Title: I’M IN DESPERATE NEED OF HELP – First time grower, 3/4 plants deadSubtitle: New grower losing plants fast and can’t figure out why 😢

[Bellmang]

Hey everyone,

I’m honestly feeling so defeated right now. This is my very first grow and I’ve just had 3 out of 4 plants die one after another. I’m trying not to give up but I’m so down about it. They were healthy for a while, then everything started crashing and burning despite me throwing everything I had into fixing it.

I’ve spent a lot on equipment, amendments, fertilisers, and tried following every bit of advice I could find. I ended up with a fungus gnat outbreak that I think I’ve taken care of, but even after dealing with them the plants just kept getting weaker and weaker no matter what I did. Leaves yellowing, dying, falling off… it feels like every day something gets worse. I thought it was iron deficiency, then phosphorus deficiency — tried treating both — but I’m still losing leaves.

I also just transplanted from 2-gallon to 5-gallon pots and they did seem slightly root-bound, so maybe that stressed them too? I’m out of ideas.


I really don’t want to quit growing, but this has taken the wind out of me. Any help, advice, or guesses at what’s going wrong would mean the world right now.

MY SETUP

• Indoor 2x2 grow tent

• 1000w Green Fingers LED light

• 4-inch exhaust fan + carbon filter

• Anko large dehumidifier

• Inkbird humidity controller

• Inkbird temp controller

• 2 clip-on fans

• Bottom-feeder pot trays

• Recently transplanted from 2g → 5g pots

⸻

GROWING MEDIUM

(All mixed together)

• Brunnings peat moss

• Pine-gro coco peat

• Yates soil with sand

• Perlite

• Vermiculite

• Kaolin clay



⸻



FERTILISERS / AMENDMENTS

• Brunnings blood & bone

• Garden lime

• Phosphorus (added recently)

• Organic worm castings (just added)

• Gnat barrier on top layer

• Mosquito bits (used during gnat outbreak)



⸻



FEEDING / WATERING

• Twice a week with plain water (trying to flush because of suspected salt buildup)

• Occasional foliar spray

⸻
PROBLEM
• Had a fungus gnat outbreak (seems controlled now)

• Plants continued declining even after that

• Leaves yellowing, drooping, drying, falling off

• Losing plants one by one

• Possibly multiple nutrient lockouts or deficiencies

• Slight root-binding before transplant

• Can’t seem to reverse the damage
The leaves are getting eaten but there is no sight of any insects


If anyone can point me in the right direction, diagnose what’s going on, or help me understand what mistakes I’ve made, please — I really need some guidance. I want to learn from this instead of giving up.



Thanks in advance.

 

[amneziaHaze]

Purple stem and lines is mg but what are you doing in a 2x2 with a 1000W lamp???

 

[MileHiGhost]

Cooking crops I'm guessing

 

[JIMKSI64]

Ok.
Interesting pot competition. Would love to know if you found this as instructions online somewhere.

You media ( pot content ) is a bit of a hot mess.
Perlite is used for drainage. It is inert. Vemiculite is used for its water retaining abilities. That is the first issue. They are at cross purposes.
Coco as a media is also an inert composition. It can include in the bag buffers and normally precharged with calcium and magnesium to help a grower out but some bricks come pure and all that needs to be processed. Coco being inert does not hold oxygen and needs to be kept damp and not allowed to dry out. Peat based soils gold oxygen. But only during a dry cycle. Peat based mixed need a dry back.
In any event this mix in the pot is going to be subject to stratification of ingredients, an uncontrollable pH wave due to the fighting that coco and peat will be doing and a poor oxygen exchange due to part of the media needing to be wet all the time and part of the media needing a dry back

Now if it was just coco and peat you might have had a prayer of controlling the pot poorly but good enough.
With the vermiculite I see now way out for you.
Sorry


So. Do not give up. I think it astounding you got that far. Do some research and find a grow system that works for you. If you want do do coco which is awesome but has a steep learning curve recommend

Cannabis Grow Guide - Coco For Cannabis - Science and Practice

Cannabis grow guide: articles, tutorials, DIY projects & more! Dedicated to the science and practice of growing cannabis in coco perlite and other media.

www.cocoforcannabis.com

This is the temple of cannabis in coco and will not lead you wrong. You will need chemical measurement tools and an understanding however coco works.
If you want a water only soil look into Organic Living Soil. There are a bunch of growers here that can help just use the spyglass search feature and look up living soil.
I run peat based organics cause it fits my style.

 

[Galgrows]

It's done for sorry

 

[Greenadian]

Take that plant out of its pot and gently and firmly break away that soil mix you have going on!! Rinse with ph'd water and break it away again. Rinse again. Put it into a new pot with just Promix. Water gently. Move that light away from the top of your plant....28" for a couple days. When the Promix is just about dry (dry back) water with half strength nutrients and ph'd water. Give it 10 days and you'll have a healthy plant!!!

 

[ArtfulCodger]

I think there are a few things going on. As noted above, your soil mix is a mess. I would never add clay to a mix...it holds on to water too hard and doesn't drain. Coco, peat, perlite, and vermiculite are all inert, and drain well. I don't know about "Yates soil," but sand isn't doing anything good for you. You're adding a lot of nutrient products, but it sounds like you have only recently introduced a nitrogen source with the EWC. Seedlings and vegging plants need nitrogen. Your leaves are showing signs of over-watering (ie watering too frequently), which isn't surprising based on your media. I'd start over in a simpler media, and with a balanced nute line. I'd water less often, if there are organic amendments in your soil. I'm not familiar with your light, but I'm guessing it's "1,000 watt equivalent," as opposed to a true 1000 watts.

 

[Bigalmoby]

Unless you fix the soil it’s over probably easier to start over but if you really want to save it @Greenadian gave you your ONLY way to finish it with any chance of having decent buds
I would start a new one and practice on this one

 

[Ninjadogma]

I think there are a few things going on. As noted above, your soil mix is a mess. I would never add clay to a mix...it holds on to water too hard and doesn't drain. Coco, peat, perlite, and vermiculite are all inert, and drain well. I don't know about "Yates soil," but sand isn't doing anything good for you. You're adding a lot of nutrient products, but it sounds like you have only recently introduced a nitrogen source with the EWC. Seedlings and vegging plants need nitrogen. Your leaves are showing signs of over-watering (ie watering too frequently), which isn't surprising based on your media. I'd start over in a simpler media, and with a balanced nute line. I'd water less often, if there are organic amendments in your soil. I'm not familiar with your light, but I'm guessing it's "1,000 watt equivalent," as opposed to a true 1000 watts.

A little bit of clay in your mix is actually great, it holds onto nutrients great. You just don't want to put so much in that it affects the loam. Consider it a buffer additive.

 

[ArtfulCodger]

A little bit of clay in your mix is actually great, it holds onto nutrients great. You just don't want to put so much in that it affects the loam. Consider it a buffer additive.

I grow in 100% coco, so I'll have to take your word for it. But something needs to change with OPs watering, media, or both.

 

[Phyto]

Purple stem and lines is mg but what are you doing in a 2x2 with a 1000W lamp???

It's 1000W equivalent, it draws 135W.

 

[Phyto]

I'm gonna agree will all those that said the soil is a mess. Ditch it, getting some decent potting soil and transplant.

 

[Ninjadogma]

I grow in 100% coco, so I'll have to take your word for it. But something needs to change with OPs watering, media, or both.

I would rather leave the soil building to the companies that throw good blends together... building your own soil is a whole separate rabbit whole than just having some good dirt to grow weed. There's so many nuances, and there's things we cringe about like when somebody has thrown coco and peat together. And the thing is a blend like that is fine, but you gotta be spot on with your ratio or else all kinds of wonky things start going on. And those professional blends, those folks have vetted their blends and that's why they're selling it commercially. Separate from that, because ratios and shit are so important, there are folks here on the farm who have spent some time noodling around with putting their own blends together and they probably have some good recipes to share. They peruse the sites, probably will stumble on this comment and hopefully give it a thumbs up and point the way. You don't want to be guessing how the soil is put together and in conclusion... it's above my pay grade

 

[amneziaHaze]

It's 1000W equivalent, it draws 135W.

135w makes more sense.1000w equivilent to what?

Soo any updates here or is the grow done?

 

[JaBy]

Hey everyone,

I’m honestly feeling so defeated right now. This is my very first grow and I’ve just had 3 out of 4 plants die one after another. I’m trying not to give up but I’m so down about it. They were healthy for a while, then everything started crashing and burning despite me throwing everything I had into fixing it.

I’ve spent a lot on equipment, amendments, fertilisers, and tried following every bit of advice I could find. I ended up with a fungus gnat outbreak that I think I’ve taken care of, but even after dealing with them the plants just kept getting weaker and weaker no matter what I did. Leaves yellowing, dying, falling off… it feels like every day something gets worse. I thought it was iron deficiency, then phosphorus deficiency — tried treating both — but I’m still losing leaves.

I also just transplanted from 2-gallon to 5-gallon pots and they did seem slightly root-bound, so maybe that stressed them too? I’m out of ideas.


I really don’t want to quit growing, but this has taken the wind out of me. Any help, advice, or guesses at what’s going wrong would mean the world right now.

MY SETUP

• Indoor 2x2 grow tent

• 1000w Green Fingers LED light

• 4-inch exhaust fan + carbon filter

• Anko large dehumidifier

• Inkbird humidity controller

• Inkbird temp controller

• 2 clip-on fans

• Bottom-feeder pot trays

• Recently transplanted from 2g → 5g pots

⸻

GROWING MEDIUM

(All mixed together)

• Brunnings peat moss

• Pine-gro coco peat

• Yates soil with sand

• Perlite

• Vermiculite

• Kaolin clay



⸻



FERTILISERS / AMENDMENTS

• Brunnings blood & bone

• Garden lime

• Phosphorus (added recently)

• Organic worm castings (just added)

• Gnat barrier on top layer

• Mosquito bits (used during gnat outbreak)



⸻



FEEDING / WATERING

• Twice a week with plain water (trying to flush because of suspected salt buildup)

• Occasional foliar spray

⸻
PROBLEM
• Had a fungus gnat outbreak (seems controlled now)

• Plants continued declining even after that

• Leaves yellowing, drooping, drying, falling off

• Losing plants one by one

• Possibly multiple nutrient lockouts or deficiencies

• Slight root-binding before transplant

• Can’t seem to reverse the damage
The leaves are getting eaten but there is no sight of any insects


If anyone can point me in the right direction, diagnose what’s going on, or help me understand what mistakes I’ve made, please — I really need some guidance. I want to learn from this instead of giving up.



Thanks in advance.

my go to solution is to wack em with a hammer...... there are lots of people here that can be of great assistance...... keep on truckin, hopefully you can salvage this grow but there's always the next try (i been doin alot of there's always net try)..... Best of Wishes.

 

[TannedViking]

Real solid advice on here. Getting a good ol premix bag of your choice and some easy to follow liquid nutes will take away the headache and rekindle your hobby. You can look up any brand on here to see how it worked out for others. After doing that succesfully a few times, trying new things become easier and you'll be building your own soils in no time if that's what you're aiming for.

Dont give up grasshopper, keep the fire alive.

 

[Phyto]

135w makes more sense.1000w equivilent to what?

To an HID, of course it's not, it's just a marketing tool to make you think you're geting more than you actually are.

 

[juliando]

135w makes more sense.1000w equivilent to what?

Soo any updates here or is the grow done?

(I do this too) A reference to old 1000w MH/HPS lights - when the LEDs were new, they were described as "equivilent to" - probably because the wattage sounded impossibly low?

I guess people rarely use real bulb lights for anything anymore - so the expression will make less and less sense everyday.

 

[Ninjadogma]

To an HID, of course it's not, it's just a marketing tool to make you think you're geting more than you actually are.

Not entirely a marketing ploy. The LED's will put out the same amount of light energy as an HID's wattage value, but thrown a much shorter distance. Since there aren't the same heat issues forcing you to keep your plants a certain distance away, theyre considered comparable to an HID value (even if they're not, hehe)

 

[BearWater]

Don’t give up! If you need some seeds let me know! : ) everyone here wants to see you get it going and succeed