Newbie help with yellowing leaves please

Hey can I get some advice on these seedlings. This is my first time growing. Only other experience is growing lettuce tomatoes herbs last year. I am concerned about the yellowing developing on one of them. I figure the yellowing is either 1. too much light/heat 2. not enough light or 3. needs nitrogen. What do you guys think?

Here is the detailed backstory:

These seedlings are indica plants (2 Tweed Bakerstreet (Hindu Kush) and 2 Tweed Argyle (Nordle)) and are now 2 weeks old. One of the Bakerstreet has yellowing leaves. It was the first to sprout and grew a little taller than the others, possibly because the seed husk was stuck on its cotyledon leaves for the first week and it couldn't get as much light? Some of the others seem like they might be heading in the yellowing direction now too.

I planted them in just Promix HP with no fertilizer in pudding cups. I haven't ph tested the water but its tap water left out overnight to dissipate chlorine. The yellowing started a couple days ago before transplanting. I figured they might need fertilizer so I transplanted two days ago into the 3.5 inch pots they are in now. The new soil has fertilizer, a concoction of Promix 7-3-3 Organic Granular Fertilizer, Jobes Organics All Purpose 4-4-4, Kelp Meal 1-0-2, and Alfalfa Meal (3-0-3). I put each at 1/4 the recommended dose on the containers as best as I could figure. The total NPK ratio adds up to 15-7-12.

I don't think I water too much. I initially wet the promix and after than I just misted the top of the them when they look dry. Before I transplanted I let them dry a little as was recommended online to hold the soil together but I think they were too young for that. Should have misted more before transplant as the soil crumbled somewhat as i put them in the new soil.

I started them off under 2 100W equivalent LED daylight 5000K household bulbs for the first few days 24 hrs a day. Then I put them under 2 100W equivalent/23W actual CFL 6400K 18-6 schedule. The lights are about 1-2 inches from them and they are under a clear plastic dome. Since transplanting I added a third 100W CFL 6400K. I keep the dull side of tinfoil over them loosely. At night I put dark towels over them to block the light.

Here are some pics

You're definitely not giving them too much light with that...you need to be taking temp measurments at the canopy level.... my best guess is either N def or a PH issue because of your tap water's PH (which we don't know).

Ok just looked at your pics...those CFL's are awful close and albeit a weak light source, it does still produce some heat that needs to be accounted for.

Hey Logan thanks. I haven't put a thermometer inside the dome yet, I will get one that fits in there to check. When i have laid a thermometer on top of the dome it gets really hot over 50 celsius but thats right under or next to the lights. I don't have any ventilation in it. I will check the water pH. The city data online indicates the water supply for my area is 7.3 to 7.4. Maybe thats a little high. I watered vegetables in container gardening last year with it and they didnt seem to mind. They have some nitrogen in there now in case thats it that should help. The high heat I guess is my first priority. What would you recommend I do for that? I was going to get some 150W CFLs, cannot find in stores around here so will get some from amazon. Would they produce more light with less heat or about the same? Do i still need them under the plastic dome? They are going outdoors in containers once its warm enough and they are big enough. Thanks again!

Get a fan on those.... Yesterday!

I cannot get a fan in under the plastic dome. Do I even need that any more? Maybe I should remove it now I guess so the heat doesn't collect. I thought I needed to keep the humidity up.

I took the dome off. Put a thermometer at the level of the leaves/canopy. Its reading around 33 celsius (91.4F) isn't that too high? But I can hold my hand comfortably under the lights. The room temperature is about 20 celsius or so 70F.

OCCo. said:

I took the dome off. Put a thermometer at the level of the leaves/canopy. Its reading around 33 celsius (91.4F) isn't that too high? But I can hold my hand comfortably under the lights. The room temperature is about 20 celsius or so 70F.

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Leave the dome off permanently or risk damping off. Once up seedlings do not need a dome. Check the pH of your water since you don’t need to be feeding for a while. Cheap litmus paper is more than adequate for our purposes. Screw pH meters.

I’m on my first grow and it’s bakerstreet. I’m not experienced so I don’t have any input for the yellowing you’re getting, but I’ll share a pic of mine around the same point of the grow. I will say don’t stress about some weird stuff you may see, like odd shaped leaves and random bits of yellow here and there on a couple
random leaves once they bush out. I panicked over some of it but i think it’s more so a quirk of the strain.

Hi everybody, just looking for some more opinions/ideas on what is wrong with these sad forlorn plants now. These are two months old now. The pots are 3.5" across the top to give an idea of the scale. So I did have some white powdery mold on them about a month ago I think because i didn't have ventilation on them. I applied water/apple cider vinegar to them and it has not come back since. I have had them under 23 actual/100w equivalent 6500K cfl's until recently i now have a led cob about 18 inches above the top leaves running at 1200W (its a 1500 but one cob of the five 50W cobs not working). When under cfls i last had 2 overhead and then 4 kind of on the sides/top. I had initially been running a fan on them and then read about windburn so i moved the fan so it just blew right above the canopy. I kept the cfls maybe 2 inches or so from the closest leaves? I put them outside on nice sunny days which unfortunately have been few and far between this spring/summer so far. I had intended for them to mainly grow in containers outside but that just hasn't been possible with the weather.

For fertilizer all they have had is a mix of Jobes Organics granular (4-4-4), Promix Organic based granular (7-3-3), alfalfa meal (3-0-3) and kelp meal (1-0-2). I worked out what the package directions say for a full dose of each for a container plant, and then 1/4'd each of them. So i figure they got a full dose of fertilizer, just spread out amongst those four ingredients. Based on the NPK ratios of those four, the adjusted ratio of the concoction is 3.75-1.75-3. When they first were transplanted into this soil they grew noticeably and were nice and green. Then they took a downward spiral. I thought maybe I was overwatering, but I usually wait until they are dry and light to pick up, and then water with pH adjusted water (I use RootFarms drop kit and try to get it around 6.0. Hard sometimes to judge the shade of yellow but definitely in the 5.0 to 7 range, I think around 5.5 to 6 usually). I don't soak too much. Just slowly apply water until it feels heavy again and a little dripping out the bottom.

They usually get about 18 hours light and 6 hours dark but the timing sometimes varies. I don't have my timer set up yet. And when they were outdoors for a few days it was just when the sun went up and down.

The lower leaves basically keep dying so i remove them. New leaves start to grow but as you can see they are not doing well either. I am planning to transplant soon into one gallon containers. I am wondering if i should go with my same fertilizer mix or should i make some modifications? I don't know if I have nute burn, nitrogen toxicity, too little nitrogen, light burn, windburn or overwatering? lol. Also should i remove all the small lower leaves and bury the stems so roots will grow? Or should i wait to see if lower leaves grow back well?

Thanks for any suggestions!

These are the same four plants just shot from different angles to show the side and the tops

For comparison here are some beefsteak bush tomato plants, they were started around the same time and in the same fertilizer soil medium mix. They haven't had the benefit of lighting or a fan. Just in a window and outside. They are kind of small for their age but no dying leaves. They did look a little yellow a couple weeks ago.

Might want to give the roots a little more room. See what they think about that.

Not enough food for sure.

I think you're messing around with the pH too much too. Shouldn't need to bother with it much as HP has good buffering. I've used it for years with AN nutes and RO water and never touch the pH. Doing a semi-organic thing with Mega Crop nutes this round with HP as the base. Just repotted everybody and they are rocking on their 2nd day of 12/12.

Bigger pots, better food and the great outdoors is my prescription.

Good luck!

Almost forgot.

I found a great spot to download FREE POT BOOKS . I downloaded a grow bible first and got lots more. Books look great and complete like the real ones I have here. No web site but just a page of links. Just right click on what you want and then "Save Link As" to download so they don't open first as many are 50+ megs. They got lots. Enjoy.

You have a few issues there. If I was you I’d start with giving those pots a good flush then up potting to bigger pots!! Be careful taking plants from your grow room to outside then back into your grow room as it’s just a matter of time till you get a bug infestation in your grow room!
Also depending on where you live, taking them out into direct sunlight can give your plants light burn. Where I am temps can get to 43 degrees Celsius in summer! I’ve experienced this. What I find works best is slowly introducing them to the powerful suns rays over say 10 to 14 days increasing the time there left out each day to harden them off before going out all day under the sun.
You need to get your ph in check and monitor it consistently or you will constantly be running into problems.
Or take the easy way out like myself and oldmeduser and get some ph perfect nutes!
Bit pricey but I get great results and saves soooo much time and work lol.

Awesome thank you guys. I'll repot next day or so. Would you recommend that I remove the small bottom leaves and bury the stems? Or is it better to just let those leaves grow out and make branches?

I wouldn't bury the stems at this stage. A few inches won't matter when they're 20ft tall and there's always a chance of stem rot. Ok when they're sprouts but I wouldn't risk it now.

Good luck eh.