What am I doing wrong?

LeastExpectedGrower

Well-Known Member
Okay. Please excuse my late response. Did I mention I'm a mom with a newborn and a 4 year old? Lol but anyways, quick update.. there's not much new growth going on but I think part of the problem was definitely over watering as suspected. Here's how the plants are doing as of today. I haven't watered them in a couple of days and I don't plan to water them until the soil is mostly dry.( Thanks for the tip guys) It's still very moist when I stick my finger in there (lol) so yeahh. I think they are looking pretty good for the most part.
Are you planning on potting them up a size or three soon? They look like they're getting there...as the leaves look to be about the same diameter as the pot you've got.
 

No8body

Member
This is my first grow and I'm trying to learn as much as I can.. Today is day 24 of life for these babies.. and since then, I've had some issues. The two struggling plants are super skunk and the larger one is PK. All grown under the same conditions. I have a Marshydro 27" x 27" set up. 18/6 light cycle. I germinated all three seeds at the same time via paper towel method and then placed the germinated seeds in a jiffy pod. After two days I transferred the pods to 1 gallon containers with foxfarm soil and sprayed with water. No nutrients. Just distilled water. (Initially, there were two PK and two SS but the other PK just stopped growing after it was transfered to the gallon pot and I didn't bother spending energy trying to save it.) At first, when the leaves started growing I noticed they were wilting a bit. On day 12, I noticed the PK starting to outgrow the two SS. Around day 14 I noticed the leaves were going yellow and burnt at the tips. I realized they were light burned because I had my LED lights too close and too bright. They were about 14 inches from the light at 50%. I moved the light up to about 20 inches from canopy and since turned the brightness down to about 40%. I knew they were pretty stressed and most likely why the growth was stunted, but the PK was still growing somewhat normally I think..Then again, this is my first time growing, so not sure what an ideal grow looks like yet. Day 22, both SS are still growing veeeery slooowlyy. I realized the pods were exposed and should've initially been covered with soil, so I added some soil on top in all three containers. On the smaller SS I just clipped the bottom leaves that were severely burnt. & Also today I topped the PK. Idk if I should start giving them nutrients? Should I? Maybe some CalMag would help? I've checked the pH of both the soil and runoff and it is normal. Between 6-7. Why are my SS still so small? What do you think will help???
I am in no sense of the word an experienced grower and very well could be wrong but I think your biggest problem is starting the seedlings in those jiffy pellets. I have done this a couple of times now and I know others who have done the same and each time the seedlings either die or are very stunted in growth. I use them for clones only now and they work well for that, germinated seeds now go straight into soil and haven't had the same problems since. If you peruse posts on many of these forum sites you will see many have the same issue with the jiffy pellets, unhealthy tiny plants that grow very slowly.
 
Interesting. I haven't looked into it. All 5 of my plants so far I've started using the jiffy pellets. The next time I'm definitely going to place them directly into the soil after germination and take note of the differences. I think you may be onto something.. although there's nothing I can do at this point but to just continue to take care of them, at least I'll have the experience for next time.
 

Mezzrow

Member
For what it’s worth, all I use is the little jiffy peat pods to start my seeds and I have 100% germination soaking them in distilled water and leaving them in a Rubbermaid container with the lid partially on. Usually 4 days flat they pop. I would not however use distilled water to water your plants once in soil and agree with what others have mentioned about that being the potential issue. I had ph issues when I first started growing and and old school grower once told me to try phing down with vinegar. I’ve used that ever since and never had another ph problem again usually I aim for 5.8-6.0. It takes me about 1.5 tsp with my tap water but everyone is different. Others will hate on vinegar or lemon but I’ve tried ph down and saw no difference whatsoever. Just in price of course. I would not use vinegar in hydro though only soil. Also make sure to let the soil dry out completely. If the bottom part of the soil stays wet it causes the roots to rot as they never have a chance to dry out. I use a moisture meter to check all my plants and have for years.
 
I've heard about vinegar as a natural pH down. It makes sense. I will try it out. When I first started I read somewhere that you have to keep the soil moist at all times in the seedling stage, which is why I kept watering them before they were completely dry but now I know better lol. & I will be using tap water from now on just in the case the distilled water is causing the issue. We'll see what happens..
 

Mezzrow

Member
I've heard about vinegar as a natural pH down. It makes sense. I will try it out. When I first started I read somewhere that you have to keep the soil moist at all times in the seedling stage, which is why I kept watering them before they were completely dry but now I know better lol. & I will be using tap water from now on just in the case the distilled water is causing the issue. We'll see what happens..
Another point maybe worth mentioning, and again I don’t know if it matters but it’s what I do. I fill my gallon jugs and let them sit usually overnight. I believe this eliminates any chlorination in the water but I’ve never compared to see if there was any real effect one way or another. I ph my water just before I use it as it can rise if you adjust it and let it sit if using natural products like vinegar to adjust ph.
 

LeastExpectedGrower

Well-Known Member
Another point maybe worth mentioning, and again I don’t know if it matters but it’s what I do. I fill my gallon jugs and let them sit usually overnight. I believe this eliminates any chlorination in the water but I’ve never compared to see if there was any real effect one way or another. I ph my water just before I use it as it can rise if you adjust it and let it sit if using natural products like vinegar to adjust ph.
I do this, not for chlorine, but to bring the water up to temperature to match the environmental conditions.
 

MyBallzItch

Well-Known Member
Okay. Please excuse my late response. Did I mention I'm a mom with a newborn and a 4 year old? Lol but anyways, quick update.. there's not much new growth going on but I think part of the problem was definitely over watering as suspected. Here's how the plants are doing as of today. I haven't watered them in a couple of days and I don't plan to water them until the soil is mostly dry.( Thanks for the tip guys) It's still very moist when I stick my finger in there (lol) so yeahh. I think they are looking pretty good for the most part.
Already looking a ton better bro! Congrats on the baby
 

C. Nesbitt

Well-Known Member
I am in no sense of the word an experienced grower and very well could be wrong but I think your biggest problem is starting the seedlings in those jiffy pellets. I have done this a couple of times now and I know others who have done the same and each time the seedlings either die or are very stunted in growth. I use them for clones only now and they work well for that, germinated seeds now go straight into soil and haven't had the same problems since. If you peruse posts on many of these forum sites you will see many have the same issue with the jiffy pellets, unhealthy tiny plants that grow very slowly.
Jiffy pellets can be tricky but used correctly they do work fine for starting seeds. I started 72 pellet flats of various seeds (vegetables, cannabis and herbs) with them the last couple of springs and germination results were normal.
The tricky parts are:
1) Getting the initial soak to expand and hydrate them right - it’s easy to over-wet them if not careful with volume of water
2) Pellets dry out very quickly (like in one day at my house) once they are taken out of the clear humidity dome, especially if running a fan for airflow. Its pretty dry in my house in Feb-Mar when I start seeds though.
3) If the mesh nets are removed before transplanting it’s easy to disturb roots and accidentally break apart the peat when doing this.

Popping them into solo cups with soil mix 2-3 days after seeds germinate works to fix the issue with them drying out too fast.
I also found little difference between removing the nets or leaving them on but this is a big topic of debate both on vegetable gardening forums. YMMV on the nets.

I’ve had a couple of pretty successful years using them to start seeds but am not going to use them for 2022. The drying out too quickly thing is what I like least about them. Transplanting to larger containers with minimum mess is what I like most vs starting in soil.
 

Mezzrow

Member
You guys, I still haven't watered them yet. I think I'll water tmrw. But my purple Kush has grown a lot in the past 2-3 days. The super skunks still look to be struggling... Idk why. Any suggestions?
They may be a little stunted right now but should take off soon enough. Just need a little time and patience. Sometimes less is more. Just make sure the soil is dry before you water again
 

Herb & Suds

Well-Known Member
You guys, I still haven't watered them yet. I think I'll water tmrw. But my purple Kush has grown a lot in the past 2-3 days. The super skunks still look to be struggling... Idk why. Any suggestions?
Could be something ya did to it as a seedling
Could just be a lame pheno
I generally don’t keep the slow ones just insert next victim :bigjoint:
 

LeastExpectedGrower

Well-Known Member
Could be something ya did to it as a seedling
Could just be a lame pheno
I generally don’t keep the slow ones just insert next victim :bigjoint:
I wouldn't toss it. Even my weakest anklebiter has caught up to the other lil' runts once we got close to flower.

I'd add to the list of:

-Lame Pheno
-mistakenly did something
-just a little stunted
-May be placed just out of the light sweetspot
 
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