First Seedling in Coco and Perlite

[grower42030]

Hi,

I have been growing in soil till now and have done about 5 successful germination and grows.


This is my first time in Coco and straight off I am facing issues with stunted/curling seedling (70/30 Coco Perlite Mix, buffered with calmag twice and flushed till 400-500 EC and used about 200EC Coco for the middle part where I sow the seed)

Temps have been around 80-85F and RH is about 60-65% mostly. I started watering the seedling with two to three times a day with about 60 ml water each time and saw that the 2nd node started curling.

I stopped watering for about 2-3 days and the new leaf opened up and started growing, then I watered again (200-300EC feed) and saw that the new growth again curled inside.

Could this be overwatering? Now the coco looks dry from top and I want to feed it as per the guidelines but should I wait and let it dry even more? The seeds are about 13 days old.
Can I uproot and check the roots and pot again in coco?

 

[Illbill]

Don’t look like a ton of perlite. Everyone told me to water 3 times a day right off the bat when I started in coco but it didn’t work for me. I run 50/50 coco perlite. I let it dry back to about 50 percent until the root zone is formed pretty good. Once the root one is formed I hit it with 4 waters a day with a little runoff. Once a week I check my runoff ppm. If it’s 10 percent higher than what I’m putting in then I hit it with a mini flush of water that has full nutes. The run off ph is pointless to check. Mine is always low and never have a problem. But I had the same exact problem. I may even have pics of mine. It looked terrible but snapped out when I let it dry back some.

 

[grower42030]

got it, so I should just let it dry out? and also does it make sense to add more perlite now? or is it too late for that.

 

[HerbalEdu]

could just be genetic also.

 

[grower42030]

Don’t look like a ton of perlite. Everyone told me to water 3 times a day right off the bat when I started in coco but it didn’t work for me. I run 50/50 coco perlite. I let it dry back to about 50 percent until the root zone is formed pretty good. Once the root one is formed I hit it with 4 waters a day with a little runoff. Once a week I check my runoff ppm. If it’s 10 percent higher than what I’m putting in then I hit it with a mini flush of water that has full nutes. The run off ph is pointless to check. Mine is always low and never have a problem. But I had the same exact problem. I may even have pics of mine. It looked terrible but snapped out when I let it dry back some.

Would be great if you can share some pictures if possible

 

[grower42030]

could just be genetic also

That was my second guess but then the other seed of the same breeder and strain grew completely fine in soil (could be phenos) and the first two set of leaves looks fine. So it is quite strange

 

[HerbalEdu]

abnormal growth are not uncomon with some phenos on start up or later, you'll see all kind of weirdness on start up or later when growing seeds in large amount.

 

[Illbill]

Once I slowed the waterings till it started drinking more it took off.

 

[Illbill]

got it, so I should just let it dry out? and also does it make sense to add more perlite now? or is it too late for that.

It’s too late but it’s not a big deal. It’ll just take longer to dry out. If it was me I would let it dry back about half way. Make sure you’re giving good amounts of calmag. Once I’m about week 3 from seed it gets to the point I’m watering once a day. Week 4 is about when I start hitting it multiple times a day. It’s worked out good. This is what I’m running now. 10 days since flip. 3x3 tent. Flipped at 4 weeks from clone.