Any idea what is wrong with my plants?

[sandc4fun]

Soil Growers:
1. Are you growing from seed or clones? - I started the Lowryders (I have 3 from seeds)
2. How old are your plants? - Start of the third week
3. How tall are your plants? 4 1/2" and 5"
4. What size containers are they planted in? 2 Gallon
5. What is your soil mix? Black Gold Natural Organic
6. How often do you water and what type of water do you use? Tap well water. The pots were watered fully before we planted. Dec 20 they got 1/3 cup water around the plant. Dec 24th 1 cup each around the plant
7. What is the pH of your water? 7.4
8. What kind of fertilizer do you use and what is its NPK ratio? Fox Farm Grow Bug 6-4-4
9. Do you foliar feed or spray your plants with anything? no
10. What kind of lights do you use and how many watts combined? (HPS, MH, fluorescent, halogen, incandescent "plant lights") 2- CFL 40 watt/5000k and small led full spectrum (80 w)
11. How close are your lights to the plants? CFL's are 4" LED 8" away from plants
12. What size is your grow space in square feet? 18"x 24"
13. What is the temperature and humidity in your grow space? 72 deg. 32% humidity
14. What is the pH of the soil? I don't know
15. Have you noticed any insect activity in your grow space? A fruit fly looking bug (1 or2)
16. How much experience do you have growing? Zero

We have 3 Lowryders just into week three, 3 -4 days ago they started to yellow on the middle level leaves and it appears to be getting worse. Started with the edges of the leaves but has moved into towards the veins. The soil was completely watered at seed planting time ( pre-germinated ) and the plants were watered after the 9th day with 1/3 cup , very little nutes and in a small circle around the edge of the plant. They were then watered wit 1 cup of water on the 13th day , again light nutes and only around the edge of leaf growth. The surface was dry to at least an inch prior to each watering. Since the last watering we are seeing the yellowing as show in the pics. Trying to figure out what to do next , guessing maybe some over watering (the soil in the bottom of the pots are still pretty damp) and possibly a magnesium deficiency?

Any help would be appreciated.

 

[TripsRabbit]

Get some calmag or epsom salts and garden gypsum. Water only when the dirt drys out enough that the container feels light and water completely until water drains out the bottom.

 

[sandc4fun]

Okay, will do. We are closely monitoring the over watering issue. We drilled holes all around the pots to help them dry out (they all had drainage holes too, but we made even more). Put the pots up on small cans so they are off the floor. They are still pretty damp on the bottom, but the top 1/2 of the soil is dry and crumbly. We haven't given them any water or nutes for 5 days going on 6. I think the issue started when we planted the germinated seeds. We thought we were supposed to water the pots thoroughly before planting, which we did the night before we planted (learning the hard way on that one!). Should we just keep our fingers crossed they don't die and let even the bottoms completely dry out before we give them any water? Should we mist around the top of the soil? I would hate to lose them... anyone have Lowryders survive after something like this?

 

[GNick55]

yes let the all the soil dry out, get used to picking it up and feeling by weight, it’ll become easy to do..
it’s better to fault on the dry side compared to watering too much which can ruin everything in some circumstances.

 

[GNick55]

yes let the all the soil dry out, get used to picking it up and feeling by weight, it’ll become easy to do..
it’s better to fault on the dry side compared to watering too much which can ruin everything in some circumstances.

you can see the perlite (white stuff in soil), it has discoloured and even yellowed, that means the soil was staying wet for to long, watering too much, you can see the damage in a couple leaves from it, they won’t recover,
everything will be fine, just let grow and follow a wet/dry cycle..
as it dries the roots grow in search of food, roots grow = plant grows

 

[tobh]

With how young the plant is, it looks like a combined situation of lock out and nute burn. Fox Farm is super hot for seedlings. Plus, it's notorious for gnats and other pests. Personally won't touch it with a 10ft pole, but you're already in it so only way through is to overcome this hurdle.

I agree with GNick55. Some foliar spray will help bump up the locked out elements and get em through to greener pastures.

 

[sandc4fun]

Thank you everyone! They have started perking back up a bit and they seem to be growing again. I will take more pictures tomorrow and post them.

 

[sandc4fun]

Took some more pictures today.
Weighed potted plants against the same pot with only dry soil, still a little heavier, so we are waiting another day to water. We are now on day 7 with no water, but they are definitely growing again and looking a little better with the new growth. Plants will be three weeks old tomorrow.

We are thinking a light watering with light nutes tomorrow. Does that make sense?

There is 4 days difference in the original post pics above vs today.

Thanks again for the help!

 

[GNick55]

well let’s see what she looks like tomorrow and the pot will probably be light as the roots do their work during night time.
they do look a lot better as the roots can breath!
they are not showing signs of needing water either, at the time of photos.

 

[sandc4fun]

Here are this morning's pictures.

They are getting a bit taller, so more growth today (2 are 6" and 1 is 7") They are 3 weeks old today. Should we worry about the fact that the tips on the new growth are also light yellow. We still didn't water as the very bottom of the pots are still a bit damp. We actually weighed them against the completely dry pot of soil and they are getting close to the same weight.

 

[GNick55]

well as long as they are not droopy, lifeless looking than they are loving it.
new growth is always a little lighter in colour.
here’s a photo of a top of one of my plants..

 

[Mr.GreenthumbOG]

Good job for helping this grower out. Often times people focus on old growth, that may never recover fully. Overwatering is the biggest problem for most new growers.🌧🌧

 

[TripsRabbit]

You should water when the top few inches of dirt is dusty dry, poke your finger in the dirt, if it doesn't have wet soil stuck to it and it feels light that means it's time.

 

[Mr.GreenthumbOG]

Still ph problems tho. Have you measured ph at watering?
Runoff ph?

 

[GNick55]

You should water when the top few inches of dirt is dusty dry, poke your finger in the dirt, if it doesn't have wet soil stuck to it and it feels light that means it's time.

i’d go by the weight, most roots are at the bottom.,

 

[sandc4fun]

Thank you GNick55, without your help I am afraid we would have lost them!

Mr GreenthumbOG, We haven't watered since the 24th as we damn near killed them by over watering. So, to answer your questions, no we haven't measured or tested the runoff. Yes we absolutely had a PH problem as well (PH over 8, when we tested our water), we live in the country so we have well water. It is 6.5 PH in the summer and I (wrongfully) assumed PH didn't change. Another lesson learned.

At this point we are waiting for the soil to dry out and then plan on water with only a little bit of PH balanced water at first. Totally worried about over watering now!

 

[Mr.GreenthumbOG]

Thank you GNick55, without your help I am afraid we would have lost them!

Mr GreenthumbOG, We haven't watered since the 24th as we damn near killed them by over watering. So, to answer your questions, no we haven't measured or tested the runoff. Yes we absolutely had a PH problem as well (PH over 8, when we tested our water), we live in the country so we have well water. It is 6.5 PH in the summer and I (wrongfully) assumed PH didn't change. Another lesson learned.

At this point we are waiting for the soil to dry out and then plan on water with only a little bit of PH balanced water at first. Totally worried about over watering now!

Sounds like you found some help.
Good luck to you!

 

[MIMedGrower]

With how young the plant is, it looks like a combined situation of lock out and nute burn. Fox Farm is super hot for seedlings. Plus, it's notorious for gnats and other pests. Personally won't touch it with a 10ft pole, but you're already in it so only way through is to overcome this hurdle.

I agree with GNick55. Some foliar spray will help bump up the locked out elements and get em through to greener pastures.

i have used many many bags of ocean forest from seed/clone to harvest and have never burned a seedling or got bugs from it. I do feel it needs at least 25% added large perlite for proper drainage.

all problems i have seen are from storage or grower error or possibly older bags with compromised nutrients. Really need to be 6 months old max.

 

[sandc4fun]

We didn't use Fox Farms soil, we used Black Gold Organic soil and a very very light dose of Fox Farms Grow Big, and 1/8th of the recommended dose the first time and 1/4 of the second. Not realizing that we had over watered with high PH water. So now, they have almost completely dried out. The pots were very, very light this morning.

We gave them a small drink of water, not enough to run through with PH water 6.0. Reading that we should do a flush, but that scares me as the plants aren't huge and we have just gotten them dry. Thoughts?

Here are this mornings pictures.

 

[GNick55]

We didn't use Fox Farms soil, we used Black Gold Organic soil and a very very light dose of Fox Farms Grow Big, and 1/8th of the recommended dose the first time and 1/4 of the second. Not realizing that we had over watered with high PH water. So now, they have almost completely dried out. The pots were very, very light this morning.

We gave them a small drink of water, not enough to run through with PH water 6.0. Reading that we should do a flush, but that scares me as the plants aren't huge and we have just gotten them dry. Thoughts?

Here are this mornings pictures.

my advice just let them grow keep up a wet/dry cycle, watch as they get bigger, if anything seems wrong than get back on here or just show us daily photos..
are they in solo cups?
they will need a transplant soon if so, maybe a picture from the side.
you might want to try fabric bags?
see what others think too..