New grower here. Need some help with my first set of seedlings (Very slow growth/Blotchy leaves)

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darkerfalz

darkerfalz

30
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Hey there everybody, completely new grower here. After coming across some bagseed I just recently went all out on a 32" x 32" tent setup. Mars Hydro TSW2000 LED light, AC Infinity fan, everything I basically need to start. I also have another tent setup on the way to separate autos/veg and flowering photos.

I have 5 seedlings currently in this tent.
IMG-0337.jpg
Ive attached all the photos of the plants below. 3 are the bagseed I mentioned, and 2 are some fem autos from Jungle Boys (Gelato and Wedding Cake) a buddy of mine gave to me. I figured the bagseed would produce some males or hermies so I plan to separate them out from the autos when I get the other tent. All the seed were basically planted on different days so its very staggered, but plants are only within 10-11 days apart at most. I'm using a 50/50 mix of FoxFarm Ocean Forest and Happy Frog. Seedlings started in jiffy pots and were recently transplanted. I have 3 in 5 gallon fabric pots and 2 in smaller ~.5 gal clay pots. Watering with tap water which is actually very hard and Im lowering PH to about 6.5, no nutes or cal mag. Humidity stays around 55%, daytime temps are 75-80, night time 60-65. Light Schedule 18/6, light is hanging is 24" above the "canopy" (if you even want to call it that right now.)

Although my issues are showing up on both the autos and the bagseed, Ill start with the bagseed. One of the oldest is doing quite well in comparison to its sisters. She is about 24 days old, working on her 5th node, no blotchy leaves, a little bit of leave deformity but otherwise pretty darn healthy looking.
IMG-0358.jpg
Its sisters however are VERY sad looking. One of them which is the oldest one at 27 days old is very small, has some tiny brown spotting on lower leaves, some light streaky/blotchy patches here and there, is very sickly, thin, slowly growing with new growths coming out small, twisted, and slightly yellow.
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The other one isn't as sad, but still very thin, slow and small growth, new growths are yellow.
IMG-0361.jpg
The sickest one is the oldest, and the other two are only 2 days younger with the healthiest looking a lot bushier, greener, and livelier.

Because they're all bagseed I thought this might just be from low quality genetics or something, but Ive had a couple issues with my autos, which were planted about 10 days after the bagseed.
The Gelato is growing alright at 14 days while the Wedding Cake is seemingly very very stunted. The Gelato still has some interesting leaf issues, where Im not sure if its twisting or clawing because some of the "clawing" is upward and some is downward. The leaves also seem a bit dry and papery. Other than that though I see no other issues and growth seems to be going pretty alright, albeit still a bit slow from what Ive seen on a lot of other grows.
IMG-0363.jpg
The Wedding Cake however is very small with strange almost striation looking yellow streaking in the leaves. The new growths came out pure purple at first but quickly turned green so that just might be the genetics too but Im not sure.
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I know they look a bit overwatered. I am trying to give the older plants a good wet/dry cycle while trying to keep the auto seedlings happy without overwatering them. I watered them the day before taking these pics and definitely think I gave a bit too much but Im still just figuring things out.

Anyways, these strange leaf issues in the healthy plants combined with the other symptoms in the slow growing, unhealthy plants makes me think something is wrong here. I feel like Ive gone through the checklist of everything and am racking my brain trying to figure out what might be the issue. As I mentioned before my water is very hard so Ive decided to go the RO route and just add cal mag to the water. I also plan to start feeding sometime soon, but I figured I should let the plants grow a bit more to get some nutrients out of the soil first.

Other than that, any ideas here? Is my soil too hot for these young seedlings? Are my temps swinging too much? Is my light too low? I wanna make sure I catch any issues early on, and also that I dont do something stupid and make it worse. TYSM!
 
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Alpaca

Alpaca

141
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To me it looks like slight overwatering and hot soil. Your leaf tips are already clawing a little bit to indicate the level of nitrogen is a bit on the high side
 
Beachwalker

Beachwalker

7,055
313
How are you measuring your pH? If it's a meter did you calibrate it before using it?

Also I don't know what you're spraying them with but whatever it is please stop; there's no need to spray a healthy plant in my opinion although some may disagree

And you're right they could be shity genetics from bagseed
 
darkerfalz

darkerfalz

30
8
To me it looks like slight overwatering and hot soil. Your leaf tips are already clawing a little bit to indicate the level of nitrogen is a bit on the high side

if this is the case, would you just recommend watering them less and letting them grow out of it?


I would say underwatered. at least last pic. those Ghosts look to have a mutation. it should grow out of it. they look fine.

I’m just wondering if they are even worth growing or if I should cull them for more space. The mutated ones just look so sad and small compared to their younger sibling.

How are you measuring your pH? If it's a meter did you calibrate it before using it?

Also I don't know what you're spraying them with but whatever it is please stop; there's no need to spray a healthy plant in my opinion although some may disagree

And you're right they could be shity genetics from bagseed

I am using a calibrated PH meter. The stuff on the plants is just water from a misting sprayer. I sprayed mist in the tent one morning when my humidity had dropped too low and was resetting my humidifier. I thought it might be shitty genetics but the wedding cake is a feminized auto from a reputable breeder so idk why that one is so sad, small, and slow then unless it’s just nute burn.

I appreciate all your help everyone.
 
Beachwalker

Beachwalker

7,055
313
What's the PPM / EC of the hard water you're using?

I do see some possible indicators so I'd recommend you check for bugs with magnification just to rule out the possibility

Edit: Agree that they look slightly overwatered
 
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darkerfalz

darkerfalz

30
8
What's the PPM / EC of the hard water you're using?

I do see some possible indicators so I'd recommend you check for bugs with magnification just to rule out the possibility

Edit: Agree that they look slightly overwatered

I don’t currently have a way to test that but I have one on the way.

I was kinda worried about bugs myself actually. There are some very strange looking patches on the sick looking plants that seem almost mesh-like, as if the chlorophyll has been eaten out of that part of the leaf.
 
ws2910

ws2910

27
3
Get a meter to test wetness of the soil (I use Swiser Soil Test Kit 3-in-1 Soil Tester ). I have killed more plants than I have grown to bud due to too much water. 2nd in one pic it showed 58F in your tent, I have read most cannabis needs 68F or higher for the exchange between roots & leaves.
 
darkerfalz

darkerfalz

30
8
IMG_0385.jpg

Figured Id post an update.

Well this is them now. I had to cull one of the leggier seedlings, then the other one (front/bottom right) just started to flower? Its looking very meek but Im interested to see what it will yield so Ive decided to keep it.

Its other sister is on the front/bottom left and hasn't even shown any pre flowering yet so I haven't been able to sex it, but I saw a extremely tiny, pointy, mini-calyx looking protrusion at a node on the main cola so I believe its a girl, but she has taken off.

As you can see the Gelato is thriving too, and the Wedding Cake has gotten over its early stage road bumps, although it is still looking a bit smaller.

Ive also done a bit of LST on them, but theyre not so tall so Im struggling a bit to find ways to tiedown the stems.

I even accidentally snapped the main cola on a lower node on the bigger bagseed, but not completely off, but with some tape and a chopstick as a stent to support the plant, it has healed very nicely.

anyways thanks for your help and advice everyone
 
Aqua Man

Aqua Man

26,480
638
They are freezing cold. Get the temps to atleast 70 ideally 75-80f.

Water to moisten the entire media. Just enough so you don't get runoff. A little runoff won't hurt but ideally you dont want when using prefertilized soil. Then let it dry well before watering again.

RH is ok but it will likely drop a bit once you get the temps up.

It's best to heat the room that the tent is in and make absolutely sure they are off the floor since this is a basement (assuming by the temps)

I cant stress how much temperature will affect these plants especially this young. Don't let the night temp drop below 60f and ideally 65f
 
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darkerfalz

darkerfalz

30
8
They are freezing cold. Get the temps to atleast 70 ideally 75-80f.

Water to moisten the entire media. Just enough so you don't get runoff. A little runoff won't hurt but ideally you dont want when using prefertilized soil. Then let it dry well before watering again.

RH is ok but it will likely drop a bit once you get the temps up.

It's best to heat the room that the tent is in and make absolutely sure they are off the floor since this is a basement (assuming by the temps)

I cant stress how much temperature will affect these plants especially this young. Don't let the night temp drop below 60f and ideally 65f


Appreciate the help.

If you see my most recent post, I have pretty much gotten things under control now :)

To all the comments regarding the 58 degree temp reading, I can assure you that reading was a fluke likely from the monitor being right next to a fan and humidifier while I was working on the plant right before taking this pic. If you see the first pic, the temp is 81f with the humidity at 36% because I had just opened the tent which let some of the humid air out. This tent is in a bedroom that has a heater on set to 74f. My average daytime temp is 78 with the RH at 50, and at night it drops down to 68-70, sometime 65 on colder nights, same RH around 50%.

I have the AC infinity fan and humidifier to keep temps down during the day and humidity up. I also removed the drivers from my light because with the the tent was reaching 83-84f.
 
Aqua Man

Aqua Man

26,480
638
Appreciate the help.

If you see my most recent post, I have pretty much gotten things under control now :)

To all the comments regarding the 58 degree temp reading, I can assure you that reading was a fluke likely from the monitor being right next to a fan and humidifier while I was working on the plant right before taking this pic. This tent is in a bedroom that has a heater on set to 74f. My average daytime temp is 78 with the RH at 50, and at night it drops down to 68-70, sometime 65 on colder nights, same RH around 50%.

I have the AC infinity fan and humidifier to keep temps down during the day and humidity up. I also removed the drives from my light because with the the tent was reaching 83-84f.
Good stuff. Read the forst post and replied... lol sorry bit buzzed. Good wet dry and your golden. They do look much better.
 
darkerfalz

darkerfalz

30
8
Good stuff. Read the forst post and replied... lol sorry bit buzzed. Good wet dry and your golden. They do look much better.

Haha no worries at all, still appreciate the help :) I noticed things took a better turn after switching to RO water and just supplementing that with CalMag.

Im thinking that it was either my extremely hard water, or just the soil being a bit too hot for the seedling stage, or maybe a bit of both. Either way Im pretty happy with how theyre looking. I know nearly everybody probably has gotten that anxiety on your first grow with wanting to make sure everything goes smoothly and it had me worried for a minute but we seem to be good for now!
 
darkerfalz

darkerfalz

30
8
Hey man I just wanted to see how your grow was going?

Hey there, sure Ill give a quick update.

So that smaller Ghost OG that was flowering super early ended up pretty nice and frosty, smelled delicious. Chopped it and screwed up the drying process so I ended up with slightly sweet smelling hay that I smoked already. Did its job, but was a fairly unsatisfactory smoke.

The Wedding Cake has been harvested and smoked and that one was pretty disappointing. Never got too frosty and smelled like hay the whole time it was growing. After curing it actually smelled alright, but I think I again screwed up the drying process. Its very dry here around 18-25% rh and I was drying in a closet with an evaporative cooler but constantly was battling too high rh and too high temps along with the cooler fan being too strong for the small space even with it not blowing directly on the buds. Even at around 50-70% rh and 65-72 degrees it still over-dried in about 4 -5 days.

The Gelato and Ghost were stubborn and after almost 3 month I decided to force them to flower with a 12/12 light cycle despite them both being autos. Just went for their 2 days of darkness before chop. Ghost OG (which is bagseed surprisingly) has been killer, even better than the stunted runt. Rock hard, bursting calyxes, frosty as hell, praying leaves the whole time. Smells strongly of bubblegum with slight citrus and gassy undertones. Just an absolute stunner.

The Gelato is frosty and smells good but its def way larfy and I think its because I over-trained and under fertilized it. Too many colas, not enough nutes. It started showing some serious N deficiency in early flower that I never managed to get a handle of due to me being a noob. Im not sure how to handle dry amendments and my current coco + bottled nutes grow is going much smoother atm because I feel I have more control and can quickly assess any issues.

So as far as drying goes, I plan on doing the lotus dry method, which is basically just fridge drying. I know its not the most popular idea but I did some digging and read some stuff coming from people having similar issues as me. I'm a taste snob so Im trying to get a very potent, loud, tasteful end product that resembles as closely as possible that pungent aroma before chop. Already have a small sample of the Ghost in the fridge currently and its on day 4 and already going much much smoother.

After the Ghost and Gelato are chopped, that is basically a wrap on that grow, I now have 2 Blue Dream photos that I just switched to 12/12 and 2 +Speed Autos that started flowering about a week ago so I should be harvesting in another 6-8 weeks again after this one. Gonna ride this one out completely before I start my next set, give a chance to disinfect and reset the tents and get a new strategy for a perpetual grow.
 
Whiskydrunk420

Whiskydrunk420

177
43
Hey there everybody, completely new grower here. After coming across some bagseed I just recently went all out on a 32" x 32" tent setup. Mars Hydro TSW2000 LED light, AC Infinity fan, everything I basically need to start. I also have another tent setup on the way to separate autos/veg and flowering photos.

I have 5 seedlings currently in this tent.View attachment 1064418 Ive attached all the photos of the plants below. 3 are the bagseed I mentioned, and 2 are some fem autos from Jungle Boys (Gelato and Wedding Cake) a buddy of mine gave to me. I figured the bagseed would produce some males or hermies so I plan to separate them out from the autos when I get the other tent. All the seed were basically planted on different days so its very staggered, but plants are only within 10-11 days apart at most. I'm using a 50/50 mix of FoxFarm Ocean Forest and Happy Frog. Seedlings started in jiffy pots and were recently transplanted. I have 3 in 5 gallon fabric pots and 2 in smaller ~.5 gal clay pots. Watering with tap water which is actually very hard and Im lowering PH to about 6.5, no nutes or cal mag. Humidity stays around 55%, daytime temps are 75-80, night time 60-65. Light Schedule 18/6, light is hanging is 24" above the "canopy" (if you even want to call it that right now.)

Although my issues are showing up on both the autos and the bagseed, Ill start with the bagseed. One of the oldest is doing quite well in comparison to its sisters. She is about 24 days old, working on her 5th node, no blotchy leaves, a little bit of leave deformity but otherwise pretty darn healthy looking.View attachment 1064422 Its sisters however are VERY sad looking. One of them which is the oldest one at 27 days old is very small, has some tiny brown spotting on lower leaves, some light streaky/blotchy patches here and there, is very sickly, thin, slowly growing with new growths coming out small, twisted, and slightly yellow.View attachment 1064423 View attachment 1064419View attachment 1064420The other one isn't as sad, but still very thin, slow and small growth, new growths are yellow. View attachment 1064424The sickest one is the oldest, and the other two are only 2 days younger with the healthiest looking a lot bushier, greener, and livelier.

Because they're all bagseed I thought this might just be from low quality genetics or something, but Ive had a couple issues with my autos, which were planted about 10 days after the bagseed.
The Gelato is growing alright at 14 days while the Wedding Cake is seemingly very very stunted. The Gelato still has some interesting leaf issues, where Im not sure if its twisting or clawing because some of the "clawing" is upward and some is downward. The leaves also seem a bit dry and papery. Other than that though I see no other issues and growth seems to be going pretty alright, albeit still a bit slow from what Ive seen on a lot of other grows.View attachment 1064426 The Wedding Cake however is very small with strange almost striation looking yellow streaking in the leaves. The new growths came out pure purple at first but quickly turned green so that just might be the genetics too but Im not sure.View attachment 1064421
View attachment 1064425

I know they look a bit overwatered. I am trying to give the older plants a good wet/dry cycle while trying to keep the auto seedlings happy without overwatering them. I watered them the day before taking these pics and definitely think I gave a bit too much but Im still just figuring things out.

Anyways, these strange leaf issues in the healthy plants combined with the other symptoms in the slow growing, unhealthy plants makes me think something is wrong here. I feel like Ive gone through the checklist of everything and am racking my brain trying to figure out what might be the issue. As I mentioned before my water is very hard so Ive decided to go the RO route and just add cal mag to the water. I also plan to start feeding sometime soon, but I figured I should let the plants grow a bit more to get some nutrients out of the soil first.

Other than that, any ideas here? Is my soil too hot for these young seedlings? Are my temps swinging too much? Is my light too low? I wanna make sure I catch any issues early on, and also that I dont do something stupid and make it worse. TYSM!
Stop watering untill they scream for food . The plants will let you know when it's time to eat .
 
lvstealth

lvstealth

Supporter
1,507
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lol, i was confused! but this is older post... but the one with splotchy leaves looks like mine, the hot soil burned her and that same thing with the same purples and mine had striped stems, like a purple stripe. i actually like reading the old posts, i get to see it unfold and see the end! lol
 
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