Is this a Cal/Mag issue or am I just impatient?

Hi all,

I am having an issue with my seedlings and I am not sure whether I’m overreacting or whether there is actually an issue. I am experiencing slow growth it seems and I have red stems and veins



My seeds started germ on March 31st and were planted on April 3. I’m in Roots Organic soil (in my solo cups) and a mix of kind soil and roots organic in the big pots (less important right now). When only running veg lights, I was between 70-74 F for daytime temps and for the past two days running veg and bloom lights, have been between 73-77. Nighttime temps hover around 65-68. RH has been between 60-75 depending on the setting of humidifier. Usually daytime RH a little higher. The water that I’m using is well water with a PPM of 53 and hardness of 28 mg/l, calcium at 9.1 mg/l and magnesium at 1.4 mg/l. PH is 6.66 out of the tap but I’ve been keeping water by grow tent over and using that water which was 6.62 when I tested.

I am running an 1100W LED at 18” with both veg and bloom going giving off a supposed 600 par at that distance. I don’t have a light meter to test. Actual wall draw is 120w on the veg lights and 240 with both veg and bloom going. Currently running both (last two days) but for the first two weeks, only running veg lights (at distances of 18-22” - started higher and moved closer over time).

My inclination is that this is a mag deficiency, may cal as well, based on the very small amount in my well water. But shouldn’t the seedling be well fed in the roots organic soil? I have been pretty diligent about not overwatering and started at once per week and then upped to twice per week. I stick a finger in the soil about an inch down to test the dryness before watering. I just watered again yesterday and my runoff was 8.1. Any thoughts or am I overreacting? I have some cal/mag and PH down (55% phosphate derived from phosphoric acid) on its way to me. Is there anything I can do in the interim? I am considering just transplanting them now in the bigger pot with a scoop of kind soil under the root ball. Will that help? Any and all suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

I should also mention, the smaller seedling is a darker shade of green than the bigger one and the leaves are a little more crinkly. The other plant, besides growing super slow, staying short, and having red veins and stem looks relatively healthy otherwise.

Got impatient waiting for a response so I decided to transplant them from the solo cups. They had roots poking out the bottom of the cups and when I transferred, you could see that the roots were wrapped several times around the cup. They may have been getting a bit root bound? Not sure. I’ll follow up with some new shots in a few days and see where we are.

Perhaps though, someone can just let me know, given how soft my water is, should I be supplementing with Cal/Mag? Again, growing in roots organic soil and kind soil mix. Thanks.

Look ok to me. Reddish purply stems are common with LED

Plants that young in good soil need zero supplements

Since you are a detail guy, i suggest getting a dr meter lux meter to properly set your light distance. It takes most of the guesswork out of lighting intensity.

Dont get impatient for answers, except for a really severe problem most can be corrected easily with a little time. Taking action out of stress or impatience is a dangerous game as a newbie! Read read read is my best suggestion for most topics.

I agree, don't see any major issues. Maybe slightly slow growth but nothing major. That's kind of a garbage lamp so it's not going to give results like an HID or higher end LED. Definitely run it with the veg and bloom switches on the whole way through. Just be patient. Young plants often out a lot of their energy into root growth then take off after a couple weeks.

I don’t know about slow growth but I get red stems with leds all the time and haven’t noticed any I’ll effects. Mine will be purple where the light hits the stem but still green where say the stem is shaded from the light by a leaf of something

Thanks for all of the replies. My major concern was that I’ve been reading and researching and coming across many other grows where people’s plants are on their third set of leaves on like day 8 and I’m already past two weeks and barely have my second set of leaves.

Regarding the light, I’m debating buying a nicer LED but maybe I’ll do that for my second grow. I’ve already made the rookie mistake of spending entirely too much on my first grow. I’m also only growing in a 2x2x4 grow space so I don’t need a lot of coverage, just sufficient strength.

Ultimately, I think transplanting was a good idea since I had a decent root balls when I pulled my plants out of the solo cups. And @chuck, I am also getting red veins but the stems are kind of like yours -red where the LEDs are hitting but green at each junction of new leaves.

My girls are still adjusting to their new pots but I’ll post pics tomorrow.

Is it too early to give a feed of molasses and seaweed concentrate when I water next? That would probably be Monday or Tuesday. For context, I’m growing in a roots organic and kind soil mix.

I personally dont feed plants in good soil till they tell me. That may be not for the first month

Notthe1 said:

Thanks for all of the replies. My major concern was that I’ve been reading and researching and coming across many other grows where people’s plants are on their third set of leaves on like day 8 and I’m already past two weeks and barely have my second set of leaves.

Regarding the light, I’m debating buying a nicer LED but maybe I’ll do that for my second grow. I’ve already made the rookie mistake of spending entirely too much on my first grow. I’m also only growing in a 2x2x4 grow space so I don’t need a lot of coverage, just sufficient strength.

Ultimately, I think transplanting was a good idea since I had a decent root balls when I pulled my plants out of the solo cups. And @chuck, I am also getting red veins but the stems are kind of like yours -red where the LEDs are hitting but green at each junction of new leaves.

My girls are still adjusting to their new pots but I’ll post pics tomorrow.

Is it too early to give a feed of molasses and seaweed concentrate when I water next? That would probably be Monday or Tuesday. For context, I’m growing in a roots organic and kind soil mix.

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To keep it as simple as possible, the only thing I would use in the first month is Recharge...it does contain molasses but more importantly it contains good bacteria that eat the molasses and help you build a better root structure.

Do not think of what you water into your plant as food. Think of those more as vitamins, minerals and other important elements.

Think of LIGHT as food. The plant uses light and can actually break down a water molecule and create its own energy from this. Pretty incredible stuff.

Dont ever get excited to feed your plants. The best thing to hope for is ongoing, consistent vibrant green growth.

As for your speed of growth, yes, many factors, mostly your lack of experience causes you to not try and push any element too hard while you are learning.

My 2nd grow is 2x as fast as the first through the first month. Why? Because I saw how each element worked together and learned how each is involved and how it affects growth. Winning here my friend does not involve speed. It only requires patience and observation. I think my first grow was about 140 days from seed.
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Thanks for all the tips and suggestions. I did finally take my plants out of the solo cups and transfer them to the full pot. They’ve been growing much better but I’m still seeing some indications of stress - whether it be a deficiency or over abundance of something is hard to tell. I do not believe it’s an over watering problem though. These are how they looked last night. Today, I finally received my organic cal/mag (TPS Nutrients) and Recharge (as suggested by Comfort - thanks for that tip) and I did a full pot watering. Last time I watered, I tried to just water enough to incorporate the root ball. Each plant received 2L of well water with cal/mag, liquid seaweed, molasses, recharge, and wetting agent. With the exception of the cal/mag and recharge (which I used as directed), I used less liquid seaweed and wetting agent than directed. My ppm was 200 so it still wasn’t very much TDS but I think that’s a good thing since the soil has its own and I’m still getting a feel for this. I will update in a few days once they’ve had some time to incorporate. Thanks again.

Its a very small plant for the pot size. Be careful watering for the next few weeks while it grows enough roots to use the water. You may want to hold off watering the whole bag for a few more waterings...looks good as is right now. Overwatering can slow growth a lot.