3 weeks old and something is not right with my plants...

Hi Everyone,

I'm new to the growing scene, always been a back seat driver and now I'm getting my chance to be in the hot seat and its not going so easy.. haha

Where do I start... I'll try and keep it brief and not overload with info.

So the beginning was going fine, I planted 3 strains 2 each so 6 in total in 9cm pots under T5 lights, then I for sure over-watered them about 3/4 times (every 2 days) with high PH which is when I started to see discoloration on a few. then I backed off, left it 3 days, now im giving them about 250mls between the 6 every two days at correct PH.

Under the light, temps can get up to 29c at absolute max but usually stays at 27c, humidity is 50-60% - (ordered a better humidifier to improve this, awaiting arrival) cant get temps lower as we are in height of summer and I already have aircon outside tent at 25/26c constant

I also started to test the PH in my RO water this last week trying to stabilise the PH levels to around 6.2-6.5ph as it was coming out at around ph 8.0. (7.4 initially then will go back up to tap ph levels after 24 hours) water is heavily dosed with chorine and chalky where I live, so my routine now with my water is I make two batches the night before, one just RO and the other is RO with ph down to about ph5. then on the day of watering I will mix it together until it reaches the desired ph level. I have only done this the last week as before I was just either mixing them on the day or just using ph8.

This is the starter soil I am using. which I mixed about 8 scoops heaped to 1 flat scoop perlite/1 flat scoop vermiculite.



I have also alternated on watering days (every second water) with some Rhyzotonic, I mix 1ml to 1l.

As you can see from the pics, they are not doing amazingly well.

I tested the ph run off today, it was nearly 8.0 with 6.3 in, so I ran more water through and will back off now for 3 days (will check weight after 2) as I don't want to kill them completely!

With my limited knowledge, my best guess is a mix between over-watering (oxygen starved) and high PH level causing nutrient lockout / nitrogen deficiency? and maybe even nute burn...

I am clearly doing something wrong, please help, my plants and I will forever be in your debt



Thanks!

I'd start over.

Rhizo will up the pH. The pH of the medium was already buffered to 7.0. you mentioned adjusting the pH to 6.3 so that's strange.

I used rhizo as a pH up for ages..works well. My canna terra used to come in at 5.8-6.0 flat when mixed, add rhizo and it would up to 6.9.

Nope_49595933949 said:

I'd start over.

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tell me why you think that? side note: I germinated 4 seeds yesterday, so If I continue with my current methods are you going to be giving me the same informational well thought out comment next time?

VincenzioVonHook said:

Rhizo will up the pH. The pH of the medium was already buffered to 7.0. you mentioned adjusting the pH to 6.3 so that's strange.

I used rhizo as a pH up for ages..works well. My canna terra used to come in at 5.8-6.0 flat when mixed, add rhizo and it would up to 6.9.

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Yea I noticed that on my last feed that it went up when I added the rhyzo which means it was prob closer to ph9 on those watering's in the beginning...

I'm learning so much though.. and I know with perseverance comes experience.

Just a beginner here so take this with a grain of salt.
I'd trim or pluck all the dead growth on those. 1. They will look better and it will be easier to focus on the new growth. 2. That is the stuff that will start attracting bugs and stuff so get rid of it.
At that point if the new growth is coming in green, continue doing what you're doing although it does sound like a lot of fidgeting. Definitely let the soil dry out between watering. You don't want the plants to suffer and start drying out an wilting, but you do want the soil to get dry.

TCH said:

Just a beginner here so take this with a grain of salt.
I'd trim or pluck all the dead growth on those. 1. They will look better and it will be easier to focus on the new growth. 2. That is the stuff that will start attracting bugs and stuff so get rid of it.
At that point if the new growth is coming in green, continue doing what you're doing although it does sound like a lot of fidgeting. Definitely let the soil dry out between watering. You don't want the plants to suffer and start drying out an wilting, but you do want the soil to get dry.

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Are you suggesting op remove all the leaves?

Nope_49595933949 said:

Are you suggesting op remove all the leaves?

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Not at all. Look at the pictures. The bottom leaves are dead and brown on a lot of them. The top leaves are nice and green on the ones with dead bottom leaves. Obviously, don't strip the leaves that are just yellowing when they are the only ones, but those have more coming in as well it looks like.

TCH said:

Not at all. Look at the pictures. The bottom leaves are dead and brown on a lot of them. The top leaves are nice and green on the ones with dead bottom leaves. Obviously, don't strip the leaves that are just yellowing when they are the only ones, but those have more coming in as well it looks like.

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I'm colorblind and not seeing what you are seeing.

cantgrowtomatos said:

side note: I germinated 4 seeds yesterday, so If I continue with my current methods are you going to be giving me the same informational well thought out comment next time?

Click to expand...

Definition of insanity: Doing the same thing and expecting a different result.
You obviously have a problem with the medium you're using.
These plants are 3 weeks from sprout for a comparison.

TCH said:

Just a beginner here so take this with a grain of salt.
I'd trim or pluck all the dead growth on those. 1. They will look better and it will be easier to focus on the new growth. 2. That is the stuff that will start attracting bugs and stuff so get rid of it.
At that point if the new growth is coming in green, continue doing what you're doing although it does sound like a lot of fidgeting. Definitely let the soil dry out between watering. You don't want the plants to suffer and start drying out an wilting, but you do want the soil to get dry.

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I'm thinking that by removing them it could make the upper leaves turn quicker so I'm leaving them on for now.

and I totally agree I'm messing about with these way too much... I've backed off this last last week as I was doing more harm than good.

im just trying to focus on getting the PH and watering right now as this has been a hard learning curve for me...

Over loving is a real problem. We did it our first couple of rounds.

MickFoster said:

Definition of insanity: Doing the same thing and expecting a different result.
You obviously have a problem with the medium you're using.
These plants are 3 weeks from sprout for a comparison.
View attachment 5169762

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I've posted my mix, the soil, the water used, lights etc. and that I think it was the over-watering and high PH which has led to this situation.

So I am going to correct the PH, try to water it right and see where that leads me. I will start new seeds and try this method also.

And since I've not had anyone tell me otherwise so far then I can only assume I'm somewhat on the right track?

and thanks for posting those ... they look amazing I hope I can get to this level soon....

cantgrowtomatos said:

I've posted my mix, the soil, the water used, lights etc. and that I think it was the over-watering and high PH which has led to this situation.

So I am going to correct the PH, try to water it right and see where that leads me. I will start new seeds and try this method also.

And since I've not had anyone tell me otherwise so far then I can only assume I'm somewhat on the right track?

and thanks for posting those ... they look amazing I hope I can get to this level soon....

Click to expand...

I'd say it was an uptake issue due to pH as well. There's no harm in letting them go to see if they recover. You might learn something, you might not. Theres always a lesson to be learned.

I had the same issue at first (caught it a bit earlier though) and it was the rhizo upping the pH. When I wasn't adding any nutes, the ph would go up to high 8s while using rhizo. I find it really useful as a pH up. It basically puts my pH Into range using my usual EC. Luckily the plant came back to life and it was a good learning experice.

That was first outdoor plant 3 years ago, and it taught me to always check my basic parameters.

VincenzioVonHook said:

I'd say it was an uptake issue due to pH as well. There's no harm in letting them go to see if they recover. You might learn something, you might not. Theres always a lesson to be learned.

I had the same issue at first (caught it a bit earlier though) and it was the rhizo upping the pH. When I wasn't adding any nutes, the ph would go up to high 8s while using rhizo. I find it really useful as a pH up. It basically puts my pH Into range using my usual EC. Luckily the plant came back to life and it was a good learning experice.

That was first outdoor plant 3 years ago, and it taught me to always check my basic parameters.

Click to expand...

Thanks for this, some good advice.

I will keep running them and see what happens, if anything as you said it will be something I could learn from.