really slow seedling?

ripped them all up today as they were growing slightly and were greener but wanted to see what was happening at its roots. The roots were white but didn't spread out very far (Only spread as far as leaves) and only went a little less than 3/4 down the pot. It seems to me that the mix compacts and makes it so the roots are unable to spread through the medium with ease. When I dig in with my hands it needs to be broken up because it is all clumped together. but doesn't seem very moist but seems stiff. It is not dusty dry but is dry enough that when squeezed no water comes out. Is it normal for the mix to compact like that or is it something with my watering technique or something? Can anyone tell me how I can PH my water organically. I want to use a soilless mix like the promix HP with organics such as worm castings and bone meal etc. I read that with organics you don't need to PH but I am not sure if that is the same as organics in a soilless mix?

I am curious how you guys are thinking this seedling is looking. I believe this is either the 6 or 7 day above ground. I did not water all week until today I gave it a really tiny amount of water I would guess around 50 to 100 ml. I will probably do so again in a couple days when the top dries out. I will give it very tiny amounts every couple days until hopefully it actually starts to grow unless someone else has a better suggestion. The temperature around the roots is reading 20 Celsius on my thermometer. I am not sure if this is a good rootzone temperature or if I should turn on my heat mats to raise it a bit?

kronicking421 said:

I am curious how you guys are thinking this seedling is looking. I believe this is either the 6 or 7 day above ground. I did not water all week until today I gave it a really tiny amount of water I would guess around 50 to 100 ml. I will probably do so again in a couple days when the top dries out. I will give it very tiny amounts every couple days until hopefully it actually starts to grow unless someone else has a better suggestion. The temperature around the roots is reading 20 Celsius on my thermometer. I am not sure if this is a good rootzone temperature or if I should turn on my heat mats to raise it a bit?


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The problem with such large pots is it becomes impossible to water a seedling properly. The 20c temp is way too low, it should be more like 25-27c. Also, the 43% humidity is too low for veg growth, it should be between 55-70%. I keep an evaporative humidifier in my tent to maintain adequate humidity, otherwise the plant will struggle to survive.

Driver733 said:

The problem with such large pots is it becomes impossible to water a seedling properly. The 20c temp is way too low, it should be more like 25-27c. Also, the 43% humidity is too low for veg growth, it should be between 55-70%. I keep an evaporative humidifier in my tent to maintain adequate humidity, otherwise the plant will struggle to survive.

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Thanks for the response. I am trying to raise the humidity with some wet towels hanging and a fan blowing on them. It is slightly raising the humidity but not much. I don't have a humidifier at the moments so I guess it will have to do and I will look into getting an evaporative humidifier. Thanks for the suggestion. I just want to clarify that the 20 Celsius temperature reading is from the soilless mix. The surrounding air temperature hovers around 24-25 Celsius unless I turn my heater to a higher temperature.

kronicking421 said:

Thanks for the response. I am trying to raise the humidity with some wet towels hanging and a fan blowing on them. It is slightly raising the humidity but not much. I don't have a humidifier at the moments so I guess it will have to do and I will look into getting an evaporative humidifier. Thanks for the suggestion. I just want to clarify that the 20 Celsius temperature reading is from the soilless mix. The surrounding air temperature hovers around 24-25 Celsius unless I turn my heater to a higher temperature.

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I only spent $40 at rite aid for the humidifier. It has filters that must be replaced regularly or it will stink. Don't buy them at the store, they are $13 each. I found 6 packs of filters on amazon for $22 total, so about $3.50 each, much more affordable.

Yes, I can see the probe now in the dirt, that should be fine but a little warmer would be better. I have my tent placed on sheets of 2" thick rigid foam board insulation, this keeps the drafts down from a cold floor in the winter and really helps the tent to stay warm. Getting your air temp up to 26-27c would be even better.

These autos are 4 days since sprout under a 40 watt cfl. They are in FF Light Warrior. Keeping the 40 watt cfl very close stops them from stretching too much. The soil is barely damp with tap water, and I spritz them twice a day...also tap water. At 7 days they'll go into a 3 gal grow bag with FFOF. They won't see any nutes until day 21 from sprout.

I think I may be watering too slowly. I just watered it very quickly (pouring water fast letting it pool up than get sucked down) and it seems like the soil is not as soggy as when I would water it slowly (pouring water so it doesn't disturb surface much and pouring in intervals of 5-15 minutes) so hopefully that will make it so their is more air at the roots. I really believe at this point that I was underwatering as the soil seemed kind of moist but almost to the point of bone dry so I may have let it go a little too long.

pics of the 2 seedlings after my watering. I can't believe they are this small after 8 days.

I almost guarantee it is the way I was pouring water before. I just tried grabbing some of the mix and squeezing it like I did before I planted my seeds and some water dripped out when squeezed hard but not like it did when I watered it really slow. When I squeezed the mix that I watered really slowly it poured water out and was sopping wet. Hopefully I found my problem as I don't know what else there is other than all the other things I mentioned humidity light intensity etc. but like I said it seems that there are alot of people out there doing the same thing (low humidity, Higher intensity light) and achieving great results.

I'm curious what you guys think. These pictures are taken approx 3 hours after watering. I feel they look happier and greener and seem to be getting a little less droopy.

just opened the 2 images on different screens and flipped back and forth a couple times. They seem to have perked up a bit after the watering. I decided I should switch out my ballast and try to follow this guide (How to Grow Up to a Pound of Cannabis with a 315 LEC Grow Light | Grow Weed Easy) with light distance and everything as I have the same ballast and see how it goes. Hopefully I can actually get these things growing soon.

Okay, So I just checked on the seedlings this morning and no movement. The other seeds I planted 2 1/2 days ago are still not up but it is still early. I decided to dig down because the plant was droopy and stunted to see what the roots were doing and to get them some air and noticed that the roots seem to be going down to the bottom of the pot but not spreading out in the medium. It was as if all the roots were just going straight down and trying to spread out a bit but not much at all. Is it possible I am not watering enough around the seedling and it is causing the roots to be air pruned or are they just not developing due to another issue such as overwatering? I feel it is probably overwatering as the soil around it seemed a little moist but it is very hard to squeeze water out but is compacted and darker than bone dry. One thing I am doing that I just realized might be stupid is I am spraying the seedlings before they sprout with straight tap water that hasn't been ph'd (sitting at around 7) that has been sitting in my tent in a spray bottle. Also use it to spray the foliage once in a while. There must be something that is really wrong because none of these plants seem to want to grow. I might try leaving my water out for 24 hours or something as I don't know what else to do at this point. I am also thinking of watering the whole pot and letting it dry a couple days and planting the seed. I heard it causes slow growth at first but not to water it till it is light and let the roots root out the medium.

I don't mean to sound like a jerk but you're doing everything wrong. Download the Mephisto grow guide and follow it to the T. Don't deviate from it and ignore everything else. You'll have connoisseur grade bud if you do this.

Thanks for the response. No worries u don't sound like a jerk and I am open to taking criticism even on things I feel I do well so feel free to say anything in any form. I have no idea what I am doing at all and appreciate any advice given. I feel like I am doing a lot more than just 1 thing incorrectly like your saying. I will have to take a look at the Mephisto grow guide. I didn't know they had one. Should I just disregard any info on the lec grow guide on grow weed easy? (How to Grow Up to a Pound of Cannabis with a 315 LEC Grow Light | Grow Weed Easy) I just went down to see the mix and I really think I was overwatering. I grabbed a bit that I thought was on the dry side but darker than the bone dry stuff and squeezed extremely hard and got a small amount of water out of it. I think I may have to try and let 1 dry out till the point where it is definitely overwatered just to see what the reaction is.

McStrats said:

I don't mean to sound like a jerk but you're doing everything wrong. Download the Mephisto grow guide and follow it to the T. Don't deviate from it and ignore everything else. You'll have connoisseur grade bud if you do this.

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I am looking at the grow guide right now and was wondering when germinating seeds do I need to ph my tap water? It doesn't have that as a step it just says to use tap water but with no ph adjustment?

I think I may have found one of my problems but I am not quite sure if this is an issue. I have 3 fans set up around the tent pointing at the walls to circulate air. The temperature under my lights where my plants are is approx 26.5 - 28 celsius but the temperature above the light and surrounding is 22.5 celsius. I have a feeling that isn't such a good thing but would it cause these issues. Should I look at getting the surrounding temperature up to 24-25 celsius? I had the fans pointed at the canopy before but the temperature was still high under the light at 25.5 celsius. I think one of the things that might be an issue is the temperature surrounding the tent is 19 celsius and passive intake. I am not sure if I need to find a way to intake air from a warmer part of the house or just try to get the temperature in the tent up or if it is fine the way it is?

You are welcome. You're completely over-thinking all of this. Forget everything and start over with this guide. Revisit "how to grow a pound", etc. in a few months and you'll see it from a much different perspective. Don't improvise...just follow this and you'll have world class cannabis in 75 days.

Mephisto Grow Guide Link

kronicking421 said:

I heard CMH lighting causes looser airier buds.

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Duno where you heard that from
I run cmh and my nugs are denser than ive ever had before.

Jjgrow420 said:

Duno where you heard that from
I run cmh and my nugs are denser than ive ever had before.

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I am pretty sure I read that on multiple different sites when I was looking up the different types of lighting and their advantages and disadvantages. For CMH I remember reading looser airier buds but higher quality. I do see quite a few people getting dense buds from it but it seems to be a belief that CMH produces airier buds. For me I am looking for quality anyway and airier buds to me means less of a chance for mold so I am all for it.

I have increased the temperature in my tent with my heater to reach 24 C in the tent but when I check the temperature under the light it is at 29 celsius. I don't know if it is the one type of sensor or not because I have the heater sensor around the same position as the one that reads 29 celsius but it is reading 24 C. I have uploaded some pictures of my setup and sensors. The last 2 pictures are the vivosun sensor. The first one is the reading and the last one is where the sensor is placed in between the pots. It reads the same temperature there as it does when it is not under the lamp so it makes me believe that the sensors I have under the light might be reading a higher temperature due to darker color or something making it hotter? I checked the sensor last night when lights are out. With lights out the sensors on the pot will read the same as the heater sensor. It really seems like the cheap sensors are trapping heat somehow and making it seem hotter than it is.