Young plants with shiny/shriveled leaves?

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sealab

sealab

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Hello everyone, took some time away after my first grow and this one has had some problems getting started, but I'm trying to get back on track.

Some background: It has been 3 weeks since I planted ungermed seeds, 2 weeks for the smaller plants. All planted in Fox Farms Ocean Forest mixed with ~30% perlite
Plants in fabric pots were transplated 3 days ago, some were a bit sloppy and I might have done some root damage.
I discovered my PH meter was broken, so these plants have likely had feeding between 5.9 - 7.3 at different points, but that's fixed now.
They were getting ~12,000 LUX measured from a Dr. Meter, after transplanting I turned light up to 15-17k, but turned it back down yesterday after plants showed they're stressed out. They were getting 24 hours of light, now giving them 6 hours of sleep every day. Light is a Kingbrite 3500k LED Quantum Board, about 3 ft above.
Currently trying to keep the RH around 45% but it dropped as low as 39% yesterday.

Also, initially the light was too low and I had too much stretching, so I buried more of the plants stems, which is why they aren't growing straight upright.

Any advice of how I can help these plants get healthy again? Thanks in advance.
(the 2 on the left that are clearly dry got watered right after this photo)

Young plants with shinyshriveled leaves

Young plants with shinyshriveled leaves 2

Young plants with shinyshriveled leaves 3
 
TSD

TSD

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Are you fully saturating the entirety of the soil at each watering? Fabric pots are tricky till you figure them out. I don't understand why anyone ever does 24 hours of light... I'd say they are probably stressed from that and look like they may have some watering issues... but need to know your exact watering practices.
 
sealab

sealab

64
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Are you fully saturating the entirety of the soil at each watering? Fabric pots are tricky till you figure them out. I don't understand why anyone ever does 24 hours of light... I'd say they are probably stressed from that and look like they may have some watering issues... but need to know your exact watering practices.
I had them on 24 hours of light because they were growing very slowly for the first couple weeks, although now I think that the reason was RH too high (65-70%)

They've only had one watering so far since they've been transplanted. I didn't water them until run off the first time, but I tried to saturate them. I'll make sure they go until run-off from now on.
 
TSD

TSD

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FYI if they are super dry you may need to soak them to get them saturated or do a little at a time till it soaks in everywhere, if the soil has become hydrophobic the water will just run past the soil and down the sides... it will take a decent amount of water to saturate those ... did you saturate them after transplanting? Roots won't grow into dry soil, so anything bone dry is basically wasted space.
 
sealab

sealab

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FYI if they are super dry you may need to soak them to get them saturated or do a little at a time till it soaks in everywhere, if the soil has become hydrophobic the water will just run past the soil and down the sides... it will take a decent amount of water to saturate those ... did you saturate them after transplanting? Roots won't grow into dry soil, so anything bone dry is basically wasted space.
Good to know, I did water them a bit at a time to try and saturate them, but I'll be sure to do it until run-off from now on.

I think another big issue has been the temperature, just checked the thermostat and in the past 24 hours it dropped to 66 F at some point. Have the space heater going in there now.
 
TSD

TSD

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Do you have air circulation? Gonna need to stengthen up those stems. Have you used fabric pots before? They require slightly more frequent watering because they get more air and dry out faster. They may not have been thriving because they are not getting enough water. I tried 15 gal fabric pots last year outdoors and it was not my cup of tea, but outdoor is different. I thought I was watering enough, it was running out and the sides felt damp, but they were not growing as I knew they should be, so I cut a pot off and low and behold the entire bottom 2/3 was bone dry... so I abandoned the pots, dug holes, and my ladies exploded. Not saying fabric is bad, they are great once you get the hang of it, and mine were just too large, I couldn't possibly do the lift test and the wind and sun sped up drying even more. Also, you might want to get some trays for under them because runoff is inevitable and necessary with those. Then once they are saturated they should be good for a few days. Fill an empty pot with dry dirt and feel the weight, do the same with a saturated pot, then you know what you're working with. Don't saturate again till they are light.
What I do with my regular house plants when I neglect them and they get bone dry, is put them in the tub, close the drain and water a bit at a time till they are saturated, and let them sit in the runoff till they stop sucking it up, let em drip off then put them back... I'm talking like 5-10 gallon planters with 3 foot tropical plants... even my little ones sometimes when I'm neglectful.
 
Shaded_One

Shaded_One

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Fully saturating 5 gallon pots with plants that small will only equal disaster. Not sure why you transplanted in to such huge pots.

They look like they will grow out of it if you dial things in.
 
sealab

sealab

64
18
Do you have air circulation? Gonna need to stengthen up those stems. Have you used fabric pots before? They require slightly more frequent watering because they get more air and dry out faster. They may not have been thriving because they are not getting enough water. I tried 15 gal fabric pots last year outdoors and it was not my cup of tea, but outdoor is different. I thought I was watering enough, it was running out and the sides felt damp, but they were not growing as I knew they should be, so I cut a pot off and low and behold the entire bottom 2/3 was bone dry... so I abandoned the pots, dug holes, and my ladies exploded. Not saying fabric is bad, they are great once you get the hang of it, and mine were just too large, I couldn't possibly do the lift test and the wind and sun sped up drying even more. Also, you might want to get some trays for under them because runoff is inevitable and necessary with those. Then once they are saturated they should be good for a few days. Fill an empty pot with dry dirt and feel the weight, do the same with a saturated pot, then you know what you're working with. Don't saturate again till they are light.
What I do with my regular house plants when I neglect them and they get bone dry, is put them in the tub, close the drain and water a bit at a time till they are saturated, and let them sit in the runoff till they stop sucking it up, let em drip off then put them back... I'm talking like 5-10 gallon planters with 3 foot tropical plants... even my little ones sometimes when I'm neglectful.
They have a rotating fan going in there, going add a second fan today. I bought some trays but they're too large to fit all the plants I planned, so I'll need to add them once I sex them and take out the males. For now, I have a shopvac I use to get the runoff.


Fully saturating 5 gallon pots with plants that small will only equal disaster. Not sure why you transplanted in to such huge pots.

They look like they will grow out of it if you dial things in.
They're 3 gallon pots
 
sealab

sealab

64
18
Transplanting the solo cup plants into 1 gallon fabric pots.

I was afraid of transplanting them when they're larger, but we'll see how it goes.
 
sealab

sealab

64
18
Hmmmmm, they seemed much happier when I got the RH/temp situation under control, and changed the light back to 18/6 with 12k lx, but new growth is still having that shiny look / curling up. Appearing in the 1 gallon pots too, so I don't think it was from being transplanted into the 3 gallons either.

Maybe they're still getting too much light? Dropped down to 8-9klx to test, but I'm somewhat baffled.
 
sealab

sealab

64
18
Another possibility; wind damage? Rotating fan was pointed directly at them and they were shaking pretty hard...
Turned it around so its facing the wall of the tent now instead
 
sealab

sealab

64
18
It'd probably be helpful to plant your seeds/seedlings in the middle of your pots as well.
They were originally, but had some stretching so I buried more of their stem and then didn't consider it when transplanting
 
sealab

sealab

64
18
They'll grow out of it. Looks like minor N toxicity but nothing to be worried about.

Agree with jp on the center of the pot thing
They've spent their whole lives in Fox Farms Ocean Forest/perlite mix, do you think that could be the cause of the N toxicity? Will try out a less hot soil next time
 
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