How to know when your plant is dead or stressed?

It has been about two week and 3 days and my plant has stood the same size, just the 4 water leaves. I transplanted saturday from a cup to 3 gallon. These are short rider autoflower seeds being grown outside, with about 12 hours of sunlight. How can i tell if they are dying or stressed? I sang to my plant, hoping it would grow lol

dude.. you're not giving it enough light for being as small as it is

12 hours of light a day is not enough? It is outdoors, that is the most sunlight i can give it. Do you know why it is folding up like that. is it supposed to do it

I agree, 12 hours is not enough. Maybe get it inside when the sun goes down to try to get more light on it. It looks alive still, but 12 hours is not enough, unless you're trying to force a seedling to flower.

I read the recommendations for the autoflowers are 12 hours of sun. I am worried about it folding up like that now, i read it might be mg deficiency

in the picture it looks like its in the shade, just out of reach of sunlight, for a plant like marijuana thats no good.

hows the soil too? nothing fugs up a grow quicker than bad soil. bad soil = poor growth or dead plant, ok soil = ok growth , good soil = 2x the growth rate of ok soil.

you should buy the most expensive soil you can get at the right ph. (unless its an overhyped brand or something) you only pay a few bucks more for a troublefree growth.

so too much shade and just ok soil?

sso said:

in the picture it looks like its in the shade, just out of reach of sunlight, for a plant like marijuana thats no good.

hows the soil too? nothing fugs up a grow quicker than bad soil. bad soil = poor growth or dead plant, ok soil = ok growth , good soil = 2x the growth rate of ok soil.

you should buy the most expensive soil you can get at the right ph. (unless its an overhyped brand or something) you only pay a few bucks more for a troublefree growth.

so too much shade and just ok soil?

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I transplanted from the walmart soil to ff ocean forest. There is no shade there. that was my hand when i took the picture, it made the shade, there is nothing blocking the sun. Except for a few clouds that sporadically pop up

crayc said:

I read the recommendations for the autoflowers are 12 hours of sun. I am worried about it folding up like that now, i read it might be mg deficiency

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At this stage it can't really have nutrient deficiencies, its just too young. Especially now that you have transplanted into FF:OF soil (that soil is HOT and has way more nutrients then your young seedling would need).

As for the recommended hours of sunlight, 12 is the recommended for flowering a normal plant. You are vegging an autoflower plant. Most things I've read said they need 18/6 (light/dark) and a lot of people growing them indoors even leave the lights on 24/0.

No way is that plant 17 days old. No way.

If your temperatures are low, or the soil constantly wet, that will stunt the plant. It isn't dead... Transplanting that itty bitty little seedling to a 3 gallon planter was not a good idea.

Focus on your root system. Ensure the soil goes from saturated, to moist, to dry, and then back to saturated. In that planter... That could take a week between waterings depending on the ambient temperature in your area.

Dizz1e said:

At this stage it can't really have nutrient deficiencies, its just too young. Especially now that you have transplanted into FF:OF soil (that soil is HOT and has way more nutrients then your young seedling would need).

As for the recommended hours of sunlight, 12 is the recommended for flowering a normal plant. You are vegging an autoflower plant. Most things I've read said they need 18/6 (light/dark) and a lot of people growing them indoors even leave the lights on 24/0.

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How would outdoor growers get more light if lets say they do a guerilla grow. ON the first week and a half i did not give it much light, because it was in a small cup. It got windy at night, did not want the cup to get knocked over. So maybe that is why it is so small. Maybe it will start to grow. I am thinking of putting the superthrive in it. but my grow is all organic. I sprayed a lil neem oil on it. Maybe that is why it is also folding like a taco, i will spray fresh water on it now

Snow Crash said:

No way is that plant 17 days old. No way.

If your temperatures are low, or the soil constantly wet, that will stunt the plant. It isn't dead... Transplanting that itty bitty little seedling to a 3 gallon planter was not a good idea.

Focus on your root system. Ensure the soil goes from saturated, to moist, to dry, and then back to saturated. In that planter... That could take a week between waterings depending on the ambient temperature in your area.

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Some one on here said to transplant as soon as possible so i did. I am in puerto rico, temperature reaches close to 90. low humidity. At night it goes down to the 60's and 70's. Right now the soil is moist looks like it is drying up, have not watered since sunday, it rained that day. It is going to rain later today or tomorrow.

It is possible that its a bunk seed. I germinated 20 seeds and all grew fine except one which sprouted its cotyledons, grew its next set of leaves and then just stopped. Wasn't even a growth point created between the two leaves.

My guess would be overwatering it.

Gastanker said:

It is possible that its a bunk seed. I germinated 20 seeds and all grew fine except one which sprouted its cotyledons, grew its next set of leaves and then just stopped. Wasn't even a growth point created between the two leaves.

My guess would be overwatering it.

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So should i bring my plant inside or put a bag over it, looks like its going to rain.

some one told me that, since its still winter time, the sun is farther away from us, that could be the reason it is small, do you guys think that theory is true. The sun is scorching here

crayc said:

some one told me that, since its still winter time, the sun is farther away from us, that could be the reason it is small, do you guys think that theory is true. The sun is scorching here

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No, I do not think this is true.
Take a look at this:


Check out how large the sun is, compared to the entirety of the solar system. Also, being so close to the equator, you aren't really that much further.

The sun is putting out a lot more energy than your plant needs.

As comparison...


This Nirvana Ice plant is maybe 50 hours from breaking surface and sharing a 25w 6500K Daylight CFL with four other seedlings.

My guess here is that you are watering entirely too frequently, especially with regards to the rain. Your soil need to go from wet to dry, completely! Not just the top looks dry, but when you lift up the planter it feels feather light because there is pretty much absolutely no water in there. If you add water more often than twice a week you are DEFINITELY over watering. Every 4 to 5 days is fine for the size of the plant and the size of the container. If it rains, then don't water it that same day...

The odds are very good that you've done a lot of damage to the root system. The plant will probably recover but you need to stop drowning the roots.

crayc said:

I read the recommendations for the autoflowers are 12 hours of sun. I am worried about it folding up like that now, i read it might be mg deficiency

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Man u need atleast 18/6 i think 20/4 would be better

imo the transplant had some root damage involved...would account for stalled leaf production
the raised leaves are a sign of stress though...they should be more relaxed, not droppy.
right now the little devil is transpiring hard...it's trying to wick the water out of the soil and dry off it's roots...
it needs more light for sure...

it looks ready to tear off into a growth spurt if it's just left alone and gets more light, honestly.

how do people get more light on an outdoor grow? thanks for your opinions

People get the appropriate amount of light outdoors by growing at the correct time of the year. You should not be trying to start a seedling in the dead of winter outside. Bring it indoors under a single CFL and it should perk up within a day or two. Get a cheap timer and set the light to anywhere from 18-24 hours of light a day. Winter is not the time to start a seedling outdoors.

He's in Puerto Rico...

A little over 18 degrees north of the equator. Winter has a different meaning for people that close to the "middle"

The days are getting longer, and by mid April it should be beast despite the early setback. I'm not sure exactly how an auto will respond to the lack of growing period... probably just need longer to finish.

Crayc, you should try an equatorial sativa next time around. They are better suited for the outdoor climate there and would benefit from an early state date given your location.