Seedlings need your help!

[Guest]

Hello!

These are Northern Lights (pure indica) sprouts, and a few of them are starting to show signs of... something. I mixed a very very small dose of nutes for them (roughly 3ml of nutes in 800ml water) while they're seedlings, and balanced the pH at 6.56. They're under 24 hrs of fluorescent lighting. Here are some photos.

http://www.icmag.com/gallery/data/500/16435happy_007.jpg
http://www.icmag.com/gallery/data/500/16435happy_003.jpg
http://www.icmag.com/gallery/data/500/16435happy_001.jpg


Most of the cotyledons are already yellowing pretty bad.. which I don't know if they're supposed to do it this early.

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The one in the back with the dark leaf tips and curled leaves is the one that i am concerned about. Could this be a Deficiency?
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I'm basically just waiting on my ppm/ec meter to show up in the mail so i can mix the nutes for my DIY DWC system... then the real test comes in. Giving my first DIY hydro setup a shot!

 

[cadillachydro]

First of all.. 6.5 is way to high a ph for rockwool cubes. Start at 5.5-5.6 and feed light and simple. Try a one part food like foxfarm growbig, get the hydro formula and not the soil one. If you add anything to that, i might add a good root formula like Cannas Rhizotonic, its expensive but worth its weight in gold, I think anyone thats used it will speak good about it.

All in all id say they look pretty good. Just dont feed to heavy, theyll burn... And get that ph down!!! Thats most likely your problem right there...

Read some info on ph and how it affects the uptake of different nutrients. Someones got a scale, im sure theyll drop a link. Keep it easy ~caddy

 

[sproutco]

Your using too high a ph. Try closer to 6. You stated 3ml per 800ml water ferts. What were they? (be specific about analysis like 10-10-10)

You don't really need a ppm meter to get started in hydro. Better to figure the ppms of each individual element like nitrogen rather than a reading of salt strength on the meter. In my signature below is a calculator for ppms. Enter net weight of the bottle, total ml of the bottle, ml your using per gallon 3.8L, and % of each element like 3% nitrogen. Your answer will give you ppms. If you don't have the net weight and total ml of the bottle, leave the default setting of 1 and 1. If you know total nitrogen but not whether its nitrate, ammonia, or urea enter that once in one of the spots but only once. It wont matter which one you choose because the answer will be the same.

Now that you got your nutrient solution made by ppms of the individual elements, you can take a reading with the meter. ppms total from the calc does not equal what the meter will read. Remember meter reading. When you need to add back water from evaporation/plant use, you can add ferts if needed to get it back to the original strength/concentration without having to dump the rez. This is the best use for your meter. Do periodically completely change rez.

 

[cadillachydro]

Ive found that optimum ph in rw is about 5.8 to 6.0, but ph rises naturally, thats why i said 5.5-5.6 to start. Also i forgot to mention not to over water... let those cubes get real light before watering, you want the roots to push out in search of water.

 

[sproutco]

Cadillac, we were typing at the same time. Good point about the nutes being for hydro...they should not only include npk and micros but also calcium, magnesium, and sulfur. This makes it complete. If your using the calc, 75 ppm nitrogen would be a gentle rate to keep the seedlings green till putting in the hydro. Of course, there would be more than just n.

 

[unknownone]

Moe: how old are they? I just ordered some NL PI from Gyspy and found them to be pretty slow growing. It may be the strain. Otherwise they look pretty good, except for the yellowing cotyledons. Follow those guys above advice for pH, nutes, they know more than I do.

 

[Guest]

Moe: how old are they? I just ordered some NL PI from Gyspy and found them to be pretty slow growing. It may be the strain. Otherwise they look pretty good, except for the yellowing cotyledons. Follow those guys above advice for pH, nutes, they know more than I do.

i popped them in rockwool cubes on the 3rd of this month. so it's almost been 20 days and thats about where they are as of today... no roots have broken through yet, so I'm going to keep them pretty dry until they poke through; then plant them in my DWC.

*********question** *******

Supposing i put them in the recirculating DWC within the next week, what is a good strength to mix my nutes to while they're this small? I'll be using AN Sensi grow A/B.
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I'll post photos of my getto-rigged recirculating DWC setup. (I had next to nothing as far as tools go, so some of the handywork is shoddy, but it should hold up.)

 

[Guest]

Your using too high a ph. Try closer to 6. You stated 3ml per 800ml water ferts. What were they? (be specific about analysis like 10-10-10)

You don't really need a ppm meter to get started in hydro. Better to figure the ppms of each individual element like nitrogen rather than a reading of salt strength on the meter. In my signature below is a calculator for ppms. Enter net weight of the bottle, total ml of the bottle, ml your using per gallon 3.8L, and % of each element like 3% nitrogen. Your answer will give you ppms. If you don't have the net weight and total ml of the bottle, leave the default setting of 1 and 1. If you know total nitrogen but not whether its nitrate, ammonia, or urea enter that once in one of the spots but only once. It wont matter which one you choose because the answer will be the same.

Now that you got your nutrient solution made by ppms of the individual elements, you can take a reading with the meter. ppms total from the calc does not equal what the meter will read. Remember meter reading. When you need to add back water from evaporation/plant use, you can add ferts if needed to get it back to the original strength/concentration without having to dump the rez. This is the best use for your meter. Do periodically completely change rez.

here is the label of my nutes: http://www.advancednutrients.com/product_label_pdfs/SensiGrowPartA_label.jpg

As far as the N-P-K ratio goes.. i'm not totally sure because it's 2 part.

Part A: 3.7 - 0 - 0
Part B: 2.5 - 2.2 - 5.7

so I'm assuming it's a total of: 6.2 - 2.2 - 5.7 ? (not sure)

 

[sproutco]

I think that 2 part fert contains everything your seedlings need. Try the lower ph.

 

[Bozo]

Plants look ok ! looks alittle hungry .I use sensi 2 part and would use 1/2 of the lowwest dose you see on back of bottle week later I would do a full light feeding and so on till you find how much they need 1300 ppm is where I stop most times .AN additives like taranchula,voodoo juice ect have been known to cause serious trouble in DWC



Just a side note I dont grow seedlings under fluros I start them under 400 wattMH raised way up.By the time they are the size of your I feed them what I said above but there already in hydroton and on flood table growwing fast light 14 inches awy .If there under fluros you may want to start @1/4 strength of lowwest feeding on bottle
Please becareful if you have never grown seedlings under hid lights and decide to try you can do some real damage fast if you have the light too close On the other hand if you do it right they will grow with tremendous speed .At that size I have seen plants nearly double in size in 24 hours

 

[unknownone]

Seedlings look small for 20 days. I am thinking Gypsy's NL PI may be really old or something. Don't they seem small to you guys?

 

[alkbud]

Seedlings look small for 20 days. I am thinking Gypsy's NL PI may be really old or something. Don't they seem small to you guys?

hey unknown1,

you def right bout that one.. they are way too small for 20 days. i currently have a pack at home of the nirvana nl. out of 4 beans only 2 popped. the two that popped are bout 1 week old and they'r still on the 1st set of true leaves. there is no stem between them and the coteyledon. must be old beans.

 

[Guest]

Seedlings look small for 20 days. I am thinking Gypsy's NL PI may be really old or something. Don't they seem small to you guys?

P.s. I checked the date, and I dropped the seeds in RW cubes on the 5th of this month, so it's been about 17 days. I put them under the HID bulb a few hours ago, and remixed the nutes/pH. I'll keep you posted. Thanks so much for everything!