First-timer, noob mistakes, advice needed!

RedAnarchist

RedAnarchist

New Member
Hai guize. I'm a first time horticulturist. I mean, I've grown tomatoes, but le ghanjj seems more finicky.
I'm on Day 10 of first attempt. Seems to be going well, except that the plants are turning lime green, and the cotyledons are turning yellow.
I'm pretty sure this problem is due to over-watering, which is a common n00b mistake. All I know to fix over-watering is to bring them inside, and put a fan blowing on them constantly to dry them out. However, I am having purple stalks as well, and am concerned this could be Ph lockout, or N-deficiency.

Here are some pictures:20130528_103446 (1).jpg20130528_162335.jpg20130528_103446 (1).jpg20130528_162354.jpg20130528_103429 (1).jpg


Let me describe my process (please don't be too critical, i'm using my normal gardening supplies.)

I germed these three babies, and placed them in little 3 inch peat-pots. The starting medium in these was MG Seed Starting Mix. The directions on the package said transplant when the first true leaves appeared, but I waited about 6 days before I cut open the peat pots and planted them in MG poting soil mix in these larger pots just yesterday (this is day ten of growing) Four days ago these babies were a healthy dark green, but you can see how light they becoming.

I leave them outside when it's a sunny day for about 6 or 8 hours. When I bring them in, I place them under aquarium fluro, and 300watt equiv CFL.

Any advice on how to get these honeys back to fighting shape would be much appreciated! I'm hoping drying them out, and their roots establishing in the new medium will fix these problems.
 
O

ogreb

Active Member
Have the fan blowing on the pots..not the plant. You'll blow dry it dead.
Just let it dry out. The sun should do that quickly for you.
If you can grow tomatoes..you can grow weed.
Adding more drainage holes is an option.
Squeeze sides of pot will leave a gap on the edge of the pot and soil allowing air to move down.
 
RedAnarchist

RedAnarchist

New Member
Thanks a lot for those tips. I will mos def take your advice. Maybe add holes to the sides in addition the ones at the bottom. I'm still noticing new growth, albeit slowed down at this point.
So you think this is all due to no0b overwatering?
 
Jimdamick

Jimdamick

Well-Known Member
You really can't get yellow leaves from just over watering, just really droopy ones. I would bet on too much direct sun at a very early age. Try a day or two just keeping them indoors and see if the leaves darken up. I bet they will.
 
RedAnarchist

RedAnarchist

New Member
Hmm, I definitely haven't considered this, sir. If this is the case, perhaps I should get my big CFL further from them as well while they are indoors?

If this isn't an over-watering problem, then I think perhaps the seed-starting mix might've not had any N in it, and I waited too long to transfer to potting soil (the directions on the seed starter did say to transplant after first leaves appeared, and I put that off for about five days.

Thanks for the advice gentleman!
 
Lemon king

Lemon king

Well-Known Member
i assume MG stands for mirical grow, if so this is were your problems have come from. for some reason mJ doesnt seem to like M.Grow spesh if your dealing with a light feeding strain!!

FLUSH FLUSH N FLUSH AGAIN to lower nute concentrates in the mud.

they are so small hope this helps!

p.s if all else fails start again problems at this stage of growth can b a bugger to fix!!
 
RedAnarchist

RedAnarchist

New Member
Well, I just re-planted into the MG Potting Soil, in an attempt to curb this yellowing. It couldn't possibly be the problem... In fact the problem would be, that the MG Potting Mix would burn the plants, which these are not burned. I would like an expert to confirm this, but I think that they just might've run out of cotelydon vigour in their first stage of development, and need some real soil now. Up until yesterday they were in little peat-pots with MG Seed Starting Mix (.5 percent on NPK) so the MG Potting Mix shouldn't be the problem, although I understand it isn't ideal I figured one should use what they know... And I've never used organic methods for growing maters or herbs. Thanks for looking at my thread and replying kind sir!

These babies are not a fancy seed-bank strain, I'm saving those for when I have more experience. These are bagseeds, and unsexed.
 
Lemon king

Lemon king

Well-Known Member
are you sure youve read the back of the MG pack. most were im from come pre loaded with nutes!!

ive been about on diff boards for quite a while and for some reason weed hates Mgrow!!

EDIT: it looks more like a nute lockout then a burn, however if alls good above ground the problem must be below! :)
 
T

tiquer30

Member
Had similar problems using MG potting soil after transplanting, switched to MG Moisture Control and am working on my 5th grow without any problems
 
RedAnarchist

RedAnarchist

New Member
Dude, I disagreed with you because the lockout issue existed before I ever put them into MG Potting Soil (i stated this clearly) and I moved them to try to fix the problem. Perhaps you should read what I wrote before attacking me. And I never even disagreed with you or said you were wrong, I simply made it clear that I thought it was still ambiguous enough to not rule out other causes ESPECIALLY SINCE THE LOCKOUT EXISTED BEFORE I PUT THEM IN THE POTTING MIX. I wasn't saying you weren't an expert, but simply seeking another opinion. If I seek second opinions from a doctor, why shouldn't I seek others from you, a stranger? Most adults do not respond to such perceived criticism the way you have. And you also happen to wrong on the cause, even though you correct that this is lockout or deficiency.


Yeah, I concur this seems like a lockout issue. Remember, I have not used MG Potting Soil until last night. The roots have not even had time to get into the MG Potting Soil. I understand MG Potting soul can cause problems (although have success with it) however this isn't the case here. Remember, up until last night they have been a non-soil seed starting medium, that had very low amouns of nutes that got flushed out over the course of 9 days. If we can rule out the over-watering, light problems, and ph lockout there is a chance that when the roots get to the new nutrient rich soil medium, they might green back up if the problem is inadequate nutrients. My fear is that this is lockout, rather than a deficiency since the starting seed mix was 0.5 percent NPK....... For my subsequent experiments I will use the moisture control MG soil, along with coconut fibre. Any other advice from experts would be appreciated.
 
O

ogreb

Active Member
I don't know about nutes, even common topsoil has more then enough nutes for a plant that size.
Hell I've seen plants a foot tall growing in a crack of a sidewalk.

Could be light bleaching...maybe use a cheesecloth shield in the direct sun.

Just give it a little love and patience.

And hope they are female...
 
RedAnarchist

RedAnarchist

New Member
I thought that too, which is why I felt safe not following the directions about transplating after first true leaves appear. However, they probably put that on there for a reason! It's a soiless mix with chemical nuts in very low concentrations, so it probably all got leached out as I watered throughout the week. Just a theory. The cotelydons look like they are yellowing, which can mean seedling stress, deficiency, or just be totally normal part of process. I'll keep ya'll updated,
 
RedAnarchist

RedAnarchist

New Member
Yeah, after drying them out all night I've noticed they are beginning to become darker and growing new stuff again! Lockout due to overwatering seems to have been the problemo!
 
P

ProfessorPurp

Member
RedAnarchist said:
Dude, I disagreed with you because the lockout issue existed before I ever put them into MG Potting Soil (i stated this clearly) and I moved them to try to fix the problem. Perhaps you should read what I wrote before attacking me. And I never even disagreed with you or said you were wrong, I simply made it clear that I thought it was still ambiguous enough to not rule out other causes ESPECIALLY SINCE THE LOCKOUT EXISTED BEFORE I PUT THEM IN THE POTTING MIX. I wasn't saying you weren't an expert, but simply seeking another opinion. If I seek second opinions from a doctor, why shouldn't I seek others from you, a stranger? Most adults do not respond to such perceived criticism the way you have. And you also happen to wrong on the cause, even though you correct that this is lockout or deficiency.


Yeah, I concur this seems like a lockout issue. Remember, I have not used MG Potting Soil until last night. The roots have not even had time to get into the MG Potting Soil. I understand MG Potting soul can cause problems (although have success with it) however this isn't the case here. Remember, up until last night they have been a non-soil seed starting medium, that had very low amouns of nutes that got flushed out over the course of 9 days. If we can rule out the over-watering, light problems, and ph lockout there is a chance that when the roots get to the new nutrient rich soil medium, they might green back up if the problem is inadequate nutrients. My fear is that this is lockout, rather than a deficiency since the starting seed mix was 0.5 percent NPK....... For my subsequent experiments I will use the moisture control MG soil, along with coconut fibre. Any other advice from experts would be appreciated.
Click to expand...
Yeah lemon Your being a bit too sensitive. But my thoughts on miracle grow are bad too especially starting from seed.
It looks like a deficiency to me. U keeping up with your pH?
 
RedAnarchist

RedAnarchist

New Member
And no, at the moment I have no way to test the pH. I have litmus paper, but I've given up on figuring out how to read it. Need to order an electronic reader. I'll take some photos of their improvement.
 
RedAnarchist

RedAnarchist

New Member
I keep them outside in the direct sunlight about 4-6 hours a day, and they are under CFLS and fluros inside. So 24/7 light.
 
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