Overwatering Recovery

I found out out the hard way how quick young seedlings can go down hill due to over watering. (Stunted growth, drooping leaves etc). Simply waiting for them to dry out was really no help and they continued getting worse. I was using cheap box store planting soil, and even with small containers and plenty of drainage they seemed doomed to die. As a last resort I gently removed them from their containers, removed what soil I could without damaging the roots and rinsed the roots of soil under flowing water. I then replanted in a quality pre buffered coco (75% coco 25% perlite). and watered/fed daily with 10% runoff and a very light cal-mag and GH nutes daily. After 3-4 days it was obvious they were getting better and after a week they are all doing great with new rapid growth. Just wanted to share my experience with others who may encounter the same situation and are considering just trashing their plant(s) and starting completely over. I'm sure left in the poor soil they would have been in the trash bin by now. Coco is so much more forgiving as far as proper watering. While I assumed that in their condition replanting in a different medium would likely kill them, I had little to loose and learned taking drastic measures may be the best option and in my case saved doomed plants.

Just an FYI, you can still overwater in coco during the first week or two, before the roots fill out. Keep them moist but don't feel like you have to water every single day, I know that info is promoted in a lot of places, but you still need to be careful. Good job on switching to coco, it's a great medium!

Nice work,they needed air.I add perlite to any soil that small plants go in.Or even just straight promix with extra perlite.

Hi I'm new here. I started getting nutrients burn on my girl. I flushed it out. I was just wondering when I give it more nutrients and how much. It's in a vegetative state right now

Gimpyfish said:

Hi I'm new here. I started getting nutrients burn on my girl. I flushed it out. I was just wondering when I give it more nutrients and how much. It's in a vegetative state right now

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It depends on your container size, potting medium type and plant size. With some soils you really don't want any until a few weeks in. With coco, you need to start immediately. When you do start, start with really low amounts (1/8 or 1/4 recommended) and increase as needed. Let the plant tell you what it needs. I think it's easier to correct issues if plants needs more... simply increase in small amounts and watch the response. As you already found tougher and takes longer to fix over feeding/nute issues once identified correctly. Be sure and check your ph. Improper ph will cause a lot of issues. If the ph isn't correct, it's much harder to identify and compensate for nutrient or other deficiencies or excessives.

myke said:

Nice work,they needed air.I add perlite to any soil that small plants go in.Or even just straight promix with extra perlite.

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Yea I added about 15% perlite to the budget soil I used (Kellogg Organic), but maybe I didn't use enough because it didn't seem to help. Others may have used that soil with good results but not sure if it was excessive water retention, soil compaction, unknown levels of nutes (or who knows what in the soil) or a mix of any or all but I wouldn't recommend that soil. I think I'll just stick with coco. Easier to balance and compensate as needed I think.