Plants look horrible (Help needed)

[J2dag]

Hello and good day everyone,
Having some issues with my clones. Not sure if it’s over watering or a PH problem. I’ve had these clones for about 18 days, Im growing In potting soil with what I thought was a fair amount of perlite(should I go 50/50?), in a greenhouse lots of direct sunlight, with a led light at night from 2100 to 0300. Had some thrip problems early on, sprayed and dealt with them buggers. But the plants just look like shit, canoeing and twisting, plus drooping. I decided to check the roots out, so I dumped out 3 of my older ones to check if it was water logged. The roots do not look vibrant nor nearly as big as they should to me at this point. Should I flush them with 6.5-7.0? Any advice would be helpful. Thanks.

 

[Moshmen]

What kind of soil? Looks like a hot mix they should grow out of it . But u are correct could be overwatering Are you watering to run off ? Roots aren’t established enuff yet , I still think they will grow out of it

 

[MIGrampaUSA]

What kind of soil? Looks like a hot mix they should grow out of it . But u are correct could be overwatering Are you watering to run off ? Roots aren’t established enuff yet , I still think they will grow out of it

You can pretty much rule out a pH issue by collecting the run-off and checking it's pH. With that said, I tend to agree about over-watering as the most likely culprit. The term "over-watering" is frequently misunderstood. The soil should be thoroughly moistened so there are no dry spots ... and then allowed to dry out between watering. If the roots don't have their wet/dry cycles, they begin to suffer. Just don't let them get so bone dry that the water is not absorbed by the soil.

 

[J2dag]

What kind of soil? Looks like a hot mix they should grow out of it . But u are correct could be overwatering Are you watering to run off ? Roots aren’t established enuff yet , I still think they will grow out of it

It’s some shitty miracle grow seed starting soil. I water till run off, maybe a little to much for where the roots are at.

 

[J2dag]

You can pretty much rule out a pH issue by collecting the run-off and checking it's pH. With that said, I tend to agree about over-watering as the most likely culprit. The term "over-watering" is frequently misunderstood. The soil should be thoroughly moistened so there are no dry spots ... and then allowed to dry out between watering. If the roots don't have their wet/dry cycles, they begin to suffer. Just don't let them get so bone dry that the water is not absorbed by the soil.

I believe the runoff was 5.7 if I’m not mistake. I feel they never get bone dry even if I don’t water for days, which is weird since I put a fair amount of perlite.

 

[MIGrampaUSA]

It’s some shitty miracle grow seed starting soil. I water till run off, maybe a little to much for where the roots are at.

Miracle grow seed starting mix is sphagnum based product and has a natural pH below what is ideal for cannabis. If it's available, a better choice would be Promix HP. It's buffered with cannabis in mind. Please note that any sphagnum based product will likely test low pH until the buffering action starts taking place after a few waterings. It seems like the dryer the mix is out of the bale, the lower the starting pH and the longer it takes for the buffering. I could be wrong about that today because I stopped using promix in favor of Fox Farm products and it's been a long time since I've used the promix.

 

[J2dag]

What kind of soil? Looks like a hot mix they should grow out of it . But u are correct could be overwatering Are you watering to run off ? Roots aren’t established enuff yet , I still think they will grow out of it

Update. They did pull out of it. I transferred them to some soiless mix, fed them some teas and some flora nectar and WALLA!
Turn those piece of shits into some fire checkem out.