Hi there. I used to post here under a different user name but got a little cautious when I moved overseas, so now I'm back with a fresh account. Anyway...
I consistently have the same problem with my young plants that just doesn't seem to quite match up with any of the problems I have read about in the various detailed guides that are floating around. Before I describe it, I should probably tell you that I am a soil grower (currently 50% soil, 30% perlite and 20% peat moss with dolomite to stabilise the pH, although I have tried a number of variations to try and get rid of the problem, with no success). I grow under compact fluoros, although in the summer I sometimes use the sun. For nutes I currently use Biobizz products, although in the past I also used an off the shelf general fertiliser with some success (but neither solving this problem).
So anyway, the problem is that after my seedlings sprout (no problem here, only had one seed fail out of ~20 over the last year), their initial growth seems very slow, at least when compared to the grow diaries I see here. After roughly a month, when the plants are still languishing around their third node or so and with relatively small leaves, brown stains begin to appear on the lower leaves, normally close to the leaf tip. These stains spread until they cover the whole tip, then work their way up the leaf until it is all brown. This progresses up the plant through the leaves. Sometimes the plant manages to break through some critical level where its growth suddenly accelerates and it matures into a perfect adult plant, but more times than not, the brown death gets up to the last set of leaves and the growth tip then shrivels away. Sometimes I try repotting to see if it makes a difference (doesn't seem to) and when I do it's clear that the root systems are extremely underdeveloped for their age. Roots also tend to be a little thin.
If you check my gallery you will see 2 shots of an afflicted plant. Poor camera skills mean that the focus isn't great, but it should give an idea of how the brown stains attack the lower leaves.
I've tried so many different things to solve this - use no nutes, use more nutes than prescribed, and everything in between; similarly I have experimented with various different soils and pHs but nothing seems to have an effect. I have also used two different breeds of seeds to see if the problem lies there, and experimented with clones as well to see if that made a difference.
When a plant does make it through then everything turns out perfectly. However, I would say that I am lucky to get 20% growing to maturity, and these things aren't cheap where I am at present...
I'm quite sure that what I am looking at isn't anything especially unique, just that I don't have the skills to figure out what is really going wrong. I can't put into words how grateful I'd be if somebody with the experience/skills could set me back onto the growing path!
I consistently have the same problem with my young plants that just doesn't seem to quite match up with any of the problems I have read about in the various detailed guides that are floating around. Before I describe it, I should probably tell you that I am a soil grower (currently 50% soil, 30% perlite and 20% peat moss with dolomite to stabilise the pH, although I have tried a number of variations to try and get rid of the problem, with no success). I grow under compact fluoros, although in the summer I sometimes use the sun. For nutes I currently use Biobizz products, although in the past I also used an off the shelf general fertiliser with some success (but neither solving this problem).
So anyway, the problem is that after my seedlings sprout (no problem here, only had one seed fail out of ~20 over the last year), their initial growth seems very slow, at least when compared to the grow diaries I see here. After roughly a month, when the plants are still languishing around their third node or so and with relatively small leaves, brown stains begin to appear on the lower leaves, normally close to the leaf tip. These stains spread until they cover the whole tip, then work their way up the leaf until it is all brown. This progresses up the plant through the leaves. Sometimes the plant manages to break through some critical level where its growth suddenly accelerates and it matures into a perfect adult plant, but more times than not, the brown death gets up to the last set of leaves and the growth tip then shrivels away. Sometimes I try repotting to see if it makes a difference (doesn't seem to) and when I do it's clear that the root systems are extremely underdeveloped for their age. Roots also tend to be a little thin.
If you check my gallery you will see 2 shots of an afflicted plant. Poor camera skills mean that the focus isn't great, but it should give an idea of how the brown stains attack the lower leaves.
I've tried so many different things to solve this - use no nutes, use more nutes than prescribed, and everything in between; similarly I have experimented with various different soils and pHs but nothing seems to have an effect. I have also used two different breeds of seeds to see if the problem lies there, and experimented with clones as well to see if that made a difference.
When a plant does make it through then everything turns out perfectly. However, I would say that I am lucky to get 20% growing to maturity, and these things aren't cheap where I am at present...
I'm quite sure that what I am looking at isn't anything especially unique, just that I don't have the skills to figure out what is really going wrong. I can't put into words how grateful I'd be if somebody with the experience/skills could set me back onto the growing path!
