Whats your soil. Looks awful chunky..

Bolus14 said:

I have only been adding enough water to keep the tops of the soil slightly damp.

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This could have something to do with it. How damp is the soil at the bottom?

The roots could be having a hard time by the sounds of it

Tbh What bear said

Looks kinda like there thirsty rather than overwatered might be vice versa but it does sound like your not watering correctly either way

You should water them properly then leave them to dry rather than just misting
I water mine every 3 days in veg (consistently.)

pushing a bic biro throught he bottom of a solo cup is not really ideal for airflow and drainage...i use these type of pots for all stages of growth , they dry out a lot quicker which is perfect for beginners who always overwater , me included,. its only by throwing away dying plants and inspecting the soil and roots i could see that the soil just under the roots is soaking wet , and in worse cases gone stagnant. AND i was growing in peat based garden centre soil, which is ok but it holds onto water .
you can always give them a foliar feed of diluted nutes, or clonex , while the soil is drying out

I drill holes in the bottom of the cup so it basically ends up lick the cups store bought veggie plants come in.

The soil isn't chinky, I would say it's the texture similar to right out of the bag, but slightly damp.

I don't mist when water, I pour from a small watering can. Get the top soil wet allow it to soak in, then repeat that one more time. I typically water every other day as that when the soil feels like it's drying out about 3/4 inch deep.

I think not every seed from the same batch is created equally, must be different ages from different parts of the plant.
I thought my last seed order had aged out - like 3/4 didnt crack after 7 days and only one seedling made it out of 6 - and that one was very slow.

Just tried the last of them from the same order, and they all popped immediately and took off in a day...looking much more vigorous than the last ones. So idk

Root environment issue. What soil are you using?

Watering suggestion: For solos, use a spray bottle with the nozzle set to stream to do your watering. Spray in a circle halfway between the stem and the edge of the pot, you're looking at about 30 squirts (depending on the medium and how dry it is) for water to begin coming out the bottom. When the top layer dries about 1/2 down, give it a few spritzes to moisten the top layer but not the whole cup. After a few days the cup will lose some weight and then it's time to do the 30 spritz watering again. What this does is set you up for a good watering routine that allows the soil to dry back and roots getting good oxygen and exploring with the little micro pulse watering you do in between full waterings. If you've got a peat blend, this works pretty well.

I can't remember the blend I used but thinking it was Black Gold... it was rich and heavy peat and really could have used some extra perlite.... ph coming back high 7's, oof. It was growing my plants stunted, almost dwarfed. They didn't take great color from poor oxygen. I wound up repotting into a better blend and they overcame what was stunting them. My point here is soil matters, and may or may not be a factor you're dealing with... So any info you can share can help us help you.

We can only work with the information you provide

On your first post you say “ I have only been adding enough water to keep the tops of the soil slightly damp “

Then later you say “ I pour from a small watering can. Get the top soil wet allow it to soak in, then repeat that one more time. I typically water every other day as that when the soil feels like it's drying out about 3/4 inch deep.”

Both contradict each other.

We’re not here to bash at least I know I ain’t
Got better things to do than bash on someone I don’t even know.

If your watering every other day then your watering isn’t good for cannabis that’s growing in soil.

It can be hard to tell a underwaterd plant from a overwatered one in pics maybe not so much if I was there.

As said the roots are having have a hard time.

It could well be a mix of watering schedule & the soil you choose as not all soil is great for growing in.

Either way I’ll leave it to folks you want to engage with

Enjoy the adventure

Thanks for the reply, I don't take it as bashing. I was trying to be a little more specific with the second mention about watering.

I don't have the name of the soil I'm using at the moment, I will get that tonight, but it's the same I've used in the past. Also, the hydroponics store owner has many years of cannabis growing experience, and it's the only soil he uses to start cannabis in.

Once I'm ready to transplant it will go into Fox Farm Ocean Forest.

Bolus14 said:

Thanks for the reply, I don't take it as bashing. I was trying to be a little more specific with the second mention about watering.

I don't have the name of the soil I'm using at the moment, I will get that tonight, but it's the same I've used in the past. Also, the hydroponics store owner has many years of cannabis growing experience, and it's the only soil he uses to start cannabis in.

Once I'm ready to transplant it will go into Fox Farm Ocean Forest.

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I'm going to assume the hydroponics store person knows a thing or two, so you might want to ask what a good watering strategy is for that soil. Peat and coco-peat blends don't do well with traditional drybacks... They behave better if you do those interim pulses I mentioned. And with any medium, there are small amounts of waste that wind up in the soil that you want to gently irrigate out periodically and if you're just keeping the medium moist with never pushing runoff, it starts to accumulate. So then what is stunting your plant isn't overwatering or under watering. It's high EC with the roots sitting in that goop.