Hi all this is my first post and first grow so forgive my ignorance. Two of my five seedlings began to yellow from the center out yesterday. I am growing in coco coir and have been watering ever other day alternating tap water with 1/4 strength fox farm nutes. All the water has been ph'd to 5.8 The seedlings are now a week old and have been fine up until now. They are under two 100w daylight cfl's each about an inch away. I have kept the them around 80 degrees and 35% humidity. What do you think the problem is? These forums have been so helpful so far and I hope someone can help me out!
First true leaves yellowing from the center out
- Thread starter Wiki93
- Start date
Dribbles
Member
Not enough air in the medium = soggy/fungus feet, and what is it with you people dumping fertilizer all over sprouts the moment they show a little green? I suppose you've - naturally - PH-adjusted the soil from an alkaline slime, to an acid-pit then back to an alkaline slime about five times already?
Light, Air circulation, moisture and aerated soil are all it needs for a few weeks.
Let it dry out a bit, and leave it alone.
Edit: Coco sucks. Period.
Light, Air circulation, moisture and aerated soil are all it needs for a few weeks.
Let it dry out a bit, and leave it alone.
Edit: Coco sucks. Period.
leels
Member
I'd say the nutrients aren't really necessary right now, I've typically heard second set of leaves are when you should start or at earliest when cotyledons lose color.
dannyboy602
Well-Known Member
you don't need to feed seedlings op lay off the nutes. goodluck
little butch
Active Member
Dribbles must be a carpenter, cause he hit the nail on the head, including his edit. Been growing over 40 yrs and tried about everything, coco does suck, when you've had something to compare it to. Leels has also made an accurate statement. The cotyledons will feed the seedling for a little while, but if they start to lose color, you need to get on the stick. No nutes for at least 2 sets of true leaves otherwise. Good luck. Peace & be kind.
leels
Member
I would suggest looking at potting soil, either making your own mix (https://www.rollitup.org/subcools-old-school-organics/44686-subcools-super-soil.html good place to start) or buying something premade (Fox Farms, Happy Frog, Black Gold, etc.). I personally just started with a 1 part FF Ocean Forest, 1 part Happy Frog soil, worm castings, lime and chunky perlite.
Dribbles
Member
Any cheap, common, $3 a bag potting mix will do fine. Though, I've found recently potting mix - more and more - has big, ugly chunks of wood and shit it it that need to be picked or sifted out. Seed Raising mix might be a better bet: Just because it has less of these annoying woody chunks in it.
The plant doesn't give two shits about how designer your potting mix is, is my point. As long as the texture of whatever ends-up in the pot has gaps for air "pockets" to form, the plant will be happy. Steer clear of super-fine-textured mediums of any kind. I planted 2 dozen garden vegetables this year in pure coco, and I found it was either sopping-wet or dust dry. Just keeping it the right moistness was a fuckin waste of time cos it wouldn't do it. It smells like chemicals, is filled with gnats, and only 3 out of those almost 50 seeds sprouted. Even as a mulch is sucks.: Tiniest breeze for an hour and it simply dries-up and blows off the top-soil. I use spagnum moss for mulch now. forms a mat and doesn't move once it's watered the first time, and even when the spagnum looks dry, it's always moist on the bottom.
Take a bucket, add seed-raising or potting mix, then add about 1/3rd that amount of perlite. Toss it around with your hands till it's nice and mixed and even, and you're done.
About 1 part Perlite to 2-3 parts potting mix is plenty but you can go as high as 50/50 perlite/soil if you have enough perlite. Round here a 4 litre bagof perlite is $10, so I generally mix it 1:3-4 just so I have leftovers if I need it for some reason.
Also, slow watering helps keep the perlite from floating to the top of the pot, once it's planted, but that's not that important really.
Edit: Also, Earthworms are golden. Just a few in each pot will do wonders for the soil. I go dig em up from the vege garden specifically to add to all the potted plants I can because they aerate the soil even more and shit fertilizer constantly.
leels
Member
First point, yup. A $3.00 bag of dirt will work, but if you spend ~$5 more you can pick up a bag of FF Ocean Forest where I live.
Second point, I agree and disagree. It doesn't care what it's in, but using something like Fox Farms or Promix won't go amiss with your plants. Spend a little more and get something quality, add something to make it lighter (perlite) and throw in some worm castings (won't burn your plants). Boom... great mix for like $15-20, and you don't have to worry about fertilizing it for a few weeks more than likely.