Plants Dying please help!

Plants are just about 2 1/2 weeks old, already lost 3 most likely 4 out of the 10 we started with. They are under a 300W LED, using fox farm soil, ph is between 5.7 and 6.0 depending on the plant. 24 hour light cycle. Watered at first with tap water that sat out for more than 24 hour period, then when they started dying switched to reverse osmosis water. Water every few days. The light is about 6 inches from the plants. Some of the leaves have yellowing on the tips and one plant the leaves are growing straight up. Some leaves are curled under and others are curled up. There is no sign of bugs.


One plant is healthy the rest are in trouble. Please help before we lose them all.

What LED bulb are you using? For standard soil, under 6 is too acidic. You want closer to 6.5. How big are the containers? How much do you water at a time? Does the bottom half of the soil get moistened when you water? What are the temps and is there any airflow? What have you fed them? Are any ferts in the soil? How big are they? Pics, even crappy ones, would help alot.

Well since I am with the OP I will attempt to answer to the best of my ability. Firstly, how do we raise the ph if it's too low? Containers are small 8 4inch containers in a small grow closet, going for the sea of green quick harvest in 8 weeks. I'd say half a gallon each if I had to guess.
We have been using a gallon jug an a measuring cup that is 2 cups when full, each plant receives half of that so 1 cup water per watering. It usually comes out the bottom a little. We were doing this every other day, but I feel that we may have over watered? Temps are between 73 at night to around 80 during the day. There are 3 fans. Not really for the heat but for airflow. We also check them daily to exchange the air. Fox farms soil has enough nutes for the first 20 days so all we have fed them is water. The seed were germinated in cubes with earth worm tea. The biggest one is maybe 3 inches tall, they are stunted for their age and should be much taller.

You can use any one of many different types of lime to raise the Ph of the soil. A bottle of Ph Up is often used to raise the Ph of liquids.

You should wait until at least the top third of the soil is completely dry before watering. Each watering should wet the soil all the way through without making it glisten with liquid once the water has spread throughout the soil. Every other day is a little too often.

Try to post some pics.

Thanks for the reply. We tested our water and it looks great for ph. about 6.8-7.0 going by a color scale. So many people recommend Fox Farms organic soil oceanic blend we went with that even though it's more expensive than decent soil mixes we could buy around here. I assumed the PH of Fox Farms comes pre tested but I could be wrong? I'm not sure how accurate the cheap meter we bought is or if we even used it correctly. So our ph may be fine. I'd guess it probably is because of the water and Fox Farms soil. So I am thinking it's a combination of over watering and maybe too much nutes in the fox farm for starter seedlings? The leaves of the ones that died looked "burned" yellow to bright orangish color.

hey guys, you may find that you put them into the bigger pots too soon. If you are growing seedlings in bigger pots then you have to be really careful with the watering. 1/2 gallon is about 2 litres, I am not potting into 2 litres for at least a few weeks. This helps you develop a nice root ball for your plant, otherwise you have a whole load of soil that gets wet and one spindly root tap with a few sub branches coming off that. Anyway you could pot down into a smaller pot?

good luck, DST

Well that's a first, usually the first thing i see on these forums is people telling you your pots are too small not too big lol. Our whole idea though was to try and produce a sea of green for a faster harvest in a small grow area. Gonna try watering less. I think you could have a point though, maybe the roots just didn't develop. Are you supposed to go from germination to tiny pots or plastic cups for a couple of weeks before putting into your final grow pots? Our thinking was transplant em once, less stress.

Another quick question. Is there no way to retrieve your password if you forget it? Maltese signed up and forgot hers and we don't see a link for the traditional "forgot your login or password click here" She tried emailing the admins but no response yet.

There are many excellent techniques. A good way to go is to begin with those red & white plastic cups filled 2/3-3/4 with damp seed starter soil wet with the same liquid used to germinate the seeds. Regular plastic cups are used because they support the biggest size the plants should get before needing soil with nutrients in it. Cut small drainage holes in the bottom. Use seeds geminated using the soak & paper towel methods and poke a hole with a toothpick into the middle of the soil. Place the root into the hole with the shell at the top and gently press the soil around it. Cover with plastic wrap, poke 4 finger-sized holes around the edge, secure with a rubber band or tape and place them under a fluorescent light. Once the plant starts shedding it's shell, remove the plastic wrap. When the first single-bladed leaves are in and the next set just start to form, transplant them into 3-liter bottles with the tops cut off, covered in foil to block light with drainage holes in the bottom. The 3-liter bottles should be filled with a rich vegging mix of soil. They will support the plants long enough to top at least twice. Just prior to flowering, transplant them into pots large enough to finish flowering in filled with a rich flowering soil mix. Give them a few days to a week to recover from transplanting before initiating flowering.

Here are some pics, haven't transplanted them to smaller containers the soil that we do have is not the same soil. Will transplanting them to smaller containers with a different soil make things worse than they already are. Also it looks almost as if they are getting burned by the LED light, the light is about 6 inches from the tops of the plants and the heat output is minimal. Please help.

Guys we finally got pics, can someone tell us whats going on with our babies? Are they nute burned or light burned or do we have some unknown curse?

The LED is not burning them.... If anything the plant is eating itself since the soil looks very dry therefore the roots cannot absorb the soils nutrients. Do some finger pokes 2 inches deep in a couple of spots in a container. If you feel dryness every poke, water the plant with a good amount of water until water is going out the bottom drainholes. Stick to RO water from now on at the beginning since tap in my experience can have builds up that seedlings hate. Good luck

Just watered those yesterday and the water did run out the bottom of the containers. Will do a finger test and see if it is dried up already. Is there any way we can save what we have? Do you recommend re-potting them into smaller containers at this stage?

Don't panic. By far you are not alone. Before you really worry about your bulbs see if you are trying to take to much care of them. Kindness kills very quickly. First thing to do is remove them to check roots. Wash the roots out gently but clean them. If they are not in rockwool put each one on to one. Mix your medium if soil so the water drains off but not real fast. Mix the soil with the Styrofoam about 7030 depending type soil. Check for ventilation you can move air around a room with a fan. Don't allow th fan to blow directly on the plant. You should try and ricochet air so the kids get a gently breeze just moving the leaves gently. Do not over water or under water. You can see what is happening when you re pot the plants. If you have the TEMP between 70 and 78 you should water ever three to four days. Just pour water gently not to wash away the soil. Fill to brim and make sure you have a saucer below the pot to catch the water. Allow that water to evaporate on it's own. You can watch that to see how fast that goes away. Each day your plants should be reaching for the light. They will bend so spin then around 90degrees ever couple days to get light around the entire plant. Hopefully you washed out all the fertilizers and other crap you put on to soon. You will be starting fresh. You still could loose plants. If the are real small place then under a fog dome. That you can make with nice roll plastic. make a form to place around the plant to allow it to have room to grow, Watch the water and open it every day for a few minutes. You may also need a heat mat. Again to much or more is not A GOOD IDEA. You really should try and hold off until about two weeks before going into bloom. Then mix have the potency they recommend on the container. NOW lights. A good 400 watt will do just fine. Buy the switchable ballast so you can go up to 600 if you like. But unless you have a high ceiling say 10 feet or more don't go to 1000. More is not good when heat is increased so much it cost your first child to cool it down. Watch the tops to see if they become over heated and that could also kill them. Want more reach my blog. Twitter, Facebook,

A really newbie question here. I know it's important to water evenly and try to make sure the water goes to the bottom, getting it to the bottom is the easy part. What do you guys use to water your girls? We have been storing water in milk gallon jugs and letting it "age" for 24 hours if its from the tap or buying reverse osmosis water from wally world. To actually apply it we have been using a pyrex measuring cup to pour it in...even though we pour all around the plant I don't feel like its really getting all of the soil wet.

looks like pH to me.

The way the tips of the very bottom leaves are browning should be from nute burn. The way at least one plant is reaching its leaves vertically is a sign of needing water. Not that the plant is showing signs of long-term underwatering, it's just time to water at least the one in the last pic.

Is watering them with the measuring cup ok, or do we need to go buy a watering can to get the water more evenly over the soil?

how do we fix nute burn when we aren't putting any nutes in the soil? I thought that fox farm soil was supposed to be the best soil?

Imo the best way to water, especially with larger pots, is to spray the top of the soil with a spray bottle first. The drier the soil is, the more likely the water will find a channel straight to the bottom and just run out. Dampening the top helps the water soak more uniformly into the soil faster. Also, the slower you water, the more will soak into the soil without running out. You want to wet the soil without it glistening with liquid once the water finishes spreading throughout the soil. Air needs to be able to reach the roots or they can drown.

Sorry, I didn't read back over everything before that last post. Since it's not nute burn it'll be an all-over deficiency so they'll need a little of everything.