should i give up?????

Hi All,

Just wondering if anyone has any input on whether I should trash my current plants and start over. I planted two autoflowers, himilaya blue diesel and speed devil, about two weeks ago. After the first two leaves developed, there has been no further growth. For some reason, leaves are light yellow rather than green and have been like that since first they grew out. Didn't add any nutes, soil pH is about 6.5, and definitely didn't over water. I'm thinking that there was something wrong with the soil I was using....can't be sure. Got it at the local hardware store...just some standard potting soil. Weird thing is that the same thing happened with my auto white russian which I trashed before these because I got frustrated. Below are some pics for reference:



Right now, doing a PC grow with (4) 24 w CFLS. Two Daylight, two soft. Got fans running too so heat isn't a problem. Would really appreciate it if someone could give me some feedback. Thanks!

I see no reason to trash them yet. CFL grows typically take time to get momentum gowing. They do show some new growth and may take several weeks for new node development so have some patience.

What is watering situation? Do you use straight tap water? At a minimum you should let tap water sit out for 24 hours to let chlorine evap out. Could it be you are underwatering? How do you tell when you need to water? If you put your hand at plant hieght do you feel radiation heat? If so raise your lights. Do you have your lights on timers?

Hey, thanks for the reply. Actually, the new growth has been there for about a week and a half. The new nodes haven't grown at all and the plant just gets yellower and yellower. Just want to make sure i'm not wasting my electricity on plants that won't develop. How much longer do you think I should let it go for and what types of results should I look for to know if its salvageable?

Thanks for the reply plantvision. Usually, I water twice a week with drinking water. pH is around 7.0 but I add a tiny bit of heinz apple cider vinegar in there to lower it. I usually stick my fingers into the dirt to feel for moistness. Try to stick my entire index finger into the dirt so I'm guess about 3 or 4 inches down. My soil drains pretty quickly.

In terms of heat, I am using CFLs so it doesnt really get too hot. The plants are probably about 3 inches away from the light. Just tried and don't really feel much heat at plant level and I have two fans, intake and exhaust running. Weather is still pretty cold where I am at right now. I have my timers on 20/4 cycle right now. Let me know if you have any suggestions!

No, don't give up yet. Give them a few more weeks...if you don't see any progress, then you can get rid of them (unless they're already dead by then) and start over with some good potting soil. I use this stuff (http://www.hydroponics.net/i/134158) - mixed with some perlite - and my seedlings and young plants love it...but there are many other potting mixes that folks here on riu use with success, so a little research on the forums should help you make your decision.

yah, i wouldn't kill them yet either.. the yellow could be from a lack of nitrogen.. i had a few plants dong that too me as well, so i got me some worm castings, which is just worm poo, and i got a spray bottle and put about one cup of worm castings into a gallon of water and let that sit for about a day with an airstone in it to keep it oxygenated well.. after the 24 hours, i poured some in my spray bottle and have been using it as a foliar feed for my plants.. seems to be working well, and they have come back looking more green in about a week or so of growing.. you can also add a lil of the worm castings as a top dressing to your soil, just add some to the top of the pot, and when you water it, it will become more available to your plants ...
you could also try a light, and i mean light, dose of nutrients to see if that helps it out some.. just give it one or so drops of some veg nutes and see if it helps it out some..
and how big of a pot do you have them in now?? if its in a fairly small pot, you could try and give them a bigger home.. on a side note, sometimes you get only a few leaves on top, then the plant will start to concentrate on building a healthy root system below the soil, and once that hapens, you will start to see some new growth going on above the soil line once again..

i'd give them another two weeks or so and see if they don't grow some more with a lil coaching on your part..

Plants look stressed, i see twisted corscrewing leaves, yellowing, purpling and way too big a pot size for them little seedlings. At that size a jiffy cube or 5 inch pot would be better, what soil is it as a lot of soils are a little hot with the nutes and might cause yellowing. Either your soil is too hot or the lights are making too much heat, back the lights of a bit and see if the leaves stop twisting. No don't throw these away but yes do start a few more and use smaller pots with soil for seedlings. Please notice that those leaves are twisting up due to stress and definatly not a nute deficiency, your ovedoing somthing, too many nutes in soil (what is that uncomposted twiggy stuff on the top of the soil?), too much water in the pots or too much heat from the lamps. I reckon that you could start a new batch and would be probably outgrow these by the time you have fixed their problems. Don't give up and definatly don't fertilize with that pot size, what soil is it they are growing in?

soil that you cant go wrong with... go into the woods find a huge tree that has fallen over and were tghe roots used to be dig about 6-8 in down from the surface and collect soil its natural and you dont have to worry about bad fert in soil from stores also if a tree has grow there for hundreds of years the soil has the right Ph level + an endless supply