First time post: Big issues!

Discussion in 'Pests and Plant Problems' started by rougetigre, Feb 11, 2009.

  1. rougetigre

    rougetigre Germinated

    Hello all! First time poster here. I've just started my first grow. From the onset I've had some problems. I have a decent green thumb, but man this can be a bit hard!

    I've planted 9 seeds and 1 has already died. I'm very concerned because my best plant wasn't looking good yesterday. I watered her up (i'm hoping its a girl!) and she seemed to show some improvement in her upper leaves. This morning she is drooping again.

    I'm very uncertain of how to know if I've over watered or under watered them. I don't even know if watering is the issue! At first I was just giving them a few spritzes of water each day. Now I've been giving them a good watering every 3-5 days or when I see them droop a little.

    It is winter here and a little cold, but it is usually in the mid 60s which they should be fine at, as I understand it. I don't know the exact species I'm working with because I kind of found the seeds ^_^

    Right now they are all small, a tier or two each. They are in about 70% top soil, 15% building sand, 15% perlite. I try to give them the right amount of water each day or days, but I think this is one of my big issues, ie, how much is enough?

    [​IMG]
     
  2. blazeoneortwo

    blazeoneortwo New Sprout

    Its been my experience when working with seedlings or clones that without a high humidity they tend to look like this. A humidity will solve this problem if that is the case.


    Another thing I would look at is the ratio of perlite you have in your mix. Not enough would not allow for good drainage.


    A way I judge how much water to give them and when to give it to them is basically the finger tip method. When you have just watered them, pick the pot up at the edges with your finger tips and get a good feel for the weight of the pot. Check everyday after to feel the weight difference. If too light it's time to water. This helps keep from over or under watering.


    Hope this helps, good luck
     
  3. rougetigre

    rougetigre Germinated

    Blaze, that's big help already! Thanks so much. Do you have advice on a good humidifying product? I'll need to try your method. I usually stick my finger in to feel if it is "moist." I'm a scientist so words like "moist" just aren't good enough for me! ^_^


    I've also been wondering about feritlizing them. I'm using a simple Miracle Grow mix right now. Is there a better solution? They seem to be small and wimpy for 2 week old plants :-(
     
  4. HeadCase

    HeadCase Old Prick

    When you water let the pot get dry first then till it comes out the bottom of the pot then your good till it dries out again. Over or under watering will cause it to droop-Bud
     
  5. blazeoneortwo

    blazeoneortwo New Sprout

    sorry, meant to type Humidity Dome:)
     
  6. rougetigre

    rougetigre Germinated

    I looked into a humidity dome. Would it be better to get a humidifier to kick up the room humidity? Or just the dome for when they are young?
     
  7. blazeoneortwo

    blazeoneortwo New Sprout

    I would say go with the Humidity Dome your gonna need it in the future anyway when and if you decide to take clones
     
  8. MrAstro

    MrAstro R.I.P

    All good advice.


    Looking at the soil(no P, look's soaked), and the ps stick that look's saturated...I'm guessing over-watering.


    That's why I like SOLO Hempy cup's, even if you're going to be growing in dirt. Seedling's are delicate enough; they don't need anymore stress. With SH cup's, you can certainly under-water them, but it's all but impossible to over-water.
     
  9. rougetigre

    rougetigre Germinated

    What is this SOLO Hempy cup? Sorry about the incredibly nub questions, but this is my very first grow! ^_^
     
  10. MrAstro

    MrAstro R.I.P

  11. rougetigre

    rougetigre Germinated

    If we assume it is overwatering, what is the best solution here? I'm currently trying to up the humidity in the grow room.


    As these are still seedlings in many ways, would it be wise to try to move them from the soil into the hempy cups? I have no rapid rooters, but I could order some I'm sure.


    Thoughts?
     
  12. HeadCase

    HeadCase Old Prick

    Too tell you the truth that plant is alittle small for 2 weeks old I would say it's your temps are to low it causes growth to slow .I have the same problem with cold temps so I put my seedling & clones on a heating pad $6 at the drug store. Here is a picture of mine at 2 1/2 weeks-Bud


    [​IMG]
     
  13. rougetigre

    rougetigre Germinated

    WoW Sombud, would you mind sharing the specifics of your grow? What kind of heating pad do you have?
     
  14. HeadCase

    HeadCase Old Prick

    Here's what I do I just stick a seed in a moist rapid root about 3 days it usually pops up when it's about 1 1/2 tall I put the rapid root in soil or prelite if I going hempy . The heating pad is one you would use on your back just take the cloth cover off & set it on medium under your plants.When you put it in soil put it up to the first set of leaves. The seeds are Nirvana AK-48.-Bud
     
  15. Guerilla Family

    Guerilla Family Serious Guerilla Farmer

    No Ferts Yet!

    There's no need to fertilize yet.. If u were to feed them, they wont be able to handle all the nutes, and they will most likely die.


    Wait until the cotyledons, turn white, or brown, and fall off on it's own.


    The cotyledons, are the two, small rounded leaves that your sprout had on when it germinated from the seed. It's very first leaves.


    I agree with BUD, you gotta get those temps up. Around 70 degrees would be optimal!


    What type of light are you using? Sorry if u mentioned this above, If u did, I missed it.


    GFam
     
    Gratitude likes this.
  16. skunky

    skunky labor smoke'n lumberjack

    Temps may have played a role in keeping the growth rate slow but I can almost assure you the main reason is that swamp soil. Plant can do anything if you are drowning it. Let the soil dry before you water thats the only way to combat overwatering.


    Mrastro, You can overwater in hempy cups too pretty easily, all it take is someone watering ever day or so to do it.
     
  17. EvilSkuzzi

    EvilSkuzzi Sweet Guy

    That pic is def over watered. Let it dry out for 5 days to a week. I think you might also need to increase the light its getting. What light is it currently under?
     
  18. rougetigre

    rougetigre Germinated

    This is all great stuff guys, thanks. I've put a heating pad underneath them. My big one that I sent a picture of today has wilted down!!! I propped her up, but I'm afraid she's a loss. Is there anything I can do at this point to save her?


    I really think my issue is over watering. I'll not put any more nutes in for now, until those leaves drop off.
     
  19. rougetigre

    rougetigre Germinated

    I wanted to write my first post before I changed some things around on the quick to help improve the situation. Here are some shots of the plants:


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    [​IMG]


    As you can see, I've propped the one from this morning up. I have also put them on a heating pad. She is the only one I over watered (I hope) in the sense that she started to wilt a bit and so I felt some water would help. She looked better for a bit but then she started to get worse. Is she salvageable?


    The light I'm using is a rather cheap one from the Depot. I wanted to get a HP Sodium one, but they didn't carry anything. I instead settled on what seems to be an incandescent "plant light" that I was assured would do quite well for "plants." Don't worry, I'm keeping my activities very secret, :)


    I really want to thank all of you so far for the support. You are doing a terrific job of bearing with a real newb to all of this. I'm sure I'm making just about every rookie mistake that can be made. By all means PLEASE kick and force me in the right direction, I would really love this to succeed!


    EDIT:


    I added a shot of the light and setup. The light is about 2 ft above the plants. The light is fairly warm so I didn't want to light burn the children. You can see it all in the image.


    [​IMG]
     
  20. skunky

    skunky labor smoke'n lumberjack

    Hey rogue, next thing I would suggest is when you take pics to post online make sure there is nothing that could Identify you like the little colorado thing with NAME on it, could be your kids could have no relevance just figured I would point that out. As of right now all you can really do is let the soil dry out. They are probably stetching because of the low light conditions too, they have HPS's at homedepot but only up to 150W and they are security lights. You would be better off with some CFL's to grow with than what you have right now. CFLS won't produce like a HPS but will be a lot better than the incandescent bulb. www.1000bulbs.com has good prices and I would get a few of the higher wattage bulbs like the 60-105W bulbs.
     

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