Help please

[GuerrillaRed]

I'm really disappointed that I'm having to post here but my plants are having issues.

My plants really haven't been growing very well. When I compare the pics of my plants to other people who are in Day 20 of vegging my plants look horrible. They're still very small, don't seem to be growing, and don't look happy. They're also developing yellowish brownish leafs and seemed to have stalled or stopped growing. A few of them are also beginning to droop. I'll give it a couple more days but I they're fucked

SOIL:

How long has this problem been going on? About a week now

What STRAIN are you growing? Bagseed and Skunkberry

What was the establishing technique? (seed or clone?) Seed

What is the age of your plants? 21 days veg

How long have they been in the soil mixture they are in now? 2 days (I transplated yesterday

How Tall are the plants? About four inches

What PHASE (seedling, vegetative or flower) are the plants in? veg

What Technique are you using? (SOG, SCROG etc) Just trying to grow

What size pots are you using? (Include how many subjects to pot) 1 gallon now

What substrate/medium are you using? What brand of soil mixture are you using?(percentage of perlite, vermiculite...etc?) Originally 25% FFOF 25% FF Happy From Soil Conditioner 30% Coco Coir 20% Perlite Since transplating they're in 50% FF Happy Frog 25% COCO COIR and 25% Perlite

What Nutrient's are you using? Superthrive, Rootzyme, A couple of drops of Flora Micro. Been flushing with plain PH-balanced water for the last few days though

How much of each nutrient are you using with how much water? A couple drops from a eyedropper of each

How often are you feeding? None yet

If flowering, when did you switch over to using Bloom nutrients?
What order are you mixing your nutrients? (example: veg nutes 1st, bloom 2nd ect)

What is the TDS/EC/PPM of your nutrients used? No idea

What is the pH of the "RUN-OFF"? 6.2 to 7.0 (6.2 to 6.3 for six plants and 7.0 for two others)

What method of pH test was administered? Using Strips? pH pen? Using a PH Pen on the water run off

How often are you watering? About every day

When was your last feeding and how often are you feeding? About a week ago, not anymore.

What size bulb are you using? A 125 watt 6500k flouro and 3 23 watt flouros

What is the distance to the canopy? The 125 watt is about 12 inches and the 23 watt flouros are about a couple inches away.

What is your RH Factor? (Relative Humidity) 39% to 50%

What is the canopy temperature? 75 - 82 degrees
What is the Day/Night Temp? (Include fluctuation range) 73-80 degrees

What is the current Air Flow? (cfm etc.) Don't know

Tell us about your ventilation, intake exhaust and when its running and not running ? I have a regular oscilating fan blowing air in and a regular box fan sucking air out

Is the fan blowing directly at plants? The osciliating fan is

Is the grow substrate constantly wet or moist? I try to keep it moist but it dry out fast

Is your water HARD or SOFT? I don't know

What water are you using? Reverse Osmosis (RO)? Tap? Bottled? Well water? Distilled? Mineral Water? Tap

Are you using water from a water softener? No

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? I don't think so

 

[10k]

I read your entire grow thread on these plants. Outside of the fact that you choose a pretty hot soil mix for sprouting your seedlings, I can tell you with absolute confidence, you have been over watering the hell out of them since day one.

For a while they were looking fairly ok when they were still in the small planters, but they were starting to show problems. At first you were watering every other day to run-off and spraying the top of the soil on the 'off days' to keep it moist. This is a horrible practice in a soil medium and keeps the soil in a way too moist condition all the time, which never really allows the root system to get adequate air (or any drying cycle).

Having that too wet condition all the time causes rot system stress which leads to the root system never really trying to reach out and grow healthy. Then you transplanted them into bigger planters during this stressful period and it has had an effect of furthering the too wet conditions. The tiny size and flat out stall in their growth is the result of suffering a very stressful life of being cared for too closely.

The last post of your thread, you said that you were going to try hydro dwc instead because of the frustration this soil attempt is causing for you. In some ways hydroponics can be easier and certainly faster plant growth wise, I agree. But soil is very forgiving too if you practice a little patience and don't try too hard loving the babies to death. Don't feel offended by my comments, everyone screws up their first grows, it's part of the initiation into herb parenthood so to speak heh heh heh.

So please try again GR. New sprouts will outgrow those sickly stunted runts in no time flat if you :
Get rid of that "germination station" dome thing. Set aside the spray bottle. Germinate the seeds in small dixie cups of "seed starter mix" with a little perlite mixed in, then pot them up to 12 oz beer cups after they're looking about twice as big as the sprouts you have now. with a small percentage of your ffof mixed with mostly seed starter mix plus about 20% perlite. Then after they've gotten used to the larger beer cups you can pot up to 1 gallon pots until they're about a foot tall and getting bushy. Then pot up to three gallon planters with the ff mix similar to what you're now using.
(don't forget to poke drainage holes in the drinking cups btw)

The main point being, get used to watering with the "lift the pot" method to know when to water the plants and they will reward you with lush healthy growth.
(see my signature link on watering)

hth and good luck,
10k

 

[GuerrillaRed]

Dude thank you thank you thank you for straightening out my n00b ass. The whole over-watering thing came as a result of some guy proclaiming Coco Coir to be the be all end all and claiming I quote "There's no possible way you can over-water with a significant amount of coco coir in your mix." Well I guess he was wrong. Totally my fault and n00b ass stupidity.

Is there anyway to save these plants or are they done? I've been thinking about putting them outside and letting nature have it's way with them.

Thank you again.

 

[C21H30O2]

25% is NOT a significant amount of coco in your mix. The guy that told you that was right you just don't have enough coco.

 

[MrMcBean]

I believe you can still save them. Take a popsicle stick and try to loosen up the soil without hurting the sprout. Poke deep holes into the soil then wiggle a bit so the hole stays open. This way the water will evaporate faster. Keep the fan on all the time and keep the room aired out with low humidity. They are at a stage where humidity is not as crucial anymore so this would be ok.

I personally wouldnt give up.. I like to finish what i start

Also a DWC would be perfect for your caring soul. you will have so much to care for and there is so little that can go wrong.. take it from me.. I kill so many plants from stupidity, I know whats easy.. and DWC def. is worth it for anyone!

If you have some extra money for ferts and equipment i would say you should try to transplant one of those babys to a DWC system asap. I bet that in a DWC the girls would recover fully from the stress in notime.

To transplant simply uproot one.. and clean off ALL the soil from the root system very carefully. Then place it in the clay pellets and make sure the the roots are suspended in the water solution.

best of luck,

peace