New grower - Leaves with random white areas

[MrTofu]

Hi everyone! I'm just doing my first grow, and i wanted to get some help figuring out what's wrong with one of my plants.
While three out of my four plants are looking great, growing fast and looking healthy, this one is going pretty slow from the beginning and now the leaves are not looking great. I've gone through a lot of guides to figure out what was wrong, but i haven't been able to.

I thought it might be spider mites, and took them out for a few hours and sprayed a spider mite solution i had. Today, they look pretty much the same.

Any tips would be so helpful.

Thanks!

 

[hello/Banana]

hello,

if the rest are doing great, it maybe a runt so you just have to wait and see if it will catch up / you want to keep it going -

if it is going to stay tiny / make a big hole in your canopy etc etc... you have to decide it is worth it.

-------------

your soil doesn't look great though (too clumpy) and it looks like it's pot is MASSIVE (?) - so it could be a watering / nutrient problem.

- it's root is only what 3" deep and 1" inch wide probably at this point (?), so all that excess compost in the pot is is only going to be harboring moisture.

if you start off small and transition up pot size, you have much greater control of moisture and as it drys out more quickly and evenly vs massive pot - more opportunity / better for delivering nutrients (...usually).

--------------

if you just potted up (which is why the compost is broken), it may be still settling into it's new home / regretting moving;

it's cotyledons are very dark green, which can mean an overabundance of nutrient(s), which may mean it has a hard time getting the right balance of what is needed.

--------

that's me guessing anyway, if any of the above sounds like it corresponds with what you have experienced.

good luck

 

[Midnight Tokar]

It hasn't developed a root system as fast as the others and so it's over-watered...........

 

[MrTofu]

hello,

if the rest are doing great, it maybe a runt so you just have to wait and see if it will catch up / you want to keep it going -

if it is going to stay tiny / make a big hole in your canopy etc etc... you have to decide it is worth it.

-------------

your soil doesn't look great though (too clumpy) and it looks like it's pot is MASSIVE (?) - so it could be a watering / nutrient problem.

- it's root is only what 3" deep and 1" inch wide probably at this point (?), so all that excess compost in the pot is is only going to be harboring moisture.

if you start off small and transition up pot size, you have much greater control of moisture and as it drys out more quickly and evenly vs massive pot - more opportunity / better for delivering nutrients (...usually).

--------------

if you just potted up (which is why the compost is broken), it may be still settling into it's new home / regretting moving;

it's cotyledons are very dark green, which can mean an overabundance of nutrient(s), which may mean it has a hard time getting the right balance of what is needed.

--------

that's me guessing anyway, if any of the above sounds like it corresponds with what you have experienced.

good luck

Thanks! Well, the pots are 7 L each. And the thing is, when i moved all of them from their starter cubes, they were all pretty much the same size (same germination times as well). And while the others are growing and looking great, this one is not doing so well.

Maybe if i get it out and into a smaller cup i can see if it will grow, or would that be too invasive at this point?

Thanks again!

 

[Snype]

Pots are too large for starting seedlings. Because your pots are too big, they need just a tiny bit of water around the seedling. Looks like you over watered the seedling due to a large pot.

Also, you should have found mites before spraying the plants. You probably didn't even have mites to begin with which is more added stress for the little seedling.

 

[MrTofu]

Pots are too large for starting seedlings. Because your pots are too big, they need just a tiny bit of water around the seedling. Looks like you over watered the seedling due to a large pot.

Also, you should have found mites before spraying the plants. You probably didn't even have mites to begin with which is more added stress for the little seedling.

You're probably right. What would you guys recommend? get it out of the large pot, or just wait?

Also, i actually did find a couple of small red looking smites around. That's why i thought of that.

 

[hello/Banana]

hello again,

young roots are very fragile - i wouldn't like to advise you one way or another for risk of damage / guilty conscience (depending on how hamfisted you are);

perhaps, wait a couple of days and if you see improvement it can stay or if there is worsening of symptoms / stagnation it is time to downsize ? (obviously being vigilant about moisture in the mean time).

- if you dig it up and put it somewhere, you could also realistically expect some lag time for it to settle in there whilst it puts out more roots if you damaged any, potentially hindering it for a short while further ...maybe.

- it doesn't look like it's really bad or anything, just having a bit of a hard time of it.

think it depends on how important it is for you to have that plant "a similar size to the others" etc and how much space you have available for it in your environment - (if you have seeds / space left over etc - you can pop another one for competition and discard the smaller of the two in a couple of weeks ?)

if possible though make sure the roots are nice and warm as big pots can also get cold.

---------------

there is still the possibility that you haven't done much wrong and it's just "a bit of a shitty seedling" though!

also that "shitty seedlings" can turn out "awesome" by the end of flowering... you don't know until you try the flowers.

MUCH better quality over quantity though imho

"decisions, decisions"

regards,

 

[Scrappy-doo]

If it were in my room I'd carefully take it out and repot into a smaller container. The main risk in doing that would be possibly damaging it's delicate roots, but It would be much easier to manage in a smaller pot.

Some seedlings just don't have much vigor at first. I'm sure a lot of gardeners would just cull it for that reason. If it's worth it to you I think it's got a better chance at bouncing back with a transplant. That pot is gonna stay wet for a while otherwise.

If you decide to keep it in there, don't water it again until it's fairly dry. Could be waiting a long time though.

 

[Snype]

You're probably right. What would you guys recommend? get it out of the large pot, or just wait?

Also, i actually did find a couple of small red looking smites around. That's why i thought of that.

I'd leave it in the pot that you have and only give it water where the roots are. Over time you can give it more water but it's much harder to gauge and it's easy for you to over water them. So be careful.

Also, red mites are usually the good ones that eat the bad ones. Could have been phytoseiulus persimilis. It's probably a good idea to know what mite you are dealing with before you start spraying things.

 

[MrTofu]

I know, i'm sorry. I panicked a little bit to be honest.

Here is an update with pics from all my plants, can you tell me how they look so far?

 

[MrTofu]

I'm sorry, here they are:

 

[hello/Banana]

they look really healthy and they are nice photos!!

2nd from bottom especially looks like it is growing a nice juicy stem!

...my seedlings usually look ALOT worse!.

if they get that far...

calm down and try to have more fun !!

 

[friendly530]

yes things look ok you should be fine as said already don't over water a very common new grower mistake i would keep them under a t5 and make sure the root zone is not cold at all

 

[MrTofu]

Thanks!

I'm only taking pictures with my dslr now, i can zoom in the details on the leaves and everything looks far better.

I'll try to upload a pictures of the second one (the overwatered one that looks like shit), because today it grew A LOT, it really looks like it's recovering.

 

[Former Guest]

Let those containers dry out. Even if it looks dry on top it will be moist if you stick your finger in there and when you pull it out if there's dirt stuck to it then it's moist. Also, Snypes advice on just watering at the base of the plant will really help and don't move it just control amount if water and it will be ok. Try taking a measuring cup so you can visually see how much you're giving them. That really helped me when I was overwatering. Sometimes my seedlings got spots from calcium deficiency. Can't tell though from the pic.

 

[MrTofu]

So, i did the following: The sick one i just let the pot dry and only water the small area around it. Its growing well now, but the new leaves looks sick too. Please take a look, here are all of my plants and the first pick is the sick one:

This is day 18 from seed.

 

[hello/Banana]

hello,

calm riggggght down.

i think you get leaf roll from the plants wanting to vent gasses, either to get rid of *waste or to cool themselves down it's too hot etc.

as they have moved home into a greater abundance of nutrients -

*i would guess (due to them looking very healthy - and standing upright and proud!), that it is down to them tucking into the new resource with their new root system they are developing and it being a bit rich - AT the moment -

i am sure they will grow out of it as they establish themselves...

- also remember to try have fun and don't base your plants on other peoples etc.

...just have fun gardening!!!

 

[MrTofu]

Haha i'll try to keep it fun, so overly worried about everything.

These are pics from day 21 (from seed)

As you can see, i had a little accident with the sick one and it lost one of it's two early leaves (it got cut off, don't ask).

I watered them yesterday, with their first bio-grow those (0,5 ml per liter to start). They seem to be doing ok.

 

[Former Guest]

Much better! Just pick up the container after you water. Get used to that weight you feel. Wait a few days and then pick it up and feel how much lighter it is. Those little guys don't need much and you'd be surprised on how wet they can stay despite the top being dry.

 

[MrTofu]

Much better! Just pick up the container after you water. Get used to that weight you feel. Wait a few days and then pick it up and feel how much lighter it is. Those little guys don't need much and you'd be surprised on how wet they can stay despite the top being dry.

That's actually pretty smart. I will do that for my next watering (right now it's around every 3 days).

Do you guys have any thoughts on their size? I'm kind of worried since they are supposed to be around 40cm when flowering starts (one of the seeds company told me this would be ideal for the skunk #1).