I want to know what happened. Some say I overwatered. Some say I underwatered. One says it was damp off disease. Here, I will try to be as specific and detailed as possible so that you experienced growers can help me learn from what I did wrong. If you could read through all of this and try to figure out what happened, I would greatly appreciate it. Three of the plants grew larger, because I originally had 4 seeds that I planted first. Out of those 4, three of them grew very healthy and all developed their second/third sets of leaves. Then I received and planted 10 more, about a week after the first set, all of them germinated and everything was going good the first few days.
Then all of a sudden, they start wilting and dying. The stems would shrivel up, the leaves would dry and curl up (not down), and they'd lean over and just look lifeless.
The second set NEVER reached the growth level of the first. The ONLY things I did differently with them were: 1. I soaked the seeds in water before germination, and they germinated quicker than the first set 2. I stopped using my spray bottle to mist them once or twice a day, and instead watered directly once every few days 3. I switched from a single, 40W CFL bulb to 2 four foot 40W FL tubes with a shoplight style reflector (too many seedlings to grow under one little CFL)
Everything else was exactly the same. And about 5-6 days after they germinated, things started going downhill, for BOTH of the sets (the original three and the latter 10). Now, they are all dead.
To those who think I overwatered...I NEVER watered the plants when the soil was moist. It was always very dry, and I would check both the top and the bottom, the soil would even become compact and I could make cracks in it by squeezing the peat moss cups, and when I poured the water in, it would just sit on the top because I guess the surface was hard and the water wouldn't sink through right away (I would again squeeze the cups to make cracks for the water to go down into). I would always lift the little pots up and compare them to an empty pot of dry soil, so I knew when the water was all out. When I watered, I would pour just enough in so that some would leak out from the bottom - I'm not sure if that was too much at one time or not. They would go without water for 2-3 days, allowing time for the soil to dry out again. The humidity in the closet was 30-32% and the temperature was around 82-84 degrees. I kept the FL light fixture about 2" from the tops of each plant to prevent stretching, I'm not sure if that was too close or what, but it was really close to them (hopefully it didn't burn/dry them out). The soil that I used was MG Potting Soil, with time release nutes, some say that might have made the soil too hot and burnt the roots, but I don't know.
There are so many possibilities, I'm sorry, but I just don't know what happened, and I don't want this to happen again. A complete waste of time and money. I'm very demoralized about this right now and it would help greatly if I could pinpoint one or two possibilities as to what went wrong.
nugsmoke
what strain are you using first of all, and where did you get them. if you say bagseed, theres your problem. good breeders will select strains that overcome almost ANYTHING dude.
also, you just might have fucked with them too much. PATIENCE. i killed a seedling once by trying too hard. if you water the soil and it sits on top, just wait a second. it will seep in then add more. also when you water, COMPLETELY SATURATE that shit, then let the soil dry almost to a crisp.
i use that same MG time-release soil no problem, this is my 2nd grow now. water em when the dirt looks dry and leave em. the shit works like it was designed (time release)
finally, do you have cats? mine LOVE fucking with them if i dont lock them out. i lost one this way as well.
(Edited by nugsmoke at 3:33 am on Feb. 8, 2006)
CaliX101
White Widow, got them from a breeder in the Netherlands. I live in an apartment, no pets allowed, lol.
Someone suggested a possible problem that may have resulted in this...Since the water would sit on top, I would squeeze the pots to make cracks for the water to run down through. He suggested that perhaps the water went all the way down to the bottom of the pots, some in the bottom half/third of the soil where it wasn't so dry and compact, and some just exited through the bottom of the pot. This resulted in the young roots, which should be spread a little on the top of the pot, having little/no water reach them. He suggested that I should have tried working the top of the soil, like "plowing" it a bit to loosen it up so that the water will be able to sink in through it and saturate it.
This would also explain why I had the problems after I ditched the mister. When I was using the mister, the water would be evenly dispersed on the surface of the soil, then sink in. When I went to straight watering (after I heard misters are bad), this did not occur for the reasons I mentioned above, which is why the plants dried out.
