First grow, seedling leaves very droopy

Hey everyone,

This is my first grow and first post. I've been reading/learning on these forums for the past few weeks which has been great.

I need to keep things stealth (got kids) so I got a PC grow box from mrgrowpro.net. I've dedicated an inside hall closet for the grow. I am growing 2 northern lights autoflowers from nirvana. The first one sprouted After 3 days but now has droopy leaves on day 4, still green though. Below is my setup with more info.

PC grow box
3x - 15w LED light rails (45w total)
(Red(630nm): Blue(460nm) 2:1 ratio.
2 exhaust fans and 1 intake fan (seems like it has good airflow).
Temps: 78-81 degrees F.
Humidity: 40% with lights/fans running. 50-60% during dark hours.
Light cycle: 18/6.
Soil/nutes: BioBizz light mix, bio-grow, bio-bloom.
Pots: 1 gallon round, plastic.
Water: distilled

I planted the germinated (paper towel method) seeds about 1/2 inch into pre watered and drained soil. Using 18/6 light cycle, after 3 days the seedling broke through and looked good. Upon checking on day 4 the leaves l were very droopy. I checked the soil and it felt dry about 2 inches deep so I gave it 250ml of water, in which, maybe a quarter of that drained through the bottom. So I think I could have over watered slightly. I also misted them lightly with water, just a few sprays the night of day 3. Thinking back, that may have been a mistake as well.

I have all 3 lights and fans running during light cycle right now. Could that be too much? Any help is appreciated and if I left out any info please let me know!

Have any pics? Pics help out a lot...

Humidity is high... possible problem...

ColoradoDreams said:

Have any pics? Pics help out a lot...

Click to expand...

Not at the moment. I should have taken a few but was running late today. I will get some later this afternoon and post them.

I was thinking the humidity was getting high during the dark hours and that could be the problem. The second seed just broke through this morning. I had plastic wrap still covering that pot. I removed the plastic wrap this morning so I'm hoping that will bring it down. With this grow box I don't think there is a way to run the fans separately, during the dark hours. Do you guys think they need to?

Triplec said:

Not at the moment. I should have taken a few but was running late today. I will get some later this afternoon and post them.

Click to expand...

Thanks bro..

Is it a common practice to use distilled water? I was led to believe that tap water is better since it contains a lot of trace elements.

Grow4myfriends said:

Is it a common practice to use distilled water? I was led to believe that tap water is better since it contains a lot of trace elements.

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Most of everything I've read and watched has lead me to use distilled bottled water. My tap water runs at nearly 8.0ph so it took forever to get a gallon ph balanced when I tried. I ph tested the current jug of distilled water and it's at about 5.5. I'm not sure about the trace elements in tap water, I am sure there is. I haven't read anything bad about using distilled and it's easier for me. Although, I'm welcome to information about that and if needed I'll go back to tap. I did germinate and pre-water my soil all with distilled.

Well I've never used distilled water hence me questioning it. But if you feel happy using it then stick with it bro. You know I might even give it a try myself in the future. It seems like a very "pure" way to go - just H2O and nothing else. All the other nutes ought to be covered by your soil and fertilizers anyway so hey, why not?

Regarding your current issue, my guess would be that you overdid it a bit with the water - seedlings are so delicate and it's easy to overdo things at this stage. I suggest letting the soil dry out for 2-3 days and observe. As a general rule, if you are getting run-off, then you are watering too much (also you are flushing nutrients out of the soil). Try to always give them "just enough" water but never too much. Soil should be lightly moist but not wet. Also remember that water stimulates the release of nutrients in the soil so by over-watering you run the risk of saturating your soil with nutes which would also be bad at this point in your plants life.

The soil I use (plagron) is a total bitch for this - i have to be real careful not to get run-off. Sometimes i just put like 50ml on the topsoil, wait 10-15mins then another 50 ml and let it sink in real slow.

There's no getting around it - you will have to experiment with your own tools and materials to get it right. Get us some pics dude so we know better what we're talking about.

Grow4myfriends said:

Well I've never used distilled water hence me questioning it. But if you feel happy using it then stick with it bro. You know I might even give it a try myself in the future. It seems like a very "pure" way to go - just H2O and nothing else. All the other nutes ought to be covered by your soil and fertilizers anyway so hey, why not?

Regarding your current issue, my guess would be that you overdid it a bit with the water - seedlings are so delicate and it's easy to overdo things at this stage. I suggest letting the soil dry out for 2-3 days and observe. As a general rule, if you are getting run-off, then you are watering too much (also you are flushing nutrients out of the soil). Try to always give them "just enough" water but never too much. Soil should be lightly moist but not wet. Also remember that water stimulates the release of nutrients in the soil so by over-watering you run the risk of saturating your soil with nutes which would also be bad at this point in your plants life.

The soil I use (plagron) is a total bitch for this - i have to be real careful not to get run-off. Sometimes i just put like 50ml on the topsoil, wait 10-15mins then another 50 ml and let it sink in real slow.

There's no getting around it - you will have to experiment with your own tools and materials to get it right. Get us some pics dude so we know better what we're talking about.

Click to expand...

Ok guys, here are two photos. Hopefully you can see it well enough. The smaller leaves look great but the two larger ones are curled up.

How compact is your fertilizer? Honestly looks like overwatering or high humidity. Holes in the pots? Proper drainage can help, because fertilizer needs to breathe... thanks for the pics...!
other than that, looks healthy...

Good pics. Yah they are fine little new-borns. Just leave them be for a week or so. No more watering. There is more than enough moisture in your soil to supply them for many days. Just let them acclimatize and get used to their home. Looking good bro.

How is your ventilation? Make sure you have good air exchange, it will help to draw some of the excess moisture out of the soil.

ColoradoDreams said:

How compact is your fertilizer? Honestly looks like overwatering or high humidity. Holes in the pots? Proper drainage can help, because fertilizer needs to breathe... thanks for the pics...!
other than that, looks healthy...

Click to expand...

The soil isnt too compact. When I filled the pots I filled them, kinda shook them and tapped against the ground and did that til it seemed ok. Should the soil be more or less compacted. It seems like it has good drainage. The pots have six decent holes at the bottom. I wish I would have put more soil in as the soil has sunken down into the pot more though.

I am mighty curious about how this grow develops since you are using LED's (a hot topic of debate) keep the pics and info's coming man.

Triplec said:

The soil isnt too compact. When I filled the pots I filled them, kinda shook them and tapped against the ground and did that til it seemed ok. Should the soil be more or less compacted. It seems like it has good drainage. The pots have six decent holes at the bottom. I wish I would have put more soil in as the soil has sunken down into the pot more though.

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Sounds like everyting is going good bro. Just dont water for 2 full days and see if plant has recovered... should be okay in no time... maybe LEDs. Dont be to sensitive, I dont know anyone that personally uses them, so I dont know...

Grow4myfriends said:

I am mighty curious about how this grow develops since you are using LED's (a hot topic of debate) keep the pics and info's coming man.

Click to expand...

Agree, keep us updated....

Yah soil will sink down once u start watering. That's normal. Sounds to me you did it perfect, a bit of tapping and shaking to make sure the pots are filled to the edges but if you make your soil TOO compact (eg. by pressing it in hard) the roots will not be able to breathe properly.

Grow4myfriends said:

Good pics. Yah they are fine little new-borns. Just leave them be for a week or so. No more watering. There is more than enough moisture in your soil to supply them for many days. Just let them acclimatize and get used to their home. Looking good bro.

How is your ventilation? Make sure you have good air exchange, it will help to draw some of the excess moisture out of the soil.

Click to expand...

Thanks, yea I won't water for a while, lol. It feels like it has substantial air flow with the 1 intake 2 exhaust. It had already shot up a half inch or more since 9am.

ColoradoDreams said:

Sounds like everyting is going good bro. Just dont water for 2 full days and see if plant has recovered... should be okay in no time... maybe LEDs. Dont be to sensitive, I dont know anyone that personally uses them, so I dont know...

Click to expand...

Thanks guys. I'll lay off the watering and keep the pics coming. The airflow seems good and humidity is at 48% and temp was at 77f.

Grow4myfriends said:

Yah soil will sink down once u start watering. That's normal. Sounds to me you did it perfect, a bit of tapping and shaking to make sure the pots are filled to the edges but if you make your soil TOO compact (eg. by pressing it in hard) the roots will not be able to breathe properly.

Click to expand...

Cool, thanks for the replies guys. I appreciate it. I definitely didn't press the soil down, so that's good. The air flow seems ok from what I can tell. I'll hold off on watering and keep the pics coming. As of now the humidity is 48% and temp is 77%.

Yea, as far as the LED's go , we'll see. I primarily got them for power consumption, longevity, and temperature reasons. There wasn't a lot of good or bad info out there about them so I guess there is some risk that it might not be as good. The PC box is constructed very well and seemed the best out of all I looked at though.

Sorry, I didn't realized it was saving those previous write ups and including all that in the last post. That was meant to be just one reply. Still getting used to the forum. Using on my iphone browser isn't the best usability either. Lol

hehe not a problem, u quoted me twice, makin me feel all special and warm inside