First time grower, plant needs help!

[Hgg42]

Hi everyone,

So I've been searching websites on the web for a couple of days and can't make sense of my plant situation.

thing is, this is my first plant and all the way from seed everything was going pretty smoothly..

A little over a week ago I installed a grow tent with led and carbon filter (maybe overkill at this stage) and plant grew further no problem.

Then I went away for the weekend and when. I came back after 2 days it was yellowing and dropping. I got back to watering it twice a day (pot drains quickly) but not much improvement.

See pics attached.

Now can figure out if it is over watered, under watered, light burned, nutrient burned, or what!

Hope you can help.

Cheers

 

[TanzanianMagic]

Then I went away for the weekend and when. I came back after 2 days it was yellowing and dropping. I got back to watering it twice a day (pot drains quickly) but not much improvement.

Without knowing more about the medium, nutrient strength, etc...

Watering twice a day...

How much time does the medium have to dry out? How about trying watering once a day?

Without knowing more about the medium that's hard to tell. There seems to be a lot of perlite in there.

The plants look overwatered/waterlogged. Also, there is a saucer at bottom of the pots.

Also, if the pots are on the ground, the cold of the floor may be locking out nutrients. Just moving them 1 inch above the floor breaks that contact and prevents the issue. I prefer a folded crate, a large upside down saucer, etc.

 

[HempKat]

Hi everyone,

So I've been searching websites on the web for a couple of days and can't make sense of my plant situation.

thing is, this is my first plant and all the way from seed everything was going pretty smoothly..

A little over a week ago I installed a grow tent with led and carbon filter (maybe overkill at this stage) and plant grew further no problem.

Then I went away for the weekend and when. I came back after 2 days it was yellowing and dropping. I got back to watering it twice a day (pot drains quickly) but not much improvement.

See pics attached.

Now can figure out if it is over watered, under watered, light burned, nutrient burned, or what!

Hope you can help.

Cheers

It could be a combination of all three. First off what does the pot drains quickly mean? Drainage is excess water but when the drainage stops it doesn't mean there is necessarily no moisture present in the soil. A plant that size in a pot that size should be able to go with watering every other day or once every third day, twice a day or even once a day is too much unless using something like coco coir which doesn't retain much water. You should have lifted the pot when you first planted but before you watered to get a sense of it's dry weight and how it feels and then you lift the pot every day and hold off watering until it feels almost as light as it did before the first watering. You can get away with overwatering for a while in the beginning without seeing signs because the roots are still shallow and maybe the top of the soil dries out enough that the plant doesn't feel over watered. As the roots grow down into the pot where the build up of moisture is likely to stay the longest, over watering can smother the roots and that's when you'll start seeing the signs.

As far as over fertilization, most soils have enough nutrients in them to sustain a plant for the first 2-3 weeks sometimes longer depending on the quality of the soil. So for those first two weeks you should really have just been giving them plain water until the plant started showing signs of a deficiency (usually nitrogen deficiency with new plants). So if you were giving it nutrients along with the water twice a day then yeah you could have developed a toxicity there and again that's not going to show immediately until the roots work themselves into the soil/ It could also be a ph imbalance which usually looks like a nutrient issue and is a common cause of misdiagnosed plant issues and can easily happen in over watering situations.

As for the light burn I couldn't tell for sure from the photos but it did look like there was some there. I don't know how well you read up on proper use of LED lighting but there is a common mistake people make. LED's need less power and so they give off less heat and with normal lights less heat often means you can move the lights a bit closer. With LED's though even though there is less heat created the intensity is still high and it's the intensity of the light that causes light burning aka light bleaching. Now I've yet to use LED's so I'm no expert but from what I've seen from people who have some expertise with LED's you actually need to have them further away them normal lights and often with reduced power if the light has a dimmer switch, at least with young plants. Then over time as the plant gets used to it you can gradually increase power and decrease distance.

 

[Creeperpark]

Watering it twice a day is the problem.

 

[Mars Hydro Led]

The leaves are dropping. seems like over watered. And some leaves are yellow, seems like nutrient burn. Good luck for the grow.

 

[Hgg42]

Many thanks all.

I was afraid of slowing water and make problem worse (i.e. if light burn)

So I will try with less water for sure and see how it goes for next couple of days.

I will also lift it an inch as suggested.

Question about water, ok frequency is a big factor but what about quantity per session?

Should I water a small amount per session or plenty and then leave it alone for a couple of days?

Thanks!

 

[Hgg42]

So the medium. What I've been advised by a general gardener was to put some dry clay balls and felt at the bottom to help drain quickly and it is effective, seems most water go through in minutes (maybe soil saturated)

Maybe that left me with too little soil?

​​​​​

 

[f-e]

The timeline is interesting. It sounds like the tent has never worked?

How did they make it through the 2 days holiday. Did you stand them in water.

It looks like excessive watering, and very cold.

What temp/RH do you have?




Freshly filled is your dry weight, and you just water enough for one day. For now, let it dry back to how if was when you first filled it, then maintain that weight, not the fully watered weight. Once the plant is growing well, a days worth of water in one application will become impossible as you reach runoff. That is bigger pot time.
Let me put some numbers to that.. I spy, with my little eye, a pot that probably weighs about 1kg when filled from the bag. That is your dry weight. The weight when filled with dirt from the bag. You may wish to get your kitchens out and fill a pot to get this weight.
I reckon that's using 100g (100ml) of water a day. I would of potted up, and got it on the kitchens (scales) to see this 1kg, and added 150g of water. I would of then weighed again a day later (see:every hour excessively). I would expect to see 1050g after that 24h. Telling me the daily consumption is 100g (100ml) So I would be happy watering to 1150g again. Knowing the next day, I would still be 50g away from dry. You don't want to go below that 1kg or to water with more than a days worth. That 1kg pot might weigh 1.5kg at run off. That is 5 days worth of water. Pot plants don't like sitting in water like that. They like regular fresh drinks, that keep them on the dry side of things. As the plant grows, you will find that watering to 1150g leaves you below 1050g at the next days weigh in. So the 150g per day needs increasing to 200g. You are literally weighing how much water they used yesterday, to see what they want tomorrow. After 7-10 days you might find you are using 300g a day. This 1kg pot will likely run-off around 1.5kg so at this time you can afford to water a full 500g to get a little run-off. Knowing that it's going to be 1200g the next day, which is dry enough to of got some air in before it was too late.

Some people find weighing makes guesswork a science. Meaning they don't need green fingers. I'm in little square 7cm pots today. Dry weight 140g and run-off 220g and they are drinking about 70g so I'm able to water to runoff without drowning them for days. When I first potted up into these, I was on 20g a day. Now at 70g, I really need to pot up to be able to hold a days water. Very soon I will find my 220g max, will be 140g the next day. Where my plants will be unhappy with me.

Your temperature is a big part of how quick it can dry down. Which it really wants to do.

 

[Hgg42]

The timeline is interesting. It sounds like the tent has never worked?

How did they make it through the 2 days holiday. Did you stand them in water.

It looks like excessive watering, and very cold.

What temp/RH do you have?




Freshly filled is your dry weight, and you just water enough for one day. For now, let it dry back to how if was when you first filled it, then maintain that weight, not the fully watered weight. Once the plant is growing well, a days worth of water in one application will become impossible as you reach runoff. That is bigger pot time.
Let me put some numbers to that.. I spy, with my little eye, a pot that probably weighs about 1kg when filled from the bag. That is your dry weight. The weight when filled with dirt from the bag. You may wish to get your kitchens out and fill a pot to get this weight.
I reckon that's using 100g (100ml) of water a day. I would of potted up, and got it on the kitchens (scales) to see this 1kg, and added 150g of water. I would of then weighed again a day later (see:every hour excessively). I would expect to see 1050g after that 24h. Telling me the daily consumption is 100g (100ml) So I would be happy watering to 1150g again. Knowing the next day, I would still be 50g away from dry. You don't want to go below that 1kg or to water with more than a days worth. That 1kg pot might weigh 1.5kg at run off. That is 5 days worth of water. Pot plants don't like sitting in water like that. They like regular fresh drinks, that keep them on the dry side of things. As the plant grows, you will find that watering to 1150g leaves you below 1050g at the next days weigh in. So the 150g per day needs increasing to 200g. You are literally weighing how much water they used yesterday, to see what they want tomorrow. After 7-10 days you might find you are using 300g a day. This 1kg pot will likely run-off around 1.5kg so at this time you can afford to water a full 500g to get a little run-off. Knowing that it's going to be 1200g the next day, which is dry enough to of got some air in before it was too late.

Some people find weighing makes guesswork a science. Meaning they don't need green fingers. I'm in little square 7cm pots today. Dry weight 140g and run-off 220g and they are drinking about 70g so I'm able to water to runoff without drowning them for days. When I first potted up into these, I was on 20g a day. Now at 70g, I really need to pot up to be able to hold a days water. Very soon I will find my 220g max, will be 140g the next day. Where my plants will be unhappy with me.

Your temperature is a big part of how quick it can dry down. Which it really wants to do.

Omg this was so helpful! I feel much more confident I can get this right now.

I live in Brazil Southern area so it gets hot but specifically this month it's kind of chill around 60F / 15 Celsius.
Many thanks f-e I will post here how it goes.

 

[Devoted2rolling]

I recommend this product

 

[f-e]

Bro-phyll lol

 

[HempKat]

Many thanks all.

I was afraid of slowing water and make problem worse (i.e. if light burn)

So I will try with less water for sure and see how it goes for next couple of days.

I will also lift it an inch as suggested.

Question about water, ok frequency is a big factor but what about quantity per session?

Should I water a small amount per session or plenty and then leave it alone for a couple of days?

Thanks!

Generally you water just enough to where you start to see some drainage. Once you see drainage that's an indication the soil can't hold any more fluids. You also don't necessarily have to water continuously until you see drainage sometimes especially with larger pots it takes a minute or two to work thru the soil and out the drain. You do want to wait for the drainage though because if it fills up the drainage pan back up to the drainage hole that can still leave the plant feeling over watered. Even if it doesn't reach the drain it's still not a great idea to leave water just sitting in the drain pan. That can lead to mold and/or mildew. As I said before if you fully water it like I just described, with a plant and pot that size you probably won't need to water it for a day or two in between waterings. You still need to check daily though because as the plant grows bigger you'll still be giving it about the same volume of water each time but the root ball will grow too and will consume that water quicker. If you ever reach the point where it feels completely dry and needing water each day that's a fair sign the plant is getting rootbound and might need transplanting to a bigger pot.

On transplanting it's best to limit that just to the veg cycle, when you switch it to flower you really want to avoid transplanting again if you can help it. I would usually find in my experiences that after a full veg period (about 8 weeks my plants would be starting to get close to being root bound so I would transplant to a bigger pot and then flip to 12/12 for the flowering phase and leave it in that bigger pot for all of flowering. Usually after about a month of flowering you don't get much more root development so transplanting usually isn't needed. The reason to avoid transplanting in flower is there is a brief period where the plant will be in shock and not grow much. It's okay if that shock is just at the beginning of flower because the first 3 weeks is what's known as the stretch phase and for many growers the stretch phase ends up making the plants grow to close to the lights and where the lights can't be raised any more. If something slows the stretch down a bit and keep the plants slightly shorter that usually works in the indoor growers favor. After the stretch phase though that's when the buds form and fatten and so you don't want anything slowing growth down at that point.

 

[HempKat]

The timeline is interesting. It sounds like the tent has never worked?

How did they make it through the 2 days holiday. Did you stand them in water.

It looks like excessive watering, and very cold.

What temp/RH do you have?




Freshly filled is your dry weight, and you just water enough for one day. For now, let it dry back to how if was when you first filled it, then maintain that weight, not the fully watered weight. Once the plant is growing well, a days worth of water in one application will become impossible as you reach runoff. That is bigger pot time.
Let me put some numbers to that.. I spy, with my little eye, a pot that probably weighs about 1kg when filled from the bag. That is your dry weight. The weight when filled with dirt from the bag. You may wish to get your kitchens out and fill a pot to get this weight.
I reckon that's using 100g (100ml) of water a day. I would of potted up, and got it on the kitchens (scales) to see this 1kg, and added 150g of water. I would of then weighed again a day later (see:every hour excessively). I would expect to see 1050g after that 24h. Telling me the daily consumption is 100g (100ml) So I would be happy watering to 1150g again. Knowing the next day, I would still be 50g away from dry. You don't want to go below that 1kg or to water with more than a days worth. That 1kg pot might weigh 1.5kg at run off. That is 5 days worth of water. Pot plants don't like sitting in water like that. They like regular fresh drinks, that keep them on the dry side of things. As the plant grows, you will find that watering to 1150g leaves you below 1050g at the next days weigh in. So the 150g per day needs increasing to 200g. You are literally weighing how much water they used yesterday, to see what they want tomorrow. After 7-10 days you might find you are using 300g a day. This 1kg pot will likely run-off around 1.5kg so at this time you can afford to water a full 500g to get a little run-off. Knowing that it's going to be 1200g the next day, which is dry enough to of got some air in before it was too late.

Some people find weighing makes guesswork a science. Meaning they don't need green fingers. I'm in little square 7cm pots today. Dry weight 140g and run-off 220g and they are drinking about 70g so I'm able to water to runoff without drowning them for days. When I first potted up into these, I was on 20g a day. Now at 70g, I really need to pot up to be able to hold a days water. Very soon I will find my 220g max, will be 140g the next day. Where my plants will be unhappy with me.

Your temperature is a big part of how quick it can dry down. Which it really wants to do.

f-e is making an excellent point here, many growers will start off in much smaller pots and transplant up one time as they get bigger and once again just before flower, increasing the pot size gradually. If you start out with a pot big enough to finish in and water to runoff/drainage, that could complicate things and potentially lead to issues. By increasing the pot size as the plants grow you can then water to runoff/drainage yet avoid potential problems.

Also if you can use a scale rather then the lift method that does take a lot of the guess work out of it. Growers will quickly learn how to tell if it needs water just by lifting but for someone new it can be a little tricky until you get the "feel" for it.