Am I starving these plants?

Gurtgurt · Feb 16, 2026

Hello. I am excited to start new strains and a new feeding method this grow. I am following "The Recipe" stickied elsewhere (Jack's 321 + fulvic).

These plants are about 4 weeks from sprout. They were in little 6-pack seed starting trays in new Happy Fròg with no feed until baby leaves yellowed, 2 weeks. I up-potted them into small 3x3x4 inch pots again with new håppy frog soil, for 2 weeks with plain water.

I fed for the first time at half strength 4 days ago and took pictures today.

Is it time to switch to full strength nutrients? I may be a chronic under-feeder because I want to avoid over feeding.

LED lights, 18/6, about 18 in. away; 72 deg F and 40 % humidity constantly

Phyto · Feb 16, 2026

Looks more like a bit too much water.

orggrwr · Feb 16, 2026

Probably getting rootbound in those small containers for 2 weeks. Time to transplant to their final home.

Grownsince95 · Feb 16, 2026

Raise the temp to 76-78° and the humidity to 65%. Start 3/4 strength feeding and transplant them into their final pots.

If you can't hit those numbers, find a way to bring your VPD into the 0.8 - 1.2 range. You're currently 1.5+

Without getting overly technical, it's too cool for rapid cell expansion/metabolism, but the atmosphere is pulling a lot of water through your plants. That's why the bottoms are yellowing already.

Gurtgurt · Feb 17, 2026

Thank you for the input.

When I put the seedlings into these current pots, the roots hadn't even filled a single 6-segment seed starting tray cell. I would not have thought they are root bound 2 weeks after that, but I'll check.

For watering I bottom-water until the pot is saturated. The pictures were taken directly after watering this way.

For the environment, it is as good as I can get it in a frigid basement. I have an oil heater in the tent and sometimes hang a damp towel in there.

I will up-pot to a 3-gal container with new Happy Frøg soil. Should I continue ramping up my added fertilizer strength as if this medium wasn't pre-fertilized? Maybe with bigger plants they can handle it

carlosescobar · Feb 17, 2026

I think its all 3 of the above , pots too small , soils too wet and too cold , if the temperature is below 18 oC they wont grow . they need bigger pots and when mine look like that, i like to give them a foliar feed with diluted nutrients , they take it in through the leaves immediatly,

Ninjadogma · Feb 17, 2026

Gurtgurt said:
Hello. I am excited to start new strains and a new feeding method this grow. I am following "The Recipe" stickied elsewhere (Jack's 321 + fulvic).

These plants are about 4 weeks from sprout. They were in little 6-pack seed starting trays in new Happy Fròg with no feed until baby leaves yellowed, 2 weeks. I up-potted them into small 3x3x4 inch pots again with new håppy frog soil, for 2 weeks with plain water.

I fed for the first time at half strength 4 days ago and took pictures today.

Is it time to switch to full strength nutrients? I may be a chronic under-feeder because I want to avoid over feeding.

LED lights, 18/6, about 18 in. away; 72 deg F and 40 % humidity constantly

Howdy! What it looks like to me is that plant is sitting in elevated EC and the bottom watering you are doing is probably what's triggering it. I don't have a cadence I can just rattle off, but maybe every 3rd watering, try doing it at the top. It looks healthy and all, but if you put it under some blue light I'm betting you'll get a glimpse of some underlying yellow that tells you what's going on behind the scenes. If you water from the bottom you can get elevated salts on top.

Gurtgurt · Feb 17, 2026

And here I was thinking I was doing it the right way by bottom watering.

I will up-pot in the coming days AND start to increase fert strength. I hope this is just a case of "happy fróg has enough nutrients to last x weeks."

I have always gone low on the fertilizer, this time I'll try to go normal. For the record the basement these plants are in has been around 49 deg F! (That's cold)

Thanks everyone for your expertise

Ninjadogma · Feb 17, 2026

Gurtgurt said:
And here I was thinking I was doing it the right way by bottom watering.

I will up-pot in the coming days AND start to increase fert strength. I hope this is just a case of "happy fróg has enough nutrients to last x weeks."

I have always gone low on the fertilizer, this time I'll try to go normal. For the record the basement these plants are in has been around 49 deg F! (That's cold)

Thanks everyone for your expertise

I don't think your nutrients are a problem I just think hydrating always from the bottom causes salt accumulation on top the way top watering creates it further down. The goal here it to try and keep the soil a little more even by occasionally watering over the top in addition to your bottom watering.

Yeah watch those cold temps in the basement. If the roots are cold you start seeing cold related deficiency, most notably phosphorus interruption and magnesium spots, sometimes potassium comes along for the ride too and the affected leaves look like absolute crap with blotchy purple and red color, dotted with freckles, and pale. Oof. Put your pots on heated seed maps down there, the top of the plant doesn't care if it's cold but the roots do. They use very little power and you can get a good 10-15 degree bump in soil temperature with them.

Am I starving these plants?

Am I starving these plants?

Gurtgurt

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Am I starving these plants?

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Gurtgurt

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