s stunted. The leaves are curling up in a peculiar way, does anyone know what does this mean?
Thanks!

I'd go with light or heat stress.

 

[jack.green]

So?

The physiology of the plant doesn't change just because it has a faulty PRR37 gene.

The plant needs to cool down as well as get light. Plants live because of the light, and do everything else in the dark.

You need to give the plant a nice feed of 500 PPM or 1.0 EC. A little extra phosphorus for root growth like rock phosphate or a relatively high P flowering nutrient.

lol sorry if I’m missing something, maybe I am wrong. But have you heard of autoflower seeds? They’re produced by cross-breeding regular cannabis with the ruderalis species. And they can handle upto 24 hours of light a day - I still prefer give them 4 hours of darkness a day. That’s why I give the ‘autoflower’ kind 20 hours of light.

 

[TanzanianMagic]

lol sorry if I’m missing something, maybe I am wrong. But have you heard of autoflower seeds? They’re produced by cross-breeding regular cannabis with the ruderalis species. And they can handle upto 24 hours of light a day - I still prefer give them 4 hours of darkness a day. That’s why I give the ‘autoflower’ kind 20 hours of light.

Yes, I've grown several autoflower strains and even cloned them.

Cloning A (Super-) Auto

Last year I cloned a Girlscout Cookies G13 Auto from Flash Seeds branch to increase the yield. First things first: The Medium It was filled with a layer of sand and (paramagnetic) lava rock used in aquarium filters, then loam from a pet shop, then supersoil. The motherplant was...

www.icmag.com

Just because they can handle 24 hours of light, doesn't mean that's what they want.

Think of the plant as a videocard. They want electrity to run, but they also want liquid cooling to stop them from overheating.

And when growing that autoflower plant - the one that got the least light in veg flowered the most.

 

[Creeperpark]

There are a lot more reasons but here are a few reasons to give your plants nighttime.

Plants need darkness for several reasons, including:
Regenerating phytochrome
Plants use phytochrome to regulate many important processes, including seed germination, dormancy, abscission, and photoperiodism. At night, plants need darkness to regenerate phytochrome.

Respiration
During periods of darkness, plants convert stored glucose into energy through respiration, which they use for growth and repair.

Flowering and fruiting
Many plants require a specific amount of uninterrupted darkness to trigger flowering and fruiting.

Predicting seasons
Plants use darkness to track the time of year and predict the changing of seasons. This helps them prepare for cold periods by producing seeds that can ensure the survival of future generations.

Too much light can also be harmful to plants. When plants receive too much direct light, their leaves can burn, turn brown, and die. google

 

[jack.green]

Just because they can handle 24 hours of light, doesn't mean that's what they want.

Yes, that’s what I heard too, and that’s why I did not give them 24 hours of light. Although I can link hundreds of videos from YouTube where people successfully grow autoflowers in 24 hours of light. Yet they don’t get the problem that I’m facing - in spite when I give them only 20 hours of light. Will try 18 hours next time.

I’m guessing the problem in this case was something else. Will continue trying to tinker where I’m going wrong.

 

[•Moby•]

I'd strongly suggest not to repot autoflowers and rather go straight into the final pot like you did.

You don't need to give them less than 24h light, in the end what matters is the DLI in combination with the VPD (search on YouTube if necessary).

The amount of light you give them within 24h in combination with the conditions the plants grow in.

For autoflowers usually the longer the light is on, the more dimmed it should be.
That's not always the case, it strongly depends on how much PPFD the light puts out.

While not 100% accurate, I use the Photone app to get a rough idea of the amount of light (careful the numbers can vary between phone models).

Autoflowers work different than photos and can be treated very differently, what I've seen written here applies to photos tho.

 

[AleisterGrowley666]

Don't start your seeds or seedlings on a 20/4 photoperiod. Start with a 12/12 photoperiod then add more light as the plant grows.

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Thank you for that tip! Makes sense!