seedlings seem like they are wilting.

[Weedhound]

Not at all over sensitive are we Rocky? Joey, if they are still growing and kicking along they'll probably outgrow it. Don't hold back on the water if your drainage is good.......it will help flush the extra ferts through and encourage growing.

In rereading your thread however, it says there "time released" fertilizers in the soil. That concerns me as it means that every time you water you are releasing new ferts into these plants. I think that's why they don't look any better after watering. All you can do now is hope they outgrow it.....or transplant to a lighter soil.

good luck.

 

[MJane'spoontang]

haha jesus, rocky.

he was probably gonna change it and give you a pos rep until you acted all butt-hurt. It's a forum, man, a weed one at that. chill.

 

[Weedhound]

What goes around comes around.

Good luck with your grow Joey.

 

[Joey56789]

I think I'm still having problems. I watered the one in the back row, 2nd from left this morning. It was looking better then it does now. It was a bit wilty, probably from needing watering. It had been 5 days since it was watered. The soil was all compacted and bone dry at the top. The cup was very light. I tried to pour some water in, but it just ran right through (maybe a couple ounces). I could see most of the dirt just below the surface was still bone dry. So I broke up the surface of the dirt with a toothpick, and dumped water in a bunch of times till it finally seemed like it was soaked.(this is how it went before too) Now that plant looks like crap.

I should also mention I watered this with some tea I made. I put 1/4 cup of worm casting, and 1 tsp of molasses into a half gallon and ran an air pump in it over night. It should be some pretty tame tea, no guano or anything.

Could it be that I'm putting too much water in it when I water? Could it be from the soil that is compacting?

Otherwise, back row, 2nd from right is still a little curled, but it almost seems like that one just grows like that. The others are behind in watering, and all look pretty good to me.

Here are some pics:

.






I'm going to transplant to something like LC's mix #2 except black gold instead of Pro Mix. I'm going to cull 2, and put the other 6 in 6" square pots. I was planning on this when after one more watering, so I need to water the other 7 first, then transplant in 5 days or so.

 

[HeadyPete]

2 things -

1. You need to add 40% perlite to your soil. The overwatered look is because the drainage is poor for that soil....AND

The other problem is that soil with it's time released fert and worm casting is BURNING your plants as we speak. Every time you water, you release more fert.

Seedlings and new clones must be grown in seed starting mix or any soil that is free from ferts. Seedlings don't need any food until week 2 or so

Transplant all of these asap into soil with 40% perlite and no ferts at all.

 

[HeadyPete]

Also, lower the lights down closer to your seedlings to prevent that stretch. When you transplant, bury them up to their first leaves, the buried stem will grow roots.

 

[MJane'spoontang]

yeah dude that black gold shit is terrible without a fuck ton of perlite (all peat is in my opinion) I would get them into something nice and fluffy as soon as i could

 

[medmaker420]

I would do 50/50 perlite/soil mix

don't water til they reach their leaves up and ask for it. Make sure and spot that first because after they raise their leaves up asking for water they will soon drop them and confuse the hell out of you.

Water with a 10% drainage out the bottom, I wouldn't be adding MORE to them except for some perlite to the mix and lay off the watering.

Water enough for 10% drainage then leave them alone until they ask for more water. If they start going yellow then you know they need something else besides a drink.

Less is more with these guys, I always over watered, still have to stop myself actually lol.

 

[moonymonkey]

also wen u weigh them against,a pot of dry soil,its al;so possible somtimes,thet need to be watered,sooner..another reason to use the stick the finger in soil an see how far down dry..ur plants will tell u wen its right..if ur gonna try somthing,just do it on one plant,try somthng else on another plant..put together a plan an excute xxxxx wen to water,geting to know ur soil mm/

 

[HeadyPete]

I like the cheap moisture probes from the garden centre. They work well for telling how dry your pots are in the root zone.

 

[Joey56789]

Thanks for the help everyone.

I watered two more. This time I broke up the surface a bit, then gave them a little drink, which came out the bottom. I let them sit for 10 mins or so. Then I gave them some more water which they absorbed very nicely. I kept going till just a bit came out the bottom. Hopefully that will work better. The last time I just kept drowning it over and over, and it was like a dirt soup in there. It certainly could have disturbed the roots.

I tested PH with a GH dropper kit.
Runoff for plant #2 PH-6.75
Runoff for plant #7 PH-6.5
Tea PH-6.75
Carbon filtered tap water used for tea PH-6.75
Do these numbers look ok?

I will definitely mix in some perlite and make a proper soil mix to get better drainage when I replant, but that's not for 5 days or so.

These plants haven't stretched since day 3 when I got them into their new home. They have maybe only added an inch in that time.

I will keep my eye out for those moisture probes.

 

[HeadyPete]

Uh, they may not be alive in 5 days with that fert in the soil. I would transplant right away. I can see nuteburn starting in the leaf tips...

An ideal ph would be 6.3 - 6.5.......bring down your watering ph to 6.3, but gradually over days and many waterings, plants do not like sudden swings in ph.

 

[Joey56789]

If I transplant I can't shake out all the dirt they are already in, because that would harm the delicate roots, right? So I'm just going to be transplanting the allegedly hot soil with them. Also, I don't see any yellowing on the edges of the leaves. Is that what you are saying when you say you see nute burn? Perhaps it's just the pictures?

 

[HeadyPete]

You can shake out a lot of the loose dirt, the roots aren't that delicate. I trim the rootballs on my moms all the time, to half their size and repot in with fresh coco and they grow back, every time.

Perhaps it is just the photos, but keep an eye out for yellowing tips. Are they still kinda dull green and droopy?

 

[Joey56789]

Well, the two that have always looked worse, still look that way. One was the first one I watered. That one is still wilting. I am still thinking I overdid the watering on that one. The two I watered last time, looked a little bit wilted after watering, but were nice and perky looking this morning. There seems to be a significant amount of new growth on them as well. I just watered the other 5. Some I watered when they weren't quite as dry. I think I waited too long to water some, because they were really bone dry. I will report back regarding the ones that weren't bone dry compared to the ones that were.

I guess you could say they are on the dull green side, but barely if they are. It's more like a nice deep green. The runt in the back right still has one edge that is yellow, but the yellow is not spreading. Besides that the color is very consistent throughout.

Also, I just noticed a couple of gnats, so I will research that problem and deal with it.

 

[Weedhound]

Hope they work out ok for you. In future.....I'd go with their seed starting version for your babies for sure.

good luck.

 

[HeadyPete]

Seems as if they are growing big enough to handle the nutes and if they aren't dull green any longer sounds like they have overcome the overwatering in the past. As he roots grow, they will be hardier.

Keep in mind, every time you water you are activating the time release ferts...so you're not out of the woods yet...be very cautious about feeding more nutes right now....

 

[HeadyPete]

Joey, check out the info here about fungus gnats. Some quick and not so quick cures there... http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=114520

 

[Joey56789]

Here is a photo update:






The back middle left is the one I first watered this last time. It just looks worse and worse. It just gets more droopy as time goes by. I'm not sure how long it will last, but thats ok, I need to cull 2-3 anyway. The back far left is the one that has a little yellowing. The others I watered looked a little bit droopy after watering (normal?), but have perked up again, and look great. The new growth just keeps coming and coming.

In the future, I will definitely go with a better mix for starting seeds. I was researching building when I started those, when I should have researched growing more. Jumped the gun a bit I guess, which also led to the initial stretch.

Pete, thanks for the link. I will see what I can find at the store.

 

[Weedhound]

Yeah well I've done a lot worse than that in my growing career.

I see pete's got you handled so no worries......soil is not my strong point but overnute is overnute.

good luck.