Stunted seedlings @ 17 days??

[solarz]

I have a few seedlings that seem to be seriously stunted for them being 17 days old. I put them into a shot glass to soak until i saw little taps coming out, then i put them into little cups of straight coco. I've been feeding them nothing but RO water ph'd @ 5.8~6.0. I've had them under 24/0 hrs of cfl lighting from day 1 until today. I've attached pics...and to me it seems as if some of the plants are looking severely burnt.

I dug out a few of them from the coco, and put them into cups of straight perlite and gave them a watering ph'd @ 5.9. It doesn't really seemed to have helped any...

Any suggestions??

solarz

 

[DiscoBiscuit]

check and see if the soil is too wet. your ph sounds a little low for coco.

 

[solarz]

Really? This is what i normally run the ph at with the rest of my plants and thay are fine. I follow head and rez's notes on coco feeding, and they recommend 5.8-6.0 for coco.

But other than that, do you think that they are gettting drowned out? I just watered them today before those pics, if that makes a difference to your thoughts.

solarz

 

[DiscoBiscuit]

Not really sure. Keep doing what those guys recommend.

 

[Noneinone]

I've heard some brands of perlite (might have been mg) have nutrients/fert added.

Maybe that's the problem?

 

[DiscoBiscuit]

I've used that stuff. It's only micro strength anyway. Would have to be some pretty picky seedlings to balk at that.

 

[dominicangreen]

Looks like need just a little nutts add a few drops to your water ro water has nothing in it your starving them and dont spray your seedlings your not over watering perlite dont hold much water

 

[solarz]

Last night, i gave them a light feeding of 1/2 strength lucas formula ph'd @ 6.0 on the dot. It seems to have not helped them out at all...possibly even causing more harm?? Not sure on that one just yet though. When i dug out the few that i did and put them into the perlite, they all had a good amount of roots/rootball (for seedlings). I'm just wondering if it is something i am doing/did since it is happening to ALL of the seedlings except one.

 

[ibjamming]

Looks like they're WAY too wet... Little plants like that in pots that big won't need watering for 2 weeks! Over watering...the #1 killer of seedlings...

 

[Wfw1]

let the soil run a little drier this time before watering. they'll probably pull through yet.

 

[solarz]

Thanks for the replies...i figured i'd continue with how i do all my other plants in coco, and treat it like a hydro medium, and i was watering pretty frequently. What about the little ones in the perlite cups...should i let thouse dry out as well, or continue watering them daily (regularly)??

Thanks again for the help

 

[solarz]

Looks like they're WAY too wet... Little plants like that in pots that big won't need watering for 2 weeks! Over watering...the #1 killer of seedlings...

The pots they are in are those little white Styrofoam cups, maybe 8 ounces or so...if that.

I normally just tested the cup, by picking it up and seeing how heavy/light it was.

 

[EvilTwin]

Solarz,
One thought. I had seedlings do that when starting in coco. Even if the coco is flushed, the seedlings are very sensitive to sodium. The symptoms were stunting and yellowing that resolved once I got them out of the coco.

What brand of coco and was it brick? Did you thoroughly flush the coco checking runoff water?
ET

 

[solarz]

Evil Twin,
I have them in coco that came in a compressed brick. Its the finer grade coco, and i flushed it by putting it in pots and giving them a shower for a while. I took some of them out of the coco and put them into cups of perlite, would you recommend that i do the same with the rest of them? Also, would you recommend that i feed them only RO, or give them light feedings after getting them out of the coco?

 

[EvilTwin]

Hi Solarz,
Some bricks are particularly high in sodium. GH is what I was using and it's high. I used a collander and flushed alot and gave it a final flush of hot water. It takes alot and you really should measure the runoff TDS to make sure that it's the same as the water coming in. (not picking up anymore Na)

Far as your plants. If it is sodium that's stunting them, they won't thrive until you get them out of the coco. That was my experience.

Once into the perlite, you could start with really weak nutes. 1/4 strength or less. I've seen others have that problem with coco. Bagged pre-flushed coco isn't a problem, but the bricks are.
Good luck,
ET

 

[dominicangreen]

1/2 strength of general hydroponics is way to strong that can be a problem general hydropnics has lots of salt i used it last grow and had to flush so much and ph level was wakco up -down -up -down theres something wrong with that company lately plus you cant feed lucas program yet they need equal amount of each bottle gro-micro-bloom,grow 2 ml,micro 2 ml and bloom 2 ml to one gallon and then ph makes your water 200 ppm with R/O water try and water with this and then dont water for a few days bro it should fix every thing after you got them about six inches then use lucas if that the way you want to go using general hydroponic is tricky took me a long time to master it but i dont like it no more if i was you i would change later on to another nutt
good luck

 

[solarz]

Thanks for all of the responses. Well, i went and checked, and the mix that i gave the ones in the coco was more of a 1/3 solution. Still probably too strong, but i'm about to get them out of the coco cups, and into straight perlite. I'll post an update once i get the rest of them out of the coco. Thanks again.

solarz