Seedling leaves turning yellow

[tbf]

Hi all,

I've transplanted some seedlings from rockwool into my Aerogarden, and most of them are getting yellowish brown leaves, with some of them curling (see pictures). I measured the pH of the reservoir and found it to be 6.5, so I adjusted it to about 5.5 and the problem persists. I have the pump set for 1 minute on, 5 minutes off. Can anybody tell me what I'm doing wrong?

(I know I have a lot of toothpicks, they kept falling over so I decided to play it safe! )

Thanks!

 

[Jypsy Dog]

Your feeding them. They can't take much food now. Get them back where they were and give only phd water until they perk up.

 

[rkymtnman]

Hi all,

I've transplanted some seedlings from rockwool into my Aerogarden, and most of them are getting yellowish brown leaves, with some of them curling (see pictures). I measured the pH of the reservoir and found it to be 6.5, so I adjusted it to about 5.5 and the problem persists. I have the pump set for 1 minute on, 5 minutes off. Can anybody tell me what I'm doing wrong?

(I know I have a lot of toothpicks, they kept falling over so I decided to play it safe! )

Thanks!

View attachment 4028795
View attachment 4028794

if i were you (and i do it this way too), i'd keep you lights on 24/7. it will help keep the seedlings from stretching out like that.

i also use a very light nute solution for seedlings/seed starting. 1mL of dyna gro foliage pro in a gallon of RO water. not strong at all but just enough to give them a bit of food when/if they need it.

 

[tbf]

Thanks guys. I replaced the reservoir with fresh water and set the lights for 24/7. What do you think about my pump settings? Should it be running less often since they tend to flop over?

 

[Jypsy Dog]

Thanks guys. I replaced the reservoir with fresh water and set the lights for 24/7. What do you think about my pump settings? Should it be running less often since they tend to flop over?

RW holds water very well. Couple times a day with that size. Just don't mash it, won't hold O2 like it should.

 

[tbf]

Great advice, thanks.

 

[tbf]

Hi again everyone,

Since I last posted, it looks like my seedlings have gotten worse:



While the brown leaves make me nervous, it looks like there is new growth emerging from the center. Are the dying leaves something I should be worried about, or will the affected leaves simply fall off and the plant will recover?

 

[OldMedUser]

I've done about 50 DWC grows now and they look like they're starving to me. The tiny true leaves are dark and healthy looking and stealing mobile nutes from the fan leaves which are dying from the tips in as they lose feed.

What have you got for roots on them? I'd have my tubs filled with 300ppm, (Hanna scale), nutes for seedlings like that. They are stretched out but if you can get them dialed in that extra inch or two that looks bad now won't matter a bit once they are 3 foot bushes! Dropped in even a 3" net pot just the tops would show anyway.

I tried RW 15 years ago and it didn't work for me so always root my cuttings in finely screened ProMix until they have a good root system then drop them in net pots filled with hydroton balls and just use a turkey baster to top feed for a few days until roots emerge from the net pots then never top feed again. I will pour RO water thru the pots to flush out salts once in a while when topping up then wait an hour before checking ppm before adding any more nutes.

Good luck!

 

[tbf]

I've done about 50 DWC grows now and they look like they're starving to me. The tiny true leaves are dark and healthy looking and stealing mobile nutes from the fan leaves which are dying from the tips in as they lose feed.

What have you got for roots on them? I'd have my tubs filled with 300ppm, (Hanna scale), nutes for seedlings like that. They are stretched out but if you can get them dialed in that extra inch or two that looks bad now won't matter a bit once they are 3 foot bushes! Dropped in even a 3" net pot just the tops would show anyway.

I tried RW 15 years ago and it didn't work for me so always root my cuttings in finely screened ProMix until they have a good root system then drop them in net pots filled with hydroton balls and just use a turkey baster to top feed for a few days until roots emerge from the net pots then never top feed again. I will pour RO water thru the pots to flush out salts once in a while when topping up then wait an hour before checking ppm before adding any more nutes.

Good luck!

Wow, so much great information, thanks!!

I just added about 1/4 mL of Dyna Gro foliage pro nutes to the basin. I’m still waiting for my pH/ppm probe to arrive in the mail, so guess I’ll just have to hope I added the right amount until it gets here and I can tell for sure. I’ve heard that a light breeze can help strengthen the stems on stretched out seedlings so I put a fan in my grow room. Is there anything else I can do to make sure the stems are strong enough?

 

[Jypsy Dog]

Wow, so much great information, thanks!!

I just added about 1/4 mL of Dyna Gro foliage pro nutes to the basin. I’m still waiting for my pH/ppm probe to arrive in the mail, so guess I’ll just have to hope I added the right amount until it gets here and I can tell for sure. I’ve heard that a light breeze can help strengthen the stems on stretched out seedlings so I put a fan in my grow room. Is there anything else I can do to make sure the stems are strong enough?

Make sure you have calibration solution for you pH pen. Should recalibrate at least 1 a month.

 

[rkymtnman]

Wow, so much great information, thanks!!

I just added about 1/4 mL of Dyna Gro foliage pro nutes to the basin. I’m still waiting for my pH/ppm probe to arrive in the mail, so guess I’ll just have to hope I added the right amount until it gets here and I can tell for sure. I’ve heard that a light breeze can help strengthen the stems on stretched out seedlings so I put a fan in my grow room. Is there anything else I can do to make sure the stems are strong enough?

did you presoak your rockwool in ph'd water??

i don't like rockwool either like @OldMedUser . i've had great luck starting in GH rapid rooters. once the roots pop out the sides and bottoms then put them in the netpots with hydroton.
rockwool can stay too wet which causes problems

 

[OldMedUser]

T

Wow, so much great information, thanks!!

I just added about 1/4 mL of Dyna Gro foliage pro nutes to the basin. I’m still waiting for my pH/ppm probe to arrive in the mail, so guess I’ll just have to hope I added the right amount until it gets here and I can tell for sure. I’ve heard that a light breeze can help strengthen the stems on stretched out seedlings so I put a fan in my grow room. Is there anything else I can do to make sure the stems are strong enough?

The fan ain't gonna help when the sprouts are corralled in supports. They won't be able to move around and will likely fall over without them in their weakened state.

A soon as my sprouts start looking skinny I flick them around with a finger tip to toughen up the stems. Easy at first but after a few days I knock them around good so they look beat up after. I'm not shitting you it works good. A strong fan blowing on them works too but can really dry them out and cause wind-burn. A small oscillating fan a few feet away isn't so bad and hits them from different directions but a good smacking around once a day does the trick.

A 1/4 ml to how much water? With my AN nutes it says 4ml/L for all stages but I know I'd burn out little ones so will use a half ml per L of all 3 base nutes to make sure they have a bit of everything. Seaweed ferts are great for little ones as is SuperThrive which I just got a new bottle of. It's recommended at 1/4 tsp/gal but doesn't have a balanced nute profile. My seaweed ferts are 10 years old at least so I wouldn't use them anymore.

Anytime I have a sickly plant I reduce light levels but keep the same hours going. You can just move a sickly plant further from the light if you have other healthy plants under the light or use less power to reduce light levels. When starting cuttings I'll put a paper towel over the humidity dome to keep them from trying to veg when they got no roots yet. The lower leaves turning yellow quick is a sign of that but if they start going yellow a week later chances are roots are forming and the plant needs more light to get growing. Just like a sickly person or pet. You keep them in a quiet, calm place and feed them simple nourishing foods until they start feeling better and showing more vigor. Then you toss them a T-bone and tell 'em to get back to work!

If you can just get them looking like they are gaining health you can plant them a little deeper so half the stem is underground and roots should spring from there too and they'll start taking off. Don't go sitting them on a heat mat as that can bring on stem rot fast. A nice room temp like 70F/19C will do fine. Bit slower but much safer.

I start cuttings and seedlings in screened ProMix. in 9-hole seed starter pots. There's no real nutes in it but it's much better for the plants than RW IMO and I rarely lose even one out of each batch.

I screwed up plenty back in my nOOb days too and have learned a lot. Still learning and hope to keep learning until the curtain comes down for good.

Too much fussing around and well-meaning TLC kills a lot more plants than anything. If you never soaked your RW in low pH water before use I'd mix up a 1/10th strength batch of nutes pH'ed down to 5, soak them good and squeeze out most of the water. You'll know in a couple of days one way or the other.

Good luck mon!

 

[tbf]

@rkymtnman I did indeed soak the RW in ph'd water beforehand. @OldMedUser I've noticed that some of the plants are extremely thin at the bottom, almost as though the roots got too excited and pushed the whole plant up out of the RW and now the base of the plant is just a tiny root, causing the whole plant to be extremely weak. Can I push the stem back down into the RW to get it more firmly in place? And for the rest of them, should I go cold turkey and pull the toothpicks out, or should I take a more cautious approach? I already have one broken stem on one of the more top-heavy plants, really don't want another!

I'm not totally sure how much water is in the basin at the moment, but I would guess probably about 1.5-2 gallons. I understand that when it comes to nutes less is usually more so I think I'll hold off on adding anything else until I get my meter, unless it still looks like they're starving in couple days.

I also just added an air stone to the basin, so I'm hoping that will help speed up their recovery.

 

[OldMedUser]

I wouldn't try pushing one back down You could just pack a little loose RW around it but for the most part I'd leave it alone.

Are these in their permanent home or getting planted elsewhere? If planting later then just put them in a little deeper leaving half the stem out. For support of stretched sprouts I just straighten out a paper clip and make a half loop on one end and stick the straight end in the dirt/RW. I use CFLs to start them at about 2" away and they never stretch that bad. Got to make sure they got good light from the minute they emerge. 24 hour light is supposed to help keep the stretch down too but I think we missed that bus. Wouldn't hurt tho.

The airstone is a good idea. Extra oxygen can't but help.

I'd take out a few toothpicks so you can shake them around gently. It's OK if they bend a bit but they're easy to snap. Like any exercise program you want to start slow and work up so you don't hurt nothing.

These are what mine usually look like in the ProMix under CFLs. Those are all from seed that was scarified with 150 grit sandpaper and planted directly into those holes. No pre-soaking at all. My own seeds too from a cross I made.

 

[tbf]

I wouldn't try pushing one back down You could just pack a little loose RW around it but for the most part I'd leave it alone.

Are these in their permanent home or getting planted elsewhere? If planting later then just put them in a little deeper leaving half the stem out. For support of stretched sprouts I just straighten out a paper clip and make a half loop on one end and stick the straight end in the dirt/RW. I use CFLs to start them at about 2" away and they never stretch that bad. Got to make sure they got good light from the minute they emerge. 24 hour light is supposed to help keep the stretch down too but I think we missed that bus. Wouldn't hurt tho.

The airstone is a good idea. Extra oxygen can't but help.

I'd take out a few toothpicks so you can shake them around gently. It's OK if they bend a bit but they're easy to snap. Like any exercise program you want to start slow and work up so you don't hurt nothing.

These are what mine usually look like in the ProMix under CFLs. Those are all from seed that was scarified with 150 grit sandpaper and planted directly into those holes. No pre-soaking at all. My own seeds too from a cross I made.

View attachment 4030464

I took almost all of the toothpicks out and most of the plants can stand on their own now! There's more new growth today, too, so I think they're finally recovering thanks to you guys!

These will eventually be moved to an RDWC system, so they will be sitting a couple inches deep in expanded clay or something in a net pot.

 

[Bakedin]

I took almost all of the toothpicks out and most of the plants can stand on their own now! There's more new growth today, too, so I think they're finally recovering thanks to you guys!

These will eventually be moved to an RDWC system, so they will be sitting a couple inches deep in expanded clay or something in a net pot.

I’m currently having the exact same problem you had, my NL seedling is looking very sick. I’m a brand new grower, only growing for my own personal use so didn’t want to big of a set up, I opted for the AG Bounty - 9 pods, but I’ll be using just one, the reservoir holds just over 4 litres of water

The thing is with my seedling is I’ve only given it a small dose of nutrients, using the Flora Series. The PH is around 6.0. This is the second seedling I’m about to lose. When I was buying everything I needed for this grow I got 3 quick grow auto seeds & 3 NL auto seeds, think of trying the quick grow seed but something’s telling me my problem isn’t with the seed itself. On the verge of giving up

What do you advise. I’d really appreciate your input

Thanks

Here’s a pic of my poorly little girl

 

[Jypsy Dog]

I’m currently having the exact same problem you had, my NL seedling is looking very sick. I’m a brand new grower, only growing for my own personal use so didn’t want to big of a set up, I opted for the AG Bounty - 9 pods, but I’ll be using just one, the reservoir holds just over 4 litres of water

The thing is with my seedling is I’ve only given it a small dose of nutrients, using the Flora Series. The PH is around 6.0. This is the second seedling I’m about to lose. When I was buying everything I needed for this grow I got 3 quick grow auto seeds & 3 NL auto seeds, think of trying the quick grow seed but something’s telling me my problem isn’t with the seed itself. On the verge of giving up

What do you advise. I’d really appreciate your input

Thanks

Here’s a pic of my poorly little girl
View attachment 4170450

Feeding at that stage is a death sentence. Doesn't even have roots yet.
STOP what your doing and EDUCATE yourself.
https://www.growweedeasy.com/basics

 

[Bakedin]

Feeding at that stage is a death sentence. Doesn't even have roots yet.
STOP what your doing and EDUCATE yourself.
https://www.growweedeasy.com/basics

Although I appreciate your reply, I find your tone a little harsh. This is my first grow, I have done quite a lot of reading on it - clearly not enough

Why don’t you chill out & show a little respect to other users of RIU community

 

[gforce3]

Hi all,

I've transplanted some seedlings from rockwool into my Aerogarden, and most of them are getting yellowish brown leaves, with some of them curling (see pictures). I measured the pH of the reservoir and found it to be 6.5, so I adjusted it to about 5.5 and the problem persists. I have the pump set for 1 minute on, 5 minutes off. Can anybody tell me what I'm doing wrong?

(I know I have a lot of toothpicks, they kept falling over so I decided to play it safe! )

Thanks!

View attachment 4028795
View attachment 4028794

I know this is an old post but for new people with problems, this is why I posted.
Just a few tips here from what I’ve read. I’ve been growing in aero for over 15 years.
1) if you have a good led light that produces or is equal to 600w or more make sure you use 50-75% and not full power. Seedlings will suffer with too much light right away.
2) Once seedlings have 3 nodes you can give them 75% nutrients and with aero that’s all I give my veg units. 75% of what is required by manufacturers.
3) Once seedlings are rooted in rock wool, break up and take off all the rock wool carefully and place your plants in neoprene collars and net pots. The rock wool needs to go. Aeroponics is made for root masses hanging freely suspended with no matter around them. Rock wool will hold too much water and not let them breath properly.
4) When using RO water.....VERY IMPORTANT....make sure to add Cal-mag. You will get what looks like potassium deficiency and it will drive you insane. Trust me, I know from experience. Add the cal mag and thank me later.
If anyone needs more help please let me know. I just know how hard it can be for new growers . Good luck to you all