Plants yellowing 1 week into veg

The bugs, from what I've seen of them, don't fly but can jump really far, and are almost microscopic, maybe a millimeter in length.

The soil is Scotts brand and the bag says its "premium potting soil".

But I think the main problem is root rot, though the bugs may also be an issue later on, I'm not going to worry about them right now and just hope drying the soil out will kill them or force them out or something.

The reason I'm sure it's root rot is because I actually saw fungus growing on the roots when I repotted. At least it looks like fungus, it's just these little hairs all over the roots which I'm pretty sure aren't supposed to be there.

I forgot to mention I live in a high humidity area near the ocean, and also forgot to take that into consideration when watering. No idea what the inside humidity level actually is but outside it's usually around 80-90%.

Will drying the soil out kill the fungus at all, or just stop it from growing anymore? and what might the plants look like if bugs were eating their roots?

Also, would it hurt to add some lemon juice or something to my water to make it slightly more acidic next time I water them? I've read that bugs, fungus, and other non-plant organisms prefer alkaline environments and tend to die off in acidic environments.

I'm using scott's premium as well and the same shit is happening to me. yellowing at the tips, and stunted growth. I think I might try a transplant right away. It must be the sphagnum and perlite in the soil.

I think the soil just doesn't have very good drainage. Last time I watered them a couple days ago, I noticed the water just kinda sat on the surface. Not floating like it was held up by water tension, but it just wouldn't flow down into the soil for about 10 seconds. And I made sure when I planted them that the soil was nice and loose.

I think if these die and I end up starting over, I'm going to go buy all the ingredients for the soil seperately and mix them myself. Cause I noticed right away there was hardly any perlite at all in this premixed crap, and a ton of wood chips.

huh, interesting. well ya...my plants have died so I guess new soil is probably a good idea. good luck on your next grow.

Good luck on the next grow...

Hey they're not dead yet, so hold back on the 'next grow' stuff.

Actually I think they're recovering. I saw one drooping from needing water yesterday and I watered them all. Checked again today about 5 hours ago, and they have new leaves forming, and the yellowing seems to have stopped progressing.

I'm giving them dark periods in the hopes of helping the plants' immune systems; 18-6.

I'll put some pics up tonight.

Good...can't wait to see the new pics....smile.

That soil is wayyy too hot for seedlings. If you're dead set on using soil (eww...) then check out Subcool's homemade super soil tutorial. I would NOT use his soil for seedlings though. I'd wait a good 3-4 weeks before sticking a plant in his mix. Stress them early and make your mistakes now because when you start flowering the problems get bigger and the mistakes directly effect your yield.

Alright, thanks for the advice. What exactly do you mean by "the soil is too hot"? as in temperature or nutes?

Also, I have no idea where to find that tutorial, so if you could give me a link to it, I'd appreciate it.

By hot I was referring to nute content, sorry for not specifying. But here's a link to the soil tutorial. Subcool is truly a soil pro and I respect much of what he does

https://www.rollitup.org/general-marijuana-growing/44686-subcools-super-soil.html

Thanks for the tutorial, I'll be looking at that one a lot.

Here's some pics of the plants 19 days in. They're really stunted, but they're recovering and growing new foliage.

RyaNayR said:

Thanks for the tutorial, I'll be looking at that one a lot.

Here's some pics of the plants 19 days in. They're really stunted, but they're recovering and growing new foliage.

Click to expand...

Well I found your problem. They're in Miller Lite cans.... I'd be suffering yoo. Repot them in some Guiness cans immediately! But seriously, you need something that has drainage holes in it. Also, the aluminum can break down from the nutes in the soil and poison the mix.

Deff guiness!!!!!!!

I think your problem is bugs. I just went through this and am going through this. The little whie grubs you see are probably fungus gnat larvae, they eat roots. the eggs look kinda like mold in the dirt. get some diatemaceous earth and some insectisdal soap. I don't know why everybody's so againtst nutes early on I feed them nutes/peroxide even when there germing. If its growing it has to have food. Nothing's better to grow in then soil once you know how to do it. and use a plastic pot for god sakes

The cans can't be the reason, because even the ones not planted in cans are having the same problem, plus the cans are coated on the inside with a plastic to keep the contents from being exposed to aluminum. And they all have holes.

I just did some research and apparently the roots are supposed to have little hairs, so my theory of rootrot just went out the window.

As for the bugs, they're not really grubs or larvae or anything, more like fleas. they're very jumpy and fast. And this seems to be their only stage, they don't get any bigger. But they definitely have legs since they jump.

And i don't know the first thing about how to get rid of them.

Other than that, there's a new problem. It may just be temporary though. I checked my plants today, and that one in the back-left in the pics above is all shriveled and droopy. I'm thinking it could be too dry (the can was the lightest of them all) so I just watered it. But it only did this overnight and was looking fine yesterday. Pics below, first is the one I'm talking about, second is the one that's been shriveled since birth.

Update: the green leaves on that one have started perking back up and looking more full, doubt the other two will recover. They've all perked up a bit, since i watered them all. This may just be a case of severe underwatering in that one plant. I think it has to do with the soil not being consistent. When I water them, it doesn't really wet all the soil evenly. it leaves dry spots all over. it also has really shitty drainage and the water doesn't seep in for a long time, and misses the driest spots all together. the drier it is, the more difficult it is to water.

DO NOT USE SCOTTS PREMIUM POTTING SOIL - EVER.

maybe people have problems with their plants because they spend all their time manicuring the plants and leave their house a disaster, a hell hole of an atmosphere for fresh air intake, keep your house as clean as your grow. i garuntee it will help you out.

your baking your soil, your lights are too hot or close, the light is litterally hardening the soil. like the sun does in a desert

well, the lights seem prertty cool to me (they're cfl's), but i'll back them off a couple inches and maybe the soil will dry more evenly, and not get bone dry.

I still need ideas on what the hell is wrong with them. I have theories but they're just that, theories. The problem is still there, as some of the leaves are still going yellow, just not as fast as before.

I would feel better knowing what the problem is and not be able to fix it, than I would not knowing what's wrong, and just know there may be something i can do, but don't know what it is and that my plants are dieing because of it.

now the leaf tips are just dieing and turning brown like nute burn or heat burn. i'm not sure which but it hasn't gotten better since i raised the lights up so i'm going with nute burn. i'm thinking that since they're getting nute burned the yellowing is probably overwatering. as i said, i haven't been giving them any nutes, but the soil has nutes premixed into it. the bag says its 0.07% N, 0.01% P, and 0.03% K by volume of the soil bag, which is 8 quarts. i have no idea if that's way too much or not, but if anyone knows please speak up.

I've been watering when the soil is dry half way down, and watering until it comes out the bottom for about 5-10 seconds.

can you overwater by pouring in too much when you water?

I've also been keeping the window open and not smoking in the room with the closet in it, so they're getting ventilation, no fans yet though.

They look kinda droopy too, so it looks like everything points to overwatering, but I just can't seem to get it fixed. i'm afraid if i let them dry out anymore than half way their just gonna shrivel up. By the way, the humidity level is probably about 50-60% with the windows closed and 80-90% with them open, as it's always around 80-90 outside. And i do know that it takes more than 24 hours for the top of the soil to even dry out, so maybe their staying wet too long.

Please, any help would be appreciated. I just don't know what to do anymore.

Also, i just read in a different thread that adding peroxide will help the roots get oxygen. you guys think I should try this?

yo. im growing the same thing. but im using some cheap lights. 2 25 watt cfl's. lumens 1850 each. but im also using miracle gro. i just took them outta the paper towels. cuz they grew out and well hey. i was experimenting but im alil farther than you. but one one of the first leafs. one of the tips are turing brown. but its not that bad. because its like alil part of the tip. but yo try some miracle gro i bet you will get far.