Looking for some advice...unhealthy looking seedlings PICS inside!

Ok just looking for some good advice here....
Seedlings are about 2 weeks old
6 inches underneath 200 watt cfl on an 18/6 lighting schedule
temp is constant 24...humitidy 40-50%
They are in a seedling soil mix and were started on rockwool
No nutrients being added yet only the ppm of tapwater...BUT i was using wal mart filter water before that and the ppm i heard could have been zero. Since then it has been ONE watering with tap water and a very small amount of B1 which i have been using a little of. PH the water at 6.5 and the watering is done only when soil is totally dry.
Air circulation is good.

So whats with all the discoloration and curliong leaf tips? New growth seems to look healthy but is turning a brownish and yellowish after awhile. Think They need to be started on nutes? Also some of the seedlings look totally fine and healthy and they all have had the same treatment. Just dont want it to get worse and id like to know whats going on. Any suggestions ppl?

They are 2 weeks old and no nutes at all? Id probly give em a light drink, 1/4 strength nutes. see how they react. You may want to check your tap water, you should know what the Ph and if possible the PPM. Then at least youll have a starting point.

Hey bro...
Really Dont water them with nuts before they have gone 4-6 normal leafs ...

the ph of the tapwater in 8 and the ppm is around 250. Had a chat with the guy at the hydroponics store and he seems to think there turning brown becuse lack of nutrients. He says its probably because i was using filtered water which the ppm is zero so the plants were starving. So i went back to using tap but i havent really seen a difference, almost looks like its getting worse actually.

is the symptoms shown on this seedling (yellowing,browning, some leaf tips curling up) lack of nutrients? Can a plant keel over if doesnt get the nutrients it needs at a certain size?

Well, the Ph of your tap is to high (or low depending at how you look at it), I would get some Ph down, make a batch of water at right about Ph 6, you could be experiencing a nute lockout, which happens when the Ph is in a range your plant cant use, not allowing it to take up the available nutrients. Sounds like your Tap water also is to high in PPM, its a common thing. Id run filtered water, get some CalMax, and some Dynagro Grow. The DG contains ALL the major and Minor nutes a plant needs, 16 different ones I believe. I know people have good luck with all kinds of Nutrient lines, I just like DG so far.

I dont need to go through all that myself, town water here is Ph7 PPm about 35, so its great here. I also deal with clones, so a 2 week old clone is ready for some light nutes, a seedling will need a little more time to mature.


You may be able to mix in a little lime with your soil mix, that will help buffer the PH, but id concentrate on getting your water straightened out first.

What type of seedling soil is it?
I'm betting it's da dirt~wrong type
with nutes~

Yo thanks for the advice...The tapwater is ph 8 but i have been ph'ing it 6.5 before using it. Did a runoff test through the soil today and that ph was 5.5. So the soil is taking it down a point. Was thinking of starting at 7.5 next time that way after the water and been through the soil it will be 6.5....noob move? Was told the ppm at 200 would be alright because the plants need some kind of nutrition at this stage and the tap water should be supplying it. Guy at the store thinks the sterile water i was using starved them. I dont know though. So its either nute burn (havent been adding nutes)....bad ph (the run off is 5.5 which i dont think would cause any lock out or that much stress) or lack of nutes. Still seems weird.
As for the soil:
"plants and pots" organic sterilized seedling starter mix
ingredients: SEDGE,SPHAGNUM,PEAT,PERLITE,VERMICULITE. The only things im not sure about are the sedge and sphagnum. Could these be causing a problem?

unohu69 said:

Well, the Ph of your tap is to high (or low depending at how you look at it), I would get some Ph down, make a batch of water at right about Ph 6, you could be experiencing a nute lockout, which happens when the Ph is in a range your plant cant use, not allowing it to take up the available nutrients. Sounds like your Tap water also is to high in PPM, its a common thing. Id run filtered water, get some CalMax, and some Dynagro Grow. The DG contains ALL the major and Minor nutes a plant needs, 16 different ones I believe. I know people have good luck with all kinds of Nutrient lines, I just like DG so far.


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cheers bud i will look into those products

personally i think anywhere close to 6 is good, 1/2 a point either way shouldnt be a problem. mother nature has a natural ph fluctuation anyways, I believe rain water should be around 5.5?

Look up the make it rain thread, that guy has some interesting arguments for a unique watering schedule.

https://www.rollitup.org/blogs/blog15963-making-rain.html

The problem with the natural PPM of tap water is, you dont know what it is consisting of in it. PPM is only a ratio of compounds in it. unless you send it out to be analyzed you have no way of knowing what is in it. hence why I suggest just filtering your water if your able to, then adding what you know is going to be good.

Id be interested in hearing from anyone who collects rain water for their girls, I dont know if it contains pollutants that will harm plants or what.

yeah i hear ya. Im gonna call the water quality office tommarow and get them to email me a full summary of whats in this area of the citys water, itll be interesting to see whats in it and what we drink aswell as the little ones. I put a bucket out a couple days ago and collected rain water because i was going to do my watering that way. PH'd at 6.5 straight from the source...problem was its cold where i am so its snow im catching and that shit is damn hard to bring to room temperature even if you got lots of time. Guess u could throw it in a pot and warm it a bit u just rerally gotta have something good rigged up if you have a substantial amount of plants being hit with rain water. Something to think about. The more i think about it tho the more i think something is up with the water. Theres a new batch of seedlings like a few days old in rockwool and they look healthy with one set of leaves....but i see some yellow on em. They have been hit with nothing but 6.0 phd rain water and the smallest amount of b1. Its gotta be the water man