First grow problems

iratika said:

like the thread and the sound advice given by the more experienced members. it literally was the first time i have read someone talking about how little they rely on nute additives for growth. genetics of the plant will make or break how well it does in the end, but that is not something a fellow grower can always afford to worry about in most cases. but anyway that just being said i will definitely employ a less is more attitude with my nute scheduling. thanks

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A less is more attitude is always the best policy. People unnecessarily over complicate things, and most of the problems they face are self inflicted. As I try to maintain; A healthy plant does not originate from a bottle, feed it if or when it needs it, and remember, nature has been doing a great job of it for a wee bit longer than we have. I know who I trust.

On another point, remember that nutrient availability is directly proportional to pot size (big pot=more nutrition), I know that sounds obvious but people still over-do it, feeding too much in the early stages. If you have used the correct size pot for the plants stage of growth, and have a good quality horticultural potting soil/mix that has sufficient nutrients, adequate drainage & aeration, then deficiencies should not appear early on unless something else has gone awry. This is where it is important to be able to distinguish between true deficiencies (not enough nutrients provided) & over-fertilization pH lock-out deficiencies (nutrients are being provided, but cannot be "accessed") that are caused by over-feeding, or very rich "hot" soil mixes, and that lead to a build up of mineral salts in the soil, throwing the pH out, and making one or more nutrients unavailable to the plant, causing its deficiency. In extreme cases this will lead to a multi-nutrient blockage which then makes diagnosis even harder, as you are dealing with multiple symptoms. There are ways of determining what the culprit is, such as testing the soils run-off, to determine its pH level, and then taking the appropriate action, instead of what most inexperienced (& some "experienced!") growers do which is to assume the plant is suffering a deficiency from scarcity of nutrients & feed it even more. Using a very rich, highly fertilised soil is never a good idea as they can have far too much nitrogen in them, which can cause burn, & a very high EC (salt) level, & so can still have high levels of salts even if the grower has not started to "over" feed them with nutrients yet. If people keep applying their "fixes" for problems they aren't even sure WHY they have, they will spend half of their lives in a problem forum discussing what latest "fix" is going to get them out of their latest self-inflicted mess.

Looks like a 1/4 dose of nutes would be a good idea. In the stage of seedlings you generally wanna water with a shot glass gives it at least one ounce of water or so per day. if it looks dry or if leaves feel dry to touch continue to give it a little more water. You dont want run off thats a good way to kill your plant run off is generally not good unless the plant is extremely dry you dont want to overwater. In my experience under watering is much easier to fix than overwatering.

I use the miracle grow soil aswell. It's pretty hot soil it can go a month without feeding. I would not use any ferts till bloom ferts. The point of soil medium is the ease of ph'ed tap.

Dvayzz said:

Looks like a 1/4 dose of nutes would be a good idea. In the stage of seedlings you generally wanna water with a shot glass gives it at least one ounce of water or so per day. if it looks dry or if leaves feel dry to touch continue to give it a little more water. You dont want run off thats a good way to kill your plant run off is generally not good unless the plant is extremely dry you dont want to overwater. In my experience under watering is much easier to fix than overwatering.

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Seedlings should never require feeding. If a seedling looks like it is starved, there are other problems afoot, probably to do with the grow medium. When I speak of run-off, I do not mean torrents, as this would be futile & leach out nutrients, you want just enough to know that every part of the medium is sufficiently hydrated. This becomes easier with experience as you become accustomed to understanding the amount of water your plants require. I'm not going to go back over why letting soil/mediums dry out is not a good idea, but realise that wet & dry cycles do stress the plants, and exacerbate any other issues you may have with the soil. I do understand the reasoning behind why people insist on letting their soil dry out (roots "explore" the pot to "seek out" moisture, thereby increasing growth & mass, etc), but the negative aspects of this practice far out-weigh the positive; if you have a good quality soil-mix, with adequate drainage & aeration, then a good watering schedule will not cause root rot, or negatively impact root growth, or starve them of oxygen or any of the other problems people fear UNLESS other factors are at play such as soil compaction, excessive over-watering or letting the pots sit in water for too long. And remember, oxygen is supplied to the roots by complex processes & reactions, and is not just derived from the air, because you let the soil dry out.

I use the miracle grow soil aswell. It's pretty hot soil it can go a month without feeding. I would not use any ferts till bloom ferts.

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Some good advice right there.